Your example is called a synecdoche, where a part is used to refer to the whole.

Like when you say, "im supporting england" the 'England' part implies a larger phrase in this case, "The England football team".

This is more common than you might think and not just in English.

I think a lot of it Is innately understood without even knowing it is rhyming slang.

Berk, Barnett, brass tacks, rabbit on, have a butchers, Bristols, telling porkies, taking the Mickey , etc.

Any cockney rhyming slang, really.

Have a butchers at this.

Alright me old China.

Hello treacle.

Etc.

I believe that's called a malaphor.

"More tea vicar?"

"Not in that cup thanks"

I remember reading that tombola is one of the top three English words people from outside the UK don’t know the meaning of. The equivalent in American English is tilapia or something.

I am a British person, but if you are not from the UK or Ireland the panto episode must be weird af.

No, because I am a British 90s child. There is also quite a bit of 90s referencing. Probably more than any other period.

It’s the toilet. No idea how you spell it, because I’ve only ever heard people say it!

I'm a1977 too - (and I'm an American - forgive me!) and I found the tambola thing fascinating! I don't think that's a thing here.

MOT and D of E were ones I had to look up. The context clues are there, but I had to know for sure!

I think it was be interesting to say the least. I’m going to put it in the case that we just never had the English language in the UK and only the other English speaking Countries used English, so I will base this off our older native/original historic languages.

Considering we still also have some speakers of Welsh, Manx, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Scots.

And say if England spoke Old English and Brittonic.

5 out of the 7 languages are Celtic and 2 are Germanic.

(G)Old English: Not intelligible to Brittonic, Welsh, Manx, Irish, Scottish Gaelic. Somewhat intelligible to Scots.

(C)Brittonic: Not intelligible to Old English, Scots. Related to Welsh.

(C)Welsh: Partially intelligible to Brittonic. Not intelligible to others.

(C)Manx: Partially intelligible to Irish and Scottish Gaelic. Not intelligible to Old English, Welsh and Scots.

(C) Irish: Partially intelligible to Scottish Gaelic, some to Manx. Not to others.

(G) Scots: Highly intelligible to English (with effort). Not to Celtic languages.

(C) Scottish Gaelic: Partially intelligible to Irish and Max. Not to Old English, Scots and Welsh.

To put it bluntly, our international presence in mainstream culture would probably be quite low as the lack of ability to understand the languages we speak.

The closest languages to Old English at least is Frisian (sort of), Old Saxon/German which is still somewhat spoken in South Germany and Old Norse which the closest language to that is Icelandic however Old Norse is basically Shakespearean.

Our cultural sphere would pretty much be only in whatever area of the UK you’re from, especially in English & Scotland as there’s two languages derived from there as well a small % of German and Icelandic people and The Netherlands

TLDR for those who cba to read all of that:

We’d be pretty fucking isolated.

This is something I've often wondered, I think the uk gets compared to the US alot more just because of the shared language.

But there is also no way we could sustain the massive film, tv, games, youtuber and music industry that we have without them being made in the developed worlds default language.

Utterly different?

You'd have to discount nearly 10,000 years of history, so it's next to impossible to answer the question.

The history, culture and language of the UK is inextricably intertwined with Europe, from Doggerland (when the UK was still linked to mainland Europe), to the Romans to the Vikings to the Normans, to the British Empire.

I think our traditions and culture are already vastly different than most of mainland Europe. It’s why we do shite in Eurovision.

Is it worth pointing out that our unique UK English has evolved with us? And that USA English by comparison is an upstart in an otherwise foreign land?

I know there are more but may not be understood by people not from the Wirral (Devs said that at some point in Discord).

I don't remember which references there were except for Ham (one square of the map) also being an actual place iirc.

There are londonian phone booths borth of the park, Binvader is partially inspired by Daleks, and all train stations have names resembling actual stations in London (the specific ones are mentioned in the wiki)

Brokenhead = Birkenhead

Cast Iron Shore Might be based on Crosby beach, which has "Another Place" which is a bunch of Cast Iron statues on the beach.

Thirstaton Lake = Thurstaston Beach

Eastham Woods = Eastham

Cherry Meadows: I don't think if there's a specific Park or area in mind, but Britain has like a lot of Cherry Blossom Trees. I've heard colloquially that it's the second most after Japan but I can't find anything to substantiate that. Alternatively, it could be a play on Strawberry Field (like what from the Beatles song)

Pipers farm is presumably based on Maris Piper, which is the most widely grown potato in the UK, I think.

Autumn Hill, idrk. There's a place called Caldy Hill on the Wirral Peninsula that's right near a lot of the following places.

Wallace might be from Wallasey. But it might also just be from walls. West of that is Hoylake. Pensby is a village near Thurstaston. West Kirby is a town just south of Hoylake. And just East of that is Frankby.

Obviously Penny Dreadful is named after... Penny Dreadfuls, a genre of Pulp fiction associated with Victorian England, and London in particular.

Some other monster references:

• Majortom (a DLC monster) is a reference to David Bowie's Major Tom character.
• Djinn Entonic is a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference, specifically to how the majority of known planets have independently named drinks some variation of "gin and tonics".

The mer-line train colours are similar to the colours of British Railways trains of the 1940s onwards
https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=06eaa6fe2699486c&sca_upv=1&rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB951GB951&sxsrf=ACQVn09lY4_-37oGvsD8O_eVDbn8tQAc5g:1707391418221&q=flying+scotsman+british+railways&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjmz-bX0JuEAxV_SPEDHQH4BTYQ0pQJegQIDhAB&biw=1344&bih=606&dpr=2#imgrc=5zEbJeOLI1k9xM

Kayleigh is Irish (although I'm not smart enough to know if she's from Northern Ireland or The Republic of Ireland)

Meredith is from London and likes "Bands with tragic backstories" which makes me think very much of The Libertines and Oasis

Harbourtown also really heavily reminds me of the Cornish fishing villages I grew up in (only with less boats)

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=06eaa6fe2699486c&sca_upv=1&rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB951GB951&sxsrf=ACQVn09ZLLU5qXVso4ziNFN6OURXNPEVSg:1707391455057&q=mevagissey&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwibs67p0JuEAxXuQfEDHdaGDUQQ0pQJegQIDhAB&biw=1344&bih=606&dpr=2#imgrc=6YVn05mUmbWPdM

Penny Dreadful gets her name from a 19th Centrury UK book/writing style

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_dreadful

There is so much British vernacular I learned through the books, but the one thing I didn't know until I was in my 20s was the definition of "punting" used in the book. I thought Filch was unironically kicking children across the lake

This series was the first time I saw the word “snogging.” I remember finding it really funny as a kid.

This one took me a long time and it wasn’t until reading something on this sub that made me realize it wasn’t what I thought it was.

When the Weasley twins left Hogwarts in OotP they left a swamp. It said in the book that Filch was punting students over it. To my totally American brain I thought he was kicking them, like a football. I then found out punting was boating them across. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I had no idea that real British schools have houses. I assume they're not based on personality type, though...right?

Ooohhh. Yeah that’s a good one. We have many excellent words for what is essentially just a mild asshole but they all have nuanced differences.

Still not 100% clear on Piggin' , as in piggin tea break or piggin campaign strategy

“Relax, it’s not Blue Peter.” I get it now because of this sub.

Moreish was the main one for me. It makes obvious sense when it's spelled out, but spoken aloud I saw it as Moorish and that was... confusing.

Moors aren't swampy. Quite the opposite. They're grassy, lightly rocky open land composed of low hills. You see this directly in "Quantocking" when they talk about being lost on the moors. Those are moors.

Not used to express annoyance, they’re used to replace an expletive when wanting to be more expressive.

Like “that’s bloody marvellous” or “that’s flipping ticketty boo”

When Super Hans said “Don’t trust the Argies” I thought he was referring to a British conservative political party. I found out a couple months it was about Argentina after watching a YouTube video about the Falklands conflict.

Some of it we pick up from context (the non-English language references, for example). Some historical characters or references are sometimes known... Some of the characters from the American Revolution are known to Americans, for example. But most of the time if I don't know or only know it a little and want to learn more, I just look it up in Google. I've been known to spend hours on Wikipedia reading articles because of something mentioned in the book that interested me. 😂

Outlandish Companions vol1 and 2

Mimir IS Puck aka Robin Goodfellow

Perhaps. Either way, I'd love a series based on the British Isles.

Yeah Nimue was mentioned as well. I wouldn't be surprised if a sequel with Atreus finding more giants takes place in Faerie

I could see it being a potential sequel. Gaelic Celtic mythology is very rich and full of all kinds of mystical creatures and legendary heroes.

Historically, Germanic Saxons invaded the British isles and were at war with the Brythonic Celts until they became the dominant culture on Great Britain (obviously not called that at the time). They never quite managed to stamp out the Gaelic Celts though.

The Saxons initially worshiped Germanic Deities that ere directly analogous to the Norse Gods. Odin = Woden, Thor = Thunor, their names for Frigg and Tyr were even the same. This is why the names of the week are what they are, because English stems from Old English, the language the Saxons spoke. (Tuesday = Tyr’s day, Wednesday = Woden’s day, Thursday = Thunor’s day etc)

Anyway, you could write a story that Mimir hears wind that remnants of Aesir worshippers have crossed the sea to escape Kratos and the new 8 realms leadership and have begun killing Mimir’s ancestral people to make a home for themselves. So Mimir urges Kratos to go over and help out.

Giants are a firm part of the mythology in Ireland so it would even make sense that’s where they all went and where Atreus has to go to find them.

Nah we all use metric

He inched closer becomes He 2.54cm closer

The whole 9 yards becomes the whole 8.23 meters

Miles apart is now kilometres apart

Give an inch and they take a mile is give 2.54cm (or 254mm in certain locations) and they take 1.6km

But seriously no we use both and most people will switch between them very easily. And even if they don’t they know the meaning of those sayings.

As a guide to how the UK uses both - which is weird - it’s :

Miles for distance, unless you’re running then it’s km

Meters / cm for measurements unless it’s height of a person then it’s feet and inches

Speed is always in mph

If you’re weighing something it’s in kg / tonnes etc unless it’s a person then it’s stone and pounds - also we use both if you’re baking something.

Liquid is weird. Pints for beer. Pints for milk - but only if it’s from a cow, litres for any other liquid

Yes, those phrases are normal

And UK still uses a lot of Imperial measures alongside metric - roads are in miles, drinks are in pints, babies are in lbs and many more; plus all the side by side examples like recipes books using both lb/oz and kg/g

I think it’s because when a system has been in use for over 1,000 years and you don’t mandate full replacement (as we did with decimalisation of currency) then out old, traditional measures were bound to live on. And they do, not just in English idioms

Some examples which I think would be acceptable for your story :

'Pint-sized' - small (often talking about a person)

'Country mile' - a very long way

'An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure' - the virtue of preparedness

'A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood' - another one

'Going at a rate of knots' - very fast (from the nautical term, a knot being one nautical mile per hour; Google says this is specifically British English so this may be a good one)

'He inched closer' would be fine

('Six feet under' and 'give an inch, take a mile' already mentioned.

On the other hand, best not to use: 'The whole nine yards' is American English I believe and I can't remember hearing a British person say it. So maybe avoid that one, unless your character has spent a long time in the US ).

BTW it's not -entirely- true to say Britain uses the metric system; truthfully it depends on the person and the context, and most people I think can do approximate conversions (a yard is quite close to a metre, 1 mile is about 1.6 km, a pint is about half a litre, people order 'pints' in pubs etc). It's a bit of a hybrid.

Mum used that all the time. Usually addressing my brother or me.

I was quite surprised to discover that fabric is still sold in widths which are essentially old ells, that is, some multiple of 15 inches. Usually but not always 45.

Horse races in furlongs