Top Gear Lingo Americanized

Ymk

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Joined
Mar 10, 2007
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I know a decent portion of members here are located in the US, so here's a thread regarding the terms used on the show that don't quite match up when spoken across the pond. And I don't mean manufacturer regional differences (E.G. Toyota Hilux vs Toyota Tundra).

For example:

British - American

"Oh cock" = "Oh shit"
"Zed" = "Zee"
"Pillock" = "Idiot"
"Blast" = "Damn"

"Hon-dar" = "Hon-da"
"Nis-sin" = "Nis-san"
"Pry-us" = "Pree-us"
"Murchee-a-lago" = "Mur-seal-ah-go"
"Gay-ardo" = "Guh-lardo"
"Impret-zuh" = "Impreh-za"

Not to say either one is correct or incorrect, but just to point out things that American viewers may cock their head at upon hearing. Also for reference I come from California, so your pronounciation may differ.
 
Name - British - American
Hyundai - Hay-un-die - Hundai

As an aside, anything Italian, French or Spanish is brutalized on either side of the Atlantic.
 
It's properly Romanized as "Hyeon-de," which is Korean for "modern." That's irrelevant though...

Yes, I know, I'm Korean-American. =D I used to pronounce it properly but it confused people so now I refer to it as "Hundai" as well. Its like properly pronouncing "Porsche": it just confuses people.
 
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I'm American, but I still know it should be said properly gay-ar-do
 
its' like listening to ppl pronouncing 'gyro' wrong

p10gyro.gif
 
I hope that no American who speaks English natively has troubles watching this show :stig:
 
^ I agree. Some of the expressions and slangs are different for the British, but you get what most of them mean when used in context.
 
^ BS
 
^ Or crap if you wanna be polite.
 
"Chelsea Tractor" - SUV driven by "soccer mums" that only see the wilderness in the travel magazines bought by the owner
 
I think the doner kebab is the turkish version.
Then you have the arabic schwarma and the greek gyros or yiros or sometimes souvlaki.
The felafel is good if you are too piss-weak to eat animals.
 
The felafel is good if you are too piss-weak to eat animals.

I was on the booze one night and ordered a felafel kebab (since I was with a mate who's vegetarian) with chicken (since I am not).

It tasted remarkably good....and I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with the bottle of wine, half a bottle of dessert wine, and however many beers I had prior.
 
I know a decent portion of members here are located in the US, so here's a thread regarding the terms used on the show that don't quite match up when spoken across the pond. And I don't mean manufacturer regional differences (E.G. Toyota Hilux vs Toyota Tundra).

For example:

English - American

"Oh cock" = "Oh shit"
"Zed" = "Zee"
"Pillock" = "Idiot"
"Blast" = "Damn"

"Hon-da" = "Hon-da"
"Nis-san" = "Nis-san"
"Pry-us" = "Pree-us"
"Murchee-a-lago" = "Mur-seal-ah-go"
"Guy-ardo" = "Guh-lardo"
"Impret-za" = "Impreh-za"

Not to say either one is correct or incorrect, but just to point out things that American viewers may cock their head at upon hearing. Also for reference I come from California, so your pronunciation may differ.

I think you got a few of the English ones wrong - I've made corrections in bold (open for discussion, of course).

Also, I can't resist this one:

Fucking idiot - George W. Bush
 
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