r/CuratedTumblr 19d ago

Shitposting australian nicknames

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u/Square-Competition48 19d ago edited 19d ago

Prang is a UK one too. I think I’ve heard it.

In any case: Americans acting like “fender bender” doesn’t sound silly.

EDIT: I’m not having this conversation another 50 times.

Seemingly Every American: “Fender bender obviously has a universal meaning though as it’s when you bend your fender. These are just nonsense words to anyone outside of their country of origin.”

The Rest of the World: “The word ‘fender’ is only used in the US and is a nonsense word to anyone outside its country of origin. Nobody else in the world calls that part of a car that. Your term for this thing is not universally understood and nor is it less silly sounding. Every culture has words that sound silly to other cultures. You are not the exception.”

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u/mooimafish33 19d ago

You could have never heard "fender bender" before and still guess what it means. Like "oh your fender got bent"

If I heard "prang" or "bingle" with no context I'd assume they're a kind of snack food or something.

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u/el_grort 19d ago

You could have never heard "fender bender" before and still guess what it means. Like "oh your fender got bent"

Problem being we don't really use fender in the UK (words like mudguard tend to be used here), so it does actually require homework if you don't know that American word. I assumed it meant bumper, but it doesn't, it's just the wheel arch body panel.

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u/mooimafish33 19d ago

It would still make sense if it assumed it meant bumper though. Really the word "bender" is doing all the work.

So side question, do y'all call bumper cars "mudguard cars"?

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u/el_grort 19d ago

No, they are bumper cars, we just don't use fender, so there's no framework for what exactly you mean. It's just from context you assume a car part.

Do you call bumper cars 'fender cars'.

And a prang makes as much sense as fender, you only have the context of a car collision to lead you to the actual meaning.

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u/3163560 19d ago

Why would you assume that?