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hkf

American Language

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Need some help from Americans only. I'm currently working on an international website, and we have a problem with a particular phrase.

Would you interpret the phrase "I'm going to see my mate" as:

a) I'm going to see my partner/husband/wife

or

b) I'm going to see a friend

Thanks

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If I knew the site was developed by a non-USian I'd try to get it from context. In the US, it would solidly mean partner/husband/wife.

Wendy W.
There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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hahahaha - seriously? You guys would really refer to your loved one as the person you mate with?

:D:S

Or is this one of those phrases that you just wouldn't hear out there and if you did hear it from a foreigner you would have to ascribe to it the above meaning?

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Silly Octopus.

I know it sounds odd to us but these Americans use some very strange figures of speech:|



You don't know the half of it... it's a fucking jungle out there in grammar-land... :S

:ph34r:
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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I know more people who use that than who use "mate" for a good friend.

He just asked for opinions. "Mate" is an anglicism/australianism/non-USism; it's nowhere close to incomprehensible, it's just not idiomatic USian.

Wendy W.
There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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Quote

Silly Octopus.

I know it sounds odd to us but these Americans use some very strange figures of speech:|



You don't know the half of it... it's a fucking jungle out there in grammar-land... :S

:ph34r:


________________________________________

Succinctly stated!:D:D:D


Chuck

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It's actually the url rather than content which is a problem, we develop a lot of dating sites, and have recently added a site where people can buy as a present for a friend a voucher which entitles them to membership. the url is gonna be buyyourmateadate.com. Is it any clearer in this context?

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the url is gonna be buyyourmateadate.com. Is it any clearer in this context?



Since it doesn't have the usual .uk" at the end of the url that I would associate with a UK site, I would assume it was an American site and mate would mean loved one. That would seem a little weird to buy my bf a date.
She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

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Kinda on the subject but not really.....

One of my FAVORITE show on the BBC is Absolutely Fabulous (though they are reruns now, the show is no longer produced). Though I have to admit, now that I have watched it for a number of years I get what they are saying totally.

Bobbi
A miracle is not defined by an event. A miracle is defined by gratitude.

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If you become pregnant then you have been "knocked up".

An alternative meaning of the phrase is that if you were to knock on someone's door in the morning to wake them up then you would have "knocked them up".

The meaning can only be conveyed by the context... kinda like the word "bollocks". That can have many meanings dependant on the context.

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