Kintamayama 45,161 Posted June 11, 2021 He went north and south. That's all she wrote, on a daily basis, after they locked horns. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nagora 88 Posted June 11, 2021 8 hours ago, Yamanashi said: I know what the counter argument will be: these stories are international, and here the BBC uses "graft" the way foreigners use it. Nevertheless, way to go with the receipts! Those reports were almost certainly written by foreigners (i.e., local reporters) and, sadly, the age of the sub-editor is a long way in the past now. Even spelling mistakes are not that rare on the BBC website nowadays. I would be surprised to hear the word "graft" used this way on the BBC television or radio news, and moreso in any non-news programme. But I've only lived here for 56 years, so I may have missed something :) 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Naganoyama 5,928 Posted June 11, 2021 Agreed. Most people here would be surprised to know there was another meaning for graft. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Seiyashi 4,097 Posted June 12, 2021 British slang can cause some trouble sometimes. I recall when I was a younger kid, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix had just come out, which included the line "We'll get Mad-Eye to take a shifty (look) at it later". The similarity of the word to an expletive adjective was lost on me at the time, and I made the mistake of repeating it in front of a teacher, who thought I'd cursed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nagora 88 Posted June 12, 2021 The classic is of course "fanny" which for some bizarre reason means "arse" in US slang but in the UK is simply a shortened form of "vagina". I think most people in the UK are familiar with this difference now and it only raises a wry smile but I do remember it causing some shock back in the day when people first started getting cheap flights to the US and found themselves being asked to move their fanny, or asked if they had a fanny-bag etc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yamanashi 3,860 Posted June 12, 2021 "Bollocks" and "bum", yeesh. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eikokurai 3,437 Posted June 13, 2021 (edited) The ‘corruption’ meaning of ‘graft’ appears in all major UK dictionaries including the OUP and Collins, and not as American English, but just as a regular entry. I grew up in England and I know this meaning from reading British newspapers. Here are some examples from The Times, which has been the nation’s paper of record since before even Victoria was on the throne, and the Financial Times. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pound115bn-of-eu-aid-lost-to-incompetence-and-graft-f7zgpvp5b35 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/kenyans-back-british-envoys-graft-allegations-k77d37n5dxf https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/indian-anti-graft-candidate-attacked-8jdxkz528sk https://www.ft.com/content/df95eab7-5dce-48fc-943d-889efe74fd6b https://www.ft.com/content/4158f834-abe1-4cea-8267-7f6e503f338c https://www.ft.com/content/40847df7-cc7a-42f0-8294-6e6de4e8997f Edited June 13, 2021 by Eikokurai 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
