zelfde woord, verschillende betekenissen

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Notes

1. straightforward = eerlijk; in BrE ook: eenvoudig, simpel

2. table: (BrE) ter tafel brengen / (AmE) afstellen, opschorten, op de lange baan schuiven (= shelve*); maar (BrE) lay on the table = tot onbepaalde datum uitstellen (Zie ook Fowler’s Modern English Usage, 2004)

Background information (wikipedia, link):
Both the American and the British dialects have the expression “to table a topic” as a short way of saying “to lay a topic on the table” and “to make a topic lie on the table”, but these have opposite meanings in the different varieties of the languages. The British meaning is based on the idea of parliamentarians gathering around a table with the bill laid upon so that all may point to sections for discussion. The American sense draws on the image of taking a paper that one has been examining and laying it aside, ending any discussion about it. The phrase “put on the table” can have the same meaning of “making the issue available for debate” in both dialects.[1][2][3] According to the American Heritage Dictionary, on the table in American English always has the two opposite meanings up for discussion and put aside for consideration at a later date depending on the context.[4]The British meaning of to “table” is to begin consideration of a proposal.[1] This comes from the use of the term to describe physically laying legislation on the table in the British Parliament; once an item on the order paper has been laid on the table, it becomes the current subject for debate.[5]The American meaning of “to table” is to postpone or suspend consideration of a motion.[1] In American usage, to allow consideration of the topic again, it would have to be “taken from the table”. The use of expressions such as “tabling a motion” for setting aside or killing a main motion can cause confusion due to the usage of such expressions in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries, where they have the opposite meaning—that is, to propose a motion for consideration.[6][7] To make the intent clear internationally, the Congressional Quarterly and its associated CQ publications usually follow the word “table” (as used in Congress) with the word “kill” in parentheses in reporting congressional votes.

Voorbeeld (BrE) to table = ter tafel brengen
The women had tried to table the motion of women suffrage (BBC programma over het vrouwenkiesrecht, gepresenteerd door Amanda Vickerie, 4 febr. 2018)

Voorbeelden (AmE) to table = opschorten, afstellen, (in politiek jargon:) verwerpen:
I move to table Mr. Wood’s motion = Ik stel voor om de motie op te schorten (uit de film ‘Lincoln’ met Daniel Day-Lewis, 2012)
– Senate is voting to table the amendment  (CNN, 21 Jan. 2020, subtitle to a live broadcast of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump) = to shoot/kill/reject the amendment
The Senate is voting to table the amendment into perpetuity. (CNN, 21 Jan. 2020)
The yeas are 53, the nays are 47. The amendment is tabled. (CNN, 21 Jan. 2020)
“Okay. Table it till then?” (Michael Crichton, Disclosure, Arrow Books, p. 53)
– We’ll table the issue for now until we know more. (Baldacci, The Collectors)
When my mother (…) suggested (…) that Hyman Resnick, our local rabbi, should be invited to attend the meeting, nobody else among the organizers (…) showed much enthusiasm for the idea and, after a deferential few minutes of discussion (…), my mother’s proposal was tabled. (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 6)

Voorbeelden in politiek jargon van (AmE) to table (= verwerpen) x to pass / adopt (aannemen) an  amendment, motion, resolution, etc.:
The vote to table the resolution was primarily split along party lines; all Democrats present voted against tabling the motion and a majority of Republicans voted to table the motion. (wikipedia, link)

– A vote may be blocked if the resolution is tabled or sent to committee. If passed, an internal list penned by McCarthy would appoint a speaker pro tempore until a new speaker was named. An election would then begin. (wikipedia, link)
Following an unsuccessful motion to table by Representative Tom Cole, Republican Chair of the Rules Committee, Republican representatives debated McCarthy’s speakership on the House floor. (wikipedia, link)

Een synoniem  van (AmE) table in de betekenis van “op de lange baan schuiven” / “afstellen” (in plaats van “uitstellen”) is (IntE) “shelve“:
“The debt ceiling gimmick has been postponed, and perhaps shelved, by Republican leaders who see the handwriting on the wall.” (Time Magazine, Feb. 4, 2013, p. 15)

3. chamber maid: (BrE) kamermeisje in hotel; (AmE) werkster, huishoudster

4. ton / tonne
(BrE) ton = long ton (= 2240 British pounds = ± 1016 kg)
(AmE) ton = short ton (= 2000 American pounds = ± 907,2 kg); ook in Canada.
tonne = metric tonne (= de metrische ton = 1000 kg) in BrE; vóór 1985 ook wel gespeld als metric ton.
Sinds de Weights and Measures Act van 1985 is de Britse (long) ton vervangen door de (metric) tonne. Britse verkeersborden vermelden het maximaal toelaatbare gewicht van bijv. vrachtverkeer in tonnes (d.w.z. veelvouden van 1000 kg).
The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English (3e editie, 2009) geeft de volgende Usage Note:
“The ’ton’ in GB is the ‘long ton’ (two thousand forty pounds). In the US, the ’ton’ is the ‘short ton’ (two thousand pounds). The metric ton is one thousand kilograms and is officially spelled ’tonne’ in GB.”

Voorbeeld (AmE) long ton / (metric) ton:
– the authorities had recovered an estimated seven hundred kilos, or three quarters of a long ton, of pure cocaine. (…) an estimated one hundred metric tons coming in each year (…). (John D. McDonald, The Lonely Silver Rain, chapter 15)

(BrE, snelheid) a ton = 100 (“he was doing a ton” = “he was driving 100 miles/hour”)
(BrE, geld) = 100 pounds/quid

(AmE, figuurlijk)  a ton (of), tons, tons of* = (BrE) a load of, loads (of)* = (IntE) a lot of, lots of , lots = (Ned) een heleboel, massa

Voorbeelden figuurlijke betekenis (AmE) a ton (of), tons (of):
Russia’s economy is based largely on oil and gas, of which they have a ton. (David Baldacci, King and Maxwell, ch. 55)
he has tons to spare. (David Baldacci, King and Maxwell, ch. 56)
a ton of documents ended up somehow being lost. (David Baldacci, King and Maxwell, ch. 61)

– He was tons better than most guys his age. (David Baldacci, King and Maxwell, ch. 8)
And I could have had a ton of boys in those days. (Scott Turow, Identical, ch. 6)
Dita was on the bed and there was a ton of blood there. (Scott Turow, Identical, ch. 31)
I’ve been putting in a ton of overtime.(Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice, ch. 22)
– He had his own computer and tons of games. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice, ch. 24)
– There’s been tons of press. > een massa publiciteit (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice, ch. 20)
he was now restoring to sarcasm, by the ton. (Tom Wolfe, Back to Blood, chapter 1)

5. chesterfield
(BrE): type bank of stoel met karakteristieke dikke kussens
(AmE ook): (1) soort lange jas (a top coat); (2) populair sigarettenmerk*, (dientengevolge vaak als synoniem voor sigaret gebruikt)
(CanE): zitbank (algemeen, synoniem: sofa)*

(BrE) chesterfield

(BrE meestal:) chesterfield

(AmE) chesterfield

(AmE meestal:) chesterfield

Voorbeelden van (AmE)  chesterfield = overjas:
“By plan, Wunsch, in an old Chesterfield topcoat, would already be lurking on the ground floor.” (Scott Turow, Personal Injuries, ch. 12)
– (…) an Italian-looking guy in his fifties wearing glasses, a fitted Chesterfield coat and snappy gray fedora, rang the bell and identified himself (…). (Elmore Leonard, Hot Kid, chapter 13)
He sat down in the morris chair, a newspaper folded in the pocket of his Chesterfield. (Elmore Leonard, Hot Kid, chapter 13)

Voorbeelden van (AmE)  chesterfield = sigaret:
“She was a tiny woman (…) always smoking Chesterfields.” (Scott Turow, The Laws of our Fathers, Penguin edition p. 160
“Do you want a chesterfield?”(…) “I’ll have one of those chesterfields now”. (Uit de beroemde ‘Sicilian scene’ gespeeld door Dennis Hopper en Christopher Walken in de film “True Romance” van scriptschrijver Quentin Tarantino, zie link)
Honey watched him bring out a pack of Chesterfields and hold it out to offer her one. (Elmore Leonard, Up in Honey’s Room, chapter 2)

Voorbeeld (AmE/BrE/IntE) chesterfield = zitbank
– [S]he settled herself on the large chesterfield with a flowery pattern. (Scott Turow, Identical, ch. 24) [ Nederlandse editie: “Ze ging op de grote chesterfield met het bloempatroon zitten.”]

De Chesterfield-sigaret was een populair merk, o.a. bekend vanwege de associatie met literaire figuren als Ian Fleming’s romanpersonage James Bond (zie wikipedia, link)

   

6. davenport
De davenport desk is vooral bekend in Groot Brittannië, en de davenport sofa is vooral bekend in de V.S.
(BrE) : davenport = davenport desk = (Ned) secretaire (genoemd naar de de Engelse Captain Davenport die dit meubel voor het eerst liet maken a/h eind v/d 18e eeuw)
(AmE) davenport = davenport sofa
1. (moderne betekenis) zitslaapbank, een soort futon, met opbergruimte onder het zitgedeelte;
2. (tot circa WO II) populair type zitbank genoemd naar de Amerikaanse fabrikant A.H. Davenport,
De davenport (zitbank) werd met name in het Mid-Westen van de VS en in de staat New York vaak gebruikt als generieke term voor ‘sofa’.

AmE voorbeelden: in de detectiveromans en -verhalen van Raymond Chandler (vnl. jaren 30) komt de davenport veel voor :
– “She was curled up with her feet under her on a davenport which seemed to contain most of the cushions in the room” (uit: I’ll Be Waiting),
– “She lay as I had left her, half sideways along the davenport (uit: Farewell My Lovely)
“The thin blonde girl was hunched on one end of the davenport (uit: Simple Art of Murder)
– “Blonde Agnes let out a low animal wail and buried her head in a cushion on the end of the davenport (uit: The Big Sleep)
– “She took herself another gill without trimmings, wound herself back on the davenport (uit: Red Wind)
Andere voorbeelden van (AmE) davenport (sofa):

the davenport where Gene Berglund had read his fishing and hunting magazines (Jonathan Franzen, Freedom, p. 125)
He slept on the davenport, with its tartan bolsters … (Scott Turow, The Laws of our Fathers, p. 557)

(BrE) davenport
(BrE) davenport

(AmE) davenport

(AmE) davenport

Vergelijk (AmE) Hide-A-Bed = (BrE) put-you-up, sofa bed

7. Yankee
BrE: de Amerikaan in het algemeen
AmE: (1) Amerikaan uit de noordelijke staten, gezien door de ogen van iemand die in de zuidelijke staten woont, soms met de negatieve betekenis van iemand die wat al te arrogant, zakelijk, gemanierd (geaffecteerd), of opdringerig is. (2) zie BrE betekenis

Voorbeelden (AmE) Yankee = Noorderlingen, New-Englanders,  Amerikanen van de Noord-Oostkust:
– In John Grisham’s The Client wordt iemand uit Washington DC die het het zuiden van de VS bezoekt als Yankee herkend en aangeduid door zijn manier van praten: “his words were crisp and precise“.
– In Saving Faith van David Baldacci wordt de term “Yankee” ook met de noord-oostelijke manier van praten in verband gebracht: “Ward’s voice was deep and sonorous, and so wonderfully southern, all traces of clipped Yankee long gone.”
– the smugness Yankees can’t help exuding when they venture into (…) the Deep South. (John Grisham, The Appeal)
– “It wasn’t General Lee, it was Abe Lincoln who freed the slaves,” Augustus pointed out. (…) “One was a Yankee and one wasn’t.”
(Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, chapter 1)
– her parents had got nervous about Yankees and left Mobile
(Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, chapter 3)
An edge in the crisp northeast breeze had cleaned the long beaches of everybody except diehard Yankees (…), (John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt, chapter 15, situated in Florida)

Voorbeelden (AmE) Yankee = Amerikaan (in het algemeen):
It was one of their endless committee meetings (…)  on how to fit their people into the Yankee culture, find the jobs, assist each other. It works. (…). [O]f all the ethnic groups in the Miami area, the Cubanos have the lowest crime rates. (…) She is in a strange limbo now, where neither Cubans nor Yankees can understand her. (John D. MacDonald, A Deadly Shade of Gold, chapter 7)
(…) dozens of people wondering how best to pry some of the Yankee dollars out of my pocket. (…) Too many Americans had shown them how easy it could be. Greed was replacing their inborn courtesy, pesos corrupting their morals. (John D. MacDonald, A Deadly Shade of Gold, chapter 9)

8. second-guess (verb)
OALD (9th ed., 2015):
(1) to guess what sb will do before they do it: “It was impossible to second-guess the decision of the jury.  = anticiperen op, vooruitlopen op, speculeren over, (soms met negatieve bijklank) voor je beurt spreken
(2) (especially NAmE) to criticize sb after a decision has been made, to criticize sth after it has happened” = achteraf beoordelen/bekritiseren, bedenkingen achteraf hebben
Deze betekenissen zijn min of meer tegengesteld.
Wat wordt er bijvoorbeeld bedoeld met de zin: “it is not to us to second-guess the process”

Voorbeelden van BrE betekenis (vooruitlopen op, anticiperen op, speculeren over):
– Interviewer: “Can you tell us what the Prime Minister should do? – Politician: “I’m not going to second-guess his decision.” (= speculeren over) (from the BBCtv programme ‘Newsnight’)

It seemed outrageous to her that these middle class wankers should base their decisions on second-guessing what the jury, or the defence would do: taking prejudice, skill and incredulity into account before they were even expressed. (Frances Fyfield, Without Consent, ch. 2)
Ryan looked at him, wryly, each of them second-guessing the other.”(Frances Fyfield, Without Consent, ch. 3)
It was difficult to second-guess their minds, but she had to try.(Frances Fyfield, The Art of Drowning, ch. 21)
I wouldn’t like to second-guess the parole board, but (…) . (Labour MP Caroline Flint, in the BBC programme Question Time, 23 October 2014)
– In the months that followed, an inordinate amount of time was spent second-guessing the First Minister [Nicola Sturgeon] and trying to stop her blindsiding the UK government. (The Spectator, 10 Dec. 2022, ‘The Lockdown Diaries’, page 21)

Voorbeelden AmE betekenis (achteraf beoordelen/bekritiseren, bedenkingen achteraf hebben):
He’s very much guided by impulse and is, therefore, troublesome to second-guess.” > Het is daarom moeilijk te voorspellen wat hij zal gaan doen. (Patricia Cornwell, Cruel and Unusual(Patricia Cornwell, Cruel and Unusual, Epilogue, vertaald door Annette Zeelenberg als “Rigor Mortis”)
– She can second-guess indictments. (Scott Turow’s “Presumed Innocent”)
– “I tell him how much I admired his defense of me, how seldom I was inclined to second-guess (= achteraf bekritiseren, uit Scott Turow’s “Presumed Innocent”)
– “Don’t second-guess yourself. You know this stuff. You’re a genius” (David Baldacci in Zero Day, paperback, p. 561)
The military does not second-guess itself. That would be tantamount to admitting a mistake.”(David Baldacci in Zero Day, chapter 96)
Soldiers simply did what they were told. He wasn’t second-guessuing anything (…). (David Baldacci, First Family)
I’m not second-guessing anything with my country’s security at risk. (David Baldacci, True Blue)
But there is no time for fear or second-guessing, no time to ask. What in hell am I doing here?” (John Grisham, The Racketeer , ch. 36; “kritiek achteraf geven”)
her mother’s second-guessing of her decision (…) to stop celebrating Hanukkah and other Jewish holidays. (Jonathan Franzen, Freedom, p. 79)
Enid had second-guessed his siting of the bar (…). (Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections, “One Last Christmas”)
– [M]ore than once I second-guess my decision to go to Frank Taylor’s office. But I had to bring everything to this. There was no other choice.” (Stephen Frey in Day Trader, chapter 22)
had there been an instant of doubt – of second-guessing? (John Grisham, Sycamore Row, ch. 1)
They had resolved long ago that they would never second-guess one another on decisions that had to be made in the moment.
(Scott Turow, Identical, ch. 21)
– She made the decision that she no longer needed security. I wasn’t in a position to second-guess her. (Steve Martini, Double Tap, chapter 6)
She’s picking lint from her dress off of one thigh (…). (Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 10)
Why try to analyze Norman? (…) How could she presume to second-guess him (…) and even wonder if Norman didn’t find it to his advantage to have Maurice undergo such endless therapy? (Tom Wolfe, Back to Blood, chapter 12)
You think you can come here and second-guess the management team? (Michael Crichton, Disclosure, Arrow Books page 432)

Voorbeeld second-guess = speculeren over, vooruitlopen op, raden wat er gaat gebeuren in een Amerikaanse tekst:
– While he sat here wired, trying to second-guess what was going on. (Elmore Leonard, Bandits, chapter 4)

9. snooker (verb):
OALD (9th ed., 2015):
(1) (in the game of snooker) to have your opponent in a snooker (a position from where there is no possibility of escape)
(2) (BrE, informal) to make it impossible for sb to do sth, especially sth they want to do: Any plans I’d had for the weekend were by now well and truly snookered (= gedwarsboomd)
(3) 
(AmE, informal) to cheat or trick sb.

Voorbeelden (AmE) snookered = (Ned) in de luren gelegd, belazerd:
– Tom Hanks (…) believes the public has been snookered into believing that Lee Harvey Oswald was framed.
(Time magazine 15 mrt. 2010)
– They’d been snookered by the intrepid journalist” (= om de tuin geleid) (David Baldacci, The Whole Truth)
– “I think the whole world was basically snookered” (= cheated, conned) (David Baldacci, The Whole Truth)

– “She’d been snookered into going into protective custody again.” > Ze was natuurlijk woedend dat ze was belazerd en weer voor haar eigen veiligheid was opgesloten. (David Baldacci, The Innocent / Onschuldig, vertaald door Hugo Kuipers en Jolanda te Lindert, hfdst 89)
– But she’s too smart. She’s snookered ‘em. > Maar ze is ze allemaal te slim af (Steve Martini, The Attorney, chapter 7, vertaald als De Advocaat door Hugo Kuipers).
But I couldn’t get fourteen men out of my mind, men who’d been snookered by the business with the eyes, the dear little voice, (…) men who’d marveled at the luck that had brought them in their middle years the heats and devotions of such a spectacular young girl (…). (John D. MacDonald, Darker than Amber, chapter 11)
– I got snookered into this. What I want to do is sell and move out and get some peace and quiet. (John D. McDonald, Condominium, chapter 18)
This is unbelievable corruption at the highest lecvel of government, and the media. We are all being snookered by them. This has been a massive diversion operation. (Senator Ron Johnson about the cover-up of the Hunter Biden laptop by the FBI, Fox News, 3 April 2022)

10. ratty
(BrE) snel aangebrand, slecht gehumeurd, becoming angry very easily, grumpy, irritable (OALD 9th edition, 2015)
(AmE) sjofel, slordig, in bad condition, shabby (OALD 9th edition, 2015)

Voorbeeld (BrE):
– Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn was irritable, ratty. I don’t blame him. He must feel like a sportsman who’s been thrashed in the semi-final and has to hang around for a meaningless third place play-off. (Daily Mail, 21 Dec. 2019, page 9)

Voorbeelden (AmE):
– a ratty connector [flight] to Glasgow, a ratty tug boat, a ratty bathrobe (David Baldacci’s “The Whole Truth”)
– her ratty hair
(Baldacci, The Sixth Man, Ch. 84)

The boy wore a ratty T-shirt. (Stephen Frey, The Insider, ch. 23)
He crawled to the nearest object, which was an easy chair (…), it was pretty ratty. (Michael Crichton, State of Fear, Avon Books, page 475)

11. trapezium / trapezoid
(BrE) trapezium = (AmE) trapezoid = (Ned) trapezium (vierhoek met twee parallelle zijdes)
(AmE) trapezium = (BrE) trapezoid (vierhoek zonder parallelle zijdes)

(BrE) trapezium / (AmE) trapezoid(BrE) trapezium / (AmE) trapezoid

(BrE) trapezium = (AmE) trapezoid = (Ned) trapezium

(BrE) trapezoid / (AmE) trapezium

(AmE) trapezium = (BrE) trapezoid
(Ned) trapezoïde (vierhoek zonder parallelle zijdes)

(Zie ook Fowler’s Modern English Usage, 2004)

12. ‘heavy duty words’: woorden met veel verschillende betekenissen zoals ‘pop, ‘fix’, ‘can’, ‘cop’ (zie ook note 54 en note 77)
(AmE) pop is zo’n ‘heavy duty word’. Naast de betekenis van ‘frisdrank’ heeft het woord veel andere betekenissen. Zie bijv. de boeken van David Baldacci:
– a thousand dollars a pop (= per keer)
– suppose we check it all out and nothing pops. (= levert resultaat op)
– Let’s see if anything pops (= idem)
– after that dream popped, she developed a drug habit
– she put a rubber tourniquet around his forearm to pop up his veins (= appear, become visible)
– sleeping with the mosquitoes and eating hardtack until your arteries pop (= burst?)
– it’s like he popped into a damn hole somewhere (= fell)
– some guy called her up and said ‘Let’s have a pop
– He was counting on sth. to pop for him (= resultaat opleveren)
– they get their methadone pop every day (= shot)
– give them a pop (= een injectie met een stimulerend middel)
– He had been popped in the head for apparently chewing too loudly (= hit)
pop sb. in the brain (= shoot)
– their were people out there who might take a pop at this guy
– Mildred gave her husband the last pop (= zetje, duwtje)
– he gets popped for his trouble (= shot)
– our guy knocks on the door, and when someone opens it, everyone pops out (uit de auto springen)
– If somebody cancels on us, we can pop you up higher on the list
– Uncle Sam popped him for income tax evasion (arresteerde hem, pakte hem ?)
– she double-clutched [and] popped a wheelie
– people pop and drop
– he grabbed two beers [and] popped the tops (wipte open)
– … pop open the fridge
– I go in the house, get popped, and you, a poor innocent dupe, almost lose your life too. (neergeschoten)

– He popped the trunk and looked down at the woman lying there. (uit: King and Maxwell, ch. 31) [= opende]
– Marshall handed Grant a beer. Grant popped it and took a swig. (opentrekken) (uit: King and Maxwell, ch. 54)

Uit Ellroy’s L.A. Confidential:
– he popped sweat
– take some test pops (injecties, shots)
– Bud popped the chain, [and] walked in (broke)
– Bud popped the hood, yanked the distributor – the car stalled dead (trok open, wipte open)
– Bud popped the door with his hand
– He gave a shove; the door popped (vloog open)
– he popped two grasshoppers (slikte in?)
– this clown was popped twice for stach rape (gearresteerd)
– Lunceford’s arrest record: nineteen felony pops in eleven years as a cop (arrestaties)
– a flashbulb popped (= flitste)
– he popped somebody and tossed him into a garbage bin (= shot/killed; legde om)

Andere voorbeelden (AmE) pop:
– Brenda popped an ice cube in her mouth. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Trial by Fire, ch. 10)
– The SEC might take a keen interest in how I knew to buy the stock just a few minutes before it popped. (Stephen Frey, The Day Trader, ch. 11)
– Twenty bucks a pop. Best cigar this side of Cuba. (Stephen Frey, The Insider, ch. 1)
– I hadn’t seen him since he got popped more than ten years ago. (Patricia Cornwell, Cruel and Unusual, ch. 5) [= opgepakt, gearresteerd, in de kraag gevat]
– Ordell Robie (…) bailed out the guy who was popped by somebody (…) > doodgeschoten  (Elmore Leonard, Rum Punch, chapter 11)
– Sometimes when he was (…) drinking a lot he’d forget where he parked (…). He’d had a few pops this afternoon before he picked her up. > Hij had er al een paar op / Hij had al een paar neuten gehad (Elmore Leonard, Rum Punch, chapter 22)
– You couldn’t have the star get popped ten minutes into the picture. (Elmore Leonard, Be Cool, chapter 1)
– He is a kid, drinks all night and gets sick, has a few pops in the morning to bring him back to life. (Elmore Leonard, Be Cool, chapter 7)
– The second guy (…) pops the guy twice in the chest. (Elmore Leonard, Be Cool, chapter 9)
– Paji hunched over to pop on the radio. (Elmore Leonard, Be Cool, chapter 17)
– They moved along in the traffic watching brake lights popping on in the dark (…). (Elmore Leonard, Be Cool, chapter 17)
– He got popped in the back of his head. (Elmore Leonard, Be Cool, chapter 21)
– Jack’s quick with his hands; oh, he’ll pop you before you know it, but he’s never used a gun, I’m sure, on another person. (Elmore Leonard, (Bandits, chapter 24)
– I tried to pop this guy a number of times for receiving stolen property. > arresteren (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice, chapter 13)
– It sounded like popping the tab on a beer can. > open wippen (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 26)
– He popped ‘em, man. Both guys, twice in the chest. (Elmore Leonard, Bandits, chapter 27)
– He popped his fingers and a waiter trotted over. > knipte met zijn vingers (John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt, chapter 10)

Het woord ‘pop’ heeft zeker twintig slang-betekenissen (inclusief een aantal in het BrE). Voor een lange lijst, zie bijvoorbeeld The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English.

Een ander ‘heavy-duty word is (AmE) fix, vroeger meer dan tegenwoordig. Charles Dickens schreef er al over in zijn American Notes (1842):
“There are few words which perform such various duties as the word ‘fix’. It is the Caleb Quotem of the American vocabulary. You call upon a gentleman in a country town, and his help informs you that he is ‘fixing himself’ just now, but will be down directly: by which you are to undertsand that he is dressing. You inquire, aboard a steamboat, of a fellow-passenger, whether breakfast will be ready soon, and he tells you he should think so, for when he was last below, they were ‘fixing the tables’: in other words ‘laying the cloth’. You beg a porter to collect your luggage, and he entreats you not to be uneasy, for he’ll ‘fix it presently’: and if you complain of indisposition, you are advised to have recourse to Doctor So-and-so, who will ‘fix you’ in no time.
One night, I ordered a bottle of mulled wine at an hotel where I was staying, and waited a long time for it; at length it was put upon the table with an apology from the landlord that he feared that it ‘wasn’t fixed properly’, and I recollect once, at a stage coach dinner, overhearing a very stern genkleman demand of a waiter who presented him with a plate of underdone roast-beef, ‘whether he called that, fixing God A’mighty’s vittles?'”  (chapter 10)

(AmE) well-fixed = welgesteld (zie bijv. East of Eden, van John Steinbeck)

Voorbeelden  (AmE) to be fixing to = van plan zijn ((Bright Orange for the Shroud, chapter 12)vnl. in zuiden /mid-westen van de VS):
“What’re you fixing to do, some tap dancing?” (Elmore Leonard, The Hot Kid, chapter 20)
– I am fixing to stick some of those boys with the items I want to upload. (John D. MacDonald, A Purple Place for Dying, chapter 6)
-“(…) what kind of persuasion you’re fixing to use on him.  (John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt, chapter 11)
“I‘m not fixing to get any surprise from him for sure.” (John D. MacDonald, Bright Orange for the Shroud, chapter 12)

13. Zie Fowler’s Modern English Usage, 2004:
billion: ‘Since 1951′, the OED says, ’the US value, a thousand millions, has been increasingly used in Britain, especially in technical writing, and more recently in journalism: but the older sense ‘a million million’ is still common.(…).”
milliard: “In BrE = one thousand million. Now almost entirely superceded by billion.”
trillion
Historisch verschil (zie H.W. Horwill, Modern American Usage, 1935):
(BrE) trillion = triljoen
(AmE) trillion = biljoen = (BrE) billion
Hoewel de Amerikaanse betekenissen van billion en trillion inmiddels volledig ingeburgerd zijn in BrE, blijven stijlboeken (o.a. Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage, 3 ed. 2011) nog wijzen op de afwijkende Britse (en Canadese) betekenis.

13a. care (I could care less / I couldn’t care less): (zie note 34)

13b. cute: The original 18th-century meaning ‘quick-witted, keenwitted, clever’  has disappeared in BrE but not in AmE. “In AmE, beginning in the 1830s, a new informal use emerged, ‘attractive, charming, pretty (often in a mannered or amusing way)’. (…) It has much more restricted currency in BrE, except as applied to babies when other adjectives seem inadequate. In other BrE contexts, cute ranges from tepid approval to latent disapproval.”

13b. entrée: (zie food, note 42)

13d. executive: “Apart form its general use for one of the three branches of government, of which the others are the legislative and the judicial, executive is, in Britain, the name given to one of the three general classes of civil servants of which the others are the administrative and the clerical. In America it means the higher officer with important duties in a business organization, and this meaning, outside the civil service, has now become common in Britain also. The word has also spread to other areas (…)”

13e. impeach: “In BrE it means ’to charge with a crime against the State, esp. treason’. In AmE it means ’to charge (the holder of a public office) with misconduct’. What it does not mean is ’to dismiss from office’.

13f. Indian: “In BrE an Indian is first and foremost a native or national of India, or such a person born in and resident in the UK or elsewhere. What the Americans now call native Americans are for the most part called American Indians or (less commonly) Red Indians in BrE, except in the traditional phrase cowboys and Indians.”
[The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English (3e editie, 2009) voegt hier de volgende Usage Note aan toe:
“In contemporary usage, American Indian is being replaced by Native American in the USA and by First-Nation person in Canada.”]

13g. jurist: zie law notes

13h. majority / plurality : “(…) in British elections majority means the number by which the votes cast for one party, candidate, etc. exceed those of the next in rank (he won by a majority of 2,400 votes). In AmE, such an excess of votes is called a plurality, as distinguished from a majority, which in such circumstances is applied only to an absolute majority of all the votes cast.”

13i. presently:
(BrE/CE) presently* = spoedig, weldra, straks, zo meteen
(AmE ook) presently = (1) even later, direct, (zo) meteen; (2) nu, momenteel (= at present)

Etymologie:
The oldest sense (15c.) of those still current is ‘at the present time, now’; it is now chiefly used in America and Scotland. What the OED calls its ‘blunted sense’, because it became weakened at an early date (by the 17c.) from immediately’ to ‘in a little while, soon’,  is not quite as old, but is now the main current sense in England and elsewhere.”

Voorbeelden (AmE) presently = at present = nu, momenteel, op het moment:
Aside from Moses, the only other person who will address the jury is a lean young Assistant US Attorney with a glossy mop of black hair named Daniel Feld, presently typing on his laptop with the passion of a concert pianist.” (Scott Turow, The last Trail, 2020, part 1, chapter 2)

Vertaalprobleem / ambiguïteit:
Presently in de betekenis van ‘spoedig, ‘weldra’, ‘(zo) meteen’  wordt in zowel het Brits- als het Amerikaans-Engels gebruikt en roept daarom geen onduidelijkheid op, hoewel (AmE) presently meer de betekenis van ‘meteen’,  ‘onmiddelijk’ heeft dan dat dat voor (BrE) presently (weldra, spoedig, straks) het geval is. De typisch Amerikaanse hedendaagse betekenis ‘nu’, ‘momenteel’ komt in het Brits-Engels alleen in oude teksten en in het huidige Schots-Engels nog voor.Onduidelijkheid over de betekenis van (AmE) presently ontstaat doordat het voor tweeërlei uitleg vatbaar is.  Deze ambiguïteit roept verwarring op bij niet-Amerikanen die de betekenis van ‘nu’/ ‘momenteel’ niet kennen, maar ook voor de Amerikanen zelf. In het stijlboek Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage (3e editie, 2009)  wordt het gebruik van ‘presently’ in de typisch Amerikaanse betekenis van ‘nu’, ‘momenteel’ daarom afgeraden in formele juridische teksten. Dit ondanks het feit dat (AmE) presently  een gevoelsmatig logisch alternatief is voor ‘at present’. Garner’s Dictionary vermeldt hierover: Some writers deprecate the additional sense [“at present’, ‘curently’] the Oxford Guide states that it is “widely used and often sounds more natural than at present”.Vergelijk: momentarily

13j. rock / stone:
“In BrE a small piece of rock capable of being thrown is normally called a stone (or a pebble); in AmE the word used in this sense (as well as for a mass of stone forming a cliff, etc.) is a rock (or a pebble), but not a stone.”

(BrE) rock = rots (= AmE) bolder
(AmE) rock = steen /steentje = (BrE/IntE) stone
(AmE) rock = steen  van betrekkelijk geringe afmeting en gewicht, die je in de hand kunt houden, of in een broekzak, dus kleiner dan een kei of rotsblok (AmE: bolder) 

Uit de volgende voorbeeldzinnen blijkt de afwijkende betekenis van (AmE) rock:
That’s not a rock, that’s a bolder. (…) It’s huge. – To prevent oversized rocks from damaging the washplant (…) – a hundred-pound bolder. (From: Discovery Channel, Gold Rush, year 5, episode 16)
Rocks flew in her face as he drove off, the exhaust fumes choking her and causing her to cough amid her tears. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Mitigating Circumstances)
(…) the wind began to blow. (…) It was acrid with dust. The tiny rocks it carried stung Joseph’s eyes. (John Steinbeck, To a God Unknown, chapter 25)
Young Yakov danced around on his toes flinging rocks at various objects in the street. He Always carried a pocket full of rocks in case they ran into some bullies. (Leon Uris, Exodus, Book 2, chapter 3)
The rock in his right hand, hidden against his hip as he squatted there, was a little larger than a baseball, jagged and heavy. (E.B. Mann, Troubled Range, chapter 13)
Once he threw rocks (…) at big Dave Cosgrove (…). (Tom Wolfe, I am Charlotte Simmons, chapter 6)
She stood up angrily and tossed a rock into the pool. (E.B. Mann, Troubled Range, chapter 7)
– She found a rock larger than a man’s head on the creek-bank (…). She tossed a smaller rock into the water. (E.B. Mann, Troubled Range, chapter 8)
The rock in his right hand (…) was a little larger than a baseball, jagged and heavy. (E.B. Mann, Troubled Range, chapter 13)
Perhaps you might be able to roll enough of this rock over the edge so you can get the jeep by. (…) I lifted my suitcase out of the little car, and we climed over the rock. It was a fresh slide. The broken edges of the rock showed that. (John D. MacDonald, A Purple Place for Dying, chapter 1)
– We climbed over the loose rock and walked up the road. (John D. MacDonald, A Purple Place for Dying, chapter 2)
They’d throw rocks if that’s all that was handy. (Elmore Leonard, The Bounty Hunters, chapter 16)
Jasper had concluded that the best way would be to pelt him with small rocks (…).   (Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, chapter 22)
A good-sized rock came flying through the air. (…)  Here we are in a rock-fight with a girl (…). (Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, chapter 52)
“Who’s throwing rocks? (Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, chapter 52)
– [T]he mob cursed him and threw tomatoes and rocks. (John Grisham, Rogue Lawyer, 2015, Part 1, chapter 2)
–  I kept away, ready to hurl my beeper (…) at his head, but the instrument weighed no more than a small rock. > … het apparaatje was niet zwaarder dan een kiezelsteen. (Norman Mailer, Tough Guys Don’t Dance, 1984, vertaald door Frans Bruning, chapter 6)

Vertaaltips & dilemma’s:
Het volgende citaat laat zien dat (AmE) rock zelfs voor een ‘stukje gruis‘ gebruikt kan worden dat door de wind kan worden meegeblazen:
– (…) the wind began to blow. (…) It was acrid with dust. The tiny rocks it carried stung Joseph’s eyes. > De wind was bijtend van het stof. Het steengruis dat er door werd meegevoerd prikte in Jozefs ogen. ” (John Steinbeck, To a God Unknown, chapter 25, vertaald als Aan een Onbekende God, E.D. Veltman-Boissevain)

Rocks” die meegevoerd worden door de wind kunnen dus  scherpe en harde stukjes stof of “gruis” zijn die een fractie van een millimeter groot zijn. Wanneer zulk gruis met grote snelheid in iemands gelaat of ogen komt, prikt het, het voelt scherp aan, maar geeft geen pijn of verwonding zoals een groter stuk steen of ander hard voorwerp zoals een knikker, kogel, kiezelsteen of een stuk grind zou doen. De vertaling “grind”  in het volgende voorbeeld is daarom niet goed gekozen:
Rocks flew in her face as he drove off, the exhaust fumes choking her and causing her to cough amid her tears.Grind vloog in haar gezicht toen de auto weg stoof. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Mitigating Circumstances, vertaald als Fatale Vergissing door Els Franci)
N.B. Voor de betekenis “grind” kiest dezelfde auteur even verderop liever het woord “gravel” (The gravel crunched … > het grind knerpte …)

De problemen die vertalers soms met (AmE) “rock” hebben, zijn te verklaren uit het feit dat er moeilijk of geen (?) woordenboeken te vinden zijn die de precieze betekenis van (AmE) “rock” in een dergelijke context afdoende beschrijven. The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English (3e editie, 2009) volstaat in dit verband bijvoorbeeld met de volgende Usage Note:
“In BE a rock is typically too big to be thrown. Thus, ’to throw a rock at somebody‘ is esp. AE (CE has ’to throw a stone at smb.’). However, the figurative expression ’to throw rocks at smb.’ (= ’to criticize smb.’) is CE [= Common English].”

In het gedetailleerde werk The Dictionary of American Regional English is de specifieke, van het Brits-Engels afwijkende, betekenis van (AmE) rock weliswaar onderzocht, en wordt vermeld dat “In the Southern and Western States, stones of any size are absurdly called rocks“, en dat zinnen als “I got a rock in my eye“[=  een stukje gruis]  mogelijk zijn, naast zinnen als “He had his pocket full of rocks”  en “Us boys were throwing rocks at each other today” [= stenen/steentjes] (DARE , volume IV, page 610). Maar tijdens de nationale taalenquête van DARE is niet onderzocht of, en hoe algemeen, de betekenis van “een stukje gruis” (in een zin als “I got a rock in my eye”) in de VS voorkomt. De vraagstelling van het DARE-onderzoek beperkte zich tot “questions eliciting words for a stone that can be thrown“, en de conclusie luidde dat “it is one of the peculiarities of the dialect of the people in the westernmost states, to call small stones rocks. And therefore they speak of throwing a rock at a bird, or at a man.” (DARE , volume IV, page 610)

Het feit dat de eerder hierboven genoemde citaten van Steinbeck en Rosenberg Taylor beide auteurs betreffen die in de staat Californië woonachtig zijn/waren, kan erop wijzen dat “rock” in de betekenis van  “gruis” een taalfenomeen is dat kenmerkend is voor het westelijk deel van de VS. Het feit daarentegen dat deze auteurs voor een groot publiek schrijven/schreven lijkt echter ook aan te tonen dat het om een meer algemeen bekende, en erkende, Amerikaans-Engelse woordbetekenis gaat.

13k. vest: “In BrE a vest is an undergarment worn on the upper part of the body, equivalent to an AmE undershirt. In AmE a vest is the term for what in BrE is called a waistcoat. In former times (17-19c.) vest was used for a variety of men’s and women’s garments. At the present time, in addition to the primary senses given above, an athlete’s top garment is sometimes called a vest; and in AmE the term is also used for a short sleeveless woman’s jacket.”
(Zie ook clothes, note 8)
(BrE) vest = hemd = (AmE/IntE) singlet, undervest
(AmE) vest = (Ned) vest = (BrE) waistcoat

Voorbeelden (BrE) vest = hemd:
– On one single occasion, she had been stopped by the store detective, leaving with a vest tucked up the sleeve of her jacket. A vest, of all things! Nothing gorgeous, just an ugly piece of thermal underwear, chosen (…) simply to find out if thieving was as easy as someone had said it was.” (Frances Fyfield, Without Consent, ch. 6)
He had been born a country boy sent out to school in sensible vests. (Frances Fyfield, Blood from Stone, ch. 15)

Vertaaltips, valkuilen & dilemma’s + suggestions for unambiguous (IntE) usage:
Omdat veel Britten zich steeds meer bewust zijn van de mogelijke ambiguïteit van (BrE) “vest in de betekenis van “hemd“, komt het woord “undervest nu ook in BrE voor:Vertalers vanuit het Nederlands die een neutrale (IntE) vertaling zoeken om ambiguïteit en misverstanden te voorkomen, kunnen het best voor “singlet” (of eventueel “underpants“) kiezen als vertaling voor “hemd”.Voorbeeld (BrE/IntE):

Jimmy shrugged off his jacket, revealing a grubby singlet (…) (Frances Fyfield, The Nature of the Beast, ch.13) Voorbeeld (AmE/IntE):– Her father was in the front room of their apartment in a sleeveless undervest. (Scott Turow, Identical, ch. 23)Vergelijk het gebruik van “underpants” of “singlet” in plaats van “pants” in de betekenis van “onderbroek” (zie note 64)


13l. visitation: “Now little used except for official visits of inspection, esp. ecclesiastical, by someone in authority, and for an affliction attributed to divine or other supernatural agency. Visitation is also used in some parts of America (beside viewing and visiting) for the paying of last respects to the dead in the day or days between death and burial (…)”.

14. (AmE) juice
(BrE) juice = benzine, diesel; energie; (soms:) plezier

(AmE informeel) juice = (1) electricity, (2) fig.: power/energy, (3) drugs, sterke drank, (4) werkwoord: zuipen, drugs nemen (juiced = high on drugs, vergelijk (AmE) sauce/sauced = sterke drank, bezopen) (5) rente

(AmE) juiced = (1) dronken, (2) high, (3) opgefokt, (4) opgewonden, enthousiast (zie www.urbandictionary.com)

(AmE) to juice – zuipen, (drank) innemen
(AmE) to juice up = to spike = alcohol toevoegen

De betekenis ‘kracht’, ‘energie’ van (AmE) juice wordt door de Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (OALD 9th ed, 2015) niet vermeld, maar is wel een belangrijke (figuurlijke) betekenis van (AmE) juice.

(1)
Voorbeelden (AmE) juice = elektriciteit, energie, brandstof, vermogen:

You sure that’ll give us all the power we need? I mean for everything you’ve got planned? That’ll take a lot of juice.” > “Weet je zeker dat het ding voldoende vermogen heeft? Voor alles wat je van plan bent, bedoel ik. Dat gaat een hoop stroom kosten.” (David Baldacci’s Split Second, chapter 46, vertaald door Rogier van Kappel, “Onbewaakt Ogenblik”)
– With a little juice in her veins and a little tailwind and using that slope, she might be able to jump the damn fence. > (…)  met een beetje inspanning, wind mee en die glooiende helling zou ze er waarschijnlijk wel in slagen over dat verdomde hek te springen. (David Baldacci’s Split Second, chapter 15, vertaald door Rogier van Kappel, “Onbewaakt Ogenblik”)
– (..) the great Heat Lamp above began to amp up the juice. (Tom Wolfe, Back to Blood, chapter 21)
– You wouldn’t need a lot of juice to blow up a bus. (David Baldacci, The Innocent, chapter 12)
(…) a car with  little more juice (Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff, chapter 7)

(2)
Voorbeelden (AmE) juice = macht, invloed

(…) work to earn him juice with the D.A.’s Office. (James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, chapter 3)
– “I knew you had juice. You squared it with Green?”(James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, chapter 13)
– Why didn’t D.A. Ellis Loew (…) give us a backscratch in return and use his legal juice to force the LAPD to track down the Sidster’s slayer?
(James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, chapter 41)
– I’ll use every bit of my juice to ruin you (James Ellroy’s L.A. Confidential, chapter 51)
– The dealer had more juice than he did, so (…) he got fired (…).
(Elmore Leonard, Glitz, chapter 11)
“And Christ they have juice now.” Graham said. The heat on my ass is terrific. (Michael Crichton, Timeline, Arrow Books, p. 280)

Voorbeelden (AmE, figuurlijk) juice = energie, pit, kracht:
The whole pack entered the courtroom full of juice, bulging with steel muscles and hard-jawed defiance (…) > De hele bende kwam bruisend van energie de rechtszaal in (…).  (Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities, chapter 5, vertaald door Jan Fastenau, et al., Vreugdevuur der IJdelheden)
– There had been an animal vitality bout these broad-beamed coutry girls (…). The juice really flowed … (Tom Wolfe, A Man in Full, chapter 3)
You can’t just tell a player he’s gotta get his juice back. (Tom Wolfe, I am Charlotte Simmons, chapter 15)
When he gets enough brave juice in him he’ll come and tell you (…). (Elmore Leonard, The Bounty Hunter, chapter 17)

(3)
Voorbeeld (AmE) juice = geld, poen

– He’s a big indie promotor now, Car-O-Sell Entertainment. Gets the juice from the label and dazzles the program directors with it (…)> (…) Krijgt de pecunia van de platenmaatschappij en speelt daar mooi weer mee bij programmamakers (…)  ( Elmore Leonard, Be Cool, chapter 1, vertaald door Theo Horsten, “Cool”)

Voorbeeld (AmE) juice = rente (aan geldschieters)
-The colored guy stood close, staring into Chili’s face, (…) telling Chili it was to remind him when he looked in the mirror he owed fifteen plus whatever the juice, right? The juice would keep running until he paid. > (…) dat dit hem er aan zou herinneren, als hij in de spiegel keek, dat hij nog vijftien mille plus rente schuldig was, dat klopte toch? De commissie liep steeds verder op, tot hij had betaald. (Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty, chapter 1, vertaald door Marijke Versluys, “Geldschieter”)

(4)
Voorbeelden (AmE) juice = (zelfst. naamw.) alcohol, drank, drugs; (werkw.) zuipen, drugs nemen

Ed Exley (…) might get uppity over a hundred cops juicing in the muster room. (James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, chapter 1)
– she couldn’t be full on the juice (James Ellroy’s L.A. Confidential)
Jack kept the trunk – and dipped into it for bennies to keep him juiced on all night stake-outs.   (= high on drugs) (James Ellroy’s L.A. Confidential), chapter 6)
He hit the motel juiced, primed to figure angles. (James, Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, chapter 34)
Sailors downing cold beers, happy folks juicing their lights out [= boozing; zuipen] (James Ellroy’s L.A. Confidential)

Voorbeelden (AmE) juice up = to spike = alcohol toevoegen:
Some day he’ll juice up a couple of her drinks (…). (John D. MacDonald, A Deadly Shade of Gold, chapter 18)

(5)
Voorbeeld (AmE) juice = rente (= AmE: the vig):
– You owe fifteen plus the fifteen hundred juice. (Elmore Leonard, Riding the Rap, chapter 2)
He loses, what’s the juice, straight ten percent? (…) Says he dropped ten Thousand and paid another grand for the vig. (Elmore Leonard, Pronto, chapter 1)
I (…) paid him off on Monday, eleven grand with the juice. (Elmore Leonard, Pronto, chapter 2)

Voorbeelden (AmE) juiced = opgefokt, hyper:
He hung around (…), not wanting to push any more of their buttons. They were all juiced and seeing how ugly they could act. (Elmore Leonard, Tishomingo Blues, chapter 24)
I’ve gotten prety juiced about other people’s money. (Stephen Frey, The Day Trader, chapter 12)

Vertaaltips en dilemma’s:
Zonder een duidelijke context is het moeilijk precies te weten welke vertaling voor de slang-woorden ‘juice’/ ‘juiced’ het best is.
Voorbeeld:

He hung around (…), not wanting to push any more of their buttons. They were all juiced and seeing how ugly they could act. > Ze waren allemaal bezopen en deden hun best om zo lelijk mogelijk te doen. (Elmore Leonard, Tishomingo Blues, chapter 24, vertaald door Theo Horsten)
Opmerking:
De betekenis/vertaling ‘opgefokt’, die de meeste woordenboeken niet is opgenomen, lijkt hier meer voor de hand te liggen. 

15. kettle
(BrE) kettle = meestal met tuit: ’theeketel’; uitzondering: fish kettle
(AmE) kettle = kookpan, kookpot (bijv.: a popcorn kettle) = (BrE) pan, pot
(Ned.) ketel = theeketel, brouwketel, destilleerketel, verwarmingsketel, etc. (zowel mèt als zonder tuit)

16. protest
De BrE en AmE betekenissen zijn tegengesteld:
(BrE) sb. protests their innocence = verkondigen
(AmE) sb. protests their conviction = protesteren tegen, aanvechten =  (BrE) protest against* (zie de BBI Usage Note hieronder)

Uit Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage (3e editie, 2011):
“Protest against’ is common also in AmE. (…) In AmE, however, ‘against’  is regularly omitted. An exception to the general British legal idiom [protest against] is the phrase ‘protest a bill of exchange”“.
The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English (3e editie, 2009) geeft de vogende Usage Note:
“BE distinguishes between ‘she protested [‘asserted’] her innocence = ‘she protested that she was innocent’ and ‘she protested against/at [= ‘opposed’]  her parking fine’.
AE can make that distinction, too – but is more likely nowadays to have both ‘she protested her innocence’ and ‘she protested her parking fine’.”

Voorbeelden van de Amerikaanse betekenis van ‘protest’ (= protesteren tegen):
– Australian sheep farmer Peter Spencer, 61, has spent more than a month and a half on a hunger strike to protest a climate-change policy that prohibits him from clearing vegetation from his farm.” (Time magazine, 18-01-10)
– Hundreds of thousands of Portuguese march in Lisbon on April 9 to protest austerity measures.” (Time magazine, 15-04-11)
– the million marchers who’d gathered on the Mall (…) to protest the war.
(Scott Turow, The Laws of Our Fathers, p. 150)
a black group (…) is planning a march through Canton (…) protesting racism (…). (Tom Wolfe, A Man in Full, chapter 21)

17. quite
(BrE) quite = (1) heel, zeer, (2) nogal
(AmE) quite = heel, zeer

Uit het volgende onderdeel van een consumentenonderzoek van de British Library blijkt dat (BrE) quite ‘minder sterk’ is dan very:
How likely are you to recommend the British Library to others?
very likely
o quite likely
neither likely nor unlikely
not very likely
not at all likely
De enige manier om de betekenis van (BrE) quite te bepalen is door te kijken naar de context. Als vuistregel geldt dat de betekenis van quite voor een ‘sterk’ woord als ‘perfect’ of ‘wonderful’ ook sterk (‘heel’/’zeer’) is, terwijl het bij een ‘minder sterk’ woord als ‘nice’ of‘pleasant’ een zwakkere betekenis (‘nogal’) heeft. In de spreektaal kan de ‘sterke’ betekenis (‘heel/’zeer’) van (BrE) quite ook bepaald worden door er extra nadruk op te leggen’.

Voorbeelden van  een Brits-Engelse dialoog waarin het betekenisverschil tot misverstanden kan leiden:
-“That was great, wasn’t it?! How do you feel?”
– “We’re quite happy”.
– “Oh?! I thought we’ve been doing great, but now I’m not so sure.”
– “No, no, I mean we’re very happy.”

– “He was quite excited.
– “Quite excited? He was very excited.” (from the BBC programme The Apprentice, 17 Nov. 2016)

– “I quite like it.
– “Quite?
– “I really like it!”

Uit Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage (3e editie, 2011):
“To say that something is ‘quite good’ is a compliment in AmE but nearly the opposite in BrE.”

18. giddy
Hoewel woordenboeken als Oxord,Webster, Van Dale, etc. er geen melding van maken, leveren de verschillende betekenissen van ‘giddy’en ‘giddiness’ in de communicatie tussen Amerikanen en Britten toch misverstanden op. In zowel het informeel geschreven boekje The Sceptic’s Companion van Chris Rae als het gezaghebbende werk van Norman W. Schur, British English A to Zed, wordt er aan gerefereerd. Schur wijst alleen op de uitdrukking (BrE) “a giddy fit” = a dizzy spell. De Amerikaan Chris Rae gaat nog wat verder in zijn beschrijving van de verschillende betekenissen die hij in het dagelijks spraakgebruik is tegengekomen:
(BrE) giddy = “dizzy” or “vertiginous”.
“In the U.S. [“giddy”]  means silliness and/or giggling – the British definition is more of a medical condition. The British driving license application form asks the applicant whether they are ‘subject to excessive giddiness’.”
Woordenboeken als de OALD (9th edition, 2015) maken voor het woord “giddy” geen onderscheid tussen AmE en BrE.
(BrE/IntE) giddy = duizelig, draaierig, ‘daas’, zwijmelig (een lichamelijke/medische toestand).
Voorbeelden BrE:
She had an absurd desire to thank him for (…) making her feel giddy, like a vodka on an empty stomach. (Frances Fyfield, Seeking Sanctuary, ch. 6)

a description for a kind of giddiness, a lack of steadiness in the head, an imbalance of vanity against reality (Frances Fyfield, Without Consent, ch. 11)
Tombo giggled, giddy with relief (Frances Fyfield, Deep Sleep, chapter 4)
‘Wow’, she muttered, rising from her stool and feeling giddy, steadying herself on the doorframe. (Frances Fyfield, Deep Sleep, ch. 8)
Pip looked down, slightly giddy. (Frances Fyfield, Deep Sleep, chapter 12)

– bij het aanvragen van een Brits rijbewijs wordt gevraagd of de aanvrager last heeft van “excessive giddiness
– “Its effect in this instance was to render the patient so giddy and addleheaded, that he could say nothing more” (Martin Chuzzlewit, hoofdstuk 46)
– “(…) until their eyes are dazzled with it, and the head is giddy” (Martin Chuzzlewit, hoofdstuk 27)
(AmE) giddy* = frivool, lichtzinnig, jolig, dartel, wuft, hoteldebotel, hyper = “silliness and/or giggling”
Het Dictionary of American Regional English (“DARE”) vermeldt “giddy-headed” in de betekenis van “frivolous, volatile, incautious, very silly”.
De betekenis “duizelig”, “duizelingwekkend” lijkt in het Amerikaans Engels niet erg gangbaar.

giddiness = euforie, uitgelatenheid, grote opwinding, grote opgetogenheid, groot enthousiasme.
Voorbeelden AmE:
– Time magazine (Joe Klein, 12 April 2010): “… there was a distinct giddiness at NATO headquarters in Kabul. Senior military officials (…) said (…) that the tide had turned. In several crucial southern sectors, the Taliban were demoralized. (…) I must admit (..) I’ve never heard the U.S. military talk so … airily before.”
And so began the happiest years of their life. For Walter, especially, it was a very giddy time. (p. 129)

He was giddy, like a young boy on Christmas morning who’d just been given the pony he’d been begging for all year.(Stephen Frey, The Insider, ch. 16)
They were happy, even giddy, and no one was really sure if they were more excited over winning or relieved at not losing. (John Grisham, Gray Mountain, ch. 20)
a giddiness that only instant and unearned wealth can create. (John Grisham, Sycamore Row, ch. 9)
De tegenwoordige Amerikaanse voorkeursbetekenis “euforisch”, “erg opgewonden”, “hoteldebotel”, “hyper”, “uitgelaten” (of frivool, lichtzinnig, jolig, dartel, wuft) komt in het BrE ook voor, zoals in de uitdrukking I feel giddy as a kipper (in een aflevering van Bargain Hunt, BBC 1)
‘a giddy kipper’ = ‘a very talkative and excitable person’, is een regionale uitdrukking die is afgeleid van ‘kipper’ in de betekenis van een mannetjeszalm in paringstijd, in zeer drukke en opgewonden toestand.

De medische definitie van (BrE) “giddiness”
is synoniem met “light-headedness”, “vertigo”, “dizziness”.
Beide termen hebben de ruime betekenis van “symptoms such as faintness, spinning and unsteadiness.
Zie Pinkhof Medisch Engels: Key Words in Context van Michael & Ingrid Friedbichler, 2009, pp. 532, 579.
Deze definitie toont het raakvlak tussen (1) duizeligheid (draaierigheid) en (2) lichthoofdigheid (frivoliteit), en (3) hallucinatie (euforie). Interessant in dit opzicht is ook de medische term “giddy euphoria”.

Voorheen (bijv. in de 18e en 19e eeuw)
werden de betekenissen van, enerzijds, euforie en uitgelatenheid en (vooral bij kinderen) frivoliteit en lichtzinnigheid (silly / silliness), en anderszijds duizeligheid, draaierigheid, duizelingwekkend (dizzy/dizzying/dizziness) naast elkaar gebruikt.
In Bailey’s Universal Etymological Dictionary (1e editie 1721) kwamen de verschillende definities ook voor:
(1) vertiginous (duizelig, draaierig)
(2) unsettled in mind, rash, inconsiderate (frivool)
(3) “mad with anger, furious” (doldwaas, door het dolle) [deze betekenis lijkt niet meer voor te komen)
Het tweetalige (BrE-Ned.) Pocket Dictionary van Baldwin Janson (1794) geeft als vertaling voor ‘giddy’:
duizelig, duizelachtig, zwijmelachtig
Daarnaast vermeldt Janson het woord ‘giddy-headed’ in de betekenis van “ijdelhoofdig”, “hersenloos”, “werveziek”
Charles Dickens gebruikte het woord ‘giddy’ in de beide betekenissen:
In Dombey and Son (1848) komen de volgende voorbeelden voor:
– “Cleopatra [a.k.a. Mrs. Skewton / Edith’s mother], left alone, feels a little giddy from her strong emotion, and falls asleep” (chapter 31)
– “[A] young lady of sixty-five (…) whose manners had that indefinable charm which so frequently attaches to the giddiness of youth.”(chapter 38)
In Our Mutual Friend (1864-5) werd het woord ‘giddy’ in de betekenis van ‘lichtzinnig’, ‘ondoordacht’, ‘frivool’ (een karaktereigenschap) meerdere keren op het bruizende en extraverte personage van Bella toegepast. Zo vraagt ze aan haar vader: “Do say that you are sure I am giddy and inconsiderate, but have never really slighted you, Pa.” (boek 2, hfdst 8). Bellas karakter kenmerkt zich door haar “giddy vanityand wilfulness”(boek 3, hfdst. 5). Haar karakter werd later als volgt samengevat: “The wayward, playful, affectionate nature, giddy for the want of the weight of some sustaining purpose, and capricious because it was always fluttering among little things, was yet a captivating one.” (boek 3, hfdst 9). Ook: “Tippins (…) turns about and about in het innocent giddy way”(boek 2, hfdst 6)
De betekenis van ‘duizelig, draaierig’ (een fysieke ongesteldheid) wordt in Our Mutual Friend ook een aantal keren gebruikt. De poppenmaakster en vriendin van Little (Amy) Dorrit, Jenny, zegt op een gegeven moment “I have shaken [my drunken father] till I have made myself giddy” (boek 3, hfdst 2). Miss Lavvy wankelt op haar benen (“tottering”) wanneer ze zegt: “George dear, I am afraid I have been foolish; but I am still a little bit weak and giddy; don’t let go my hand, George!”(boek 4, hfdst. 5). Bradley Headstone wordt fysiek onwel wanneer hij hoort van het aanstaande huwelijk van iemand die hij meent te hebben vermoord en krijgt iets dat op een aanval van epilepsie lijkt: “Bradley Headstone caught hold of a pillar behind him (…). “You are quite ill, Mr. Headstone!””It is not much, sir. It will pass over very soon. I am accustomed to be seized with giddiness.”(boek 4, hfdst 11)
In Little Dorrit wordt Mrs Gowan door een aanval van duizeligheid overvallen (een flauwte): “She revived from her fainting fit. (…) It is only a slight bruise, and has been well looked to, and is almost easy now. It made me giddy and faint in a moment.” (book 2, hfdst.1)
In The Old Curiosity Shop wordt Mr. Brass, de advocaat van Mr. Quilp, draaierig en misselijk van de zware pijp die zijn cliënt hem
letterlijk laat roken: “The legal gentleman, being by this time rather giddy and perplexed in his ideas, (…) took the opportunity of slinking away into the open air”. (hfdst. 11)
Ook Richard (Dick) Swiveller voelt zich ‘giddy’ (duizelig) wanneer hij op zijn ziekbed ligt:
“I’m too giddy and too queeer to suggest anything (..)”
De andere betekenis van ‘giddy’ (als karaktereigenschap) komt voor in een opmerking van Mr. Short over het ondoordachte gedrag van zijn collega Mr. Codlin tegenover de “single gentleman”: “I ask the gentleman’s pardon on your account, as a giddy chap that likes to hear himself talk, and don’t much care what he talks about, so that he does talk.” (hfdst 37)

19. wash up
(BrE) wash up = afwassen (nà het eten) = (AmE / IntE) wash/do the dishes
(AmE) wash up = zich opfrissen (vóór het eten), handen wassen / gezicht wassen / eventueel ook: even naar het toilet / haren kammen / netjes kleden

Voorbeelden (BrE) wash up = afwassen, de afwas doen:
He even washed up his cup after I’d told him he needn’t do it. (The Spectator, 29 May 2021, page 18)
First thing he’d do when she’d drunk it would be to take that cup and saucer away and wash it up carefully. (Agatha Christie, Ten Little Niggers / (AmE edition) And Then There Was None, chapter 6)

Voorbeelden (AmE) wash up = zich opfrissen:
“I won’t tell till you wash up, because you’ll have to be clean to hear it.” (John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, 1939)
“We’ll go get washed up.” (
The Laws of our Fathers, Scott Turow, Penguin edition, p. 343)
“‘Dinner. Dinner. Wash up.” In the bathroom, from the toilet, Nikki eyes me. ‘Do boys have to wipe?'” (The Laws of our Fathers, Scott Turow)
She had washed up and put a shirt on, the romance part over for the time being. > Ze had zich gewassen en een hemd aangetrokken. De romance was even verleden tijd (Elmore Leonard, Rum Punch, chapter 14, vertaald onder de titel ‘Lokaas’ door Martin Lamme, later verfilmd als ‘Jackie Brown’ door Quentin Tarantino)
You know what it’s like to screw a coal miner, even after he’s washed up? (Elmore Leonard, The Hot Kid, chapter 6)
“Can I wash up first?” “After”,  Delsa said. “We’d like to get you the way you are.” (Elmore Leonard, Mr. Paradise, chapter 9)
He had (…) brushed his teeth,and washed up here and there. (Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 14)
He walked down to the pool, washed up.  (Harry Whittington, Desert Stake-Out, chapter 4)
– “Betsey, go find July and the men and ask them if they want to wash up before we go,” she said. (Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, chapter 87)
Mr. Taylor drove us back to the Evergreen so we could wash up and rest. (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 2)
– he’d come home at nine, ten A.M., wash up, eat his big meal, go to bed and be asleep by eleven (…).  (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 7)
“I’ll bring in my things an’ wash up. Charlie and Martha waited supper for us.” (Harold Robbins, The Carpetbaggers, Book 2, chapter 1)
Nevada and Pierce went into the bathroom to wash up and Rina and I were left alone. (Harold Robbins, The Carpetbaggers, chapter 6)
– “I took the liberty of ordering a hot supper for you Mr. Cord.” (…) “If you’ll just call down when you’re ready Mr. Cord, we’ll send it right up.”- “Give us a few minutes to wash up, Carter,” I said. (Harold Robbins, The Carpetbaggers, Book 7, chapter 6)
Tom went into the bathroom and washed up noisily. Suddenly the water went cold. He swore and dried himself quickly (…). (Harold Robbins, The Carpetbaggers, Book 8, chapter 8)
His cuffs were damp and I realized he must have washed up at the cellar sink. > Zijn manchetten waren vochtig en ik besefte dat hij aan het aanrecht in de kelder zijn handen had gewassen. (Norman Mailer, Tough Guys Don’t Dance, 1984, vertaald door Frans Bruning, chapter 7)

The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English (3e editie, 2009) geeft de volgende Usage Note:
“In AE ’to wash up’ means ’to wash one’s dirty hands (and perhaps face)’; in BE, it means ’to wash the dirty dishes’.

Voorbeeld (AmE/IntE) do the dishes / wash the dishes = (Ned) afwassen:
– I am doing a few dishes in the sink. (Steve Martini, The Attorney)
“I washed the damn dishes.” (John D. MacDonald, Warmer than Amber, chapter 3)
– ‘”We like you even if you don’t do the dishes, Vangie.” (John D. MacDonald, Warmer than Amber, chapter 4)
Don’t you ever do the dishes? (Elmore Leonard, Swag, chapter 21)
Mrs. Wishnow had washed and dried the dishes (…)  (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 6)
I washed the damn dishes. (John D. MacDonald, Darker than Amber, chapter 3)
– We like you even if you don’t do the dishes. (John D. MacDonald, Darker than Amber, chapter 4)
She’d serve dinner and then leave and do the dishes. (John D. MacDonald, Bright Orange for the Shroud, chapter 3)

Heel zelden komt wash up = “afwassen” ook in Amerikaanse teksten voor.
Voorbeeld
(AmE/IntE ) wash up = afwassen
Bolivar (…) sulked at the thought of two more breakfasts to wash up after. (Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, chapter 6)
At twenty to midnight (…), after I had washed up after my plate of scrambled eggs and onion, I got the little sheet she had torn out of her notebook. (John D. McDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt, chapter 10)

20. bomb
(AmE/ BrE) to bomb* = enorm tegenvallen, afgaan, floppen
(AmE) a bomb = een fiasco, afgang, afknapper
(BrE) a bomb = (1) een klapper (2) een flinke duit

Voorbeeld (AmE/ BrE) to bomb = floppen:
The movie bombed, man, and everybody lost money. (Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty, chapter 27)

Voorbeelden (AmE) a bomb = een flop:
– He financed a movie using a tax shelter plan and it was a bomb, a dead loss. (John D. MacDonald, The Lonely Silver Rain, chapter 12)
Now I’m stuck with an artistic bomb. (Harrold Robbins, The Carpetbaggers, chapter 16)

Voorbeelden van ( BrE) to bomb:
– “Will it fly, or will it bomb? We’ll soon find out.”
– “It could fly, it could bomb.” (about an item up for auction in BBC’s Bargain Hunt)
– “Nobody in the debate bombed, and nobody dominated” (n.a.v. Britse verkiezingsdebatten in 2010)

Voorbeelden (BrE) go like  a bomb = succesvol zijn, lopen als een trein, gaan als een speer :
“Horse called Pink Jade in the two-thirty at Epsom. Bloke in the café rates it. Says it’ll go like a bomb, nothing to stop it.” (Frances Fyfield, Shadows on the Mirror, chapter 2)

Voorbeeld (BrE) a bomb = een flinke duit
It would have cost a bomb (Frances Fyfield, Blood from Stone, ch. 7)

21. meat wagon (slang)
(BrE ook:) politiebusje, gevangenwagen/-busje = police van / paddy wagon / (†) Black Maria / “a prison-service or police vehicle used for confining and transporting prisoners” (The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang, 2006)
(AmE oorspronkelijk, tegenwoordig ook BrE) ambulance (oorspronkelijk uit 2e WO)*

Voorbeeld (AmE) meat wagon = ambulance
– “Horns blasted; motorcycles ran interference: meat wagons cut off by the crowd” > Er werd getoeterd, motorrijders probeerden een weg te banen voor ambulances. (James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, Ch. 16, vertaald door Auke Leistra, “Strikt Vertrouwelijk”)
The squad-car guys didn’t know for sure he’s dead, so they call EMS.EMS comes, they take one look, call the meat wagon. (Elmore Leonard, City Primeval, chapter 3)
– (…) ride in the meat wagon sometime. (…) Come back to Receiving with the meat wagon (…). (Elmore Leonard, Unknown Man #89, chapter 2)

Voorbeeld van (BrE) meat wagon =  ambulance:
“Is the meat wagon on the way?” (P.D. James, Original Sin, chapter 22)

(BrE) meat wagon
(BrE) meat wagon = police van

 

(AmE) meat wagon
(AmE) meat wagon = ambulance

22. slate
(BrE) slate sb = (ook:) iemand bekritiseren, een standje geven
(BrE/AmE) slate* = op het programma / de agenda zetten, plannen*

BrE voorbeeld:
– The suspected terrorists were slated for deportation to Pakistan. (BBC Newsnight)

AmE voorbeelden:
– They are both slated to be paroled in September.
(Time Magazine)
– The Committee, where every dirty secret was always known, was unwilling to slate Tommy for this job – or even a judgeship. (Scott Turow, Innocent, chapter 4)

We are slated to meet at a point along the highway. (Steve Martini, The Arraignment, 2003, chapter 32)
The ship was slated for scrap. > stond op de nominatie om gesloopt te worden (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 12)
[H]e was slated to enter college in the fall. (Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities, chapter 10)

23. knock up / make love
Het Britse gebruik van ‘knock somebody up’ = (‘wakker maken’) is bij Amerikanen niet algemeen bekend. De volgende passage in het boek Barnaby Rudge (1841) van Charles Dickens, waarin deze uitdrukking voorkomt, zal daarom door de meeste Amerikanen niet goed begrepen worden:
‘What! haven’t you sleep enough, growler, that you’re not to be knocked up for once?’ said John.” (hoofdstuk 34)
Het feit dat de opmerking deel uitmaakt van een dialoog tussen twee mannen (John Willet en Hugh) zorgt er in dit geval overigens wel voor dat de lezer niet zomaar verder leest.
In Martin Chuzzlewit wordt de vroedvrouw Mrs Gamp soms midden in de nacht met luide kloppen op de deur gewekt: “Mrs Gamp (…) was knocked up again that very night for a birth of twins” (hoofdstuk 19).  Later zegt Mrs. Gamp in dit verband: “I’ve been knocked up at all hours of the night”(hoofdstuk 40).
Na terugkeer van Mark Chuzzlewit Jr. en Mark Tapley op Engelse bodem: “After a sufficiently long and painful walk they arrived at the inn, and having knocked the people up (it being very early in the morning) (…)” (hoofdstuk 17).
In Dombey and Son  (1848) is een vergelijkbaar voorbeeld te lezen:
“On these occasions Mrs. MacStinger was knocked up by the policeman at a quarter before three in the morning, and rarely succumbed
before twelve oçlock next night.” (hfdst 23)
Uit The Old Curiosity Shop (1841) komt het volgende citaat:
“Nell (…) came to imagine the state of consternation in which they would certainly throw that good lady [Mrs. Jarley] by knocking her up in the middle of the night.”(hfdst 30)
Ook een tweede betekenis van “knocked up” die door o.a. Charles Dickens werd gebruikt, namelijk “afgepeigerd”/ “doodop”, kan gezien de tegenwoordige Amerikaanse betekenis verkeerd worden opgevat. In de roman Martin Chuzzlewit komen een aantal passages voor. De jonge Martin zegt (frappant genoeg op het moment dat hij zich met Mark Tapley in de VS bevindt): “I am quite knocked up – dead beat, Mark” (hoofdstuk 17)
In Dombey and Son  (1848) komt de uitdrukking in dezelfde betekenis voor: “Paul was quite alarmed by Mr. Feeder’s yawning; it was done on such a great scale, and he was so terribly in earnest. All the boys too (Toots excepted) seemed knocked up.” (hfdst 12)

Voorbeelden AmE betekenis (zwanger maken):
Stella insisted I go with her to tell her parents she was knocked up, see. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Trial by Fire, ch. 2)
She had gotten herself knocked up by her boyfriend and incited her father’s wrath. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Trial by Fire, ch. 2)
“Listen, I spent every night of a year trying to knock Muriel up.” (Elmore Leonard, Up in Honey’s Room, chapter 13)
She got knocked up by some loser. (Elmore Leonard, Raylan, chapter 24)
– She said it was a serviceman from Fort Bliss knocked her up. (Elmore Leonard, Be Cool, chapter 16)
She had been knocked up on a football weekend by a guy she said she loved and was going to marry. (Michael Crichton, A Case of Need, Monday October 10, chapter 1)
Well, she got knocked up. So she announces that she is going to get rid of it (…) (Michael Crichton, A Case of Need, Wednesday October 12, chapter 1)
– the big famous Dr. Geis was busy knocking up a young dumb kid (…). (John D. MacDonald, One Fearful Yellow Eye, chapter 3)
– “An’ dang my britches if it weren’t a fact you’d knocked her up at most two weeks after you were married.” (Harold Robbins, The Carpetbaggers, Book 9, chapter 8)
She’s got the screwy idea that every time I come near her she’s knocked up. (Harold Robbins, A Stone for Danny Fisher, Corgi Books 1967, Book 4, chapter 5)

De Amerikaanse betekenis (‘zwanger maken’) wordt inmiddels niet alleen herkend en begrepen, maar in Groot-Brittannië ook aktief gebruikt. Zo zei de Engelse actrice Minnie Driver op mei 2010 in de Graham Norton Show van de BBC: “I was very pregnant. You know … big. That’s what happens when you get knocked up“.

N.B.
Het gebruik van ‘make love’ in de betekenis van ‘het hof maken’ was tot en met de 19e eeuw (en later) algemeen Brits- en Amerikaans Engels, en werd door schrijvers als Charles Dickens en Henry James veelvuldig gebruikt. Bij moderne verfilmingen van boeken als Portrait of a Lady (van James) of Hard Times (van Dickens), gaan ondertitelaars hier regelmatig mee de mist in. Tenzij de context dit onmogelijk maakt natuurlijk, zoals in de volgende passage uit Hard Times:
Love was made on these occasions in the form of bracelets; and, on all occasions during the time of betrothal, took on manufacturing aspects. Dresses were made, jewellery was made, cakes and gloves were made, settlements were made, and an extensive assortment of facts did appropriate honour to the contract.” (Penguin edition, p. 107)
Mr. Josiah Bounderby maakte op deze manier zijn veel jongere aanstaande vrouw Louisa Gradgrind het hof.

24. fanny
Voor Amerikanen is het woord ‘fanny’ een keurig en algemeen gangbaar woord voor ‘achterste’, ‘achterwerk’, ‘bips’ of ‘kont’ van zowel mannen als vrouwen (het is een netter alternatief voor (AmE) “ass”), terwijl (BrE slang)  fanny = poes / vagina = (AmE) box. Andere Amerikaanse slang-words voor “bips/achterste/kont” zijn: heinie en can.

Vertaaltips en dilemmas: de Language Gap
(1)

Uit de Amerikaanse literatuur blijkt dat op het woord fanny geen sex-gerelateerd taboe rust. Maar het valt te betwijfelen of de uitgever (Heinemann) van de voor de Britse markt bedoelde versie van John Steinbecks The Winter of Our Discontent (John Steinbeck, 1961) zich ervan bewust was dat dit in de Britse context anders is. De volgende fragmenten bleven ongewijzigd en werden zonder voetnoot in het Verenigd Koninkrijk gepubliceerd:
“Her tweed skirt clung lovingly in against her thighs and tucked up under her proud fanny (hfdst 1)
“I crept up on Mary and patted her silk-covered fanny (…)” (hfdst 7)

De Nederlandse vertaler Rein F. Herman blijkt in Wintertij van Weerzin (1961) de Amerikaanse betekenis goed te kennen:
– Haar twee rokje kleefde teder tegen haar dijen en trok wat op onder haar trotse derrière (…)
– Ik sloop naar Mary toe en klopte haar op haar in zijde gehulde derrière (…).
(2)
Voorbeelden van verkeerde vertalingen van (AmE) fanny:
She dropped the towel, giving him a clear shot of her pert little fanny, and reached to take her green bathrobe from a hook on the wall. She kept her back to him slipping into the robe (…). >Ze liet de handdoek vallen, toonde in volle glorie haar parmantige kleine kutje en pakte haar groene badjas van een haakje aan de muur. Ze stond met haar rug naar hem toegekeerd (…). (Elmore Leonard, The Hot Kid, chapter 11, vertaald door Daphne de Heer, “Hot Kid”)
Carl tried the edge of a deep chair and then sat back as Doris Belmont sank into the middle of the davenport and wiggled her fanny into the cushion. > Carl ging voorzichtig op de rand van een grote stoel zitten en leunde pas achterover toen Doris in het midden van de bank ging zitten en een beetje heen en weer wiebelde op de bank. (Elmore Leonard, The Hot Kid, chapter 12, vertaald door Daphne de Heer, “Hot Kid”)
Doris said, ‘You know what I have under this cushion? A thirty-two-caliber pistol. ‘ She wiggled her fanny to show Carl where it was. > Doris zei: ‘Weet u wat ik onder dit kussen heb zitten? Een .32-kaliber pistool.’ Ze wiebelde wat met haar kruis om Carl de plek te tonen. (Elmore Leonard, The Hot Kid, chapter 12, vertaald door Daphne de Heer, “Hot Kid”)
– ‘I’m telling you, these old guys are honest-to-God gentlemen. I’m serving them, they hunch over for a light, my puss is practically in their face, but they’re casual about it. Once in a while I got a pat on the fanny. That’s all. They have a couple of snifters, smoke their cigars and go home. But, each one gave me a peck on the cheek and at least a five-buck tip.‘ > Ik bedien ze, zij buigen zich naar voren voor een vuurtje, ze zitten praktisch met hun neus in mijn doos, maar ze doen net alsof er niks aan de hand is. Ze nu en dan kloppen ze er even tegen. Dat is alles. (Elmore Leonard, The Hot Kid, chapter 13, vertaald door Daphne de Heer, “Hot Kid”)
(3)

Tijdens een uitzending van Wimbledon-toernooi op de BBC ontstond er een misverstand over het woord ‘fanny’ tussen de Amerikaanse tenniser/gastcommentator John McEnroe  en zijn Britse collega’s: :
“[A] few years ago, the famous tennis star John McEnroe made quite a blunder on nationwide British television. He was one of two commenting on the Wimbledon tennis matches, and this particular day, there’d been several rain delays. John was asked the question by his fellow commentor of what might he say to encourage the spectators to more quickly return to their seats so that play could resume. He said (paraphasing from memory) “Hey people, get your fannies back in your seats.” Fortunately his quick thinking partner jumped in to say that he thought that John was referring to “bottoms” instead. John did a quick quizzical look, agreed, and then moved off camera to have fanny = poes, vagina + (aME) box it explained, and returned with quite a sheepish look on his face. :-)”(link)

Voorbeelden (AmE) fanny = bips, kont, achterwerk:
She was out on her fanny; she was called ’the Nanny’ (from the theme song of The Nanny, the American TV series with Fran Drechsel)
– “They’d kicked his fanny ( Scott Turow, Reversible Errors, Ch. 26) = They’d kicked his butt = Ze gaven hem ervan langs
– “This fella, Jorge, was (…) one of those unshaved skinny-looking Mexicans who make such amazing light-weights, always whipping the fannies of these sleek black guys with bulging muscles.” (Scott Turow, Pleading Guilty, Ch. 2)
– “Glyndore (…) is one good-looking woman (…) [with] a phenomenal set of headlights, a big black fanny, and a proud imperial face.”(Scott Turow, Pleading Guilty, Ch. 9)
– “If it was coming, it would hit me when I was half alseep, or scratching my fanny (…).” (Scott Turow, Pleading Guilty, Ch. 13)
– “After two weeks of riding my fanny, chasing me everywhere (…), Gino seemed to have run out of gas.” [vertaald in de Nederlandse editie met: “nadat hij me twee weken op de huid had gezeten”] (Scott Turow, Pleading Guilty, Ch. 27)
– “Then meny aunt Myrna shows up in this tight white number, a lady of what? Sixty? And through her panty hose you can see the outline of the tattoo on her fanny.” (Scott Turow, Personal Injuries, Ch. 10)
– “This one gets off by rubbing my business with her titties, and that one can’t come unless my finger’s up her fanny.” (Scott Turow, Personal Injuries, Ch. 14)
– “Every time she sat her large pink fanny down in this automobile something went awry.” (Scott Turow, Personal Injuries, Ch. 18)
“If it was just me, he’d have flunked out my fanny faster than I could scratch it (…).” (Scott Turow, Personal Injuries, Ch. 28)
– “Her own handgun was over her belly in something called a Gunny Sack, and enlarged fanny pack, that could be pulled open.” (Scott Turow, Personal Injuries, Ch. 38)
– “He gets all his key people around. I flew my little Oklahoma fanny in there (…).”  (Scott Turow, the Burden of Proof, Ch. 9)
– “Not bad, you know, for a few phone calles while you’re scratching your fanny.” (Scott Turow, the Burden of Proof, Ch. 10)
– “But ol’ you-know-who he’ll be okay. (…) he’ll turn around and fire someone to cover his hillbilly fanny.” (Scott Turow, the Burden of Proof, Ch. 10)
[At the golf course] “Stern trod down dutifully into the pit, then bedded himself in, dog-like, shaking his fanny.” (Scott Turow, the Burden of Proof, Ch. 15)
– He believed he had given her something to remember and tell about for the rest of her life. How this good-looking guy put his hand on her fanny (…) (Elmore Leonard, The Hot Kid, chapter 18)
He asked me to turn around, but didn’t say anything about my fanny. (Elmore Leonard, Up in Honey’s Room, chapter 17)
He could see the curve of her fanny against the robe. (Elmore Leonard, City Primeval, chapter 23)
She pushed open the screen door with her fanny (….). (Elmore Leonard, The Big Bounce, chapter 8)
His body lay twisted, the sheet pulled tightly against the hard narrow curve of his fanny. (Elmore Leonard, The Switch, chapter 1)
Ordell (…) put a hand on her hip and let it slide over her nice young fanny. (Elmore Leonard, The Switch, chapter 15)
– She squirmed her fanny in the La-Z Boy. (…) Mickey watched her stand up and pull her tight cut-offs out of her fanny. (Elmore Leonard, The Switch, chapter 23)- Then she stooped down (…), and he stared at her fanny (…). (Elmore Leonard, La Brava, chapter 16)
Finally I wormed around and stood upon the seat and got my fanny on the edge of the steering wheel. (John D. MacDonld, The Scarlet Ruse, chapter 21)
– (…) Meyer, deft as a bear, rolled her over, scooped her up, placed her in the bow, fanny on the floorboards, shoulders and back against the angle of the gunnels. (John D. MacDonald, Warmer than Amber, chapter 1)
– he was ready to limber up a little, get the blood flowing again, wiggle his fanny a bit. (Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff, chapter 7)

Voorbeelen (BrE slang) fanny = AmE) box = (Ned)  vagina, poes, doos:
– “He’s a doctor. Saw him yesterday. Stared up my fanny (…) . (Frances Fyfield, Without Consent, ch. 5)

– “You don’t know (…) where to put that dick of yours (…). You want to put dirt up her fanny? That what you want? I bet you bloody do.”(Frances Fyfield, Perfectly Pure and Good, ch. 3)

Voorbeeld (AmE slang) box = (BrE) fanny:
She stood around with her box pushed out like she was daring anybody to make a grab for it. (Elmore Leonard, Swag, chapter 16)
– It was strange, last night she’d been naked, shoving her box at him (…). 

25. thongs


San Francisco, Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39

(IntE) thong(s)=thong panty/panties = tangaslipje, G-string
(AmE) thongs = (IntE) flip flop* = teenslippers

Voorbeelden (AmE) thongs = (IntE) flip flop* = teenslippers 
– rubber thongs for his feet (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 6)

Voorbeelden sandals with thongs:
in her flat white sandals with gold thongs (…). (John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt, chapter 2)
– She wore a white, off-the-shoulder blouse, a lurid peasant skirt, flat gold sandals with long thongs wound and tied around her ankles. (John D. MacDonald, Cancel All Our Vows, chapter
14)

26. backlog / backup = werkvoorraad (positieve betekenis) óf werkachterstand (negatieve betekenis)
(AmE) backlog = (vgl. BrE backup) werkvoorraad, reserve, werk in portefeuille (positieve betekenis)
(BrE) backlog = (AmE) backup = (werk)achterstand
Deze beide betekenissen worden in The Oxford English Dictionary genoemd.
De positieve AmE betekenis van ‘backlog’ wordt niet vermeld in de OALD (9th edition, 2015), maar wel in de Van Dale en de Oxford English Dictionary (an accumulation, a reserve).
De negatieve AmE betekenis van ‘backup’ (= werkachterstand) wordt niet in de OALD, OED of de Van Dale vermeld.
Voorbeeld (AmE):
“The (…) backup is bordering on cataclysmic” (David Baldacci’s The Sixth Man, Ch. 27)
Vergelijk ook: log-jam

27. humane society
(BrE) humane society = Maatschappij tot Redding van Drenkelingen
(AmE) humane society = Dierenbescherming (soms: “dierenasiel”)
In Groot Britannië werd de Royal Humane Society opgericht in 1774. (Zie wikipedia link.) Een aantal jaren eerder, in 1767, was in Nederland  de Maatschappij tot Redding van Drenkelingen opgericht. (Zie wikipedia link) Een vergelijkbare vereniging in Canada is de
Royal Life Saving Society.
In Ward Lock’s Red Guide to London (1898, 17th):
“South of the church [of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, on Trafalgar Square] and below Duncannon Street are the headquarters of the Royal Humane Society, which, founded in 1774, has dome much to encourage the rescue of drowning humainity.” (p. 68)
“In Hyde Park, close to the Serpentine, we have the Humane Society’s Receiving House, for the rescue of submerged bathers or skaters.” (p. 117)
In de VS is er de United States Lifesaving Association, maar daarbij licht de nadruk minder op het algemeen maatschappelijke nut, dan op het specifieke reddingswerk van drenkelingen op zee. (Zie wikipedia link.) vergelijkbaar met de Britse Royal National Lifeboat Institution, of de Nederlandse Koninklijke Nederlandse Redding Maatschappij.
De Humane Society of the United States is een landelijke dierenbeschermingsorganisatie. (Zie wikipedia link.) De (AmE) humane societykomt in actie als er een melding van dierenleed binnenkomt, kan eventueel dieren van hun eigenaren wegnemen, en beheert een opvangcentrum/asiel (“shelter”) voor dieren (rescue animals). “We got the dog from the humane society” wordt daarom soms wel vertaald met “We hebben de hond van het dierenasiel ” (o.a. in het tv-programma The Dog Whisperer van National Geographic, en op de website www.dogforums.com). De (AmE) Humane Society bestaat naast de (American) Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). In Groot Brittannië wordt dezelfde rol vervuld door de Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). Zie ook noot 18 onder het hoofdstuk Landbouw en Natuur.
Voorbeeld:
“To further elaborate, we got the dog from the humane society. They related to us that she was dropped off with four of her brothers as the owners couldn’t care for them all in their apartment. That’s about the extent of what I know.” (link)

28. conservatory = a. (vnl. BrE) serre; b. (BrE/AmE) botanische kas; c. (AmE) conservatorium
(vnl BrE) conservatory = (Ned.) serre = (AmE) sun room / solarium / sun porch / sun parlor
“Today, the terms sunroom, solarium and conservatory are used interchangeably by the public, but in general the term conservatory and particularly English conservatory evoke the image of an ornate structure, echoing the traditions of that Victorian era of conservatory building.” (Zie wikipedia, link)
In AmE is “sun room” verreweg de meest gangbare term voor “serre”. Een Amerikaanse sun room is meestal een aanbouw aan een woning van een eenvoudige constructie.

Voorbeelden van (AmE) conservatory in de betekenis van ‘serre’ (in een meer ornate/Britse stijl uitgevoerd):
“Katherine and her brother relaxed in the conservatory (…).” (Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol, Ch. 51)
“the mansion’s many-windowed conservatory(Freedom, Jonatahan Franzen, p. 330)
(BrE/AmE) solarium(in de betekenis van ‘serre’) is een oudere/verouderde term die soms nog wordt gebruikt wanneer het om oude woningen gaat toen de tegenwoordige solariums met kunstmatig zonlicht/zonnebanken, etc nog niet in opkomst waren gekomen.

Voorbeelden  (AmE) sun room / solarium:
In de Amerikaanse roman The Burden of Proof van Scott Turow (1990) worden de termen ‘sun room’ en ‘solarium’ enkele malen als synoniemen gebruikt (stylistische variatie), maar de eerste keer dat dit gebeurt gaat dit wel met een toelichting gepaard:
“She was in the sun room (…). The sun room – referred to in the old archtitect’s plans, drawn in the twenties, as ’the solarium‘ – was a narrow area, rimmed with windows, floored in slate.” (chapter 2)
– “Silvia, passing through the solarium, frowned at Marta’s directness.” (Scott Turow, The Burden of Proof, chapter 2)
– “Before the huge windows of the solarium, he paused. (…). [T]he pealing of the telephone (…) carried from the open door of the
solarium. (…) Closing the sun-room door, he paused
.” (Scott Turow, The Burden of Proof, chapter 27)
“The late light, almost umber, fell through the broad French windows of the solarium.” (Scott Turow, The Burden of Proof, chapter 39)

(AmE/BrE ook:) conservatory = botanische kas, (grote) plantenkas, (grote) broeikas = greenhouse / BrE: glasshouse: een vrijstaande constructie

Voorbeelden van (BrE) conservatory als ‘deftig’ synoniem van “greenhouse”:
The Princess of Wales Conservatory in Kew Gardens, Londen.
Andere grote kassen in Kew zijn de Palm House en de Temperate House.
In BrE is ‘conservatory’ in dit geval synoniem met ‘greenhouse” en “glasshouse” (link).

Voorbeelden van (AmE) conservatory als ‘deftig’ synoniem van “greenhouse”:
-“Stables were an important part of early White House life. First located several blocks from the Executive Mansion, they were shifted around until the creation of greenhouses forced their removal in 1869 from the west colonnade to the area southwest of the President’s Grounds. In the 1870s and 1880s additional conservatories were added to the White House, including rose houses, a camellia house, orchid houses and a house for bedding plants.” (link)
“The Conservatory of Flowers is a greenhouse and botanical garden that houses a collection of rare and exotic plants in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California. With construction completed in 1878, it remains the oldest building in the park, and the oldest municipal wooden conservatory remaining in the United States. It is also one of the first municipal conservatories constructed in the country.” (link)

Voorbeeldzinnen met (BrE) glasshouse:
“The Glasshouse showcases our world class plant collection providing an enhanced horticultural experience for everyone who visits. The RHS’s extensive tender plant collection, comprising more than 5,000 taxa, is housed here.”

(BrE) conservatory (link)

(BrE) Royal Horticultural Society Glasshouse

 

Conservatory of Flowers, San Francisco

(AmE) West Wing conservatories, 1885

   

(AmE) conservatory = school of music = (Ned) conservatorium = (BrE) conservatoire.
Zie ook andere termen: music academy, music faculty, college of music (link)
De overkoepelende organisatie in het Verenigd Koninkrijk heet Conservatoires UK. In de VS: National Association of Schools of Music
De meest gangbare Amerikaanse term is School of Music (bijv. de presitigieuze Eastman School of Music, link)

Voorbeeld (AmE) conservatory = (Ned.)  conservatorium:
He went to school at the conservatory in Santa Barbara. He’s a musician. A flutist. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice, chapter 17)


(BrE) conservatoire (Deptford, London)

29. (BrE) byelaw(s) / (BrE) by-law(s) / (AmE) bylaws
(AmE) huishoudelijk reglement (statuten)
(BrE) verordeningen m.b.t. het publiek domein (gemeentelijk, van spoorwegen, etc.) = (AmE) ordinance(s)

Voorbeeld BrE:
It was against the local by-laws to stay in a beach hut at night (…) (Frances Fyfield, Perfectly Pure and Good, ch. 7)

Voorbeelden AmE:
– the City of Tulepo (…) passed an ordinance banning the possession of a firearm. (John Grisham, The Appeal, ch. 28)
Such ads could be seen on park benches, city transit buses, cabs, highschool football programs, even telephones poles, though this violated several ordinances. (John Grisham, The Litigators, ch. 1)

(BrE) byelaw (AmE) bylaws


30. cranky, crank, cranked, crankhead

(BrE) cranky = excentriek
(BrE) crank = excentriekeling, buitenbeentje, malloot
(AmE vooral:) cranky = (1) chagrijnig, humeurig, dwars, tegendraads, kribbig, onwillig
(AmE vooral:) crank = chagrijn

De twee bovengenoemde verschillende betekenissen lijken in zowel het BrE als AmE voor te komen, maar d frequentie lijkt te verschillen. Als gevolg daarvan wordt (AmE) crank/cranky, zonder duidelijke context, vaak begrepen in de betekenis van ‘chagrijn(ig)”. Parallel daaraan is de primaire betekenis van (BrE) crank/cranky vaal opgevat in de betekenis van ‘dwars’, ‘excentiek(eling)’. Maarde andere betekenis komt in beide taalvarianten dus ook voor.

Voorbeelden  van (BrE) crank in de betekenis van “excentriekeling, buitenbeentje, malloot”
– “Don’t let a bunch of cranks, with their wacky ideas, dominate the agenda the way they’ve done in the last few years.
(Labour-parlementariër over UKIP in een BBC-interview na de verkiezingen van mei 2015)

a twenty-four-hour number prominently displayed in the London telephone directory attracted the lonely and the cranks. (Frances Fyfield, Seeking Sanctuary, ch. 3)

Voorbeelden van (AmE) crank/cranky/crankhead/cranked = chagrijn/chagrijnig:
– “What an angry crank Walter had become.” (= chagrijn, Jonathan Franzen, Freedom, p. 218)
“I finally got her to try an antidepressant, (…) and she was pretty unbearable while she was on it. It gave her a kind of a crankhead personality (...).”  (dwars, chagrijnig, Jonathan Franzen, Freedom, p. 228)
– “It was also hard to imagine that such a crank was nonetheless loved by somebody.“(chagrijn ?, Jonathan Franzen, Freedom, p. 512)
The crank resumed his hermit life. (…) Walter (…) by himself [was] brooding with hostility and judgment.” (chagrijn (?), Jonathan Franzen, Freedom, p. 547)
“I’m not sorry for you, Seth”.  ‘Holy smokes’, he says, ‘What’s got you so cranky?’”  [= chagrijnig] (uit: Scott Turow, The Laws of Our Fathers, p. 245)
“It’s his chief deputy, Jim Brand, who gets me cranked.’ (Scott Turow, Innocent, chapter 23)
“Jim needed eight hours [of sleep] and when he didn’t get it, he got cranky like a little kid.” (= chagrijnig; Scott Turow, Innocent, chapter 35)
Georgia wheeled back, remaining cranky with her. (chagrijnig; Scott Turow, Identical, ch. 31)
The Honorable Reuben V. Atlee, who, like most old, seasoned, and often cranky Chancellors in Mississippi, ruled with an iron fist and was often skeptical of outsiders. (John Grisham, Sycamore Row, ch. 18)
a cranky drug dealer in Costa Rica ... (John Grisham, Sycamore Row, ch. 20)
by then the lawyers were cranky and fed up with the case. (John Grisham, Sycamore Row, ch. 22)
Cujo [was] coming awake cranky and with bad breath. (Elmore Leonard, Rum Punch, chapter 15)
Virgil kept pointing, ‘That way’. Getting cranky. ‘I told you straight ahead.’ – ‘I gotta get around those trees, don’t I?’ Sounding just as cranky. (Elmore Leonard, Hot Kid, chapter 24)
– he opened his eyes, cranky as hell. (Elmore Leonard, The Hot Kid, chapter 15)
– I get cranky I don’t get my beer in the morning. (Elmore Leonard, Maximum Bob, chapter 28)
It had started. The crank phone calls, the crackpots, who seem always to follow the high profile cases. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 23) [mallote, gestoorde]
We (…) get pissed off and cranky and unreasonable (…). (Elmore Leonard, City Primeval, chapter 11) [chagrijnig]
the investors (..) were getting cranky and threatening to sue. (Tom Wolfe, I Am Charlotte Simmons, chapter 5)
– Mr. Jackson is a cranky old goat of sixty-nine who has a two-year history of ulcer. (Michael Crichton, The Andromeda Strain, chapter 18)

Voorbeelden van (AmE) crank/cranky = excentriekeling, buitenbeentje, excentriek, tegendraads, eigengereid, dwars (met betrekking tot personen)
One might ask why 97% is important. Perhaps 97% has marketing value. It sounds precise and says that only 3% disagree. By implication, that small percentage who disagree must be out of the mainstream: cranks, chronic naysayers, or shills of the fossil fuel industry. (Forbes, Dec. 2014, Fact Checking. The Claim of 97% On Anthropogenic Climate Change”)
“Seth portrayed him as a cranky, fulsome character, but Sonny finds the rabbi’s round tones and eyes-clenched transport in prayer somewhat soothing.” [= excentriek] (Scott Turow, The Laws of Our Fathers, p. 518)
– “Walter got so excercised about his Rome Club. He was always a bit of a crank.” (Jonathan Franzen, Freedom, p. 512, hier: excentriekeling, buitenbeentje)
Small woman, quick and cranky and very smart. (John D. MacDonald, The Scarlet Ruse, chapter 4)

Voorbeelden (AmE) cranky= onwillig, dwars (met betrekking tot voorwerpen):
– I had cleaned the jets on the cranky kerosene refrigerator and gotten it working with less stink. (John D. McDonald, A Purple Place for Dying, chapter 14)
– But every boat has cranky ways (…) > tegendraads, eigenzinnig (John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt, chapter 16)

De betekenis “chagrijnig”/”zuur” was voorheen ook BrE.
Charles Dickens plaatste het woord ‘cranky ‘ in de betekenis van ‘chagrijnig’ tussen aanhalingstekens, wat erop duidt dat hij het als (informele) spreektaal beschouwde en/of dat het destijds, in de eerste helft van de 19e eeuw, in de (formele) schrijftaal geen ingeburgerd woord was.  Een voorbeeld van dit vroegere BrE, en tegenwoordig uitsluitend AmE, gebruik, is te vinden in  de romanfiguur Frederic Trent (de broer van Little Nell) in The Old Curiosity Shop van Charles Dickens (1841):
– he “appeared to be rather ‘cranky’ in point of temper” (chapter 7).

Het romanpersonage Mr. Short gebruikte de term voor zijn chagerijnige en ‘zure’ metgezel Mr. Codlin:
– “Mr. Short, observing under his breath that his friend seemed unusually ‘cranky’, and expressed a hope that there was no dairy in the neighbourhood, or his temper would certainly spoil its contents.”(hfdst 37)

Vertaaltips & dilemma’s:
Een duidelijke aanwijzing voor de onbekendheid van het Britse publiek met het woord cranky in de betekenis van “chagrijnig” is het feit dat in de Britse Penguin editie van The Old Curiosity Shop een verklarende noot (noot 5 bij hoofdstuk 7) is toegevoegd, waarin deze vroegere Britse betekenis wordt toegelicht: “of uncertain temper, liable to fly into a rage without provocation”.
De verschillende Amerikaanse betekenissen van ‘cranky’ maken het belangrijk voor vertalers een goede inschatting te maken van de context. In de Nederlandse vertaling “De Erfgenaam” (2013), van Grishams Sycamore Row, door Jolanda te Lindert, komen de volgende voorbeelden voor:
old, seasoned, and often cranky Chancellors in Mississippi > oude, doorgewinterde en vaak chagrijnige rechters in Mississippi (hfdst 18) > “excentrieke” is hier ook mogelijk, of beter
a cranky drug dealer in Costa Rica ... > een woedende drugsdealer in Costa Rica (hfdst 20) > dit is geen gangbare betekenis van ‘cranky’

by then the lawyers were cranky and fed up with the case. > tegen die tijd waren de advocaten kapot en hadden ze het helemaal gehad met deze zaak. (hfdst 22) > geen gangbare betekenis
– een chagrijnige oude rechter, Reuben Atlee (hfdst 38)


31. hippodrome
De oude BrE betekenis was ‘paardenrenbaan ‘ (‘race course’).
Zie bijvoorbeeld een artikel in The Observer van 7 mei 1837, waarin melding werd genmaakt van “the ‘Hippodrome’, or the new Race course, at Notting Hill”. (krantenknipsel in Black’s Guide, 1862)

32. marquee
(BrE) marquee = partytent, feesttent, evenemententent, markt-tent (allerlei soorten tenten met rechte wanden)  = (AmE) tent
(AmE) marquee = (1) luifel, markies, (2) verlicht uithangbord, elektronisch scherm, elektronisch mededelingenbord (3) geruchtmakend (figuurlijke betekenis, bijv. in “marquee case“= een geruchtmakende zaak)

(AmE) electronic marquees (betekenis 2) vindt men ook vaak in de vertrek- en aankomsthal op treinstations en op het vliegveld
(AmE) electronic marquee sign (betekenis 2) = electronic display, electronic sign board = verlicht mededelingenbord
(AmE) electronic marquee board (betekenis 2) = electronic display board
(AmE) electronic message marquee (betekenis 2) = electronic message board

Voorbeelden van (AmE) marquee = canopy = luifel (betekenis 1):
Enid asked Chip on the sidewalk, under his building’s marquee, as the driver heaved luggage from the trunk > onder de luifel van zijn flatgebouw (Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections, “The Failure”)
Through the bead-curtain of water coming off the marquee, Chip saw Julie’s cab brake for a yellow light. (Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections, “The Failure”)
– She picked her way through the pools and rapids on the pavement and joined Chip beneath the marquee. (Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections, “The Failure”)
Beneath the marquee of one of the hotels, a man with his wallet in his hand counted what was left …> Onder de luifel van een van de hotels stond een man met zijn portefeuille in zijn hand te tellen hoeveel hij nog had. (Scott Turow, The Laws of Our Fathers, p. 433 / De Wet van de Macht, vertaald door Paul Hekman, p. 416)
Killian was standing under the marquee just outside the front door. (Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities, chapter 22)
In the background was the marquee of an apartment house and a doorman. (Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities, chapter 22)
A canopy stretched from the door to the edge of the sidewalk. The canopy was supported by brass poles with brass guy rods (…). (Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities, chapter 28)
the black limousine pulling up to the marquee (John D. MacDonald, April Evil, chapter 8 > “baldakijn”)
It was a great flash of light, and she stood under the marquee at the premiere, having just gotten out of her limousine. (John D. MacDonald, April Evil, chapter 16 > “baldakijn”)
– It [= the building] had a canopy, a doorman, shallow planting areas (…). (John D. MacDonald, Nightmare in Pink, chapter 7)

Voorbeeld van (AmE) canopy = (open) tent:
– There was a big canopy set up nearby. Under the canopy there would be a press conference. (…) Webb – not John Kennedy – was going to give Gus the Distinguished Service Medal …. under a dreadful Low Rent tent here on the slab. (Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff, chapter 11)

Voorbeelden van (AmE) marquee = verlicht uithangbord (betekenis 2):
– [T]he flight was not yet up on the marquee because they had a three-hour layover before the short hop to Virginia. > {De vlucht stond] nog niet op het scherm, want ze moesten drie uur wachten tot ze het korte sprongetje naar Viriginia konden maken. (David Baldacci, The Sixth Man / De Zesde Man, vertaald door Hugo Kuipers, hfdst. 40)
These travelers anxiously scanned electronic marquees for gates, cancelations, arrivals, departures. (David Baldacci, The Hit, hfdst. 4, 2013)
The poor guy (…), looking toward the theater. (…) All they could see (…) was the marquee and the name State in lights. (Elmore Leonard, Out of Sight, chapter 23)
Above them, and above the canopy that entered from the door to the street, the white square of the marquee announced Odessa. (Elmore Leonard, Be Cool, chapter 16)
(…) he and I used to disembark for the double feature at the Roosevelt Theater, whose black-lettered marquee was a block away. (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 4)
– ‘Nazi Bigwig White House Guest’ – that was the black-lettered headline spelled out on either side of the theater’s triangular marquee. (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 5)

Voorbeeld van (AmE) marquee (figuurlijke betekenis 3) = outstanding, famous, pre-eminent (OED) – geruchtmakend, … bij uitstek.
– “(…) deciding in a marquee case that you’ll free four rich white rapists on a technicality, in an opinion which no other judge would join
and which, odds on, gets overturned.” (Scott Turow, Limitations, 2006, chapter 7)
– “Murder is the marquee business of this courtroom (…) (Scott Turow, The Laws of Our Fathers, Penguin edition, 1997, p. 27)

Voorbeelden van (BrE) marquee:
The last 10 days of commemmorations for Mr. Mandela began with his coffin being taken on a gun carrier from his home to a giant marquee.”(…) Mr. Mandela’s coffin arrived at the white marquee. (…) The ceremony was held in a marquee constructed for the event. (…) Outside the marquee people gathered to watch the ceremony on big screens.“(BBC-website, 15 Dec. 2013)
Vergelijk (AmE) tent:
Mourners attended a service in a tent set up at the family compound. (…) About 4,500 people gathered in the tent. (CNN-website, Dec. 15, 2013)

(BrE) giant marquee

(BrE) marquee

(AmE) marquee (verlicht uithangbord)

 
BrE: De enorme ” Floral Marquee” tijdens de Hampton Court Flower Show (BBC, eind juni, begin juli 2015): “the show-stopping Floral Marque where 95 nurseries from around the world will exhibit their specially nurtured flowers and plants. Spanning some 6,500 square metres of the picturesque palace grounds, the Floral Marquee will be created using De Boer’s state-of-the-art Jumbo Hall structure. One of the company’s largest facilities, stretching the length of almost two football pitches, the Jumbo Hall has a construction time of just four days and a dismantling time of three, highlighting the speed and flexibility of temporary structures so central to the creation of a temporary showground.” (link)

Floral marquee at RHS Hampton Court Flower Show (2015)

marquee met extra pagoda(-style) tent

Vergelijk de (BrE) pagoda-style tents (ook wel BrE pagoda marquee genoemd); deze wordt vaak als extra tent bij een grote “marquee” gebruikt, als entree of catering tent:
A Pagoda Canopy is often used for a party, service tent, side tent for a bar, wedding reception, celebration or as an entrance to a larger tent or marquee. Image courtesy of Peak Hire Marquees” (link)

Voorbeeld van ( BrE) marquee = markttent
– “Elsewehere in Hong Kong, you have to look beyond the wet markets, with their billowing red marquees (…) to find off-beat shops that really pique the interest.( Sunday Independent, 5 January, 2014)

Voorbeeld van ( BrE) marquee = feesttent
And now, (…) the grass half-covered by huge marquees and a small fairground (…) (Frances Fyfield, Shadows on the Mirror, chapter 10)
orchestra on the marquee dance floor (Shadows on the Mirror, chapter 10)
– Tables in one marquee (Shadows on the Mirror, chapter 10)

When worn for their proper functions in wedding marquees (…) any frocks which were chiffony, décolleté, short sleeved, were always too cold for comfort. (Frances Fyfield, Perfectly Pure and Good, chapter 3)
(BrE) (function room &) marquee to hire for all occasions = (zaal- en) tentverhuur voor elke gelegenheid (uithangbord in de buurt van Margate)

33. brainstorm
(BrE) brainstorm = (ook:) verstandsverbijstering, hersenstoring, ‘black out’. Vergelijk (AmE) brain fart
(AmE / Common English) brainstorm* = lumineuze inval (= BrE: brainwave)

The BBI Combinatory Dictionay of English (3e druk, 2009) geeft de volgende Usage Note:
“In colloq. BE, a brain wave can also mean a ‘sudden bright idea’, which in AE is a brainstorm. In colloq. BE, a brainstorm is a ‘sudden mental abberation’. However, the verb ’to brainstorm’ (as in a brainstorming session) is now CE [= Common English]

Voorbeelden AmE/CE) brainstorm = lumineuze inval):
– “I’ve been reading Strathmore’s brainstorms (Dan Brown, Digital Fortress, p. 258)

Stella had a brainstorm. ‘Come on’, she said. ‘I have a great place for us to go (…). ” (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Trial by Fire, ch. 3)

Voorbeeld (AmE ongebruikelijk?) brainstorm = verstandsverbijstering:
– Kate had even admitted to wondering if Janet might not have had a brainstorm and got herself into the bath, who knew why or how. (Amanda Cross, Death in a Tenured Position, 1981, chapter 4)

34. (don’t) care
a.
(AmE) I could care less / (BrE) I couldn’t care less*  / I don’t care
Hoewel Bryan Garner in zijn Dictionary of Legal Usage benadrukt dat “I could care less’ als AmE alternatief voor “I couldn’t care less” niet correct is, komt de Amerikaanse variant met name in de spreektaal (en dus ook in geschreven dialogen in romans, etc.) regelmatig voor.

Toelichting:
“The modern colloquial phrase of resignation, (I, etc.) couldn’t care less. ‘(I am, etc.) completely uninterested, utterly indifferent’ (…) has partly yielded, since the 1960s and principally in AmE, to the construction (I, etc.) could care less, with the negative meaning even though the negative is omitted. (…) No one has satisfactorily accounted for the synonomy of what would appear to be straightforwardly antonymous uses.” (Zie: Fowler’s Modern English Usage (2004)

Opmerking:
In het gezaghebbende stijlboek “The Elements of Style” (Strunk & White, Massachusetts, 2017) wordt (AmE) “I could care less” omschreven als slordig taalgebruik: “The error destroys the meaning of the sentence and is careless indeed”.

Voorbeelden:
– “I could care less if you’ve got a girlfirend”
(Freedom, Jonathan Franzen, p. 260)
– “A lot of people were killed, Robie. Whoever’s behind this could care less about collateral damage. They’re chess pieces to them, nothing more.” (David Baldacci, The Innocent, Ch. 71)
– “The man’s relations could care less who had gunned Rivera down.” (Baldacci, The Innocent, Ch. 72)
Joey shook his head like he could care less. (Steve Martini, The List, chapter 9)
Iris, she could care less. (Elmore Leonard, Glitz, chapter 14)
“Where’d he go, do you know?” – “No sir. I could care less.” (Elmore Leonard, Split Images, chapter 19)

Analoog hieraan:
– “We could give a crap about your illegal aliens.”(David Baldacci, Hell’s Corner, Ch. 34)
– “I could give a shit” (Baldacci, First Family)

Voorbeeld van (AmE) couldn’t care less
– “Fordy couldn’t have cared less.”(John Grisham, The Confession)
he could not care less (John D. MacDonald, The Quick Red Fox, chapter 6)

b. I don’t care
(AmE) I don’t care = (BrE) I don’t mind = (IntE) that’s okay = (Ned.) Akkoord, Dat is goed
Naast  de negatieve betekenis  “het kan me niet schelen”, die onverschilligheid uitdrukt en zowel in BrE als AmE voorkomt , kan (AmE) I don’t care ook de positieve  betekenis hebben van “that’s okay“.

Voorbeelden (AmE) I don’t care:
I said ‘You want to go back to the bedroom?’- She says ‘I don’t care.’ (Elmore Leonard, Gold Coast, chapter 14)
– “I’d like to record our conversation, if that’s okay.”(…) I shrug and say ‘I don’t care’” (John Grisham, The Racketeer, chapter 9)
– “Can I take this picture with me?”- “Sure”, she said, “I don’t care. (Michael Crichton, A Case of Need)
Uit de film The Fugitive, met Harrison Ford en Tommy Lee Jones (1993).
Hierin komt een beroemde scene voor  waarin de U.S. marshal (gespeeld door Jones) onder schot wordt gehouden door de ten onrechte van de moord op zijn vrouw beschuldigde Richard Kimble (gespeeld door Ford), en uitroept “I didn’t kill my wife”, waarop de marshal probeert Kimble gerust te stellen en te weerhouden van een sprong vanaf een stuwdam door te roepen “I don’t care”.
Uit de film Nightcrawlers (2013).
Hierin komt een scene voor waarin het hoofdpersonage Louis Bloom welwillend en glimlachend de deur opent voor twee detectives die hem thuis komen bezoeken, en waarbij de volgende  dialoog ontstaat:
[The doorbell rings and Bloom opens the door saying:]

“Hello”
“Hi”
“Are you Louis Bloom?”
“Yes, I’m Lou.”
“Do you live here?”
“Yes.”
“”I’m Detective Frontieri and this is my partner Detective Lieberman. May we come inside?
“Fine”.”
“Right now?”
“You want to?”
“Yes.”
I don’t care.
“Wonderful.”
[Bloom lets them in.]

35. Hobson’s choice
(BrE) Hobson’s choice = geen keuze, (“keuze uit één”)
(AmE) (a / the) Hobson’s choice = een dilemma, keuze uit twee kwaden
Toelichting uit Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage (3e editie, 2011):
“Traditionally – and still in BrE – the phrase takes no article; that is, you are faced not with ‘a Hobson’s choice’ but with ‘Hobson’s choice’. In modern AmE, the phrase usually takes ‘a’ or ’the’.”

36. moot
(BrE) moot = discutabel, controversieel
(AmE) moot = onbelangrijk, irrelevant, ‘academisch’, ‘hypothetisch’ = (BrE/IntE) academic (issue)

(BrE) a moot point = a controversial point (e.g. in BBC Politics Live, 21 Nov. 2018) = geen uitgemaakte zaak, een controversieel punt 
(AmE) a moot point = irrelevant punt, iets onbelangrijks

(BrE slang:) mooty = discutabel
(AmE) mootness = irrelevantie

(BrE) to moot = ter tafel brengen, voorstellen (naar voren brengen), opperen
(AmE) to moot (werkwoord) = (1) in ouder gebruik, zie BrE, ’ter tafel brengen voor discussie’, (2) in nieuwer gebruik: ‘academisch’ worden/maken (3) (ook:) ’to moot out a court case, to moot a court case’: een rechtzaak verwerpen, stoppen

N.B. De overeenkomst tusen het verschillend gebruik van BrE en AmE ’to moot’ en het verschillend gebruik van het werkwoord ’to table’ is opvallend.

Toelichting:
Historically, ‘moot’, as a verb, meant ’to raise or bring forward (a point or question) for discussion’.
That sense is still current in BrE, and in older American usage. (…)

“In American legal usage, a new sense has taken hold: ’to render moot or of no practical significance’.”
“In England, ‘moot’ has the sense ‘a hypothetical legal problem discussed by students at the Inns of Court for practice’ or ’the discussion resulting from such a problem’. (…) This use is unknown in the U.S., although its sense lingers in the phrase ‘moot court’ (= studentenrechtbank, oefenrechtbank). In het stijlboek Right, Wrong, and Risky, A Dictionary of Today’s American English Usage (Mark Davidson, 2005) wordt gewezen op de ambiguïteit van (AmE) ‘moot’

In Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage (3e editie, 2011):
‘Moot’ als bijv. naamw:
“Today, in AmE, the predominant sense of ‘moot’ is ‘having no practical significance‘, in both legal and nonlegal writing. (…) To use ‘moot’ in the sense ‘open to argument’ in AmE is to create an ambiguity, and to confuse most of one’s readers. In BrE, the transformation in sense has been slower, and ‘moot’ in its older sense retains validity.”

Voorbeeld (BrE) moot (point):
Strange how roles altered themselves when no-one was looking. Who looked after whom these days was a moot point. > Merkwaardig  hoe rollen konden wisselen als niemand oplette. Wie tegenwoordig een oogje op wie hield was een dubieuze kwestie. (Frances Fyfield, Perfectly Pure and Good, vertaald als Volmaakte Onschuld, door Els van der Pluym, ch. 1)

Voorbeeld (AmE) moot (point):
“His dad is KIA. It’s a moot point. (…) If [they] say he’s dead, then he’s dead.” > Zijn vader is KIA. Dat is een uitgemaakte zaak. (…) Als zij zeggen dat hij dood is, dan ìs hij dood.” (David Baldacci, King and Maxwell, King & Maxwell, vertaald door Jolanda te Lindert, hfdst 7)

“But that point is moot, isn’t it? It’s close to nine o’clock. The cleaning crew is always gone by seven-thirty. > Maar dat doet er nu niet toe, hè?  (Patricia Cornwell, Cruel and Unusual, ch. 9, vertaald door Annette Zeelenberg als “Rigor Mortis”)
since I wouldn’t try to enter the office without his assistance, the issue quickly became moot. > (…) is het probleem daarmee opgelost. (John Grisham, The Rainmaker, vertaald door Jan Smit, 1995, hfdst 13)
at this point it’s moot > Dat is inmiddels een zuiver academische kwestie. (John Grisham, The Rainmaker, vertaald door Jan Smit, 1995, hfdst 53)
Did Betsy know the true identity of the person who poisoned her? Such thoughts were moot, because no matter what she knew, she had no means of telling them. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Buried Evidence, chapter 14)
– that point appeared moot in light of the circumstances. (Nancy Yaylor Rosenberg, Buried Evidence, chapter 8)
– I could try to get an order from the judge to compel Tannery to turn over whatever he has. (…) If it’s damaging, they will drop it on us, and the motion or the order would be moot. > (…) en dan zou dat gerechtelijk bevel geen enkele waarde hebben. (Steve Martini, The Jury, vertaald als De Gezworenen door Hugo Kuipers, chapter 2)
From the state’s perspective it is moot. (Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 17)
– “Gary, I said I didn’t want you monkeying with this, “Alfred replied. “It is moot now anyway.”- “What do you mean, ‘moot’?” – “I mean moot. It’s taken care of. The documents are notarized. (…)” (Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections, “The More He Thought About It, the Angrier He Got”)
– It take eight years to get a patent in Japan, but your application is made public after eighteen months, after which royalties are moot. (Michael Crichton, Rising Sun, Arrow Books, p. 212)
– The writers of Life may have known about it and they may not have. It was a moot point, because in any event there were not going to be any astronauts with washed-up marriages in the pages of Life magazine on the eve of the battle in the heavens with the Russians. > een academische kwestie (Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff, chapter 6)

Voorbeeld (BrE) / (IntE) academic issue:
liberty was no more than an academic issue (Frances Fyfied, A Question of Guilt, ch. 1)

Voorbeelden (BrE) to moot:
– “Accordingly, Luis de Guindos, the Spanish finance minister, is often mooted as a potential replacement for Jeroen Dijsselbloem, his Dutch counterpart, who has taken a much tougher line with Greece, as president of the eurogroup.”(Financial Times, 13 July 2015, p. 2)
There had been anxiety that once news of the pardon was mooted abroad a noisy crowd of well-wishers would find their way to Gracechurch Street. > (…) zodra het nieuws van de gratie bekend was gemaakt (P.D. James, Death Comes to Pemberley, vertaald door Mechteld Jansen, 2011, Book 6, Ch. 5)

Voorbeelden (AmE) to moot a (court) case:
They mooted out the case. /  They mooted the case. (from CNN broadcast about the impeachment trial against Donald Trump, January 2020)

Voorbeeld van (AmE) moot court (room):
The last three nights, my dad’s legal team had practiced his cross-examiantion in a moot courtroom at Stern & Stern. (Scott Turow,Innocent, chapter 25)

Vergelijk (AmE) mock case / mock trial.
All students do mock trials. (John Grisham, Gray Mountain, ch. 9)
During my second year of law school, we had to do a mock appellate case, write the briefs and argue before a three-judge panel. (John Grisham, Gray Mountain, ch. 40)
– Dad on the bench during moot court. All little slices of college life. (John Grisham, The Judge’s List, 2021, chapter 2)

Vertaaltips & dilemma’s:
Een voorbeeld van verkeerde vertalingen van (AmE) moot / moot point:

Ordinarily it would be good news for us, the lack of a warrant (…). But given Talia’s consent to the search (…), it is a moot point. > (…) maar gezien Talia’s toestemming om te zoeken (..) is het nog maar de vraag. (Steve Martini, Compelling Evidence / Onweerlegbaar Bewijs, vertaald door Thomas Wintner, hfdst 15)
the question of adverse interest is perhaps now moot. > over de vraag of er sprake was van belangenverstrengeling mag dan onenigheid bestaan. (Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 14, vertaald als De Rechter, door Rob van Moppes & J.J. de Wit) [de juiste vertaling: “is nu misschien irrelevant”]
– It take eight years to get a patent in Japan, but your application is made public after eighteen months, after which royalties are moot. > (…) en daarna zijn royalties een openstaande vraag . (Michael Crichton, Rising Sun, Arrow Books, p. 212, vertaald door Frans en Joyce Bruning, De Nippon Connectie)

Voorbeeld (BrE) moot (point) waarbij de Amerikaanse betekenis (‘een onbelangrijk punt’) meer waarschijnlijk lijkt, ondanks dat de auteur van Britse afkomst is:
Strange how roles altered themselves when no-one was looking. Who looked after whom these days was a moot point. > Merkwaardig  hoe rollen konden wisselen als niemand oplette. Wie tegenwoordig een oogje op wie hield was een dubieuze kwestie. (Frances Fyfield, Perfectly Pure and Good, vertaald als Volmaakte Onschuld, door Els van der Pluym, ch. 1). Meer waarschijnlijke betekenis: ‘was onbelangrijk’, ‘deed er niet toe’


37. levee / levée
(AmE) levee (in de betekenis van rivierdijk) = (BrE) embankment.
Deze betekenis komt in het BrE nauwelijks voor, alhoewel het sinds de doorbraak van de dijken van de Mississippi, en de daaropvolgende verwoesting van o.a. New Orleans buiten de VS wel meer bekendheid heeft gekregen, en vervolgens soms ook in BrE werd/wordt gebruikt.

Voorbeeld (AmE) levee:
Off beyond them were targets on posts and a high ridge of earth, like a levee. > een soort dijk (Elmore Leonard, Rum Punch, chapter 16)

De meest bekende Britse betekenis = (1) herenreceptie ten hove; (2) officiële ontvangst (’s ochtends aan adelijke hoven), een soort audiëntie (maar niet helemaal synoniem, zie voorbeeld hieronder)
Als het woord “levee” in deze historische betekenis wordt gebruikt is de voorkeursspelling: levée.

Voorbeelden (BrE) levée:
At the levée the Emperor Francis merely looked intently into Prince Andrei’s face and nodded his long head to him as he stood in the place assigned to him among the Austrian officers. But after the levée the adjutant he had seen the previous day ceremonially informed Bolkonsky of the Emperor’s desire to grant him an audience.” (Zie de BrE vertaling door Rosemary Edmunds van War and Peace, book I, part 2, chapter 12)
Levée is [ a survival of the ancient custom of Royalty] of receiving persons of high rank while the sovereign was completing his toilette. (…) The Levées (…) take place at St. James’s  Palace (…). Levées (…) are confined exclusively to men, who wear uniform or court dress. (Charles Eyre Pascoe, London of To-day, 1886, ch. 5)

38. villain
(BrE ook) villain = crimineel, schurk
(AmE) villain = schavuit*
The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English (3e editie, 2009) geeft de volgende Usage Note:

“In AE, villain is mostly literary or humorous; in ccolloq. BE it can still mean ‘criminal.”

39. Christmas Eve
(BrE ook:) Christmas Eve = 24 december
(AmE) Christmas Eve = kerstnacht
The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English (3e editie, 2009) geeft de volgende Usage Note:
“In AE Christmas Eve means ’the night before Christmas’; in BE it can also mean ’the entire day before Christmas’.”

40. mean
(BrE) mean = (vooral) (1, van personen) wrekkig, gierig, (2, van zaken) armetierig
(AmE) mean = (vooral) gemeen
The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English (3e editie, 2009) geeft de volgende Usage Note:
‘Mean’ can be both ‘stingy’ (esp. BE) and ‘nasty’ (esp. AE). Real ambiguity is possible but sometimes prevented in context: In ‘mean with‘, ‘mean‘ is probably ‘stingy’;  in ‘mean to’, probably ‘nasty’.

Voorbeeld (BrE):
it obscured traffic in the mean end of the city, (…) where all was ugliness. (Frances Fyfield, The Art of Drowning, ch. 7)
Today, both his aggression and his defensiveness seemed to have disappeared. He felt naked, vulnerable and mean.“> Hij voelde zich naakt, kwetsbaar en verachtelijk. (Frances Fyfield, Perfectly Pure and Good, vertaald door Els van der Pluym als Volmaakte Onschuld,chapter 11)
He was mean as hell when standing a round. (Frances Fyfield, Trial by Fire, vertaald in Vuurdood door Inge Kok, hfdst 6) = “verduiveld gierig als hij een rondje gaf”

41. scheme
(BrE) scheme = plan (soms met negatieve associaties, zie AmE)
(AmE) scheme = (1) plan, (2) snood plan, complot, intrige, list
The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English (3e editie, 2009) geeft de volgende Usage Note:
“In CE [= Common English], a scheme can be dishonest or crafty; this connotation is probably encountered more frequently in AE than in BE, where scheme can be similar in connotation to ‘plan’. So in AE a ‘scheme’ is more lijkely to be harebrained than clever; but in BE it can be either.”

42. traipse
The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English (3e editie, 2009) geeft de volgende Usage Note:
“In AE, the verb ’traipse’ has the connotation of ‘saunter’;  in BE, it typically has the connotation of ’trudge’ or ’tramp heavily’.”

43. turk
(BrE) turk = wildebras, bengel
(AmE / IntE) (young) turk* = ambitieuze jongeling, een draufgänger

Voorbeeld (IntE):
– “He just doesn’t appreciate what it’s going to be like telling this Young Turk we aren’t going to prosecute and his company is going down the pan.” > Hij heeft alleen niet door hoe het is om die jonge hond te moeten vertellen dat wij geen aanklacht gaan indienen en dat hij zijn bedrijfje verder wel kan vergeten. (Frances Fyfield, Shadows on the Mirror, vertaald door Auke Leistra als Schaduwen in de Spiegel, hfdst 3)
Gerard Etienne was obviously the young Turk, the heir apparent. > Etienne was natuurlijk de jonge Turk, de kroonprins (P.D. James, Original Sin / Erfzonde, vertaald door J.J. de Wit, hoofdstuk 42)

Voorbeelden (AmE):
– “[W]e have friends downtown who can take care of anything if some young turk decides to make a name for himself.” (Stephen Frey, Day Trader, 2002, chapter 18)
Lewis Cutler was (…) the firm’s new managing partner installed by a group of young turks hell-bent on control and increasing their own profit-margin. (Steve Martini, The List, chapter 3)
you make your brother out a regular Turk (Henry James, Washington Square, Penguin Books page 104)

44. spatula
(BrE ook medische term:) spatula = spatel (= tongue depressor)
(AmE) spatula* = schepspaan (= fish slice)

Voorbeelden (AmE) spatula:
– ‘I used to help my mum. She was a great cook.’ (…) ‘There’s nothing more attractive than a man with a spatula and a plan.’ (david Badacci, King and Maxwell, ch. 28)
The smell of thick grease hung heavily in the air and hamburger patties sizzled and popped on the grill. A large man with an enormous belly held a spatula like a weapon and talked to two men sitting on a stool. (John Grisham, Sycamore Row, ch. 25)

45. lint
(BrE) lint = lint bandage = wondverband, zwachtel, “Engels pluksel” (“zacht verbandgaas met een gladde en een ruwe kant voor zalfverbanden”, zie Van Dale)
(AmE) lint* = (BrE/IntE) fluff  = pluisje

Voorbeeld (BrE) lint:
Rick retrieved the clean lint and saline fluid he had got from the chemist. (Frances Fyfield, Blood from Stone, ch. 17)
A cluster of cloud lay over London stained pink like a lint bandage which had soaked up the city’s blood. (P.D. James, Original Sin, chapter 4)

Voorbeeld (AmE) lint = pluisje:
She began picking the lint off her skirt. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Trial by Fire, ch. 2)
(…) flicking a piece of lint off her green linen jacket. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Buried Evidence, chapter 1)
She was going to get out of the suit she’d been wearing all day picking up lint (…). (Elmore Leonard, Up in Honey’s Room, chapter 16)
The man picked lint off his clothes (…). (Elmore Leonard, Riding the Rap, chapter 12)
– Hair and lint on the dark turtleneck. (Elmore Leonard, Unknown Man #89, chapter 14)
She’s picking lint of her slacks with long, delicate finger nails. (Steve Martini, Compelling Evidence, chapter 24)
He can walk a beach, go into any bar, cross any playground, and acquire people the way blue serge picks up lint (…). (John D. MacDonald, Warmer than Amber, chapter 2)
You pick up imaginary guilt the way serge picks up lint. (John D. MacDonald, Free Fall in Crimson, chapter 19)
Just like dropping a piece of lint into a snowbank. Terrific impact.(…) But dropping lint into the snow doesn’t turn me on very much.  (John D. MacDonald, Condominium, chapter 29)
– Around and around we went, like circling through wads of lint in a dirty pocket. (John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt, chapter 1)

Voorbeeld (BrE/IntE) fluff:
He smoothed the fine mohair fabric in his jacket and picked off a small lump of fluff. (Frances Fyfield, Blood from Stone, ch. 1)


(AmE) lint
   

Vertaaltips & dilemma’s:
De Britse auteur Frances Fyfield kiest soms voor woorden in hun Amerikaanse betekenis. Naast ‘lint‘ in de Britse betekenis van “wondverband” (zie bovenstaand citaat uit haar roman Blood from Stone) gebruikt ze het soms ook in de (AmE) betekenis van ‘pluisje’. Alleen de context kan in dit geval uitsluitsel geven over de juiste betekenis:
– [On the painting] (…) there were black, winged creatures, obscured by the bits of lint from the towel that stuck to the raised surface. (…) [She] picked it up and carefully removed the traces of lint that still adhered to the surface. >  {Op het schilderij] zag ze zwarte gevleugelde beesten, die enigszins waren versluierd door draden van de handdoek die aan de dik aangebrachte verf waren vastgekleefd. (…) Toen pakte ze het schilderij en verwijderde voorzichtig de draden die nog steeds aan het oppervlak kleefden. (Frances Fyfield, Looking Down / Met Ogen Verslinden, vertaald door Caecile de Hoog, 2005, hfdst 7)
(BrE) “lint” is van oudsher een verbandtype waarbij de binnenzijde van het katoenen materiaal (vroeger: vlas) is opgeruwd, zodat het enigszins op watten lijkt. Vandaar ook de tegenwoordige (AmE) betekenis die inmiddels ook tot het IntE is gaan behoren. De typerende eigenschap van (BrE) lint verklaart de volgende vertaling van (BrE) lint bandage:
A cluster of cloud lay over London stained pink like a lint bandage which had soaked up the city’s blood. > … als watten die het bloed van de stad hadden opgezogen (P.D. James, Original Sin / Erfzonde, vertaald door J.J. de Wit, 1995, hoofdstuk 4)


46. gait
(BrE) gait = manier van lopen, loophouding, ‘loopje’
(AmE ook) gait = tempo, looptempo

Voorbeeld (BrE/IntE) gait (= manier van lopen, loophouding, loopje, pas(je), gang(etje), tred):
– [H]e swaggered across the car park with the intoxicated gait of a bow-legged, brain-dead cowboy coming out of the bar. (Frances Fyfield, Blood from Stone, ch. 19)
[She went] on again with a limping gait. (Frances Fyfield, The Art of Drowning, ch. 21)

– Dalgliesh sensed her relief in the more confident gait, the almost imperceptible relaxation of the shoulders. (P.D. James, A Certain Justice, chapter 16)

Voorbeelden (AmE/IntE) gait (= manier van lopen, loophouding, loopje, pas(je), gang(etje), tred):
In his street shoes and blazer, he leads the way along the avenue with a practiced gait. (Scott Turow, The Laws of Our Fathers, p. 243)
– Ray rolled forward, his gait halting given his rickety knees.” (Scott Turow, Identical, chapter 13)
He was old and he walked slowly, with almost a stilted, stumbling gait. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice, chapter 18)
He walked with an old man’s gait. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Mitigating Circumstances, chapter42)
The taller man moved with an uneven gait along the woorden walkway. (Steve Martini, The Simeon Chamber, chapter 1)
He(…)  skipped in an odd rhythmic gait. (Steve Martini, The Simeon Chamber, chapter 8)
For 50 years he had not taken a step without the slow, painful gait of a crippled man. (Elmore Leonard, Touch, chapter 10)
– .They walked with a pumping gait … ; wandering this way and that with their huge sneakers and curious rolling gaits …..(Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities, chapters 2, 17)
a nervous sideways gait …; … with an almost tiptoed gait … ; .. in a pathetic gait known as the Sinequan Shuffle ….; He walked with a mincing gait …; the stiff-legged gait …; With a pumping gait they walked into the restaurant ... > .. een overdreven zijdelingse gang …; … met een zielige gang die bekend stond als Sinequan-slofslof …..;  … de stramme pas;  Hij liep met een nuffig trippelpasje …; Met slingerende gang gingen ze en restaurant binnen … (Tom Wolfe, A Man in Full, chapters 12, 16, 17, 19 2x, 22, vertaald door Gerda Baardman et al.)
Here the man came, walking onto the court with a slow, menacing, rocking, straddling gait (…). (Tom Wolfe, I am Charlotte Simmons, chapter 11)
[A] dense young mesomorph emerges (…) walking about with a curious, apelike straddle gait. (Tom Wolfe, I am Charlotte Simmons, chapter 12)
His balance was … off. His gait lacked fluidity. (Tom Wolfe, Back to Blood, chapter 7)
At this point, the cucaraches with the body piercings and jacklegged gaits became less amusing …. (Tom Wolfe, Back to Blood, chapter 9)
Philippe (..) came walking into the living room with a slow rocking gait that Nestor recognized immediately as the Pimp Roll. (Tom Wolfe, Back to Blood, chapter 11)
Her gait was queenly, not too fast and not too slow. (Tom Wolfe, Back to Blood, chapter 14)
– (…) the unmistakable cocky rolling gait of fighter jocks. (Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff, chapter 4)
– (…) a skinny zoot-suiter with a sinewy build and a gliding gait (…). (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 5)
Her new mount had not the (…) same elastic spring in his gait (…). (Max Brand, The Long’Long Trail, chapter 41)
– So I steadied down to a long striding gait, such as the Indians use for a five-league race.
His standard gait is a jog trot
. (John D. MacDonald, Darker than Amber, chapter 10)
She moved with a ponderous litheness – that odd gait of the perfectly-conditioned athlete. (John D. MacDonald, Nightmare in Pink, chapter 10)
I heaved myself up and got out of there in my curious hitching gait (…). (John D. MacDonald, Bright Orange for the Shroud, chapter 13)
(…) her running a humble, awkward, (…) knock-kneed gait (John D. MacDonald, The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper, chapter 10)
The horse was narrow-backed and not very smooth-gaited (…). (Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, chapter 49)

Voorbeelden (AmE) gait (= looptempo, snelheid van lopen):
[He] walked across the marble floor with what perhaps passed for a calm gait. (Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities, chapter 14)
Nick found his gait transformed from a fast walk to a jog. (Steve Martini, The Simeon Chamber, chapter 12)
Cars and buses moved in a steady flow and people walked with the big-city gait, all in a hurry. (Leon Uris, Exodus, Book III chapter 7)
– [He] sent the [horse] forward at a gait that strung the […] men out behind him. (E.B. Mann, Troubled Range, chapter 17)
Mabry started off at a swift gait along the ridge. (Louis L’Amour, Heller with a Gun, chapter 15)
All afternoon he travelled on, keeping a steady gait (…). (Louis L’Amour, Hondo, chapter 10)
The wagon rolled slowly, with the gait of a hearse (…), up the incline and then started down towards the water hole. (Harry Whittington, Desert Stake-Out, chapter 15)
– Besides, the other horses had been travelling at a smart gait for some distance (…) (Louis L’Amour, Heller With a Gun, chapter 39)
– Since Mouse had an easy trot and a hard lope, Newt was happy with the gait. (Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, chapter 10)

47. grind
(AmE) a grind = (1) een zwoeger, (2) een opgave, zwaar en vervelend werk

Voorbeelden (AmE):
It’s a grind at McCarthy and Lloyd. (Stephen Frey, The Insider ch. 8)

It was terrible. In at nine, gone by five. It was a total grind. I always took orders from other people. I got a steady paycheck, but it was never enough. (Stephen Frey, Day Trader, ch. 6)

48. (historische betekenis:) politiek avonturier, politieke/economische migrant/opportunist (politicus die zich buiten eigen district verkiesbaar stelt), (overdrachtelijk:) politieke/economische migrant/gelukzoeker/opportunist
(AmE) carpetbagger = opportunist, politiek avonturier; (BrE) speculant

Voorbeeld (AmE):
Freed slaves were able to obtain land with the help of carpetbaggers. (John Grisham, Sycamore Row, ch. 40)

Voorbeeld (AmE) carpetbagger ter illustratie van de ervan de oorspronkelijke betekenis, en de negatieve bijklank van het woord:
“They wore dark suits, usually covered with the gray dust of travel, and dark, broad-brimmed hats to shield their white faces from the hot, unfamiliar sun. And on their back, or across their saddle, or on top of their wagon was the inevitable faded multicolored bag made of worn and ragged remnants of carpet into which they had crammed all their worldly possessions. It was from these bags that they got their name. The Carpetbaggers…. And they strode the dusty roads and streets of the exhausted Southlands, their mouths tightening greedily, their eyes everywhere, searching, calculating , appraising the values that were left behind in the holocaust of war. …Yet not all of them were bad, just as not all men are bad. Some of them even learned to love the land they came to plunder and stayed and became respected citizens. (Tim Robbins, The Carpetbaggers, Preface)

49. to railroad
(BrE) to railroad (sb/sth) = (1) met het pistool op de borst dwingen (tot iets), onder druk zetten (om iets te doen), overrompelen (2) er door drukken (OALD: “The bill was railroaded through the House.”)
(AmE) to railroad (sb) = (1) zich ontdoen van, uit de weg ruimen, op een zijspoor zetten (2) (in de gevangenis doen belanden (middels een valse aanklacht)

Voorbeelden BrE:
I got totally railroaded into being Project Manager. (…) I do feel I’ve been bulldozed . (BBC, The Apprentice, 14 Oct. 2015)

Voorbeelden AmE:
[Y]ou think (…) I’m working with Oliver to railroad you or something. (Stephen Frey, The Insider, ch. 13)
– He’s been out to railroad me for years. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Trial by Fire, ch. 15)

50. momentarily
(BrE/AmE/IntE) momentarily* = kortstondig, voor een moment, even(tjes)
(AmE ook:) momentarily = (1) eventjes (zie Britse betekenis, (2) zo meteen, spoedig, in een ogenblik, (3) op het moment, momenteel

Voorbeeld BrE/IntE = kortstondig, voor een moment:
There was this strange moment when Donald did not want to leave him (…) He was momentarily grateful to Carl. (Frances Fyfield, The
Art of Drowning, ch. 6)

Voorbeelden AmE/IntE = (1) kortstondig, voor een moment:
He conversed momentarily (Scott Turow, The Laws of Our Fathers, p. 192)
Momentarily, neither speaks. (Scott Turow, The Laws of Our Fathers, p. 563)
[H]e pulls momentarily at the collar. (Scott Turow, The Laws of Our Fathers, p. 619)
– Radovich mulls this momentarily as we both eye him. (Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 31)
– The cruiser mounted a hilltop and took to the air momentarily before crashing back to the pavement. (Tim Green, The Letter of the Law, chapter 17)
The button only illuminated momentarily before going dark again. (Tim Green, The Letter of the Law, chapter 24)
– He momentarily turned his back to her. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Buried Evidence, chapter 6)
– They stood, momentarilly not recognizing her. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice, chapter 11)
– He sipped his wine, opening his eyes momentarily
She wondered momentarily why he was being so sneaky about it. (Elmore Leonard, The Big Bounce, chapter 15)
– Carmen momentarily forgot the doorway guests. (Edna Ferber, Giant, chapter 20)
The door pushed open, momentarily blocking Chris’s view. (Michael Crichton, Timeline, Ballantine Books, p. 306)
I swiftly pulled myself into the darkness momentarily blinded. (John D. MacDonald, A Deady Shade of Gold, chapter 12)
Now I was momentarily associated with a killer female. (John D. MacDonald, A Deady Shade of Gold, chapter 17)
– It was momentarily tempting. (John D. MacDonald, The Lonely Silver Rain, chapter 18)

Voorbeelden (AmE) momentarily = (2) zo meteen, spoedig, meteen daarna, in een ogenblik, elk moment
‘Your husband, is he here?”- “He will be here momentarily”, she says. (Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 7)
Someone will be there to retrieve them momentarily (…). (Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 9)
– Someone will be down to get you momentarily. (Steve Martini, Double Tap, ch. 6),
– He is expected momentarily. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 12)
Momentarily, the lock clicked free and the door opened. > Gelijk daarna …. (Patricia Cornwell, Cruel and Unusual, ch. 6, vertaald door Annette Zeelenberg als “Rigor Mortis”)
– As usual, an arrest was expected momentarily. (John D. MacDonald, One Fearful Yellow Eye, chapter 1) 

Voorbeeld (AmE) momentarily = (3) op het ogenblik, momenteel
– He is not here momentarily. (House Representative Nadler, 4 Dec. 2019, in the U.S. Congress during the Trump impeachment hearings)

Vertaaltips & dilemma’s:
Amerikaanse sprekers /schrijvers beperken zich vaak tot het gebruik van ‘momentarily’ in één van de twee betekenissen. De CNN-nieuwspresentator Wolf Blitzer gebruikt het woord ‘momentarily‘ veelvuldig, maar praktisch altijd in de betekenis van ‘in een ogenblik’, ‘zo meteen’. Dat maakt de kans op misverstanden kleiner.Lastiger wordt het wanneer dezelfde persoon het woord ‘momentarily’ in beide betekenissen door elkaar gebruikt, zoals in de eerder aangehaalde citaten uit Steve Martini’s The Judge:
‘Your husband, is he here?”- “He will be here momentarily“, she says. (Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 7)
Someone will be there to retrieve them momentarily (…). (Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 9)
Radovich mulls this momentarily as we both eye him. (Steve Martini, The Judge, chapter 31)
In het stijlboek Right, Wrong, and Risky, A Dictionary of Today’s American English Usage (Mark Davidson, 2005) wordt gewezen op de onnodige ambiguïteit van ‘momentarily’ in zinnen in de toekomende tijd wanneer de betekenis ‘zo meteen’ wordt bedoeld. In plaats daarvan is het beter “any moment now’ / ‘in a moment” / ‘shortly’ (toekomst) of ‘for a moment’ / ‘for a short while’ te gebruiken.Een derde betekenis van ‘momentarily, die zelden voorkomt is ‘at the moment‘ (momenteel, op het moment).

51. nervy,
(BrE meestal/usually) nervy =  nerveus
(AmE meestal/usually) nervy = dapper, gedurfd, driest (en onbeschaamd); vergelijk: (IntE)‘ brash’, ‘have a nerve’

Voorbeelden (BrE) nervy = nerveus:
– But Macron is nevertheles nervy. (…) Macron’s fear is that in a plunging economy, Le Pen could defy conventional wisdom and defeat him. (The Spectator, 11 July 2020, page 22)
Nervy, angry arguments (Frances Fyfield, Blood from Stone, ch. 19)

Voorbeelden AmE nervy = ‘dapper, driest’:
When he found out who I was, he was really rather nervy. I mean not like the cowboys and caqueros I’ve met, I think he’d ben drinking. He wanted to know all about you, Leslie. (Edna Ferber, Giant, chapter 22)
– “Smart!” Logan said softly, “Smart and nervy. This lady, Beau, will do to ride the river with!” (E.B. Mann, Troubled Range, chapter 10)

52.  sassy / sass (noun) / to sass sb. (verb)
(BrE/AmE/IntE) sassy = saucy = (1) vlot, tof, knap, modieus, schalks, stoer,etc.; (2) sexy, pikant, (een beetje) uitdagend, gewaagd
(AmE ook) sassy = saucy = brutaal, vrijpostig, bijdehand
(AmE) sass = brutaliteit
(AmE) to sass sb = een brutale toon aanslaan (tegen iemand)

Voorbeeld BrE:
– Save him from (…) any woman too sassy to cry.
(Frances Fyfield, Blind Date, ch. 12) = … stoer ….

Voorbeelden (AmE) sassy = (1) brutaal, vrijpostig, bijdehand, assertief;  (2) (IntE,) modieus, vlot
A gum-smacking sassy gal named Dell. (John Grisham, Sycamore Row, ch. 2) = … stoer …
“Sassy. Insolent.” > brutaal, vrijpostig (Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections, One L ast Christmas)
Nick may have a new sassy-looking wife, but he’s the same man I’ve known for more than ten years. (Steve Martini, The Arraignment, chapter 1)
– He was feeling a failure, even with a sassy new wife. (Steve Martini, The Arraignment, chapter 3)
– In three-inch heels she offered the illusion of height with a sassy walk. (Steve Martini, The List, chapter 7)
– She wore a pillbox trying to look saucy (…). (Elmore Leonard, The Hot Kid, chapter 17)
– “I’m not taking any sass off that compny woman no more.” (Elmore Leonard, Raylan, chapter 29)
He let you think he’d read the script but didn’t get sassy when he got caught (…). (Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty, chapter 15)
This Tootsie Roll sassed him, saying, “I couldn’t find it,boy.” (Elmore Leonard, Pagan Babies, chapter 24)
Sassy, with a grin in front of her co-workers. (Elmore Leonard, Maximum Bob, chapter 16)
“No, I’ve shot many a sassy bandit with this pistol,” he said. (Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, chapter 45)
There was something amusing about the sassy way Clara talked. (Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, chapter 87)
“By God, you’re sassy,” Augustus said. (…) “I’m honest, she said. “To most men, that’s sassy.” (Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, chapter 87)
“sometimes downright sassy, Tomaso was frequently a trial to his mother these days.” (Scott Turow, Innocent, chapter 27)
– Looking rich and sassy and really put together. (John D. MacDonald,The Lonely Silver Rain, chapter 3)
– You tell that big
sassy
 redhead she did good. (John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt, chapter 6)
– The gopher acts like a very sassy and fearless beast, honey. But he is all coward. (John D. MacDonald, A Deadly Shade of Gold, chapter 11)
– I started to smile, thinking how straight her back was and how sassy she’d looked walking away from me, her nose in the air.   (Harold Robbins, A Stone for Danny Fisher, Corgi Books 1967, Book 9 chapter 8)

53. barely
(BrE/IntE) barely* = nauwelijks, bijna niet
(AmE) barely = (1) nauwelijks (= hardly), (2) een beetje, net, net wèl (= a lttile bit, just)
(AmE) barely = (AmE) just barely heeft niet altijd de negatieve associatie (“nauwelijks”)  die (BrE) barely heeft.

Voorbeelden (AmE) barely = (ook:)een beetje, nèt, net wel:
Someone wrote something on a piece of paper that was on top of this one, or close to on top of this one. If you look hard, you can barely make out impressions. > Als je goed kijkt kun je een hele vage afdruk zien. (Patricia Cornwell, Cruel and Unusual, ch. 6, vertaald door Annette Zeelenberg als “Rigor Mortis”)
Exactly one week ago, barely two days before her murder, Jennifer Deighton had faxed the following message (…). > … nog geen twee dagen voordat ze vermoord werd …. (Patricia Cornwell, Cruel and Unusual, ch. 6, vertaald door Annette Zeelenberg als “Rigor Mortis”)
[Let op:  hier is de betekenis ‘nauwelijks’ / ‘nog geen’ / ‘amper’ gebruikt, terwijl de typisch Amerikaanse betekenis ‘maar’ / ‘slechts’ ook mogelijk is.]
– “Jason’s home,” she barely said . > “Dat is Jason”, zei ze nauwelijks hoorbaar. (Patricia Cornwell, Cruel and Unusual, ch. 6, vertaald door Annette Zeelenberg als “Rigor Mortis”)
He stared straight ahead, our shoulders barely touching. > Onze schouders raakten elkaar nauwelijks. (Patricia Cornwell, Cruel and Unusual, ch. 8, vertaald door Annette Zeelenberg als “Rigor Mortis”) [Let op:  hier is de betekenis ‘nauwelijks’ gebruikt, terwijl de typisch Amerikaanse betekenis ‘lichtjes’ ook mogelijk is.]
I waved him on by barely lifting a pole as I made languid parallel turns and floated over moguls. > Ik gebaarde met mijn skistok dat hij verder moest gaan, terwijl ik langzaam van links naar rechts skiede … .(Patricia Cornwell, Cruel and Unusual, ch. 8, vertaald door Annette Zeelenberg als “Rigor Mortis”) [Let op: de betekenis ‘een beetje’/ ‘lichtjes’ past hier beter dan ‘nauwelijks’, ‘bijna niet’, ‘amper’]
“Can you see them?” – “Umm. Maybe barely.” –  “Hmmm. Heel vaag misschien.” (Patricia Cornwell, Cruel and Unusual, ch. 11, vertaald door Annette Zeelenberg als “Rigor Mortis”)

– Over there, at about two o’clock, you can barely see an area that’s gray and brown. (John Grisham, Gray Mountain, ch. 12)
She barely managed to say, “What?” (John Grisham, Gray Mountain, ch. 39)
La Brava slipped the gun out of his mouth, barely out, laying the sight under the lower lip. (Elmore Leonard, La Brava, chapter 21)
She had not yet said the word aloud and just barely heard it in her mind. (Elmore Leonard, The Switch, chapter 21)
She preferred to think of herself as natural looking – with her (…) hair worn fairly short, barely teased and parted on the side. (Elmore Leonard, The Switch, chapter 1)
She said, just barely smiling, “You’re kind of a show-off, aren’t you?” (Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 14)
– Lew Drake stepped out of his office and Lindeen sent his voice across that distance, pitching it barely high enough and no higher. (E.B. Mann, Troubled Range, chapter 10)
He shifted his hold [on the man’s shirt], and this time he barely was able to reach the belt. Now the body came easily enough (…) (Max Brand, The Long, Long Trail, chapter 28)
Beverly would thrash around her covers and huff great groans, as if she were still asleep but just barely. (Tom Wolfe, I am Charlotte Simmons, chapter 11)
Charlotte (..) pulled her knees up in the fetal position, feigning sleep, barely in time.  (Tom Wolfe, I am Charlotte Simmons, chapter 26)
She was conscious, but just barely (…). (Michael Crichton, A Case of Need, Thursday Oct. 13, chapter 6)
They were both still alive, barely. (Michael Crichton, State of Fear, part II, p. 262)
He is thirty-nine. Doctorate in civil engineering (…) at age twenty .(…) Barely missed qualifying for the Olympic ski team. (…) (Michael Crichton, State of Fear, part I, p. 61)
It’s there. Barely. (Michael Crichton, Timeline, Ballantine Books, p. 156)
– Two knights in the lead held torches, and by that light they could just barely discern Oliver (…). (Michael Crichton, Timeline, Ballantine Books, page 318)
It was getting dark now, and in the fading light he could barely see the little rex, with bloody jaws (…). (Michael Crichton, Jurrasic Park, Ballantine Books page 396)
– It was just barely not too late to be able to wait just long enough (…)  (John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt, chapter 6)
– Once well past it I dropped back and kept the bus just barely in sight. (John D. MacDonald, One Fearful Yellow Eye, chapter 11)
– She took such a clout at him it scared him. He barely got his face out of the way. (John D. MacDonald, One Fearful Yellow Eye, chapter 12)
It [= the knife] was just barely long enough. (John D. MacDonald, A Deadly Shade of Gold, chapter 11)
Barbara Messenger opened the door and came out into the hallway, leaving the door barely ajar. (John D. MacDonald, Condominium, chapter 23)
– (…) as they approached the heights on the west side, the sun barely showed over the rim-rock. (Elmore Leonard, The Bounty Hunters, chapter 7)
Clouds had formed in the night sky and now the moonwash was a soft haze that barely outlined the dense shape of the trees. (Elmore Leonard, The Bounty Hunters, chapter 20)
– It was still barely possible to accept that Evelyn could have stepped overnight from our local little society into “March of Time” celebrity, but now Sandy as well? (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 5)
– (…) an alleyway only barely wide enough for a single car separated one house from the next. (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 1)
– He could just barely make out the thousands of people along the beaches. (Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff, chapter 12)
Sometimes Abilene seemed to be teasing the red balls across the table, nudghing the white ball softly and gently and barely easing the red ball into the pocket. (Larry McMurtry, The Last Picture Show, 1966, chapter 20)
Reckon we got enough money to pay our fines?” They did have, barely (…). (Larry McMurtry, The Last Picture Show, 1966, chapter 22)

Voorbeelden (AmE) barely = nauwelijks, amper
The trail (…) was barely discernible, and Donovan seemed not to notice it. (John Grisham, Gray Mountain, ch. 12)

They arrived (..) half an hour early and barely got in the door. (John Grisham, Gray Mountain, ch. 38)
I was so stiff, I could barely utter the first word. (John Grisham, Gray Mountain, ch. 40)
they were barely noticeable (Elmore Leonard, The Switch, chapter 21)
there was barely enough room in front of him to hold his hands clenched together, let alone open a file and read. (Michael Crichton, The Andromeda Strain, chapter 10)
He could barely make out Stone’s suit, a dim outline in a gloomy, dusky world. (Michael Crichton, The Andromeda Strain, chapter 6)
– The two other cars were already far away; we could barely hear their engines, but we could see their light moving down the coast. (Michael Crichton, A Case of Need, “Wednesday Oct. 12, chapter 8)

54. (AmE) can (zelfst. naamw., hoofdwerkwoord) als “heavy-duty word” (zie ook note 12)
(AmE) can (zelfst. naamw.)
1. blikje
2. prullenbak,afvalemmer (= trash can)
3. wc (slang)
4. de gevangenis (slang)
5. kont, bips  (slang) = (AmE) ass / heinie / fanny
6. in the can (informal, idiomatic, movie-jargon) = in kannen en kruiken, voor elkaar, (completed, finished, sealed, done: “on tape or film and ready to be broadcast or released” >  “finished and ready for use”). ‘a  film can‘ = een filmblik’. Voorbeelden:  “A man walked past, carrying a can of film.” (Harold Robbins, The Carpetbaggers, chapter 8).  I paid five thousand dollars for that little can of film. (Harold Robbins, The Carpetbaggers, Book 8, chapter 14)
7. kick the can (children’s game)
8. tie the can to sb. (verouderd) = ontslaan, dumpen = to can sb. (zie hoofdwerkwoord 1)

(AmE) can (hoofdwerkwoord):
1. ontslaan (slang) =  tie the can to sb. (verouderd)
2. stoppen, beëindigen (= cancel, terminate)
3. sluiten, dichtdoen
4. (= can a putt) de (golf)bal putten, de bal in de hole slaan

Voorbeelden AmE can (zelfst. naamw.):
(1)
– Nolen (…) was popping open a can of beer. (Elmore Leonard, Cat Chaser, chapter 15)
(2)
Watching her girlfriend toss out an expensive top she’d worn only once, Evon retrieved it from the can. (Scott Turow, Indentical, ch. 5)
She had one foot on a trash can as a footrest. (Scott Turow, Identical, ch. 19)
– Tim feigned dropping the plastic container in a trash bin, and pushed it up the sleeve of his parka while he had his hand in the can.
(Scott Turow, Identical, ch. 20)
(3) toilet, WC
Thursday, on the Freeport to West Palm flight, Jackie spent fifteen minutes in the lavatory rearranging her bag. (…) When she came out, a guy (…) said “I’m waiting for a drink and you spend half the flight in the can. (Elmore Leonard, Rum Punch, chapter 22)
Have you thought, if Boylan hadn’t gone to the can the guy might’ve come over to the table?” (Elmore Leonard, Bandits, chapter16)
You tell the guy you have to leave or go to the can, whatever you want, and I’ll meet you across the street (…) (Elmore Leonard, Bandits, chapter17)
“It’s a surprise for my wife,”Chili said. “But you have to do it quick, okay? While she’s in the can. (Elmore Leonard, Bandits, chapter 22)
– [L]et me go to the can and take a leak first (…) (Elmore Leonard, Cat Chaser, chapter 19)
– My back is still to him as I wad the paper towel and toss it in the can. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 15)
They’re positive a third gunshot victim was in the lavatory (…). Maybe the doctor (…) was in the can when she popped him. (Elmore Leonard, Up in Honey’s Room, chapter 22)
– “He’s in the can”, Davis said. (Elmore Leonard, The Hunted, chapter 26)
Louis said, “on the wall in the can it says, ‘Coleman is a copsacker’.” (…) “I better take a leak first”, Louis said. (…) “I’m in the can,” Louis said. (Elmore Leonard, The Switch, chapter 3)
That same day I followed him to the men’s room. (…) He looked at me and walked right past into the can, didn’t say a word. (Elmore Leonard, Maximum Bob, chapter 19)
He knows somebody’s bringing him food, [and] taking him to the can (…).(Elmore Leonard, Riding the Rap, chapter 14)
“You got to point them to the can they want to take a leak.” (Elmore Leonard, Unknown Man #89, chapter 20)
“Going to the can,” said Stick. (Elmore Leonard, Swag, chapter 8)
“We walk in and Leon or some jig steps out of the can shooting,” said Stick. (Elmore Leonard, Swag, chapter 26)
thirty people were were out in the can at the same time taking a piss (…).  (Elmore Leonard, Split Images, chapter 6)
– I hung around until Helen had to go to the can. The girl has a very small bladder. (John D. MacDonald, Condominium, chapter 36)
–  I also had a private bungalow with a suite of offices and two secretaries,  (…) a private can and shower.
(Harold Robbins, The Carpetbaggers, chapter 5)
“You can smoke in the can,” Wagner called, pointing to the back of the warehouse. David walked down the aisle to the back, until he found the men’s room. (…). ” (Harold Robbins, The Carpetbaggers, Book 6, chapter 4)
– “He’s in the can, sneaking a smoke.” David thanked him and walked down the back aisle to the washroom. (Harold Robbins, The Carpetbaggers, Book 6, chapter 6)
I closed the bathroom door behind me and sat down on the can. (Harold Robbins, The Carpetbaggers, Book 7, chapter 5)
Dan couldn’t convince me to go to the can if I had the runs. (Harold Robbins, The Carpetbaggers, Book 7, chapter 6)

(4)
– So you’re telling me the wrong brother is in the can? (Scott Turow, Identical, ch. 13)
I spent twenty-five years in the can.
(Scott Turow, Identical, ch. 16)
– they might just throw you in the can. (Steve Martini, The Arraignment, chapter 12)
– “Goddamn greasers,” he says. “I oughta throw their worthless butts in the can, give ‘em a good shower, and spray some DDT up their kazoos.” (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 17)
– they’ll (…) throw you in the can. (Elmore Leonard, Glitz, chapter 5)
– he’s right out of the can. (Elmore Leonard, Glitz, chapter 21)
– My closest friend in the can, outside of Frank, was a black guy. (Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 18)
I oughta throw their worthless butts in the can, give ‘em a good shower, and spray some DDT on their kazoos. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 16)
He said, “(…) what’re you doing back in the can?” (…) “A judge (…) gave me thirty years (…).” (Elmore Leonard, Out of Sight, chapter 3)
– they’re in the can for murder, maybe life. (Elmore Leonard, Swag, chapter 24)
Virgil thinks Bobby Lear kept the money from the job and spent it while he was in the can. (Elmore Leonard, Unknown Man #89, chapter 5)
“If the cops getcha, yuh go into the can an’ they throw away the key.” (Harold Robbins, A Stone for Danny Fisher, Book 2, 1967, chapter 4)
– Ain’t it enough I keep yuh out of the can, go your bail, an’ square the rap against yuh, then give yuh a job to boot. Ain’t yuh satisfied?” (Harold Robbins, A Stone for Danny Fisher, Book 4, chapter 5)
(5) kont, bips, achterste, reet
– She walked off swinging her can at him in that white tube skirt. (Elmore Leonard, Rum Punch, chapter 22)
– She seemed to be always at attention, her back arched, her perfect breasts and pert can sticking out proudly (…). (Elmore Leonard, Cat Chaser, chapter 1)
Stick walked behind, watching Cornell talking to her (…), watching her can roll from side to side. (Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 19)
She came to the foot of the bed, bent over, aimed her can at him and picked up a pair of designer jeans (…). (Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 14)
A fifth of vodka would put any pilot I know on his can. (Steve Martini, The Arraignment, chapter 28)
Rosen (…) liked her thin legs, her high can (…). (Elmore Leonard, The Hunted, chapter 2)
He (…) entered the lobby, pulling at the trousers sticking to his can (…). (Elmore Leonard, The Hunted, chapter 4)
Good-looking girl, too, with a nice little can. (Elmore Leonard, The Hunted, chapter 5)
Mel went to the bar (…), bending over, showing his big can. (Elmore Leonard, The Hunted, chapter 4)
Karen watched him get up from the table (…) hiking up his yellow slacks that dropped in the can. (Elmore Leonard, Out of Sight, chapter 10)
That was a nice little compact can in the white shorts (….).(Elmore Leonard, The Big Bounce, chapter 3)
The whores [were] looking at his can in the tight pants (…). (Elmore Leonard, The Switch, chapter 3)
She (…) felt his hand slide down the tennis dress to pat her can. (Elmore Leonard, The Switch, chapter 2)
He could see the underside of her long young thighs all the way to her exposed can. (Elmore Leonard, The Switch, chapter 13)
She stepped into her cut-offs, pulled them tight over her can (…). (Elmore Leonard, The Switch, chapter 20)
[Michelle had her] back arched in a way that accentuated her compact little can. (Elmore Leonard, Maximum Bob, chapter 16)
– Tight little red silk can sticking out, hand on his hip (…). (Elmore Leonard, Unknown Man #89, chapter 7)
– Ryan looked at her compact little can in the white panties. (Elmore Leonard, Unknown Man #89, chapter 18)
“Lift up your can.” “Like this?” She arched her back, raising her pelvis towards him. (Elmore Leonard, Unknown Man #89, chapter 18)
– Frank said she was battery-operated. You pressed a little button on her can and she’d say, “Hi, I’m Sonny. I’m a model. So fuck off.”  (Elmore Leonard, Swag, chapter 5)
– Her brown skin glistened with oil, smooth and bare all the way down to where the little bikini bottom almost covered her can. (Elmore Leonard, Swag, chapter 9)
We motivate the salesmen, get them off their cans, by actually showing them how to cultivate prospects and close deals. (Elmore Leonard, Swag, chapter 9)
He remembered (…)  a skinny guy with a big scooped brim hat and tight little can (…). (Elmore Leonard, chapter 21)
– “Yeah, I got some,” said Angel, “and I’m gonna take your can off.” (Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities, chapter 22)
The two small bulbs made a dingy light in the small bathroom. She was sitting in the deep narrow tub (…). “There’s women aboard, honest to Betsy, they’re a yard at least across the can, and I just barely fit into this crazy tub. I bet they’re always having to bring a gang of little wops into these cans and yank them loose.” (John D. MacDonald, Warmer than Amber, chapter 13)
– I can’t wait any longer. [If] You sit on your can, the strike is on. (Harold Robbins, The Carpetbaggers, Book 6, chapter 11)
(6)
We will all be off (…) before this thing is cleanly in the can, before all of the criminal appeals are exhausted. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 22)
This would now be an endles task of re-writing lines [before] the film was in the can. (Steve Martini. The List, chapter 19)
– I bombed out on two films because they wouldn’t let me go my own way. (…) I need a picture in the can more than I need your famous face, lady. (John D. MacDonald, Free Fall in Crimson, chapter 13)
(7)
“You don’t remember playing kick the can with Himmler when you were young? (Elmore Leonard, Up in Honey’s Room, chapter 11)
(8)
– I don’t care what you think you got on me if you don’t do your job; I’ll tie a can to yuh before yuh know what’s happenin’!” (Harold Robbins, A Stone for Danny Fisher, Book 4, chapter 5)
– And when I tie the can to you, you’ll have to work for the government. Industry won’t hire you as a timekeeper.”(John D. MacDonald, Cancel All Our Vows, 1953, chapter 18)

Voorbeelden AmE can (hoofdwerkwoord):
(1) de zak geven, ontslaan

– I also didn’t realize that he canned me only three days before his little girl was poisoned. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Buried Evidence, chapter 8)
They offered me a job. It pays well, or did until they canned me. (Steve Martini, Double Tap, chapter 5)
– My guess is the only reason Havlitz hasn’t canned Klepp already is the fear that once he lets him go the R&D man might feel free to talk. (Steve Martini, Double Tap, chapter 17)
– “I got fired”, Linda said. (…) I get canned (…) (Elmore Leonard, Glitz, chapter 11)
“I’ll can him“, I say. “Fire the son of a bitch on the spot.” (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 29)
“He doesn’t work here anymore. (…) They canned him last year.” (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 33)
It was one of the rules fashioned by the canning consultants. You didn’t want the cannee hanging around the water cooler poisoning the labor pool. (Steve Martini. The List, chapter 16, humoristisch bedoeld gebruikt van ‘can’ en ‘cannee’)
(…) it turns out that the Chief’s bone-crushing anger is just the build-up to canning us, me and the Sergeant, firing us, dumping us like a couple of dead fish gone high? (Tom Wolfe, Back to Blood, chapter 13)
He just got canned, and he’s really pissed. (Tom Wolfe, I am Charlotte Simmons, chapter 14)
But just let some professor call it by its right name, Homosexual Studies, and he’d get fucking canned. (Tom Wolfe, I am Charlotte Simmons, chapter 21)
– Sergeant McCorkle (…) as already just one button away from canning him. (Tom Wolfe, Back to Blood, chapter 1)
Dio was going to demand that he can him. (Tom Wolfe, Back to Blood, chapter 12)
The broadcasting cowards (…) say Winchell was canned for crying ‘Fire!’ in a crowded theater. (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 7)
“They didn’t can Sam to give this jerk a job, did they?” he yelled. (Harold Robbins, The Carpetbaggers, Book 6,  chapter 5)
“What is so difficult about getting rid of these guys? Hell the whole city wants them canned.” (John Grisham, Rogue Lawyer,2015, Part 5, chapter 14)
– “I must have done something, or else they would have kept me and canned someone else.” – “But they fired a lot of kids.” (Peter Benchley, Jaws, part 2, chapter 6)

(2)
Show canned when star wouldn’t have sex with [Mr.] Moonves? (…) Cybill Shepherd claims Les Moonves canceled her show after she rejected a sexual advance. (headlines, Fox News website www.foxnews.com,13 Dec. 2018)

(3)
Can it, Jameson”, a male voice answered, “some of us have to work for a living.” > Kop dicht … (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Buried Evidence, chapter 17)
“Hey, can it, you guys!”(…). The place quieted down. (Tom Wolfe, Back to Blood, chapter14)
(4)
– He dropped the iron shot five feet from the pin and canned the putt for his birdie. (John D. MacDonald, April Evil, chapter 2, vertaald door A.J. Gaastra, “De Dood Kaatst Terug”)
– His approach on the fifteenth was good and he canned a careful putt for the birdie. (John D. MacDonald, April Evil, chapter 18, vertaald door A.J. Gaastra, “De Dood Kaatst Terug”)

vertaaltips & dilemma’s:
Het is voor Nederlandse vertalers niet altijd gemakkelijk te weten welke betekenis van (AmE spreektaal) can wordt bedoeld. Bijvoorbeeld een  schrijver als Elmore Leonard gebruikt het woord regelmatig, in zeker drie verschillende betekenissen: “kont”, “bajes”,  “plee”. Ook John D. MacDonald gebruikt het woord veelvuldig in meerdere betekenissen.
In het volgende voorbeeld wordt het zelfstandig naamwoord  can in één en dezelfde zin eerst in betekenis (5) van ‘kont’ gebruikt, en vervolgens in betekenis (3) van ‘badkamer’, ’toiletruimte’.

The two small bulbs made a dingy light in the small bathroom. She was sitting in the deep narrow tub (…). “There’s women aboard, honest to Betsy, they’re a yard at least across the can, and I just barely fit into this crazy tub. I bet they’re always having to bring a gang of little wops into these cans and yank them loose.” > ‘Er zijn vrouwen aan boord, eerlijk waar, die een kont hebben die over de plee hangt en ik pas maar net in die gekke kuip. Ik wed dat ze alsmaar een stelletje kleine Italiaantjes moeten roepen om ze los te trekken. (John D. MacDonald, Warmer than Amber, chapter 13, vertaald door H.J. Oolbekkink).Ook wanneer (AmE) can als hoofdwerkwoord wordt gebruikt, is de betekenis ervan voor Nederlandse vertalers niet altijd duidelijk. Tweetalige Nederlandse woordenboeken bieden geen uitkomst als het bijvoorbeeld gaat om de betekenis van “can a putt” (zie hierboven, betekenis 4: “een bal putten”). In de vertaling van John MacDonald’s April Evil, laat de vertaler (A.J. Gaastra, “De Dood Kaatst Terug) de betreffende zin de ene keer onvertaald (chapter 2), en de andere keer doet hij  een mislukte poging de betekenis ervan te raden (chapter 18: His approach on the fifteenth was good and he canned a careful putt for the birdie. “Op de vijftiende hole stond hij er goed voor, misschien kon het een birdie opleveren.”)De betekenis van het liedje  “Can the Can”  van de Amerikaanse zangeres Suzi Quatro is een ander voorbeeld van de soms onduidelijke (dubbelzinnige) betekenis van (AmE) can. In het liedje komt ook de zin “make a stand for your man, can the can” voor. Volgens de website www.UrbanDictionary.com betekent het “something pretty impossible”: “” you can’t get one can inside another if they are the same size”. 

 

55. windshield / windscreen / windbreaker / windcheater (zie ook clothes note 8, en transport note 13)
(BrE/AusE, usually) windshield = (strand)windscherm, windschut
(AmE) windshield = (1) (auto)voorruit, (2) windscherm (op een motor, scooter of bromfiets)
(BrE/AusE) windscreen = (1) (auto)voorruit, (2) windscherm (op een motor, scooter of bromfiets)

(AmE, usually) windscreen == (strand)windscherm, windschut
(BrE) windbreaker = windscherm, schutscherm

(AmE) windbreaker = windjack, jekker (= BrE windcheater)

Voorbeeld (BrE) windshield = windscherm:
Had he shuffled with an armful of family burdens, whinging kids, bags of windshields, Thermos flasks, towels, damp clothes and plastic bottles, he would not have stood out. (Frances Fyfield, Perfectly Pure and Good, ch. 7)

Voorbeeld (AmE) windshield = voorruit (van een auto, boot, etc )
– A light drizzle peppered the windshield with a driven mist. (Steve Martini, The Simeon Chamber, chapter 13)
Through the windshield I see Fittipaldi. (Steve Martini. The Arraignment, chapter 25)
– A fine mist covers my windshield. (Steve Martini, The Arraignment, chapter 14)
– He was staring through the windshield(Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities, chapter 4)
– The rain came down harder, the windshield wipers were sweeping back and forth (…). (Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities, chapter 22)
– Roger Too White stared through the windshield of his Lexus, astonished. (Tom Wolfe, A Man In Full, chapter 1)
Just as I had left the car, I had glanced at the windshield, seen the hole punched in my side of it, almost dead center. (John D, MacDonald, A Purple Place for Dying, chapter 13)
I’d laid the hinged windshield over to port. > voorruit / windscherm van een boot (John D. McDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt, chapter 1)

Voorbeelden (AmE) windscreen = windscherm:
– He noticed Bo’s tennis racket still lying a few feet from the windscreen-covered fence (…). (Elmore Leonard, The Switch, chapter 6)
The wall shielded her from some of the west wind, and she had set up an additional wind screen, one of those made of shining metal to intensify the heat of the sun. (John D. MacDonald, The Quick Red Fox, chapter 9)
– We set ourselves up, at a table near a little outdoor pavillion bar with a thatched roof, with canvas laced between the posts on two sides as a wind screen. (John D. MacDonald, The Turquoise Lament, chapter 2)
– 

Vertaaltips & dilemma’s:

Gezien bovenstaand voorbeeld uit het boek van Frances Fyfield (Brits Engels, gepubliceerd in 1994), is het onduidelijk waarom het Eng-Ned woordenboek van Van Dale (4e editie, 2008) bij het woord “windshield” in betekenis (3) van “windscherm, windschut”, de aanduiding “AE” heeft toegevoegd.

De in de VS woonachtige, maar van geboorte Zuid-Afrikaanse Elon Musk gebruikt het woord ‘windscreen’ in de (BrE/ZAfrE) betekenis van autoruit. (Interview met podcaster Joe Rogan, 6 september 2018)

Een enkele keer komt het voor dat een  (AmE) windshield in beide betekenissen wordt gebruikt, dus zowel in de betekenis van “autoruit” als van “windscherm”:
I found a brown pipe-cleaner on the windshield with one paw under the wiper (…). (…) The pool Cubans had laced the canvas wind shields in place. (John D. McDonald, TheLonely Silver Rain, chapter 20).


56.
mad
(BrE/IntE) mad* = gek
(AmE ook) mad = boos, kwaad

De twee verschillende betekenissen van (AmE) mad: (1) “kwaad”, “boos”, (2) “gek” worden veelvuldig naast elkaar gebruikt, door één en dezelfde persoon/auteur en in één en dezelfde tekst. Zonder voldoende context is het daarom soms  lastig te weten welke betekenis bedoeld wordt.

Voorbeelden (BrE/IntE) mad = gek:
– She knew he was mad. Hysterical laughter rose in her throat. Madder than his impulses surely, this desire to laugh and stuff her fist in her mouth. (Frances Fyfield, Shadows on the Mirror, chapter 12)
– Normality, please, something to remind her (…) she was not mad after all. (Frances Fyfield, Trial by Fire, chapter 5)

– I thought she was mad, but she isn’t, she’s clever. (Frances Fyfield, A Question of Guilt, chapter 8)

Voorbeelden van (AmE) mad / madness = gek/waanzin(nigheid): 
– (…) cretins are the only humans who can be absolutely certain of their own sanity. (…) The man who believes himself free of any taint of madness is a damned liar. (John D. McDonald, A Purple Place for Dying, chapter 2)
She shook her head as if the world had gone mad. (John D. MacDonald, A Purple Place for Dying, chapter 12)
“Mentally, you name it, she’s got it.” – “She’s mad?” – “Boy, she isn’t sane.(…)” (John D. MacDonald, The Quick Red Fox, chapter 5)
In the semisilence I said, “You are totally mad.” (John D. MacDonald, The Scarlet Ruse, chapter 8)
She’s madly in love with the guy. (Michael Crichton, Rising Sun, Arrow Books page 78)
They sting like mad. (John D. MacDonald, One Fearful Yellow Eye, chapter 3)
So now John thinks I am very nice in spite of being quite mad. (John D. MacDonald, One Fearful Yellow Eye, chapter 3)
– It’s two large dogs – uh – copulating like mad. (John D. MacDonald, One Fearful Yellow Eye, chapter 4)
– He cuts brush on the county gang, tormented by the other prisoners, driven further into his private madness. (John D. MacDonald, Bright Orange for the Shroud, chapter 3)
His eyes were so close together, it gave him a half-mad, half-comedic look. His little mouth turned into a crazy little V when he smiled. (John D. McDonald, Free Fall in Crimson, chapter 12)

Voorbeelden (AmE) mad = kwaad:
She was mad as hell. (Steve Martini, The Simeon Chamber, chapter 13)
“I think he still may be mad, you know”. (…) – “And what would Mary be mad about?” – “He never really said, but I knew he was always mad about Zeus.” (Scott Turow, Identical, chapter 25)
“Hey, you mad at me? Listen, I’m the one should be angry here.” (Elmore Leonard, Pagan Babies, chapter 4)
She seemed to clench her teeth. “But I’m also getting mad, goddamn it.” (Elmore Leonard, Cat Chaser, chapter 12)
– She couldn’t think of Moran and stay mad. (Elmore Leonard, Be Cool, chapter 15)
– She began to frown and looked mad. (Elmore Leonard, Glitz, chapter 3)
What’re you getting mad for? (Elmore Leonard, (Bandits, chapter 14)
If you feel insulted or start to get mad, request a five-minute break to consult with me. (Michael Crichton, Disclosure, Arrow Books, p. 255)
I was very mad at her. (John D. MacDonald, The Scarlet Ruse, chapter 19)
Retired couple, trussed up, scared and mad as puckered owls. (John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt, chapter 14)
He never got mad that way. Not like me. I fly off the handle and want to hit everything. (John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt, chapter 14)
Nobody else ever made me that mad. I steamed for months. (John D. McDonald, Free Fall in Crimson, chapter 12)

Vertaaltips en dilemma’s
Zonder voldoende context is het vaak lastig de juiste Amerikaanse betekenis van mad te weten.
Voorbeeld:
De typisch Brits-Engelse uitdrukking “as mad as a March hare” betekent “zo gek als een deur” =
 “as crazy as a March hare“. Maar omdat Amerikanen  ‘mad’ in twee betekenissen kennen,  kan  “as mad as a March hare” (“zo gek als een deur”) ook abusievelijk begrepen worden als “zo kwaad als een spin”. Dit blijkt uit het volgende voorbeeld:
Ten minutes later she came out spitting vinegar, angry as a March hare. (Steve Martini, The Attorney, chapter 12)

57. a tinkle / to tinkle
Net als het alledaagse (AmE) fanny (bips) bij Britten tot enige verlegenheid of hilariteit kan leiden (zie noot 24 hierboven), geldt dit ook voor het (BrE) a tinkle / to tinkle (een telefoontje plegen) dat door Amerikanen, en degenen die met de Amerikaanse betekenis bekend zijn, wordt opgevat als “een plasje plegen”.

Voorbeeld (BrE) tinkle:
Mrs Pardoe laughed (…) There were certain phrases did this to her, such as the vicar saying, I’ll give you a tinkle, meaning he would phone (…). (Frances Fyfield, Perfectly Pure and Good, ch. 10)

Voorbeeld (AmE) tinkle:
[H]e walked out of the john (…). Going tinkle every ten minutes was just part of being an old guy. (Scott, Turow, Identical, ch. 16)
She turned back toward Jojo and gave him a kiss on the lips, then said, “I have to go tinkle. ” With that, she got up and sauntered stark naked to the bathroom (…). (Tom Wolfe, I am Charloote Simmons, chapter 29)


58. vital statistics / vital records / vitals
(zie ook “politics”, note 7)
(AmE) vitals, vital signs = vitale functies
(hartslag, ademhaling, temperatuur en bloeddruk)
(AmE) vital records = bevolkingsstatistieken, burgerlijke stand

Voorbeelden (AmE) vitals / vital signs (vitale functies):
-The machine keeping track of her vitals hummed and beeped next to the bed.
> een apparaat hield haar vitale functies in de gaten en stond zoemend en piepend naast het bed. (David Baldacci, King and Maxwell / King & Maxwell, vertaald door Jolanda te Lindert, hfdst.33)
– A nurse bustled in, took the patient’s vitals and stuck a temperature reader in Caleb’s left ear. (David Baldacci, The Collectors, ch. 7)
A nurse entered chattering away about checking his vitals.He said he was tired, and so she helped him into his bed, arranged his IV, glared at Lucien, then checked Lonny’s blood pressure and pulse. “He needs to rest,” she said. > Er kwam een verpleegster binnen. Lonny was moe en dus hielp ze hem in zijn bed, controleerde zijn infuus, keek naar Lucien en nam vervolgens Lonny’s bloeddruk en hartslag op. “Hij moet nu rusten”< zie ze. (John Grisham, Sycamore Row / De Erfgenaam, vertaald door Jolanda te Lindert, hfdst. 40)
– His vital signs were near normal. (John Grisham, The Confession, ch. 31)
– Gary checked certain vital signs – cash flow, size of issue, size of float. (Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections)

Voorbeelden (AmE) vital records / vital statistics (bevolkingsstatistieken, gegevens van de burgerlijke stand):
– He happened to be looking at a small section of the Memphis Press where it registered the county’s vital records. Marriage Licenses. Divorce petitions. Births. Arrests. Deaths. (John Grisham, The Chamber, ch. 28)
“I check the record of vital statistics every day. I pay particular attention to the divorce filings.” > Iedere dag lees ik de gegevens van de burgelijke stand (…) (John Grisham, The Rainmaker / De Rainmaker, vertaald door Jan Smit, hfdst 36)
– They had just been ordered to spend thirty-nine out of the next fifty-three hours in this room, looking at enlarged photos of faces they’d already seen, memorizing names and birthdates and vital stats of almost two hundred people. > (…) de namen en geboortedata en andere gegevens van bijna tweehonderd mensen (…) (John Grisham, Runaway Jury / In het Geding, vertaald door Hugo en Nienke Kuipers, hfdst 1)
– All the information you’ve memorized is backed up in all the places anyone might look. Vital records in the U.S., an American SocialSecurity number, bank accounts, educational backgrounds, degrees conferred, parents’ history. > (…) De Amerikaanse burgerlijke stand, een sofinummer (…). (David Baldacci, Deliver Us from Evil / Verlos Ons van het Kwaad, vertaald door Hugo Kuipers, hfdst. 20)
_ We obtained the vital statistics from available local records, sir. You might check them over for accuracy.” Brantley B. Bannon, and the age looked right, and he had the next of kin right. (John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt, chapter 5)

59. off-colo(u)r
(BrE) off-colour = minnetjes, niet lekker in zijn vel
(AmE) off-color = ongepast, schuin, schunnig

Voorbeeld (BrE) off-colour:
“He didn’t seem as keen as usual (…). He’s a bit off-colour lately. Domestic difficulties, I guess.” (Frances Fyfield, A Question of Guilt, ch. 7)

Voorbeelden (AmE) off-color:
– No off-color fan mail. (Scott Turow, Pleading Guilty, ch. 2)

– “Why don’t you give me one sec with Walter? I want to tell him an off-color story.” (Scott Turow, Personal Injuries, ch. 7)
– The only discordant note (…) woube an off-color toast offered by some secondary groomsman, (…) invariably flushed with liquor. (Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections, “The Failure”)
I will keep Hawley (…) away from the prying eyes and off-color jokes of the lawyers (…) (Steve Martini, Compelling Evidence, chapter 5, vertaald door Thomas Wintner, Onweerlegbaar Bewijs)
– It started with a few off-color jokes and guileless references to sexual trivia. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 20)
Tyson acted as if he were now old enough to share off-color double entendres with adults. (Tom Wolfe, I am Charlotte Simmons, chapter 15)
[Bob] Hope had just delivered one of his famous off-color, servicemen-only kind of jokes that could never have got on the air during his coast-to-coast broadcasts. (Harold Robbins, The Carpetbaggers, Book 8, chapter 12)

Vertaaltips en dilemma’s:
Bij het vertalen van “off-colo(u)r” wordt, wellicht als gevolg van onvoldoende kennis van het onderscheid dat in Brits- en Amerikaans-Engelse contexten, niet altijd de juiste keuze gemaakt. Onderstaande voorbeelden laten vertalingen zien die niet goed zijn:
Voorbeeld (BrE) off-colour:
“He didn’t seem as keen as usual (…). He’s a bit off-colour lately. Domestic difficulties, I guess.” > “Hij was niet zo happig als normaal (…) Hij is een beetje tegendraads de laatste tijd. Problemen thuis, vermoed ik.” (Frances Fyfield, A Question of Guilt / Schuldvraag, vertaald door Luud Dorresteyn, 1994, hfdst 7)
Voorbeeld (AmE) off-color:
– No off-color fan mail. > (…) geen scheldbrieven (Scott Turow, Pleading Guilty / De Beschuldiging, vertaald door Jan Smit, hfdst 2)


60.
administrator / administration (zie ook: Politics, note 26)
Diverse betekenissen van administrator/administration:

(1) (BrE) administratief medewerker
(2) (IntE) administratie, beheer
(3) (AmE) leiding / leidinggevende(n) / directie / regering
(4) (BrE) curator; vergelijk (AmE) executeur testamentair

(AmE) administrator =  hoofd, leidinggevende, manager, directeur van een (semi-)overheidsinstelling
De Amerikaanse “administrator” heeft een goedbetaalde managementfunctie waarvoor een universitaire opleiding vereist is. Voorbeelden: “hospital administrator”, “prison administrator”,  “school administrator”, etc.

Zie de volgende functieomschrijving (2017) van  een (AmE) hospital administrator (vergelijkbaar met een Britse hospital manager)
“As the head of operations, a hospital administrator oversees clinical units, departments, or an entire hospital. These professionals manage personnel, finances, and facility practices (…). Hospital administrators hold at least a four-year bachelor’s degree and many pursue graduate education (such as a master’s or doctorate degree), necessary at larger facilities or for executive positions high on the administrative ladder. Graduate education programs in business or health adminsitration  take two or three uears to complete. (…) According to the US Department of Labour, healthcare administrators collectively have an average salary of about $ 103,680. (link)

De Amerikaaanse termen administration  / administrator(s) betreffen de directie, het management, ofwel de uitvoerende, dagelijkse leiding van (semi-)overheidsorganisaties zoals scholen, ziekenhuizen, en gevangenissen. Ze hebben dus een andere betekenis dan de Nederlandse termen “administratie, administrateur”, of de Britse termen  administration  /administrator(s).

(BrE) administrator = administratief medewerker
De functie vereist een middelbare beroepsopleiding en daar staat een jaarloon van circa 18.000 GBP tegenover. Zie de volgende functiebeschrijving van een (BrE)  hospital administrator (vergelijkbaar met een Amerikaanse administrative support worker):
“As an Administrator (…) the core function is to provide administration supprt to all disciplines within the hospital. You will maintain adequate supplies of stock and equipment, undertake general administrative duties i.e. faxing, photocopying, taking telephone calls and ensure a high standard of record keeping. As required you will assist the Hospital Manager by completing administrative duties, and prepare/issue reports for meetings and reviews. Maintaining accurate and complete financial records of the hospital and processing payroll information are also key requirements. (…) You will be educated to GCSE level in Maths and English (or equivalent) and have a relevant business administration  qualification.” (from: hhp://beta.agencycentral.co.uk, dates 7 June 2017)

The jobs in (BrE) hospital administration  include “working as a receptionist, a secretary, a clerk, a telephone operator and a medical personal assistant.

Vergelijk ook de betekenis van “the Administration” als aanduiding van de Amerikaanse regering (president en ministers).  Het betreft uitvoerders/handhavers van de wet, en in formele zin zijn ze ondergeschikt aan de leden van het Amerikaanse Congres, dat het beleid moet goedkeuren, en de wetten maakt (the lawmakers).

Voorbeelden (AmE) administrator / administrative officer = hoofd, directeur, leiding(gevende):
Fema Admin (= Fema Administrator):  “We’re going to be here for several years.” (CNN, 28 August 2017, regarding Texas hurricane disaster)
The Administrator for Federal Emergency Management reports directly to the Secretary of Homeland Security. (Wikipedia, op de Nederlandse pagina vertaald met ‘directeur‘)
– His expertise rested on the fact that he was an excellent administrator and had managed to obtain a master’s degree in business as well as computer science. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Buried Evidence, chapter 23)
– No one except myself and the port administrator in Vladivostok have seen this. (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, ch. 7)  > Behalve ikzelf is alleen de havenmeester van Wladiwostik hiervan op de hoogte.
– He finally put me in touch with some hospital administrators. > ziekenhuisbestuurders (Steve Martini, The Jury, chapter 4)
He (…) found himself the target of (…) stern administrators (…). > universiteitsbestuurders (Steve Martini, The Jury, chapter 4)
We are told that Crone has had run-ins with university administrators > universiteitsbestuurders (Steve Martini, The Jury, chapter 9)
“I’m an administrator with the school district”, she says. – (…) “I know,” I say, “but what do you do?”- “Budget oversight.” (Steve Martini, Compelling Evidence, chapter 27)
– “I’m director of the Children’s Protective Dervices.” – “Is that a public agency” – “Yes.” – (..) And what do you do there? What are your responsibilities as director?” – “I‘m the chief administrative officer for the department.” – “So you run the agency?” – “Yes.”– “Are you responsible to anyone else?” – “The board of supervisors,” she says. (Steve Martini. The Attorney, chapter 26)
“There’s talk that some of the partners want to put me on the management commitee.” – “Nick, putting you on any committee would be an act of anarchy. The only administrative position for which you’re qualified is emperor (…).” (Steve Martini. The Attorney, chapter 26)
– The emergency-ward administrator put out a disaster call, notifying the chiefs of all departments of the impending emergency and its nature. (Michael Crichton, Five OPatents, chapter ts nature.
(Michael Crichton, Five Patients, Arrow Books, pages 8, 9)
– Those administrative asholes don’t understand the value of snitches. (…) I never told what I was doing and that infringed on their management position. (Elmore Leonard, Bandits, chapter 10)
The new administrator of NASA, appointed by Kennedy to replace T. Keith Glennan, was James E. Webb. (Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff, chapter 9)
– How could the number-one man, himself, the administrator of NASA, be way out of line? (Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff, chapter 9)

Voorbeelden (AmE) administration = directie, bestuur:
– You don’t seem old enough to be a lieutenant; unless you have an M.B.A. and you’re somewhere in administration. (Elmore Leonard, City Primeval, chapter 16)
– Bryan wanted to tell Eljay he didn’t resent his appointment, that he had no desire to move up into adminiration (..). (Elmore Leonard, Split Images, chapter 8)
the administration of any condominium cannot have a meeting a decide anything unless they post a notice of the time and place of that meeting (…). (John D. MacDonald, Condominium, chapter 13)

Vertaaltips en dilemma’s:
De Amerikaanse betekenis van administration (= bestuur / regering) en administrator (= bestuurder) dringt zo nu en dan ook door in de Britse media.

Meestal is dat in verwijzingen naar de Amerikaanse regering, zoals “the Trump Administration”. Maar ook in andere gevallen.
Voorbeeld:
Despite his superficial rusticity, Castex is an énarque (graduate of the elite École nationale d’administration) (…) There’s little trace of him expressing any strong views on anything: he’s a versatile administrator, a ‘Swiss army knife’. (The Spectator, 11 July 2020, page 22)
Voorbeelden van soms incorrecte vertalingen van (AmE) administrator/administration in de betekenis van ‘bestuurder’, ‘directeur’,  ‘hoofd’:
FOUT – The warden is the king of this little empire, with the expected ego of one who rules by edict (…). These guys come and go and it’s impossible to understand the purpose of all the transfers. Again, it’s not my job to reform our prison system, so I don’t worry about what happens in the administration building. > De directeur is de koning van dit kleine rijk, met het verwachte ego van iemand die regeert bij wet (…). Deze jongens komen en gaan, en het is onmogelijk om het doel van alle overplaatsingen te begrijpen. Maar nogmaals, het is niet mijn werk om ons gevangenissysteem te hervormen, zodat ik me niet druk maak over wat er in het administratiegebouw gebeurt.(John Grisham, The Racketeer / De Afperser, vertaald door Jolanda te Lindert, hfdst 5). [BETER: “directiegebouw”,  “directiekantoor”]
GOED – Jake had been there before. During his last semester as a law student, a professor of criminal procedure organized his annual field trip to the state’s infamous penitentiary. Jake and his classmates spent a few hours listening to administrators and gawking at death row inmates in the distance. > Jake en zijn medestudenten luisterden een paar uur naar de beheerders (…) (John Grisham, Sycamore Row / De Erfgenaam, vertaald door Jolanda te Lindert, hfdst 16) [leidinggevenden, directieleden
He and Carla parked near an administration building and went inside. > Carla en hij parkeerden de auto vlakbij een administratiegebouw en liepen naar binnen. (John Grisham, Sycamore Row / De Erfgenaam, vertaald door Jolanda te Lindert, hfdst 16)

FOUT – Beyond it, at the far eastern edge of Clanton, was Burley, the old black elementary and middle school that had been abandoned in 1969 with desegregation. (…) The school was a complex of four large, barnlike buildings of white wood and tin roofs. (…) “You say you’ve been here,” Portia said as they walked up the steps to what was once the administration building. > (…) het administratiegebouw (…) (John Grisham, Sycamore Row / De Erfgenaam, vertaald door Jolanda te Lindert, hfdst 34)

GOED – As Mel had said, the overall impression from the heavy file was of someone who had managed the rare trick of being a popular figure with the administration, the correctional officers and fellow prisoners, to whom he had taught classes on law. > Zoals Mel al had gezegd, wekte het dikke dossier voral de indruk dat Cass er als een van de weinigen in was geslaagd populair te zijn bij het gevangenisbestuur, de bewakers én zijn medegevangenen (…). (Scott Turow, Identical / Identiek, vertaald door Mieke Trouw-Luyckx, hfdst. 2)

FOUT – When I hung up, I asked Marge Wilson, the head of the guidance office, if pregnant girls were allowed to go to school. (…) Marge puresed her lips and her eyes darted to the principal’s office next door. “You’d better talk to one of the administrators,”she said. (…) I backed off and went in search of an administrator. (…) [ Dr. Phil Horner, the sophomore student dean, and Mr. Chet Norton, the principal, were busy, so she asks Mr. Steve Simms, another dean.] Back at the guidance office, I told Marge Wilson what Mr. Simms had said. “Well they try to discourage the girls,” Marge confided, “because it makes the administrators nervous to have them around.” > (…) Marge tuitte haar lippen en haar ogen vlogen naar de deur van de rector. “Dat kun je beter op de administratie navragen,” zei ze. (…) Ik wist (…) dat ze van haar baan hield en die graag wilde houden, dus deed ik een stapje terug en ging op zoek naar iemand van de administratie. (…) “Ze proberen de meisjes ervan af te houden, vertrouwde Marge me toe, “omdat de mensen op de administratie er zo nerveus van worden. (…) (Louanne Johnson, My Posse Don’t Do Homework / Het Boek van de Film Dangerous Minds, vertaald door Els Farnci, 1992, chapter 20)

FOUT – Both girls were in the advanced (…) reading group and I had tried to transfer them to a higher class, but (…) the admin officehad vetoed the move. > Beide meisjes zaten in de hoogste leesgroep (…). > Ik had geprobeerd ze naar een hogere klas te laten overplaatsen, maar (…) de administratie [had mijn verzoek afgewezen]. (Louanne Johnson, My Posse Don’t Do Homework / Het Boek van de Film Dangerous Minds, vertaald door Els Farnci, 1992, hfdst 21) [BETER: “(het kantoor van) de schoolleiding”]

FOUT – A guard with a uniform but no gun entered the law library in mid-afternoon. (…)”The warden would like to see you”, the guard said. (…) They followed him to the administration building, picking up other guards along the way until a regular entourage (…) stood before the warden’s secretary. (…). > Een bewaarder met een uniform maar zonder pistool kwam in de loop van de middag de juridische bibliotheek binnen (…) De directeur will je spreken zei de bewaarder. (…) Ze volgden hem naar het administratiekantoor. Onderweg pikten ze nog meer bewaarders op, zodat het een heel gezelscha was dat uit de lift stapte en tegenover een secretaresse van de directeur kwam te staan. (John Grisham, The Brethren / De Broederschap, vertaald door Hugo en Nienke Kuipers, chapter 29)

– “Lucat just got fired,” Lowell said. “At eight o’clock this morning he met with the President in the Oval Office. He was asked to step in as the interim director. He said yes. They met for an hour. The President pushed on Backman. Lucat wouldn’t budge. Got himself fired, just like Teddy.” – “Damn, he’s been there a hundred years.” – “Thirty-eight to be exact. One of the best men here. A great administrator.” (John Grisham, The Broker / De Deal, ch. 20)

GOED – The norm, in fact, was for the PA to be solely an administrator. Most of Tommy’s predecessors never saw the inside of a courtroom. > In feite fungeerde de hoofdaanklager normaal gesproken ook alleen als hoofd van het bureau. De meesten van Tommy’s voorgangers kwamen nooit in een rechtszaal (…). (Scott Turow, Innocent / Onschuldig, vertaald door Rob Kuitenbrouwer et al., hfdst 41)

In zowel BrE als AmE geldt dat administratief medewerkers (administratief personeel)   doorgaans worden aangeduid met: admininistrative support staff, admin staff, administrative assistant; (AmE ook) clerical staff
administratief werk = adminsitrative work, (AmE ook:) clerical work
studentenadministratie = students records office
administratiekantoor = accounting office
Het hoofd van de administratie (de afdeling waar gegevens worden vastgelegd ten behoeve van het bestuur, met name voor zover dit technische aangelegenheden betreft, en het beheer daarvan is the administrator (= “administrateur”)
Voorbeeld (BrE):
– Mr. Chandler-Powell described you as the administrator here. What exactly does the job entail?”- “My job here? (…) I’m a manager, administrator, housekeeper, secretary and part-time accountant. (…)” > “Meneer Chandler-Powell zei dat u de beheerder bent. Wat houdt uw werk precies in?”- “Mijn werk hier? Moeilijk te omschrijven. Ik ben manager, boekhouder, huishoudster, secretaresse en parttime accountant. (…)” (P.D. James, The Private Patient / De Patiënte, vertaald door Fanneke Cnossen, book 2, chapter 12)

Voorbeelden (AmE):
– “Who retrieved Robin Naismith’s photos for you?” – “My administrator”, I replied. Ben Stevens. He made a trip to Archives a week or so before Waddell’s execution.” (Patricia Cornwell, Cruel and Unusual, chapter 8)
Both girls were in the advanced (…) reading group and I had tried to transfer them to a higher class, but (…) the admin office had vetoed the move. (Louanne Johnson, My Posse Don’t Do Homework, ch. 21)
– The Senate sergeant-at-arms was the Senate’s principal law enforcement, administrative support and protocol officer. > De provoost was de belangrijkste veiligheidsofficier, administrateur en protocolhouder van de Senaat.  (David Baldacci, Saving Faith / Onder Druk, vertaald door Jan Smit, hfdst. 44)
– “Where did you work before? ” – “Admin support for a construction company.” > “Waar werkte je vroeger?” – Bij een bouwonderneming, als administratief medewerkster.” (David Baldacci, The Innocent / Onschuldig, vertaald door Hugo Kuipers & Jolanda te Lindert, hfdst. 49)
– She earned twenty-one thousand dollars a year as a records administrator in a local hospital. > Ze verdiende eenentwintigduizend dollar per jaar op de administratie van een plaatselijk ziekenhuis. (John Grisham, Runaway Jury / In het Geding, vertaald door Hugo en Nienke Kuipers, hfdst 15)
Mr Tott’s administrative assistant. (Steve Martini. The Attorney, chapter 8)

(AmE) Administration = de regering (President en Kabinet)
(BrE) national government = the Cabinet
(AmE) federal government = Congress (its members are called “lawmakers”)

On CNN Sep. 2013, The Situation Room): “the federal government, that’s the Congress. (…) Congress decides how much they’re going to spend.”

Voorbeeld (AmE) administration = regering x  (AmE) government = overheid, de overheidsinstanties:
The administration had spent four years reducing the defence budget. (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 22)
There were people who were paid to do this, people who worked for the government. (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 23)
the government is all closed down for the weekend (John D. MacDonald, Condominium, chapter 13)
– I can even find some local engineering types in state government to back me up. (John D. MacDonald, Condominium, chapter 25)
“You were in government?” Howard asked politely. – “State Department.” (John D. MacDonald, Condominium, chapter 42)

Toelichting:
H.W. Horwill geeft in Dictionary of American Usage (1935, 1946) de volgende toelichting:

“In [BrE] what is now called the Government was once known as the Administration. (The O.E.D. gives quotations in this sense dated 1731, 1783, 1790, and 1840.) (…). The earlier practice has survived in [AmE], where the term is applied to the President and his cabinet. (…). In his Politics and Administration, Prof. F.J. Goodnow suggests that there is a reason why the English ministry is called a government and the American an administration. ‘For the one,’ he says, ’through its control of Parliament makes as well as administers laws; the other merely administers laws made by Congress. The one expresses as well as executes it. (…) Ministry is not used in [AmE] as a synonym for administration in this sense.”

Overige betekenissen (juridisch/financieel):
(BrE) go into administration = (AmE) file for (protection under) Chapter 11 = surseance van betaling (aanvragen)
Een bedrijf dat surseance van betaling heeft kan niet tegelijkertijd failliet worden verklaard (het kan wel in een faillisssement overgaan).
De juridische bescherming van bedrijven die in financiële problemen zijn geraakt (faillissement, curatele, surseance) is niet in alle Engelstalige landen gelijk. In de V.S. is e.e.a. geregeld in de Federal Bankruptcy Code, waarvan (AmE) Chapter 7 (rechtstreeks faillissement), (AmE) Chapter 11 (surseance van betaling), en Chapter 13 (schuldsaneringsplan over een periode van 3-5 jaar) de belangrijkste zijn. Om voor deze bescherming in aanmerking te komen (tegen de aanspraken van de schuldeisers) moet er een uitspraak worden gevraagd van een (AmE) bankruptcy court.
De curator die i.g.v. van een surseance wordt aangesteld) = (BrE) administrator / administrative receiver / (algemeen:) receiver
De curator die een faillisement uitvoert = trustee

Vergelijk:
(AmE, juridisch) administrator = executeur testamentair
(AmE, juridisch )
administration  = “management of a decedent’s estate by an executor or administrator, or of a trust estate by a trustee(zie: Webster)
Vergelijk ook de termen “receivership“(= curatele) en “administrative receivership” (= curatele).

61. dumb
(AmE) dumb = oliedom, onnozel, dommer dan dom, stupider than stupid

Voorbeeld (AmE) dumb:
– Maybe the boy wasn’t quite as stupid as he thought. Forget it. He was plenty stupid. (…). Plenty stupid, all right. (…) He wasn’t stupid, hewas dumb. > Misschien was de jongen toch niet zo onnozel als hij dacht. Ach Jawel. Hij was zo stom als het achtereind van een koe.  (…) Als het achtereind van een koe. (…) Erger nog dan stom – een randdebiel. (John Grisham, The Client, De Client, vertaald door Jan Smit, hfdst 35)

62. hole-in-the-wall
(BrE) hole in the wall = geldautomaat, flappentap
(AmE) hole in the wall = klein eettentje, winkeltje, etc.

Voorbeeld (BrE) hole-in-the-wall:
She could find a hotel, but she did not want a hotel, because the money would be gone in two days and she did not have a cash card to put in a hole in the wall, even if she could have used it. (Frances Fyfield, The Nature of the Beast, ch. 3)

Voorbeelden (AmE) hole-in-the-wall:
“Diane ate at a place in Georgetown on Friday night called Simpsons. Do you know it?” “Little hole-in-the-wall a block off M Street toward the river.> “Diana heeft vrijdagavond in Georgetown gegeten, in een restaurant dat Simpsons heet. Ken je dat?”- “Een tentje in een straat evenwijdig aan M Street, de kant van de rivier op. (…)” (David Baldacci, True Blue / In het Geheim, vertaald door Hugo Kuipers,2009, hfdst. 64)
We even went out on the road together, playing some of the best hole-in-the-walls in the Ohio Valley. (David Baldacci, The Camel Club, ch. 40)
Mac’s a greasy spoon, three blocks from the courthouse, a small sandwich shop, a hole-in-the-wall stuck in a crack between two larger office buildings. (Steve Martini, Double Tap, chapter 16)
So we decide to (…) take a late lunch at a little spot, a hole-in-the wall across from the courthouse (…). > een klein restaurant (Steve Martini, The Jury, vertaald als De Gezworenen door Hugo Kuipers, chapter 16)
At last, a hole in the wall that sold glassine envelopes, little glass pipes (…) and newspapers. > Eindelijk een klein, donker zaakje waar ze cellofaanzakjes, zonnebrillen, snoepgoed en kranten verkochten. (Tom Wolfe, A Man in Full, chapter 11, vertaald door Gerda Baardman et al., In Alles een Man)

Vertaaltips en dilemma’s:
In de Britse context is “hole in the wall” een gangbare term die een enkele keer ook door de banken zelf wordt gebruikt als populaire aanduiding voor “geldautomaat”. Zie bijvoorbeeld de foto boven de rubriek “financiën”. Dat het desondanks voor vertalers problemen op kan leveren, blijkt uit het volgende voorbeeld:
she did not have a cash card to put in a hole in the wall, even if she could have used it. > ze had geen pinpas om in een gat in de muur te steken, áls ze zoiets al had kunnen gebruiken. (Frances Fyfield, The Nature of the Beast / De Aard van het Beest, vertaald door Hankie Bauer, 2002, hfdst. 3)
Voorbeeld (AmE) hole in the wall
:

“Diane ate at a place in Georgetown on Friday night called Simpsons. Do you know it?” “Little hole-in-the-wall a block off M Street toward the river. 


63. torch
(IntE) torch = toorts*
(BrE also:) torch = zaklantaarn = (AmE) flashlight
(AmE also:) torch / cutting torch = snijbrander (= BrE) blowlamp

Voorbeeld (BrE) torch (= zaklantaarn)
light was rationed with such severity that Peter read with a torch (…) (Frances Fyfield, A Question of Guilt, ch. 8)
Dalgliesh asked: ‘Wasn’t it dark in the Anderson shelter?’ – ‘We had our torches, didn’t we?’ (P.D. James, Original Sin, ch. 23)
He took the torch out of his pocket, flicked it on and off. (Frances, Fyfield, Staring at the Lights, chapter 11)
The most effective remedy (and it’s a bore) is to take a torch out to the garden at night, along with a bucket of very hot water in which to drown the ones [= slugs and snails]  you find. (The Spectator, 19 March 2022, page50)      

Voorbeelden (AmE) torch =  (1) snijbrander (=cutting torch), (2)  lasapparaat (= welding torch)
– The torch was specifically designed for working in small places where a full-sized cutting torch wouldn’t reach. (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 6)
His eyes were open enough for peripheral vision to pick up (…) a loop of red rubber hose from the torch, sticking out from under the bunk. The flashlight beam moved around the walls of the cell (…). (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 10)

Voorbeelden (IntE) torch = (1) toorts, fakkel
– This could be the night when they would fall from the sky like flaming torches. (P.D. James, Original Sin, ch. 25)

Vertaaltips en dilemma’s
In een podcast-interview van de Amerikaase podcasterJoe Rogan (The Joe Rogan Experience)  gebruikte zijn Britse gast Russell Brand het (BrE) woord “headtorch” in de betekenis van een een lamp die iemand op zijn voorhoofd draagt. Rogan keek hem niet-begrijpend aan: “Do you mean a light? I thought is it burning, is it welding?” Het gebruikelijke woord hiervoor is (AmE/ IntE) headlamp.

64. pants (zie ook clothes, note 12)

Vertaaltips, valkuilen & dilemma’s + suggestions for unambiguous (IntE) usage:
(BrE) pants = onderbroek. Dit is nog steeds de algemeen gangbare betekenis in BrE, zoals blijkt uit het volgende voorbeeld:

Naar aanleiding van de onverwachte landskampioenstitel voor Leicester City in de Britse Premier League die op 2 mei 2016 een feit werd (de bookies achtten de kans op het kampioenschap aan het begin van het seizoen 1 op 5000), werd de belofte van Gary Lineker om in dat geval de eerste aflevering van het BBC-programma Match of the Day in zijn onderbroek te presenteren veelvuldig becomentarieerd:
“He [Claudio Ranieri, trainer van Leicester City] doesn’t want you to wear pants for the first Match of the Day next season.” (MOTD, 2 mei 2016)
– “If it means that I have to wear pants during Match of the Day, then so be it. “(Gary Lineker in MOTD, 2 mei 2016)
Gary Lineker threatens to present Match of the Day in his pants if Leicester win title. (Daily Mirror, headline, 2 mei 2016)
Gary Lineker reiterates he will present Match of the Day in nothing but his pants if Leicester win the Premier League. (Independent, 3 mei 2016)
Gary Lineker vowed to present Match of the Day in his pants if they win it (Daily Mail On-Line, 3 mei 2016)
De Daily Mirror publiceerde op 2 mei 2016 de volgende gemanipuleerde online-foto met de titel “Gary in pants on MOTD“:


Omdat Britten zich steeds meer bewust zijn van de Amerikaanse betekenis van “pants“en daardoor de mogelijkheid van miscommunicatie, komt het woord “underpants” nu ook steeds vaker in BrE voor. Gary Lineker zelf gebruikte in zijn eerste tweet waarin hij zijn belofte via Twitter wereldkundig maakte het woord “undies” (de afkorting voor “underwear”).  En in de Mail On-Line (3 mei 2016) worden ook de woorden “underwear” en “underpants” gebruikt:
Gary Lineker admits he has already spoken to match of the Day chiefs in a bid to back out of a pledge to present the show in his underpants if Leicester win the title.
– The former Foxes striker vowed on Twitter in December to host the programme in his underwear if Claudio Ranieri’s side won the Barclays Premier League.

Andere voorbeelden van het (incidentele) gebruik van “underpants” in BrE:
Get to Tescoes at lunchtime, beans, spuds, underpants for John (…). ( Frances Fyfield, Shadows on the Mirror, chapter 2)
He accumul
ated six new shirts, underpants, socks, in as many days. ( Frances Fyfield, A Question of Guilt, chapter 10)
Vertalers vanuit het Nederlands die een neutrale, internationaal-Engelse vertaling zoeken om ambiguïteit en misverstanden te voorkomen, kunnen ook het best voor “underpants” kiezen als vertaling voor “onderbroek”.
Vergelijk het gebruik van “undervest” of “singlet” in plaats van “vest” in de betekenis van “hemd”(zie ook clothes, note 8, en hierboven, note 13k)

65. enjoin
De twee tegenovergestelde betekenissen zijn:
(BrE) enjoin (upon/to) = “to prescribe, to mandate, or to order that something be done” (Volgens Garner is deze betekenis “not wholly unknown in AmE”)
(AmE ook) enjoin (from) = to prohibit, to forbid or to restrain somebody by court order from doing a specific act or behaving in a specific way” Zie Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage.

Voorbeeld (BrE) enjoin = (sterk) aandringen op, nadrukkelijk verzoeken, verplichten, afdwingen, (wettelijk) voorschrijven, eisen, opleggen, bevelen:
But although he had not enjoined secrecy, he must surely have expected that she must first talk to her husband. > Ofschoon hij niet om geheimhouding had gevraagd (…) (P.D. James, Death Comes to Pemberley, 2011, vertaald als “Pemberley” door Mechteld Jansen, Book 1, Ch. 2)
We are enjoined by certain experts to wear face masks while having sexual intercourse. (The Spectator, 18 July 2020, page 15)
A predoctoral fellow at Princeton has enjoined ‘white classicists’ to ‘unlearn white supremacy in themselves’. (The Spectator, 18 July 2020, page 18)
– (…) back in March (…) we were enjoined to open our front doors and clap like retarded seals to show our support (…). (The Spectator, 7 November 2020, page 19)
Indeed, we are still enjoined not to stigmatise single mothers. (The Spectator, 6 March 2021, page 15)
Pupils are enjoined to speak ‘in full sentences, project their voices, sit up straight and listen’. (The Spectator, 27 August 2022, page 15)

Voorbeeld (AmE) enjoin = verplichten, eisen, afdwingen:
If she so much as stepped from the bathroom naked, he averted his eyes, as the Golden Rule enjoined the man who hated to be seen himself . > Zoals de Gulden regel eiste van de man die het verafschuwde zelf gezien te worden. (Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections, hfdst ‘At Sea’, vertaald als De Correcties, door Marian Lameris et al.)
Stay the course, Denize enjoined herself. Be sisterly. > Hou deze koers aan, vermaande Denise zichzelf. Doe zusterlijk. (Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections, hfdst ‘At Sea’, vertaald als De Correcties, door Marian Lameris et al.)
We, after all, were no less enjoined to an unknowable future than were our exiled friends (…). > Wij waren uiteindelijk evenzeer an een onkenbare toekomst overgeleverd als onze verbannen vrienden (…) (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 7, vertaald door Ko Kooman)

Voorbeeld (AmE ook) enjoin = (wettelijk) verbieden:
If any U.S. leader had made an effort to suppress Rushdie’s book as blasphemous, there is not a federal judge in the country who would have hesitated to enjoin those actions. Yet when a zealous government from the other side of the globe did the same thing, our president (…) was visibly reluctant to take any public action in defense of the constitutional right of Americans to read and think what they choose. (Scott Turow, in The Chicago Tribune, 15 dec. 1993)
“By reason of the foregoing, it is our recommendation to the Supreme Court that Judge Guy (…) be permanently enjoined from holding any judicial office in the future.” (Elmore Leonard, City Primeval, Preface)
The Supreme Court is going to enjoin (prevent, stop) the seeding of the Pennsylvania electors (…). (Jay Sekulow broadcast on YouTube, 7 Dec. 2020)
The government is temporarily enjoined from further review and use of any of the materials seized from Plaintiff’s residence on August 8, 2022, for criminal investigative purposes pending resolutuion …” (Federal Judge Eileen Canon, 6 Sept. 2022)

66. (AmE) home office / (BrE) Home Office
(BrE) Home Office = Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken (geen AmE equivalent)
(AmE) home office = hoofdkantoor = (BrE) head office main office / (AmE) headquarters*

Voorbeelden (AmE):
He’s talking about the home office. (Steve Martini, The Arraignment, ch. 11)
– He has to call the home office and explain what has happened. (Steve Martini, The Arraignment, ch. 11)
– All of these are large multinational businesses, with home offices in the U.S. (Steve Martini, The Arraignment, ch. 19)

67. tussenstop, reisonderbreking = (AmE) layover / stopover* / hold over (zie ook ’transport’, note 68)
Voorbeelden (AmE) layover:
– [T]he flight was not yet up on the marquee because they had a three-hour layover before the short hop to Virginia. > [De vlucht stond] nog niet op het scherm, want ze moesten drie uur wachten tot ze het korte sprongetje naar Viriginia konden maken. (David Baldacci, The Sixth Man / De Zesde Man, vertaald door Hugo Kuipers, hfdst. 40)
Casey had spent the entire plane ride, as well as the time during their layover in Chicago, going over her closing argument notes for her trial the next morning. (Tim Green, The Letter of the Law, chapter 4)
– We had a three week layover at the Cutlass Yacht Club. (John D. MacDonald, Bright Orange for the Shroud, chapter  11)
– A PanAm stewardess due in from Rio for a Miami layover. (John D. MacDonald, Pale Gray for Guilt, chapter 2)

Voorbeeld (AmE) stopover:
On a stopover in Denver, he found a bank of phones and placed the call (…) (Steve Martini, Critical Mass, chapter 28)

Voorbeeld (AmE) hold over:
– Transfer in San Juan, then to Miami, hold over for an hour and to JFK. (Steve Martini, The List, chapter 33)

68. pissed / pissed off
(BrE) pissed = dronken, zat, bezopen
(AmE) pissed = nijdig, kwaad, pissig (= IntE/BrE: pissed off)

Voorbeelden (BrE) pissed = dronken

Voorbeelden (BrE) pissed off = kwaad, nijdig, pissig

Voorbeelden (AmE) pissed / pissed off = nijdig, pissig:
He’s pissed at Ordell. (Elmore Leonard, Rum Punch, chapter 20)
If Melanie’s pissed off enough at Ordell (…). (Elmore Leonard, Rum Punch, chapter 20)
“Now Mr Taylor was so pissed off he insults me by insulting my son.” (Elmore Leonard, Mr. Paradise, chapter 4)
– She’s pissed that you haven’t called her lately. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice chapter 22)
Now he’d have to tell Ricky that he couldn’t get the game. Ricky would be pissed. (Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Interest of Justice chapter 24)
Brian (…) still wore his pissed-off expression of the night before. (Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections, “The Generator”)
She, too, felt starngely pissed off with Robin. (Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections, “The Generator”)
She was angry, she was pissed, but most of all she was scared. (Steve Martini, Double Tap, chapter 3)
Abby turned her back to him, He thought she was pissed. > Hij dacht dat ze nijdig was. (Steve Martini, The List, chapter 12)
– “Hey, you know when you called I was a little pissed off”, said Jack. (Steve Martini, The List, chapter 12)
I can tell by his tone that Ingel is pissed about something (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 12)
Osgood’s getting pissed (…). [H]e certainly knows proper etiquette in his own courtroom. Treatment like this from a lawyer does not cut it. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 17)
They gave me pained expressions, the grown-up version of pissed-off adolescents in a history lesson. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 20)
They’re pissed and arrogant (…) because the band that opened the show played louder than they did. (…) Like Audrey Hepburn in the Nun’s Story finally got pissed off at the mother superior (…). (Elmore Leonard, Touch, chapter 4)
– He has booze in the limo and is completely smashed at all times. Woody’s pissed.Went to the lake and couldn’t get any chicks to take off their bathing suits. > Hij heeft drank in de limousine en is voortdurend straalbezopen. Woody is boos. (…) (Elmore Leonard, Freaky Deaky, chapter 21, vertaald als ‘Dynamiet’ door Ruud Bal)
I’m not upset, I’m still pissed that’s all.” (Elmore Leonard, Pagan Babies, chapter 4)
You always look pissed off. (Elmore Leonard, La Brava, chapter 13)
Guy, he’s always pissed off at something? (Elmore Leonard, La Brava, chapter 20)
The doc asked where he could be, sounding pissed and in bad shape, in some pain. (Elmore Leonard, Maximum Bob, chapter 26)
Brad’s pissed at you anyway. (Elmore Leonard, Gold Coast, chapter 23)
It’s what they do man, they get pissed off about something or bored and shoot each other. (Elmore Leonard, Be Cool, chapter 21)
– “Are you pissed off that you didn’t get the job?” “Disappointed,” Sanders said. “Not pissed. There’s no point being pissed.” (Michael Crichton, Disclosure, Arrow Books, pp. 76/77)
– “Uh – oh,” Cherry said. “Garvin’s wife is going to be pissed.” (Michael Crichton, Disclosure, Arrow Books, p. 195)
– First she’s shocked. Then she’s pissed. (Scott Turow, Personal Injuries, chapter 27)

Vertaaltips, valkuilen & dilemma’s:
In het Brits- Engels is het verschil tussen ‘pissed‘ (dronken) en ‘pissed off’ (nijdig, pissig, kwaad) duidelijk en eenduidig.
Dit is niet zo in het Amerikaans-Engels, waarin ‘pissed‘ beide betekenissen heeft die tot misverstanden kunnen leiden. Ook bij vertalers.
Het probleem wordt nog verergerd doordat Amerikaanse auteurs, zoals Elmore Leonard hen Steve Martini in de voorbeelden hierboven, ‘pissed off’ en ‘pissed’ in dezelfde betekenis van ‘nijdig’ bij wijze van stilistische variatie naast elkaar gebruiken.
Voorbeeld van een dialoog waarbij de vertaler zich niet bewust is van de dubbele betekenis van (AmE) pissed (de dialoog speelt zich af tussen de twee personages Stick en Barry, in de Amerikaanse roman ‘Stick’ van Elmore Leonard):
– “Had four Chivas with a couple of beers and left, pissed.” – “Pissed off.” – “That’s what I said.” – “There’s a difference,” Barry said. > “(…) behoorlijk aangeschoten.” -“Stomdronken“. – “Dat bedoel ik ook.” – “Dat is een aanmerkelijk verschil, zei Barry. (Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 6, vertaald door José Tingo-Maria)Toelichting: In bovenstaand voorbeeld zijn er twee mogelijke oorzaken van het misverstand. Ofwel de gesprekspartner van het romanpersonage Barry  gebruikt pissed in de betekenis van ‘dronken’, en is zich niet bewust van de andere betekenis van (AmE) pissed off (‘ pissig, kwaad”). Ofwel hij gebruikt pissed in de betekenis van ‘pissig, kwaad’ waarbij Barry alleen de Brits-Engelse betekenis kent en zich niet bewust is van  deze Amerikaanse betekenis. Deze laatste mogelijkheid lijkt in de gegeven context het meest waarschijnlijk. Even later blijkt Barry namelijk een pretentieus overkomende taalpurist te zijn met een grote hang naar het Brits-Engels: “[Lionel] said to Barry, “Now pop the hood.”- “The bonnet,” Barry said, “With the Rolls Silver Shadow, man, you get a bonnet. Stick got in under the hood (…). (Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 6)

 

69. houseman/house-man (zie ook note 3 bij health & body)
(BrE, tot 2007) houseman = (Ned) co-assistent (tijdens 1e propedeusejaar), (ongeveer:) assistent-arts, arts-in-opleiding = (AmE) intern
(AmE) house-man = (huis)knecht, ‘huisman’, butler (in woning/hotel/etc.)

Voorbeeld (BrE) houseman = (BrE) house officer:
– …housemen from the London Hospital …. (P.D James, Original Sin, chapter 19)

Voorbeelden (AmE) houseman / house-man:
A moment later a house-man in a white linen coat opened the doord. (…) Henry called the house-man and ordered drinks. (…) [T]he house-man came back into the room with a tray of drinks. (…) They laughed and each took a glass as the house-man passed them along. (Steve Martini, The List, chapter 23)
“I thought at first it might be Miguel,” Karen said. “My houseman.” – “You have a houseman?”- “Miguel does everything, cleans the house, takes care of the outside (…).” (Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty, chapter 2)
He came by one day asking to do the yard work and I hired him as my houseman. (Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty, chapter 21)

70. sandwich
(BrE) sandwich = (Ned.) sandwich, dubbele boterham (met iets ertussen)
(AmE) sandwich = belegd broodje, bagel/baguette/croissant/hamburgerbroodje met beleg ertussen. Ook ‘oreo sandwich’ / ‘biscuit sandwich’

Toelichting :
In Britain, sandwich is some filling between two slices of bread. Not a roll. Not a bagel. Not a baguete. Without sliced bread, it’s not a sandwich. (…)
An American sandwich can be on a roll, on a bagel, on a bun, on a croissant, and, at breakfast time, on an English muffin (an American speciality which is only vaguely related to the muffins in England).” (Lynne Murphy, The Prodigal Tongue, 2018, page 199)

Voorbeeld (AmE) sandwich:
– A grinder in New England is known in other parts of the world as a hoagie, po’boy, or submarine sandwich. (Insight Guides: New England, 11th edition, 2018, page 222).
Her dad (…) was having breakfast, a cheese and jelly sandwich on French bread and coffee. (Elmore Leonard, Out of Sight, chapter 10)
He got Oreo chocolate sandwich cookies(Elmore Leonard, Riding the Rap, chapter 9)
– Hunks of sharp cheddar, cucumber salad, giant roast-beef sandwiches on dark bread, corned beef sandwiches (….). (John D. MacDonald, The Scarlet Ruse, chapter 8)
Kate’s sandwich, when it arrived, seemed to be an open piece of whole-wheat bread (…) on which was an assortment of vegetables, including the inevitable bean sprouts. (Amanda Cross, Death in a Tenured Position, chapter 6)

 

Vertaaltips, -problemen en dilemma’s:
Voorbeelden van een verkeerde vertaling van (AmE) sandwich:

Alan was having a corned beef sandwich and a bottle of red pop. > Alan at een sandwich met corned beef en dronk er een flesje rode prik bij.(Elmore Leonard, 52 Pick-Up, chapter 13, vertaald door José Tingo-Maria, als Mitchell) > broodje corned beef
Bernie Fitzgibbon’s secretary, Gloria Dawson, ordered sandwiches in from the deli. She got one, too. Kramer had a roast-beef sandwich on an onion roll with mustard . > De secretaresse (…) bestelde sandwiches bij de broodjeszaak (…). Kramer had een sandwich met rosbief op uienringen met mosterd. (Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities, chapter 5, vertaald door Jan Fastenau et al.)
Opmerking bij de laatste voorbeeldzin:
an onion roll” is een broodje (kadetje) met uiensmaak dat als basis voor een (AmE) sandwich dient. Een betere vertaling van “a roast-beef sandwich on an onion roll with mustard is dus: “een uienbroodje met rosbief en mosterd”. Lynne Murphy merkt in dit verband op dat een uitdrukking als a bacon sandwich on toast (een getoaste bacon-sandwich, of een getoast broodje met bacon) in het Brits-Engels niet voorkomt, en tot misverstanden leidt: “My [British] lunch companions then tease me for wanting  a sandwich served on top of a piece of toast” (The Prodigal Tongue, page 199)Vergelijk ook een andere eerder genoemd voorbeeld:
(AmE) giant roast-beef sandwiches on dark bread (….) = reusachtige donkerbruine broodjes rosbief (John D. MacDonald, The Scarlet Ruse, chapter 8)

71. soup
(BrE) soup = (meestal) bouillonsoep (“drink your soup”)
(AmE) soup = maaltijdsoep, gevulde soep (“eat your soup”)

Toelichting:
American soup prototype: a savory food consisting of small pieces of meat, vegetables, and/or starchy things (e.g. noodles, barley, rice, matzo balls) in a warm broth.
English soup prototype: a warm savory food made from vegetables and possibly meat that have been well-cooked and  liquidized.
(Lynne Murphy, The Prodigal Tongue, 2018, pages 197, 198)

(AmE) chowder

(AmE) chowder (soup)

72. bacon
(BrE) bacon = (AmE) Canadian-style bacon / Canadian bacon = (IntE) back bacon = (Ned) ontbijtspek
(AmE) bacon = (BrE) streaky bacon = (IntE) side bacon = (Ned) buikspek, doorregen spek

Toelichting:
If you order bacon with your breakfast in Britain, you will get a different kind of bacon than you would get in America. (…) Prototypical British bacon is cut from the back of the pig. It is shaped like a pork chop (but boneless and much thinner) and has a rim of fat around the edge. (…) Canadian bacon, which is fairly similar (but for the fat), could easily be called ‘bacon’ in British English. But prototypical American bacon is fat-streaked strips cut from the side of the pig. (…) British can call the strips ‘bacon’, but they tend to call them ‘streaky bacon’. (Lynne Murphy, The Prodigal Tongue, 2018, pages 195, 196)

Voorbeeld (AmE) bacon = doorregen spek
Elvin made him wait while he had his bacon and eggs (…). The bread was stale and the bacon strips had green spots on them (…). (Elmore Leonard, Maximum Bob, chapter 26)

73. frown
(BrE usually / AmE obsolescent) frown = wenkbrauwen fronsen, bedenkelijk/verbaasd/moeilijk kijken, met gefronste wenkbrauwen.  Vergelijk (IntE) scowl.
(AmE currently) frown = somber/boos kijken, een sombere/boze blik. Vergelijk (IntE) sadface.

Toelichting (AmE) frown = (1) boos/somber kijken, (2) boze/sombere blik:
“[F]or most speakers of British English, a frown is an expresion of displeasure that involves contracting the brow.But for (…) many speakers of American English, frowning involves turning down the corners of the mouth to indicate unhappiness, and more particularly sadness That meaning is a 20th-century invention, and most American dictionaries have not yet noticed it. Some (mostly older) Americans still have the ‘brow’- only meaning. But the new meaning is widespread, and more American than British, as our emoji names show. The 🙁 i most commonly called ‘sadface’ in British English, whereas it’s ‘frown’ or ‘frowny’ face in many American contexts – including the standards document for Unicode, the nternational (but Americentric) body that aprovesnew computer symbols.
(Lynne Murphy, The Prodigal Tongue, 2018, pp. 192, 193)

“A frown (also known as a scowl) is a facial expression in which the eyebrows are brought together, and the forehead is wrinkled, usually indicating displeasure, sadness or worry, or less often confusion or concentration. The appearance of a frown varies by culture. Although most technical definitions define it as a wrinkling of the brow, in North America it is primarily thought of as an expression of the mouth. In those cases when used iconically, as with an emoticon, it is entirely presented by the curve of the lips forming a down-open curve. The mouth expression is also commonly referred to in the colloquial English phrase “turn that frown upside down” which indicates changing from sad to happy. (…)  [T]he use of the colon with the left parenthesis (…) iconically represent[s] a frowning face on the Internet in what has become a well-known emoticon.[5] In this form the frown is entirely presented as a curve of the lips facing away from the eyes. Specifically, frowns that incorporate the furrowing of the brow are a response to perceived obstacles to the achievement of goals, while frowns that involve movement of the cheeks reflect an unpleasant reaction.“(Wikipedia link)

(AmE) frown

(AmE) frown / frowny face (BrE) sadface

Voorbeeld (AmE currently) frown:
When a tab on the card is pulled, the image changes to show the candidate frowning at “An Ugly Mug of Log Cabin Cider”, the trademark of opponent (…) William Henry Harrison. (from  a brochure issued in the year 2018 at former U.S. President Martin van Buren’s house in Kinderhook U.S.A.). 

Voorbeeld (AmE) a frown = gefronste wenkbrauwen (de traditionele betekenis):
– It was a red bull terrier with its forehead in a dreadful frown. (Tom Wolfe, A Man In Full, chapter 10)
Quat’s grim frown (Tom Wolfe, I Am Charlotte Simmons, chapter 26)
– they began nodding yes with a pensive frown (Tom Wolfe, I Am Charlotte Simmons, chapter 27)

Voorbeelden (AmE vroegere betekenis) frown = verbaasd, bezorgd, bedenkelijk kijken:
Mendoza was frowning, confused. “How can something lijke this happen? It doesn’t make sense.” (Elmore Leonard, Mr. Majestyk, chapter 3)
Barbara frowned. “Wait a minute. Why the past tense? Aren’t you going to see her again.” (Elmore Leonard, 52 Pick-Up, chapter 5)
Amelia made a face, frowning, and looked up at Tyler, watching her. “What do you think?” (Elmore Leonard, Cuba Libre, chapter  14)
– “You don’t?” Gibbs said, frowning, trying to look concerned (…). (Elmore Leonard, Maximum Bob, chapter 3)
Now she was frowning, giving her a puzzled look. (Elmore Leonard, Maximum Bob, chapter 3)
Joyce watched Harry, frowning now like he was squinting into the sun. (Elmore Leonard, Pronto, chapter 13)
Nicky said, ‘What?’, frowning, acting more confused than he was. (Elmore Leonard, Pronto, chapter 15)
– Bobby watched her expresion, the fortune-teller frowning again, something not working the way here the way it was supposed to, the woman thinking hard now. (Elmore Leonard, Riding the Rap, chapter 7)
– Bobby shook his head, resigned, before looking up at Raylan with sort of a frown, interested. (Elmore Leonard, Riding the Rap, chapter 17)
Remember, when someone annoys you it takes 42 muscles in your face to frown. (Elmore Leonard, Mr. Paradise, chapter 4)
The real estate man frowned like he’s never heard of such a thing (…). (Elmore Leonard, Mr. Paradise, chapter 22)
Shouting at each other, frowning to hear. (Elmore Leonard, Mr. Paradise, chapter 23)
She put on a little frown, but it didn’t indicate much concern. (Elmore Leonard, Gold Coast, chapter 20)
Maguire was confused now, frowning(Elmore Leonard, Gold Coast, chapter 25)
Raymond frowned at him, amazed. (Elmore Leonard, City Primeval, chapter 5)
Carolyn [was] frowning as she stared at him, as though trying to understand what he was telling her (…). (Elmore Leonard, City Primeval, chapter 5)
Juvenal was frowning a little, thoughtful (…). (Elmore Leonard, Touch, chapter 24)
Buddy gave him a funny look, a frown(Elmore Leonard, Out of Sight, chapter 6)
He frowned, and it was kind of a sympathetic expression (…). (Elmore Leonard, Out of Sight, chapter 18)

74. twang
(BrE) twang
= (ook:) licht accent
(AmE) twang* =
nasale klank*, having a nasal voice quality (usually in southern U.S. dialects; see OALD); snerpende, jengelende klank

(AmE) twang* = an accent that specifically features something called vowel breaking, (…) the tendency (usually among American Southern accents) to turn a monophthong (a single sound) into a diphthong or triphthong (i.e. multiple vowel sounds). The sound resembles the sound of a vibrating string, e.g. of a bow or musical instrument.

Vergelijk twang  x  drawl:
twang: the Tennesee twang, the Texas twang, the West Texas twang, a prairie twang, a midwestern twang, a Southern twang, a backwoods twang, a twang accent
drawl: the North Carolina drawl, the Mississippi drawl, the East Texas drawl

Toelichting:
“I’d spent years being put off by English people’s description of my accent as “an American twang”. To me, people from Kentucky or Texas have ’twangs’, with vowels plucked from a guitar or banjo. (…) I discovered that ’twang’ in British English has two meanings. It can mean the kind of plucked guitar sound that I think of as a ’twang’, but it also means ‘a trace of an accent’. Once again, most dictionaries don’t include both meanings (…).” (Lynne Murphy, The Prodigal Tongue, 2018, pagina’s 193-194)

De term ’twang’ betreft ook de nasale klank van het karakteristieke Australisch-Engelse accent (the ‘broad’ accent) dat door personages als Paul Hogan en Barry Humphries (Dame Edna Everege) wordt gebruikt:
– This accent, used by about 30 per cent of the population, is the one most clearly identified with the notion of an ‘Australian twang‘. (…) Vowels next to a nasal consonant tend to retain the nasality more than in RP: such words as ‘down’ and ‘now’ are often strongly nazalized in the broad accent, and are the chief reason for the designation of this accent as a ’twang‘. (David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, part V, Australian English)

Voorbeelden (AmE) twang:
– This Texas talk is so seductive that outsiders who move here can’t help picking up the twang. (…) The place to hear Texas talk at its tallest is at the state capitol in Austin. (…) You get everything in this House of Representatives from the East Texas drawl to the West Texas twang.  (MacNeil & Cran, Do You Speak American?, chapter 4)
– The place to hear Texas talk at its tallest is at the state capital in Austin. (…) You get everything (…) from the East Texas drawl and the West Texas twang.
(MacNeil & Cran, Do You Speak American?, chapter 4)
Moke’s voice, a nasal twang partly hidden in there, said “Yeah, I’m here”. (Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 2)

[Moke was] still not hiding that unruly twang. Moke’s voice said, with enough pure bottomland in it (…) [= a Southern accent] (Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 2)
Stick edged around (…) hearing Moke say (…) in that lazy, know-it-all tone, so familiar, a twang of pure ignorance. (Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 5)
“Arnold said, ‘Well now’- imitating Roland’s cracker accent, getting some of the soft twang (…).” (Elmore Leonard, Gold Coast, chapter 4)
a moment later he heard the familiar voice with the Texas twang. (Michael Crichton, Disclosure, Arrow Books page 23)
[The Florida Cracker dialect] has more of a drawl to it and doesn’t have quite the twang you hear in the southern Appalachian. I mean, there is a twang, but it’s not as prominent as how the mountain folk talk. (internet forum)
Both sides of my family [from Kentucky and Georgia] have a southern accent, maybe not as twangy as Alabama or Tennessee but we use all the southern slang (…). (internet forum)

Voorbeelden unieke (extra) betekenis van (BrE) twang:
– a Scottish twang, a slight German twang, an American twang

75. on sale / on offer
(BrE) on sale = te koop, in de verkoop (= AmE/IntE: on offer)
(AmE) on sale = in de aanbieding, in de uitverkoop (= BrE: on offer)

Voorbeeld (AmE) on sale = in de aanbieding:
– ‘What shampoo do you use?’- ‘Whatever is on sale = ‘Wat het goedkoopste is.’ (Dutch subtitles from the TV program Chasing Classic Cars, 4 Oct. 2018)

76. pecker
(BrE slang) pecker = neus, ‘gok’ (= AmE: honker, hooter)
(AmE) pecker = penis, ‘lul’, ‘jongeheer’ 

Voorbeeld (AmE slang) pecker = penis, lul:
– it made your pecker look longer. (Elmore Leonard, The Hunted, chapter 6)
– How about, you hear about the guy got bit by the rattlesnake right on the end of his pecker(Elmore Leonard, Freaky Deaky, chapter 16)
– Otherwise you’ll start to take a leak some morning and your pecker will come right off in your hand. (Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, chapter 86)
– I’d like to see somewhat that could put you to shame, ” Call siad. “My pecker has done that a few times,”Augustus said. (Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove, chapter 94)
– In fact, the coach made matters even worse for Joe Bob by horsing around and trying to grab his pecker. “Look at that little worm there,” he said, making a grab. “What kind of female you ever gonna get with that thing for bail, Joe? Wouldn’t do for a six-year-old girl. (Larry McMurtry, The Last Picture Show, 1966, chapter 4)
– “You ten boys have the shortest little peckers of any bunch of kids I’ve ever coached,” he said sincerely. (Larry McMurtry, The Last Picture Show, 1966, chapter 8)
– Could you believe that the day would come when you would actually see a pilot (…) give his conmrades a little sermon about keeping their hands clean and their peckers stowed? (Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff, chapter 7)

Voorbeeld (AmE slang) peckerhead = (AmE) dickhead = “eikel”
– 

Voorbeeld (AmE slang) honker = (BrE) pecker = (BrE) hooter = neus, ‘gok’:
He had a big honker on him (…). (Elmore Leonard, Maximum Bob, chapter 6)

77. (AmE) cop als ‘heavy duty word’
Betekenissen van het werkwoord cop:
(1) stelen, bietsen
(2) een bekentenis afleggen (cop), idem in ruil voor strafvermindering (cop a plea)
(3)iemand verklikken, aangeven bij de politie, er bij lappen
(4) cop an attitude = een houding aannemen
(5) cop a look at / cop looks at = een (steelse) blik werpen op (ook: check out)

Voorbeeldzinnen met (AmE) cop in diverse betekenissen:
– Geddes copped looks at the blonde’s long legs under a short dress (…) (Steve Martini, Prime Witnes, chapter 20)
[It was] something no doubt copped (…) from a motel on a county-paid trip. (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 23)

– Why would you want to cop a plea? (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, chapter 29)
– Somebody could cop to the DEA or the FBI. (Elmore Leonard, Stick, chapter 10)
– But when Louis Nix copped he identified the Beretta as belonging to Clement.  (Elmore Leonard, City Primeval, chapter 8)
– He copped and we gave him immunity. (Elmore Leonard, City Primeval, chapter 11)
– He wants a hundred thousand or he’ll cop, swear you paid him to kill Guy.  (Elmore Leonard, City Primeval, chapter 17)
– [He had] never copped a superior attitude.  (Elmore Leonard, Out of Sight, chapter 6)
[He] copped to voluntary manslaughter. (Elmore Leonard, Glitz, chapter 12)
You wouldn’t stand to cop a dime off those guys if I was to drop out.  (Elmore Leonard, Bandits, chapter 24)
But what’s he do, he cops an attitude on me.  (Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty, chapter 7)
– “You bring me up here, (…) hoping one of those monkeys’ll cop on me, huh?” (Elmore Leonard, Split Images, chapter 7)
– (…) somebody’s copping somebody’s joint.  (Elmore Leonard, Split Images, chapter 12)
– You gonna go up because somebody that works for him (…), saw you do it and copped. (Elmore Leonard, Split Images, chapter 16)
– (…) he was afraid Wendell would get picked up, coop, and turn him in. (Elmore Leonard, Unknown Man #89, chapter 7)

78. high-toned = (AmE) tony = (AmE) glitzy = (IntE) posh = (IntE) swank/swanky= (Ned) sjiek
Voorbeelden (AmE) tony = high-toned
He’s posh – he went to Eton, the toniest of all English boarding schools. (Time, 26 Apr. 2010, over David Cameron)
– I have now seen the offices of A.C. Associates (…), more tony than the Pope’s private john (…). (Steve Martini, Prime Witness, Epilogue)
– The address is mixed in with (…) an antique shop (…), a place some tony interior decorator might stop for well-heeled customers. (Steve Martini, The Arraignment, chapter 19)
Houston’s tony financial district (Steve Martini, Double Tap, chapter 24)
the metal-fabricated, high-toned restaurants of Fashion Square (Steve Martini, Compelling Evidence, chapter 3)
(…) not a really high-toned neighborhood. (Tom Wolfe, Back to Blood, chapter 16)
This was back in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, a high-toned town (…). (Tom Wolfe, A Man In Full, chapter 7)
There is a tony quiet here compared with the atmosphere in most other law offices I’ve visited. (Scott Turow, Innocent, chapter 28)
– At the tony haberdasher where he acquired his expensive wardrobe, Robbie had his own salesman (…). (Scott Turow, Personal Injuries, chapter 6)

Voorbeeld (AmE) glitzy:
– Here the shops are not as glitzy as out near the beaches in the hotel zone. (Steve Martini, The Arraignment, chapter 25)

Voorbeeld (IntE) swank(y) in Amerikaans-Engelse tekst:
What she got was the operator at the Four Seasons, one of the swank downtown hotels. (Steve Martini, The List, chapter 16)

79. scrip
(BrE) scrip = an extra share in a business, given out instead of a dividend (enige betekenis in OALD, 8e editie) = (Ned.) scrip, bewijsstuk, uitgereikt in plaats van dividend, dat recht geeft op een nieuw aandeel of obligatie
(AmE) scrip = (ook:) (1) a certificate to be exchanged for goods, as at a company store (Webster); (2) (historical) paper currency in denominations of les than one dollar (Webster); (3) A certificate entitling the holder to acquire possession of certain portions of public land.

Voorbeeld (AmE) scrip (betekenis 1):
“I’ve got to get me a new horse – borrow or buy one. I’ll pay you in United States scrip. I’m riding dispatch for General Crook.”(Louis L’Amour, Hondo, chapter 1)

80. canteen
(BrE) canteen = kantine = (AmE) cafetaria
(AmE) canteen = veldfles, (heup)flacon = (BrE) (hip) flask 

Voorbeeld (AmE) canteen:
He screwed the top back on and slipped the canteen back in the pocket and emerged from the raincoat. (Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities, chapter 7)
The canteen of vodka was still hidden in the pocket of his raincoat. (Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities, chapter 23)
Billy brought a canteen from the saddle of one of the dead horses. (Harry Whittington, Desert Stake-Out, chapter 2)
He saw her kneel beside the water, fill his canteen and return up the incline. (Harry Whittington, Desert Stake-Out, chapter 8)
– There was a telescope in those bags (…), and there was lunch there, and a canteen of coffee (…). (E.B. Mann, Troubled Range, chapter 12)

81. Asian: (BrE) iemand uit India of Pakistan (voormalige koloniën); (AmE) met name m.b.t. iemand uit China, en andere landen aan de “Pacific rim”
Voorbeeld (BrE) Asian:
In het BBC actualiteitenprogramma Newsnight (17 okt. 2010) trad er enige spraakverwarring op toen interviewer Jeremy Paxman het onderwerp “racial profiling” in Groot-Brittannië besprak met de Amerikaanse Dominee Jesse Jackson. Paxman stelde dat zwarte burgers meer dan gemiddeld door de politie worden vereenzelvigd met criminaliteit en dat “Asians” speciaal in de gaten worden gehouden als het om terrorisme gaat. Dat Paxman daarbij met name doelde op Pakistaanse burgers (waaronder zich een groep militante islamisten bevindt) ging aan Jesse Jackson voorbij, blijkens zijn reactie. Jackson stelde dat racial profiling, tenzij “intelligence driven”, nimmer een excuus kan zijn om Mevrouw Wong of meneer Deng vaker aan “stop and search” bloot te stellen dan andere Britse burgers. De Amerikaan Jackson bleek de term Asian eerder te associëren met Chinees dan met Pakistaans.

Voorbeeld (AmE) Asian:
– (..) all the Asians sit over ’t these other tables? – except for the Koreans? – because they don’t get along with the Japanese (…). (Tom Wolfe, I am Charlotte Simmons, chapter 27)

82. smart
(BrE) smart = goed gekleed = (AmE) sharply dressed
(AmE) smart = slim = (IntE) clever

Voorbeeld (AmE) smart = slim:
– But she’s too smart. She’s snookered ‘em. (Steve Martini, The Attorney, chapter 7)
– She’s really smart. Skipped a grade and everything. (David Baldacci, King & Maxwell, chapter 9)

83. muffler (zie note 15, “techniek”) 

84. Chamber of Commerce (zie note 3, “handel”)

85. superintendent / super
(BrE) superintendent = inspecteur van politie
(AmE) superintendent = (ook:) (1) conciërge, huismeester, (2) inspecteur van onderwijs, (3) inspecteur van politie; (4) opzichter (op bouwplaats)

(AmE) concierge = (hotel) conciërge

(1)
Voorbeelden (AmE) super / superintendent = conciërge, huismeester
:
– What about the apartment superintendent, if any? (John D. MacDonald, The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper, chapter 12)
– I had the super come and look at the broken screen. (John D. MacDonald, One Fearful Yellow Eye, chapter 6)
Dropped the apartment keys in the super’s box. (John D. MacDonald, One Fearful Yellow Eye, chapter 9)
Three flights up, and at every landing I saw the small paper bags standing in front of the door, waiting for the superintendent to collect them. (Harold Robbins, A Stone for Danny Fisher, Book 1, “Moving Day” chapter 11)
The lousy super had been drunk again and forgotten to collect the garbage that morning. (Harold Robbins, The Carpetbaggers, Book 2, chapter 2)
The superintendent was sweeping out the hall. (Harold Robbins, A Stone for Danny Fisher, Book 4, chapter 11)
– On Thursday, the super, buffing the mailboxes, reported that a man had been asking about her. (Scott Turow, Personal Injuries, chapter 28)
– Somebody changed the locks on the flat, I had to pay the super to let me in. (Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections, page 133)

(2)
Voorbeeld (AmE/BrE) superintendent = inspecteur van politie = (BrE) ……:
the superintendent of the New Jersey State Police (…). (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 7)

(3)
Voorbeeld (AmE) superintendent = inspecteur van onderwijs = (BrE) ……..:

the superintendent of schools (…) (Philip Roth, The Plot Against America, chapter 7)

(4)
Voorbeeld (AmE) superintendent = opzichter (op een bouwplaats): = (BrE) …….
He was, however, at the construction site every morning by 7:00, yelling at the superintendent and threatening to fire someone. (John Grisham, Ford Country Stories, “Casino”)

Voorbeeld (AmE) concierge = conciërge (van hotel, ……):
– Sunday afternoon at Elaine’s, on the terrace with cool drinks, taking the sun: “I called the concierge, let them handle it.” – “What did you tell him?” (Elmore Leonard, Be Cool, chapter 25)

86. argue / arguable
(AmE, transitive verb) to argue =  (IntE) argue against = tegenspreken, aanvechten, betwisten (1)
(BrE/IntE, transitive) to argue sth. = aanvoeren (als argument), bepleiten (2)
(Bre/IntE, transitive) to argue that ... = uiteenzetten (3)
(BrE/IntE, intransitive) to argue = pleiten (4)
(BrE/IntE, intransitive) to argue, argue with sb., argue about sth = redetwisten, van mening verschillen, ruzie maken, ruziën, ingaan tegen, er tegenin gaan (5)

(AmE) arguable = (ook:) dubieus, betwistbaar, aanvechtbaar, ontkenbaar 
(BrE/IntE) arguable / arguably = mogelijk, aanvoerbaar, (er valt wat voor te zeggen)

(BrE, informeel, idiomatisch) to argue the toss  = de (scheidsrechters)toss betwisten, (figuurlijk:) redetwisten over een voldongen feit

Vergelijk:
Net als bij de woorden protest en enjoin, is  de betekenis van (AmE) to argue (betekenis 1 = BrE/IntE argue against, tegenspreken, aanvechten, betwisten) tegengesteld aan de gebruikelijk betekenis in het Brits-Engels (betekenis 2, bepleiten).

Vertaalprobleem:
(AmE, transitive verb) to argue =  (IntE) argue against = tegenspreken, aanvechten, betwisten
Het gebruik van het werkwoord to argue in deze context en betekenis komt in het Amerikaans-Engels regelmatig voor, maar wordt in woordenboeken (zoals …..) niet of nauwelijks vermeld.Uitzondering:
(BrE, informeel, idiomatisch) to argue the toss  = de (scheidsrechters)toss betwisten, (figuurlijk:) redetwisten/zeuren/doorzeuren over een voldongen feit
Hoewel betekenis 1 van to argue (’tegenspreken’/’betwisten’) in het hedendaagse Brits-Engelse taalgebied niet of nauwelijks lijkt voor te komen, bestaat er juist in dit taalgebied wel de (idiomatische) uitdrukking “to argue the toss”

(1) Voorbeelden (AmE) argue sth. = disagree with = tegenspreken / betwisten:
  I told Meyer he was crazy, that anybody could see that the Alabama Tiger and Wilma Ferner had disliked each other on sight. Meyer wouldn’t argue it. (John D. MacDonald, Bright Orange for the Shroud, chapter 1)
– Arguing would make matters worse, and why argue the truth? (John Grisham, Ford County Stories, “Michael’s Room”)
“I have to argue that statement.”  (from
Sistene Stallone’s podcast “Unwaxed”)
“The data is inconsistent with that scenario.” – “Inconsistent or consistent?” – “Inconsistent.” – “Really? People might argue that. (from the U.S. House of Representatives’ Select Subcommittee Hearing on the Coronavirus Pandemic, 11 July 2023, the report, page 11, link):

Voorbeeld (IntE/AmE ook) argue against sth:
– The glamour of the space program was such that there was no longer any arguing against it. In addition to the chances for honor, glory, fame, and the celebrity treatment, all the new hot dogs could see something else. (Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff, chapter 15)
Note: American spelling: glamour vs. honor

Voorbeelden van (IntE / Common English, betekenissen 2 t/m 5) to argue:
It was not a question, and Stanley was not about to argue. (John Grisham, Ford County Stories, “Michael’s Room”, betekenis 5, “er tegenin gaan”)
There was nothing to be gained by trying to argue. (John Grisham, Ford County Stories, “Michael’s Room”(betekenis 5, “er tegenin gaan”)

Voorbeeld (AmE) arguable:
The FBI has been politicized, I don’t think that is arguable anymore. (Fox News, former FBI official Mr. Terry Turchie, 25 August 2022)

87. have somebody on
(BrE) have somebody on = iemand voor de gek houden = (AmE) put somebody on
(AmE) have somebody on (the show) = te gast hebben, in de uitzending zijn

Voorbeeld (AmE)  have sb. on:
– Thank you  for having me on. > Bedankt dat ik in je programma mag zijn, bedankt voor de uitnodiging (Amerikaanse tv show, praatprogramma)

Opmerking:
(AmE) “thanks for having me on” is een variant op de algemene blijk van erkentelijkheid “thanks for having me.”

88. Meer voorbeelden van woorden met verschillende betekenissen of associaties in BrE en AmE:
reversionary interest, scrip, in digs, sledge (cf. sled / sleigh), scallion, switchback, varsity, oriental, postgraduate, proctor, primary school, life preserver, hanky-panky, fanny, pecker, barf, deadbeat, resident doctor, outhouse, coroner, stocks, shingle, sheriff, grammar school, muslin, calico, dressing gown, pergola, broadcloth, subscription, enjoin, sherbet, plant, hooter

Zie ook Longman’s Business Dictionary:

  BrE AmE

aftermarket
business agent
commercial agency
commercial agent
face amount
bankrupt
bar (juridisch)
brief (a watching …)
bursary
carpool
chattels real
capital gains tax
utility/utilities
vacation

(ook: financiële term)
(= AmE commercial broker)
ook: credit agency
ook: commerciële vertegenwoordiger
(financiële term)
(informeel)
de (strafrecht)advocatuur
= a solicitor
studiebeurs
(zelfst. naamw.)
onroerend-goedbezittingen
(m.b.t. personen)
nutsbedrijf/-ven* (= public utilities)
vakantie van universiteit/rechtbank/etc.

(marketing term)*
vakbondsvertegenwoordiger
(algemene term)*
vertegenwoordiger (algemeen)*
(verzekeringsterm)
(ook formele term)
de advocatuur (algemeen)
juridisch document
financiële afdeling aan universiteit
(werkwoord)
bezittingen anders dan onroerend goed
(m.b.t. personen en bedrijven)
ook: nutsvoorziening(en) (gas/licht/water)
vakantie (algemeen)

Voorbeeld (AmE) varsity: zie “School” note 36

This information is under constant review. For comments, please contact: info@vertaalbureaus.b