The Phone is Engaged
 

Just called a friend in London and the phone recording said somethin like this phone is engaged, I guess it means busy or somethin, it was a first.

It does sound nicer thou

lol...yeah, in the UK, "engaged" means busy - it says the same thing on the bathroom door when someone's in there.

I always found it funny...like the emergency door always has the sign "this door is alarmed" and I'm always thinking, I wish people would quit scaring the damn door or it's gonna end up going on stress leave, and then how are we going to keep people out? :)

I like when they say "are you going to the loo?"

In Star Trek terms, that would mean the phone is going at warp speed.

Useless UK facts #1: In hotels back in Victorian times, the bathroom was always room 100, which looks like loo, which is why we say, I'm going to the loo...

Another thing - when I first came over to the U.S. and Canada, my most humorous observation was when I was driving home to my girlfriend's place and I passed a sign on the highway that said "Slow children playing" and I thought, "how's that politically correct", :1orglaugh

From the Beatles, "You Won't See Me"

"When I Called ...
You Up....
Your Lines Engaged.

I Have Had ...
Enough ...
So Act Your Age"

:glugglug

everytime my moher visits me over here she is amussed by our signs. She thinks it is funny that what American signs say with one word the British have to use as many as possible.

For example: Exit sign = Way Out

I worked as a travel agent over here for a few years and I never got used to calling car rental car hire which is what anything rented is called over here unless it is a house and the it is 'let'.

People laugh when I say I have learned a whole new language but I have :)

Taxi = Mini Cab

Funny thing is when I was there the taxis there are way bigger (those black ones) then the taxis in NY, they are not as rude there lol

way 2 funny
:glugglug

I like another saying; "i 'll knock you up." Here it meens Get some one pregnant. I the UK it just means i'll come to your house

That must just be an English thing coz up here in Scotland we sure as hell don't walk about asking for the "way out" Exit is used world wide.

It works both ways. I once said, " Its a slippery little bugger." in mixed company and got some gasps. In the midwest that means tricky but in the UK it means butt fuck.

well, that isn't fully true.

The big black ones are still taxi cabs (cabs)

A mini cab is something different. Mini cabs are cars that can be called and ordered to picked you up. They aren't the black cab's they are normal cars.

Here is something I wrote for a london travel page I did a while ago. This is from my safety tips area:

2. Black Cabs vs Mini Cabs: You won't be in London long before you see minicab offices. In London there are two different kinds of cabs. The most famous are the black cabs and the others are minicabs. Mini cabs are just people with cars that work through an agency. The attraction of a minicab is that they can be cheaper. However, they are not required to be licensed, unlike black cabs, and are not required to pass 'the knowledge' which proves they know their way around the city.

If you do take a minicab make sure you get the price to your destination before you get into the cab. Black cabs run on a meter but there should be a a clearly visible fare structure in the cab. Minicabs are not allowed to solicite buisness. In other words, you have to actively call them or go to their office to order one. Black cabs, of course, can roam the city looking for buisness.

Often in the early hours rouge minicabs will go out looking for business. Do not get in one of these cabs regardless of how good a deal it sounds. If they will break the law once who is to say they are safe?

don't know where you got that from, "i 'll knock you up." means Get some one pregnant in the UK. :glugglug

I haven't been to Scotland yet to compare but in London more often than not they are 'way out' signs rather than exit signs.

Yeah and wtf is the dude on who says bugger means butt fuck in UK?

NO IT DOESN'T. Not up here anyway.

England alone is such a weird place. If you say one word in Newcastle then say it to someone in London it can mean something totally different. So I'd imagine us Scots got different words to all you guys then.

That must be a London thing then, because the rest of the UK is Exit! :glugglug

I know.. :glugglug

Phew thank god someone agrees. I thought I was going crazy or Scotland was just left in the dark ages.

I am willing to belive that it is a London thing. In my more mentally challenged moments I have been known to wonder outloud how much tax payers money is wasted on adding extra letters to signs when you can just use one word.

Well, I don't know Scotland may just be left in the dark ages :1orglaugh

I got it from when i lived in London, Chiswick Park

Then it's a one man who used to live in Chiswick Park thing.. :glugglug