British English in America

Frock is still used in the U.S. mostly in the context of clothing advertisements and usually refers to a somewhat fancy waistcoat made of woven fabric (in contrast to a knitted sweater type of affair).

bjd, in the States we'd call your "granny flat" a "mother-in-law" which refers to a separate, fully self-contained residence located within the main house's property. This usually refers to a separate unit, but can include such things as a room over the garage, a basement abode, or any housing in which you could stuff your mother-in-law separate from your living space.

Duplex in France means a two-level home or apartment. This can create a lot of confusion regarding places where duplex means "two dwellings side by side." I live in a duplex, because I have a staircase in my apartment to an upper room that I created in the attic.

I blame James Bond, Austin Powers, and Craig Ferguson.

Keouac (#25): "Then there is the case of a defrocked priest (défroqué) -- I have no idea exactly what the frock is in this context, but probably some sort of sign of distinction."

Orginally a frock was, "a loose, long garment with wide, full sleeves, such as the habit of a monk or priest." Hence the term "defrocked" meaning that a disgraced priest had his frock, a symbol of his priesthood, taken away from him. The term defrocked survives to this day in this context.

At least shag carpets have gone out of style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH_ODa805D0 - Banned in The UK for awhile.

http://www.dsds.org/Shag.

Not quite 80 years old.

Not quite 80 years old.

For heaven's sake. The Tams' song is a nostalgia piece!

I already acknowledged that the Carolina shag is still reasonably well-known in the Southeastern US, and may be occasionally done elsewhere among ballroom-dancing hobbyists. I can assure you, however, that your average American would have no more notion how to dance "the shag" than they would know how to Jitterbug or Charleston. The heyday of the various shag dances was during the Big Band Era, i.e. 70 years ago.

"Flat" was used in NY in my choldhood at least in the phrase "railroad flat", an apartment without a hall, just the rooms one behind the other, and typically fairly narrow.

Twenty-five feet wide! The wide open spaces of the west! My lot is twelve feet wide. You could spit across my living room, although I try to discourage it.

VinnyD's description of a New York "railroad flat" perfectly describes the Chicago two-flats, three-flats, etc. The typical city lot was 25 feet wide by 125 feet deep, but at least a couple of feet of that width was taken up by a sidewalk that led from the front of the house to the rear; that narrow walk was called a gangway.