Midknyt sent me this link, from BBC America explaining the intricacies of Law & Order UK.
May your weekend be full of excellent scarves!
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So that’s where Jamie Bamber went! Woot for a Friday morning that starts with a BSG alum … 😉
Brilliant! (another fave British expression which I’m sure crops up). But just one tiny point…“knackers” are not “pants”. “Knickers” are pants. Knackers are something quite different (although they do occupy the same…anatomical region). I loved the scarves, though, and barristers really do say “My Lord” and “My Lady” all the time.
Laughed myself silly. This is bloody brilliant 🙂 (And no, I’m not British, I’m Australian, but the language is fairly similar).
I don’t usually pimp my blog, but there must be something in the air, because I just posted this last weekend:
http://vacuousminx.wordpress.com/2011/05/21/english-to-english-translation-courtesy-of-bbcamerica/
Great, great trailer! They’ve been running a shortened version over the credits of the show preceding Law & Order UK.
Scarves for the lawyers and furry robes for the Judges?
US Courtrooms are already kept at frigid temps to keep our black-robed Judges and navy suit-cladded lawyers comfy. If we adopted British courtroom dress in the good old USA, they’d start building courtrooms out of ice. Then only jurors, litigants, witnesses, and those who come to watch justice would shiver – about like now, but on steroids!
Great clip but don’t give Judges here any ideas. They’d love to switch from “Your Honor” to “My Lord.”
I LOVE THAT SHOW.
And not just because Jamie Bamber is pretty. Though he is. He is.
Oh yes….the yuminess that is Jamie Bamber.
Oh—do they show L&O UK on BBC America? This totally cracked me up! I think I’ve seen 3 or 4 episodes total of the many incarnations of L&O in the US put together, but may have to try to catch an episode or two of this one. I loved seeing “Martha Jones” formerly of Doctor Who….
Hey! That’s the guy who played Lestrade in the RDJ Holmes, in the shot where they say “scrupulously clean.”
I love this show – think it is totally brill! (or brilliant for those of you who have not ticked “speaks British English” on your Facebook page).
Jamie Bamber spent several years in Vancouver filming BSG, of course, and learned to put on his scarf in the ‘Kitsilano’ way (doubled, with the ends pulled through the loop). I totally squeed when I saw him do that on camera.
He is pretty, but Freema Agyema (Dr. Who), Bradley Walsh, Ben Daniels, Harriet Walter and Bill Paterson are all excellent in their own rights. It really is my favourite of all the franchise.
captcha: going 69
Wow. So…many…jokes…head…exploded…
@Sharon:
That’s the “Kitsilano” way? That’s weird and funny, because I’m from Kits and never heard it called that, though it’s how I wear mine as a result of seeing everyone else wear theirs that way. The more you know!
@Tania – according to my 20-somethings friends. UBC students twist the ends through the loop in an intricate 80’s way, West Enders centre the scarf and wrap the ends, etc. etc. They can tell where you live by how you wear your scarf!
Like Professor Higgins and London accents!
Just to add to Suzannah’s point, ‘knickers’ are also ‘pants’ in the UK but they are ‘panties’ in the US. But knackers are indeed something quite different.
So if I have this right…You wear knickers to contain your knackers. Right?
That gives me a whole different image of what happens when a person gets knackered. Or when the knacker man arrives…
Great clip. After watching and reading the comments I felt I had no choice but to stop and add one of my own.
A knacker, by defintion, is a person who deals with animals, specifically horses, that are no longer of any use. These people bring said horses into their ‘Knacker Yard’ where they finally meet their end. Hence the expression ‘knackered’.
Here in Ireland, members of the travelling community have often and continue to be referred to as Knackers. Behind their backs that is. Say it to someone’s face and you will be treated to an evening of fabulous hospitality, courtesy of the nearest A&E department while doctors and nurses and plastic surgeons stich your head back together.
And finally, Lisa, yes you are right; you can keep your knacker in your knickers, if your a drag artist. A knacker in knickers is a cock in a frock.
All the best from Ireland,
Aideen.
I wonder if the Most Interesting Man in the World enjoys wearing scarves? The again, if he did wear them, we’d all have to stop wearing them because he would do it so much better.
And what’s so great about jamie bamber? definitely not romance hero material, too short, not wide enough across the shoulders and probably not arrogant enough either. ;-p
@Lisa, generally only women wear knickers and only men have knackers.
Having seen this and now the BBC Sherlock, I may have new scarf obsession. Go Beebs! Wrap it up!
I agree with Suzannah- ‘knackers’ means testicles lol. Knickers are underpants.
And judges are ‘your honour’ not ‘my Lord’- that’s for the aristocracy.
and like Lexxie said- Australia (where I am) uses the same language and same justice system structure.
Your Honour for lower court judges, ‘my Lord’ for higher court judges because they are Lords, the Law Lords now sit in the new Supreme Court, but have historically been the final court of appeal in the UK. They are also members of the House of Lords. There is now of course also the further level of appeal to the European Court of Justice.
And knackers definitely means balls, you could if you were so minded kick someone in the knackers. Yes a knacker worked in a knacker’s yard disposing of redundant farm animals, but colloquially to be knackered would be to be exhausted from excessive sexual activity. Well so I was told when I used the expression to mean ‘very tired’ in my teens and was berated for my coarseness by a friends older brother! These days it would to most people just mean very tired.
The basic meaning of knacker is not pretty: a knacker, who owns a knacker’s yard, is a person who cuts up and disposes of the corpses of animals whose meat is not fit for human consumption, especially totally worn-out old horses in the days of horse-drawn transport. Thus, an animal that was fit only ‘for the knacker’s yard’ was one that was too old, feeble, overworked or diseased to be exploited by humans any more. A knacker was not the same thing as a butcher, and a knacker’s yard was different from a slaughterhouse/abbatoir.
This is the sense that lies behind the adjective ‘knackered’: it means, ‘worn out, exhausted’.
The slang knackers=testicles is pretty modern, I think. I don’t remember it at all in my youth, but it may have been regional.
I think you have all got the nether garments sorted out: ‘knickers’ originally (19thC) meant loose trousers or golfing trousers, but now means only ‘underpants/panties’. British English trousers= Am. pants, but BE pants = AE underpants. An American wearing ‘vest and pants’ would presumably be in trousers, a shirt and a sleeveless waistcoat: an Englishman in his vest and pants is in his underwear.
Jazzlet, sorry I repeated info that you had posted first: your post had not appeared when I clicked ‘submit’ on mine, because there’s a time-lag.
I suspect that the non-sexual meaning of ‘knackered’ — merely ‘worn-out’ — preceded any association with ‘knackers’ meaning ‘testicles’. If I can find anything on the dating, I will post it.
‘Knacker’ is also politically incorrect Irish English for an Irish Traveller. This usage is not known, as far as I am aware, in British English, although the itinerant Irish social group thus stigmatised is to be found in Britain as well as Ireland.
That’s ok 🙂
And it always gives me pause when I read of someonegoing out in a vest 😮
It seems to be my day for repeating points that others have already made. I don’t even have the excuse of feeling knackered. Sorry, everyone. I’ll go away and come back only when I am more focused.
i guess i’m the last to the “knackers aren’t pants” party. but what kind of pants to bbc america think the brits wear if they can be sold as baubles???
do** *facepalm*
Love the education on knackers vs. knickers.
I saw this originally on BBC America, though it was only a 30 second spot, and I swear it said “knackers = testicles” when I watched saw it on TV. Not sure why they changed it for the online, longer version.
I also loved the BBC tagline that came on the end of the TV version: “BBC America. We speak English.”
“Elderly Julian Assange” made me laugh out loud.’
Yes, this show is full of eye candy – Ben Daniels, Jamie Bamber, and, showing up as he does in every British series (I believe it’s the law), as a guest star, the always gorgeous Rupert Graves. (He only gets better with age – I can’t believe he first came on the scene in 1985 in A Room with a View at the age of 22.)
LOL at the education I’m getting reading this thread.
@Tania
@Sharon
So what’s the Main or Commerical Dr scarf wrap, as I’m closer to those neighbourhoods and have been unintentionally wearing ‘Kits’ style, the horror. 😉
I see that knackers and knickers have been sorted. Just wanted to add that men have knackers, and women have knockers. You know what I mean; don’t pretend you don’t. 😀
So what is a vest in British English? I haven’t heard that difference. But I do remember living in Scotland and someone in my study abroad group being laughed at by her housemates because she talked about how dirty she got her pants while playing rugby. 😀
I’d had no idea there was a L & O UK!!! I’m so excited. I immediately went and set up a series recording.
Must agree with the other commenters about Jamie Bamber! Yum!! Although, if I had to choose between him and Peter Wingfield…hmm. Uh, can I have a few minutes to consider? Do I really have to choose? (And yes, I know I’m a silly Methos fangirl.)
I must admit, as an Irish-American Texan, I think the wigs they wear in the courtroom on L&O UK look awfully silly. I guess they do it because it’s a tradition they don’t want to get rid of?
Do you suppose actors like knowing they have thousands of women all over the world “admiring” them? I assume so.
both36 – See, I *can* have both JB & PW!
American vest = British waistcoat.
The RP pronunciation (‘Received Pronunciation’, also sometimes called ‘Queen’s English’ or ‘BBC English’) is ‘wess-k’t’, but plenty of people pronounce it as spelt.
RP is based on a combined social and regional dialect, that is, educated and south-east England, and is characterised also by conventionally correct and traditional grammar: it used to have a lot of prestige, but these days, regional and/or formerly working-class accents are often preferred for vaguely politically-correct reasons (diversity and such). RP-speakers sound ‘privileged’. However, as with all ‘standard’ accents, they are easily understood by more people, including those who speak English as a second language, than the speakers of most dialects.
I am tempted to raise the subject of Cheryl Cole here; her Geordie (Newcastle area, north-east England) accent is modified and not at all hard to understand, but broad Geordie speakers can be difficult even for other Brits to understand.
I think the preservation of the tradition is above all to emphasise the solemnity of the proceedings. The styles of wig are not particularly old (18th-century).
Robing the central figures in a special costume in any important ritual is virtually universal in human communities (e.g. weddings!), and the more solemn the rite, the more traditional the costume often is. It looks ‘silly’ only if worn in the wrong context, just as an evening dress and tiara would look silly when hiking in the mountains, or shorts and a T-shirt would look silly when attending a glitzy formal ball. Academic dress is older than British legal dress, being based in part on Medieval and Tudor-period clothing, and it survives even in the USA. Don’t your school leavers don caps and gowns when they graduate from high-school? We don’t use the word ‘graduation’ for less than a Bachelor’s degree, but the costume is much the same.
After watching the video again, I must comment on wanker being politely and carefully glossed merely as ‘insulting name’. ‘To wank’ is to masturbate; a wanker is simply a masturbator. It’s quite a common derogatory term, definitely not to be used in polite company.
This is why the American word ‘wonk’ for a geekish or detail-orientated person tends to startle us a bit, because the short ‘o’ vowel in American pronunciation can get awfully close to our ‘a’.
To the person who asks about vests: when you say vest in British English you are saying undershirt (or, in slang, wifebeater).
Another funny British English – North American English distinction is the word fanny. an old American co-worker of mine went on an exchange to Ireland when she was a teen and horrified her Irish friends when she told them that she and her brother made up a song called “Shake your fanny” when they were kids.
Asha, maybe you should have explained fanny a bit more in case there is anyone who doesn’t actually know the BE definition (though I think it is widely known). 🙂
It’s a little bit old-fashioned now, but ‘fanny’ is a colloquialism for the female genitalia. It is recorded in print from the mid-19th century, but is probably much earlier: it has been suggested that the etymology is connected to Fanny Hill, the heroine of Cleland’s classic erotic novel, which was published in 1742.
Sorry @shel – didn’t see this until today.
I’ll have to check with my scarf style-gurus, but I am sure they will have an answer (or make one up!)