the Top Gear British phrases explanation thread

hbriz said:
I'm not sure of the origin of the phrase (whether it is from that movie or not, haven't seen it), but it is in relation to the volume knob on a stereo, which traditionally goes up to 10. Therefore, going to 11 means going one more than maximum, more than what is technically possible.
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It is from that movie that's where it came from and I think the saying is pretty common. I'm just not sure how popular it is in England, Its very popular here, kind of has a cult following.

Here you go, take a look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbVKWCpNFhY&feature=related
 
Spinal Tap are very well known in England, they have even played recently at gigs.
People who listen to rock music will have probably seen of the movie /
Rocku-Mocku-mentary.
:smile:
 
hbriz said:
I'm not sure of the origin of the phrase (whether it is from that movie or not, haven't seen it), but it is in relation to the volume knob on a stereo, which traditionally goes up to 10. Therefore, going to 11 means going one more than maximum, more than what is technically possible.
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Google "spinal tap (band)"
 
"11 is one more than 10 so its louder." ....

You see. ... btw they are Americans playing Brits!!!! Done very well I must say.
 
That American Girl said:
Not exactly a phrase...but:

Is 'shortening' Jeremy into Jezza a British thing? The same with a Ferrari being called a Fezza?
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Or Maserati = Mazza?

D'you know, I'm not entirely sure, either?
 
shellygrrl said:
Or Maserati = Mazza?

D'you know, I'm not entirely sure, either?
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Yes I think it is a British thing, different parts of the country have different ways of shortening names, another way would be to add an 'o' on the end, usually on surnames.

Regardless, anyone who calls a Ferrari a Fezza should have their vocal cords extracted via their nostrils, up to and including the TG trio.
 
Scooby is okay, Porker is borderline though.
 
Can anyone explain the phrase 'it doesn't scan.' I've heard May utter this several times and once in a Clarkson show.
 
There can be two (at least) possible explanations:

One is that it won't scan through a scanner, in other words it's not good enough quality/clear enough.

However, knowing that James May has a love of poetry, it's more likely that he's talking about the rhythm of something. "Traditional" poetry scans, in other words there are a certain number of syllables in each line and a clearly defined rhythm. If something doesn't scan, that means there are either too many or too few syllables so the rhythm sounds wrong.

On the other hand, what do I know?
 
Something I noticed that all the presenters say which has always irked me, but I don't know wether its TG quirk or a common british usage of the phrase.

Whenever the hosts are talking about taking a car on the test track, lose control and spin off into the grass, they're always referring to that as 'crashing' the car even if it hasn't actually collided with anything or incur any body damage to the car whatsoever. here in the US we simply call it 'spinning off the road'

We only use 'crash a car' if its physically collided with another object be it car or stationary object and sustained some kind of obvious damage. Is this just a common british usage of the phrase because the connotations are pretty different depending on who uses it.
 
I'd call it a crash...
 
Vette Boss said:
When you lose control of a car, you crash. Main difference is the nice soft grass is absorbing the impact, not their face.
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Its interesting, I polled a bunch of random americans on the question and they seem to share the same concensus:

K Dub said:
I would classify that some sort of damage must be done. A collision would not be necessary, but damage would.
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DoctorNick said:
IMO, it isn't a crash until it make the noise "crash".
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unamused said:
IMO a crash would have to involve a collision with another object, stationary or otherwise.

Sliding off a course, or spinning out on a track would not be considered a crash.
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delongedoug said:
I've spun out on the track. I didn't crash because I just ended up in the grass. This is almost a no-brainer. Then again, it's a no-brainer to midwesterners that soda is called pop, so who knows.
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wawawrx said:
Rolling it is crashing it... sliding into curbs, self inflicted damage of any sort I guess.

losing control and not damaging anything aside from your wheels isn't a "crash" if you ask me.
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Okay, so here's a pretty old one I never got:

When JC tested the BMW M5 in s6e09, he complains about the complexity when operating the car and demonstrates it via trying to raise the volume on the stereo and accidently changing the radio channel, which happens precisely at 3:00 in this video:


So I can watch over and over again, but I never understand what he actually says. The bolded part. Pretty please, native speakers??? :cry:

"... Volume knob, I push it ... it's gone. And now I've got a fat bin to the tent worbling. So you have ..."
 
Seems I was close, but the words "bint" as well as "warbling" were unknown to me. Combined with JC's odd intonation of the sentence, it was impossibru for me to understand it.

Thank you very much! :)
 
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