This may well be. It would seem that many of your countrymen make the same spelling error I did because I do find it spelled as pucker. Perhaps the same way many Brits incorrectly think it's "I can't be asked" instead of "I can't be arsed", much to the scorn of their fellows. Regardless, same image comes to mind.
Yeah, America is a big place geographically, and even in smaller countries different regions can have a lot of diversity in how they speak. An old English teacher of mine linked me through Facebook a test that tried to place where you were from based off the slang you used. It nailed me, naming the two biggest cities in Nebraska (the town I'm from was probably too small to make the list of possibilities) one of which is barely more than an hour from where I was born and raised. Apparently "rollie pollies" and "pop" were both huge giveaways. Just for the hell of it I made my husband, a non-native English speaker, take the test and he got Denver of all places.
It's not just slang that's different, you're going to have to be careful with pants/trousers, every time you describe what someone is wearing.
I think in America, that's more generationally related. Te me pants and trousers are pretty much the same thing, pants being a little more universal. If I heard a young person in the U.S. say trousers, it would sound a little affected to me. Sheldon Cooper would say trousers. Definitely.
I'm angry that you watch that show. I thought you were cool. But then there's sneakers/trainers and jumper/sweater. Plus boot/trunk, carpark/parking lot, lory/truck and of course, cookies/biscuits.
As an American living in Northern Ireland I've struggled with translating some of these kinds of things over the years. Baps are hamburger buns but also butt cheeks and/or breasts. UK scones are US biscuits. UK biscuits are US cookies, cookies are still cookies in both places. There is no such thing as a scone in the UK as we know it in the US and the day that the UK and the US agree on whether Aluminium is actually Aluminum (and it is because its inventor was Charles Martin Hall, a US citizen) I suspect we'll also be selling a lot of snow blowers to Hell. "Put his foot down full pelt" is similar to "Put the boot down" as associated with "Giving it some wellie" (thus the reference to the foot/ boot), am I on the right track? American equvilents might be something like: "Put the pedal to the metal" or "Put the hammer down" and even "Punched it" or "Gunned it".
Aluminium: Sir Humphry Davy named the metal Aluminium. Later, Charles Martin Hall invented the process to produce it on an industrial scale. Up to the 1890s both names were used in the US about equally.
Ironically it took until 1956 to invite the box aluminum foil comes in that has those teeth on it to help you rip a straight edge...that hardly ever works.
Whatever you do, NEVER—I repeat NEVER—say 'fanny,' in polite society in Scotland... Never. No no no nononono... In Scotland, the injunction 'g'wan, gie it some wellie' demands more enthusiasm for a task, not simply more force or speed. Being told to 'put the pedal to the metal' meant 'hurry up,' where I came from in the USA (Michigan.) And don't order lemonade in a bar or restaurant in Scotland, unless you want Sprite or 7-Up. In the west of Scotland, in Glasgow and Greater Glasgow, you can order a bottle of 'ginger' if you want Sprite, 7-Up, Coke, Pepsi or ...god forbid ...Irn Bru. Ginger is what we used to call 'pop' in Michigan. Ask for a drug store in these parts, and you'll get a very weird look. Ask for a chemist, and you'll get a drug store.
I think if the OP wants to know what they would say in New Jersey he should just watch a couple episodes of Jersey Shore. Then when he gets out of the hospital and is okay unsupervised he'll have all that material to work with.
No, Hun, "put his foot down full pelt" - you are confusing the two conversations. "put your foot down with a firm hand" is to stop an argument in your favour, or a way to finish something your way, a way to stop your kids pestering. It's like saying "that's it, I've had enough, stop" Going at something, anything, full pelt, is to go at something fast, at top speed or with all the conviction of a speeding train. To put the boot in ... that's to, well, put the boot in, physically kick someone/something. You could also put the boot in non-physically, for example, if you talk to someone and say something horrible about a third person, that's putting the boot in.
The OP is a she. (me) and I've never seen an episode of Jersey Shore. You asking me to watch that is probably along the lines of me asking you to watch Geordie Shore and telling you that it's true to life as that's where I live. Yes, that's where I live, but it certainly aint true my life one little bit!
If I wanted to learn New Castle colloquialisms, speech patterns, and slang, Geordie Shore would probably be where I would start. It's not where I would stop, but in 30 seconds I learned the word "gobshitte". Even the disclaimer was educational, containing the phrase "From inception and throughout". An American disclaimer wouldn't have included that phrase. I'm not saying it's true to life, but the people you are writing about have had their voice influenced by the media they consume. If you want to write Jersey dialogue job one is consuming Jersey media.
I haven't heard that one before, but I really like it! Here in Scotland, 'put the boot in,' usually pertains to an argument you've participated in. It usually denotes the moment that your reasoning or method of delivery escalates, usually turning the argument in your favour. "He told me I had no right to judge, because I didn't know what Aileen had done. But I put the boot in here. I said because of how he'd treated her all these years, he didn't deserve anybody's sympathy—and he should just shut up."
Gobbshite is not just linked to Newcastle. However, "Howay" and "Wye Aye Man" is ... In saying that, I'm not asking about just NJ, I was just asking in general about the phrase "full pelt"
No. Well, I can't say "no", given how huge the country is, but I can't think of a single occasion when I've seen/heard it. Edited to add: I just clicked my tongue to see if it rang a bell. I think that I may have heard that sound from actresses depicting judgmental old ladies in television and/or movies. I can't remember if they were depicting judgmental American old ladies.
It's a sound we would use over here to mean "I can't believe you just said that" along with the action of rolling your eyes at the person who has just done or said something really stupid, or something that was meant to be funny but wasn't. I've seen the action written as 'tut' or 'tutting' and I've seen the sound written as 'tsk' but my dictionary really doesn't like it. (dictionary is set on US English)
