Some phrases are totally lost in translation – and one TikToker has highlighted two UK words that could be taken very differently by Americans. And if the phrase does happen to be mixed up then it could also lead to a very embarrassing consequence says Jeff Thurm, who is an American currently living in the UK.
The phrase in question is ‘fancy dress’ and Jeff elaborates on just how different the meaning is in his home nation.
Taking to his TikTok account @jeffthurm – which has 69,000 followers – he said: “Oh my God, fancy dress has such a different meaning between the US and the UK.
“In the US if you told me that something was fancy dress first of all I’d be like ‘why are you saying it like that, just tell me to dress fancy’.
“But if I had to guess I would assume you need me like in a full tux, I need to look fancy. I need to dress really, really well and look good. This is an important event if it’s fancy dress.
“Like imagine telling a girl in the US you need to wear a fancy dress tonight. Like they are coming down in a ball gown or a cocktail dress or something nice and fancy.
“But in the UK it’s very different. In the UK fancy dress is a costume party where you like get dressed up in fancy dress for halloween.”
The clip has been watched 27,000 times and more than a hundred people have commented to have their say on the issue – including some who’d been caught out.
One said: “I went dressed a [sic] Mickey Mouse too [sic] a school dance. Everyone else had shirt and ties on.”
Another said: “The code was Dress Fancy. Everyone was in cocktail and black tie. I showed up wearing all red and devil horns. Not a great day.”
Others had hacks on how to cope if caught up in such a situation.
One said: “Although if you do turn up in a ballgown to a fancy dress party, tell everyone you’re Cinderella or something like that.
“Or dress up, and pretend you’ve come as James Bond.”
