>>>>>For Dragan.
>>>>>
>>>>>Excuse the paraphrase of (I think) Oscar Wilde. For one of your lists:
>>>>>
>>>>>Hairdressing:
>>>>>
>>>>>US Bang = UK Fringe
>>>>>US Pompadour = UK Quiff.
>>>>>
>>>>>Not sure of the US terms but men can have sideburns, sideboards or louse-ladders.
>>>>
>>>>Perfect - none of the expressions make any sense to me, except sideburns (which is only something I know, and it does make _some_ sense, but not much :). The last is ingenious, though :).
>>>
>>>BTW, Dragan, you're always going on about the paucity of words in English, well it seems the US is richer:
>>>
>>>US Suspenders (keep your trousers up) - UK Braces
>>>US Retainer (shape the teeth) - UK Braces
>>
>>A retainer and braces are not the same thing. Here typically braces are worn for a couple of years and then when the braces are removed, a retainer is worn during the night only. Are both really referred to as 'braces' in the UK? Braces are attached and a retainer is not.
>
>I've never heard of someone wearing a retainer on his teeth here - that's why, whn I heard the expr. on a US prog t'other day my ears pricked up.
>
>A retainer would be a fee paid to a solicitor (lawyer) to secure his services, or a domestic servant, such as a butler, such as, in the book/film by Viv Stanshall (Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band), "Sir Henry at Rawlington End", the reference to the ancient butler: "Old Scrotum, the wrinkled retainer"
>
>:-)#) (wearing braces)

that little plastic thing the orthodontist gave my son is a retainer and that was in Bristol. Maybe everyone has bad teeth in Brighton.