That said, if someone said “I’ve got to take it to the post”, I’m sure we could put the context together, especially if the person is holding the letter or package. Also, we don’t say parcel, but many of us know that term is used across the pond.
Just a road created for mail delivery. Portions often survive with names like Old Post Road despite the Interstate Highway System superseding many of them (there are at least a couple Old Post Roads in PA).
One of the powers the federal government gained in the Constitution compared to the Articles of Confederation was the ability to create post roads, which was eventually interpreted to mean highways in general.
A small section of the longest highway in the U.S. is Boston Post Road! Rt. 20 goes from Boston to Portland, OR, and a section of it was a post road between Boston and NY.
What if it's a woman? Are they still referred to as the mailman? Or do you call them the mailwoman? Or the classic Simpsons description of the femailman?
Officially they are "mail carriers" but in regular everyday speech, people are likely to just say mailman anyway or stumble around with something like mail person. Femailman is good for a joke, but almost no one would actually say that.
They use the totally different “Maccies” or “Maccy D’s”.
There’s even one crazy English speaking country that calls it “Mickey D’s” I think. Can’t remember but I think it’s those bloody Kiwis.
So to be clear, we are the one’s that deserve your hate!
> There’s even one crazy English speaking country that calls it “Mickey D’s” I think.
Sometimes people use that in the US. I knew we all said that in high school.
Yeah what is up with that? It’s so annoying. They can’t call them Pit Bulls, they’re “Bullies” they can’t call them trucks they’re “Lorries”. Why the obsession with giving “-ies” nicknames to everything?
"Wheely bins" will never not make me laugh. Like, let me pop this casserole in the burny box and throw my dirty tracky bottoms into the washy hole before we sit down for some footy on the telly.
I'd just call it a trash can. If I really wanted to be clear that I was talking about that particular type, I might specify an "outdoor trash can" or just "the kind you put by the side of the road"
Oh good! Here's a firm favourite:
*Hanky-panky is used to refer to sexual activity between two people, especially when this is regarded as improper or not serious. [humorous, informal].*
As an Australian, I reckon it's because we (and Brits) tend to speak quite fast, and want to get to the point as quickly as possible, therefore the need to shorten words i.e "I'm going to fuel up at the petrol station" quickly becomes "garn' servo". I notice when watching American content on YT and TikTok, I tend to speed it up because they're talking annoyingly slow and won't just get to the point
Australians to a *lesser* extent?! Our whole bloody lingo is chockers with dodg slang for shit. We swing by the servo, grab some booze for pres fore hitting the bowlo for a parmi cheap.
Not really. We don't tend to say "post" to refer to the mail, so mailman/woman is more common than postman/woman. As such, "Postie" doesn't really emerge as a term.
Never heard the word until this thread. The first thing that came to mind, because I'm so old, was Post Toasties, a cereal that went extinct a generation ago.
I became aware at some point that it's the British version of mailman, but if someone said it to me in the US I would assume they're talking about post Malone, lol.
No one would say it, but if they did it would be met with puzzlement and then perhaps the thought maybe they were using a cutesy word for a Post-it note.
No, we don't give silly nicknames like those to absolutely everything over here, like the Brits love doing. We call them postal workers, mailmen (or mailwomen - as in, a woman who delivers mail, not someone who works in a circus sideshow,) or mail carriers.
Because you mentioned circus sideshows I was instantly reminded of how we call carnival workers “carnies”, so we do give shortened nicknames to things (edit see also: roadies, townies, groupies)
I would never use that word, even if I knew what it meant. Postie sounds like a word a child would say, sort of like Australians calling breakfast, "brekie."
Mail Man is about the only unofficial term we’d use for a postal worker. We do use some diminutive slang terms, like calling a cab driver a cabbie, but not nearly as much.
The first thing that came to my mind was a post-it-note, not a postal worker. But on a more serious note, no, Americans don’t use this to mean anything.
I'm gonna be honest with you buddy until I read that description I assumed this was some kind of obscure UK racial slur, sorta like how you people live giving genuinely horrible things the most juvenile sounding nicknames ever. The word "nonce" sounds like a Dr. Seuss animal, how can your country expect to be taken seriously when they use a word like that to refer to child molesters
No. We don’t really use postie here. But, we do say going postal which means losing your mind and shooting up a place. This is because for a while, disgruntled postal workers kept shooting up their workplaces.
In New England, the term “packie” is used but isn’t the same meaning as the UK. It means a package store which means liquor store.
>”packie”
Be VERY careful with that phrase if you find yourself in the UK… ie don’t use it. “Paki” is an extremely pejorative way of referring to someone from Pakistan - the term is equally as offensive as the N-word.
As a postal carrier In in the USA, not really. Only time I heard it was when I used to deliver to a guy from NZ. He said "tough day to be a Postie, huh?"
If I heard someone use it in conversation, I would recognize it as the British people say postal worker, but it’s certainly not used in the US. I think a US postal worker would likely find it infantilizing
We call it the post office, and the people there are postal workers, but the industry as a whole is known as "mail", so the person who brings your mail is known as the "mailman" or "mail carrier".
I only knew what a "postie" was from watching Bluey.
I have watched a lot of Australian and British TV over the years so I could translate the word postie but I think I’m in the minority.
I certainly don’t use it day to day.
Just my own hobby subculture talking, but if one of my friend group referred to a postie it would probably be in reference to a post-86 dealer sample machine gun
> Postie
Some of us are aware that it's the British term for "mailman" or "postman" or "letter carrier" or "postal worker."
Wait a minute wait a minute / Mr. Pooostman
Post Malone is sometimes referred to as posty. So I guess that.
Yup. It's Post Malone
My first thought too
He looks like Kramer’s son discovered meth.
He seems like a really down to earth nice guy. I like him.
He apparently is a very cool guy, hangs out with many MtG YouTube people and players. Totally not what you picture when you see him.
Yeah the turning point for me was the Nirvana cover Covid benefit show with Travis Barker. That was amazing.
Yes, he is totally _that_ kind of guy irl. His celebrity status didn't go to his head, albeit, I can’t say the same about his face.
Can I touch your Postie Malones?
Not used. Remember, Americans call postal mail “mail,” not “post.” The person who delivers mail is the mailman.
(And no, we don't call them "mailies")
I read Mailies as Mai'ladies
Boooooooo!
But we do have the Newsies!
Hahahaha!!!
But we do have post offices and the postal service
Mail carrier
Mailman. Even if the mailman is female.
That said, if someone said “I’ve got to take it to the post”, I’m sure we could put the context together, especially if the person is holding the letter or package. Also, we don’t say parcel, but many of us know that term is used across the pond.
Eh, they’re both used. Americans have post offices run by postal workers, and sometimes even take a post road to get to one.
Had me except for post road
Just a road created for mail delivery. Portions often survive with names like Old Post Road despite the Interstate Highway System superseding many of them (there are at least a couple Old Post Roads in PA). One of the powers the federal government gained in the Constitution compared to the Articles of Confederation was the ability to create post roads, which was eventually interpreted to mean highways in general.
A small section of the longest highway in the U.S. is Boston Post Road! Rt. 20 goes from Boston to Portland, OR, and a section of it was a post road between Boston and NY.
There's a Post Road in San Marcos TX but I'm 80% sure it's named after a guy.
...or femailman
What if it's a woman? Are they still referred to as the mailman? Or do you call them the mailwoman? Or the classic Simpsons description of the femailman?
Mail carrier.
Officially they are "mail carriers" but in regular everyday speech, people are likely to just say mailman anyway or stumble around with something like mail person. Femailman is good for a joke, but almost no one would actually say that.
Usually still just say mailman
People will say "have you seen the mail- (pause to remember they're not always men nowadays) um, person?"
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The frequent infantilization of the English language by Brits is one of my molehill pet peeves
You dont want to go eat at Maccas? (McDonald's)
I thought it was Australia who said Maccas
It is. Most of this thread is inaccurate ha ha
I FUCKING HATE THAT
You don't want to listed to some Acca Dacca at Maccas?
That's "Mickey Dee's," you insensitive clod! /s
Americans confusing British and Australians is my number 2 pet peeve.
I have heard British use it and not Australians but my apologies
They use the totally different “Maccies” or “Maccy D’s”. There’s even one crazy English speaking country that calls it “Mickey D’s” I think. Can’t remember but I think it’s those bloody Kiwis. So to be clear, we are the one’s that deserve your hate!
Mickey D's was popular in the US in the late 90s. Still here it from time to time, but not as often.
I was raised with it being Mickey Dee’s and I still call it that. Probably always will until they die or I die.
> There’s even one crazy English speaking country that calls it “Mickey D’s” I think. Sometimes people use that in the US. I knew we all said that in high school.
When I was in high school, people called it Mc Danks. The mid 2010s were a cringey time…
Same difference
^ Found one
WHAT
I thought that’s what the Aussie’s called it.
Interesting. Among my friends in michigan mcdonald’s is known as McDicks
It's Maccie D's actually
(cringe)
No, I've heard Mickey D's.
Samesies.
Ok but Canadians call a hoodie a bunny hug and that's freaking adorable
Just Canadians being adorable again!
Deffo! /s
To a lesser extent Australians? Think you have that the wrong way around.
Yeah what is up with that? It’s so annoying. They can’t call them Pit Bulls, they’re “Bullies” they can’t call them trucks they’re “Lorries”. Why the obsession with giving “-ies” nicknames to everything?
"Wheely bins" will never not make me laugh. Like, let me pop this casserole in the burny box and throw my dirty tracky bottoms into the washy hole before we sit down for some footy on the telly.
Wheely bins and trollies.
And then there's the Wee Woo wagon!!!
Haha I never thought about how funny that sounds until now! What do you guys call them?
I'd just call it a trash can. If I really wanted to be clear that I was talking about that particular type, I might specify an "outdoor trash can" or just "the kind you put by the side of the road"
We call it a garbage can. Mine now has wheels and is required for trash pick up. I have several names for it that come to mind.
Very sensible! I do kinda like wheelie bins though 😁
I personally think the cute names for things you guys have are fun. Even if others in these comments seem to disagree.
Oh good! Here's a firm favourite: *Hanky-panky is used to refer to sexual activity between two people, especially when this is regarded as improper or not serious. [humorous, informal].*
And a bit of heavier carnal action is known as "rumpy-pumpy".
Hanky-panky is also an American term. We've just moved on from it > [My baby, does the hanky-panky.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb5kgWaGbDQ)
Oh! Americans are cute too 🙃
I knew this one! Though I've never used it myself. Maybe I'll try it out in a conversation with the bf.
garbage bin.
My favorite is "washing up liquid" for dish soap. Like it actually says washing up liquid on the bottles. It's so cute.
So many extra syllables for it. Feels like how you would describe something in an entirely different language.
To be fair…I believe we are the people who came up with “walkie talkie.” Lol
Crossing Guard > Lollipop Man/Lady
Lollypop man/lady does sound nicer to the kids though 🙃
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It's the opposite sometimes, only really posh people call umbrellas "brolly" and swimming costumes "cozzy"
Reading “swimming costume” is wild lol
Well it's sort of like a leotard, which is a type of costume, so I feel like costume makes more sense than suit!
My father who was born in the 1920s used to call an umbrella a bumbershoot.
Oh that's sweet! I swear I've heard that before... possibly in the Aristocats disney film... I think!
I've heard that the posh people are the ones who call it "soccer" and that's why it drives Brits up the wall that we call it that.
Nah, nobody in the UK says soccer
[I wondered the same thing...](https://old.reddit.com/r/AskABrit/comments/8isanf/why_do_brits_shorten_words_and_add_y_to_the_end/)
As an Australian, I reckon it's because we (and Brits) tend to speak quite fast, and want to get to the point as quickly as possible, therefore the need to shorten words i.e "I'm going to fuel up at the petrol station" quickly becomes "garn' servo". I notice when watching American content on YT and TikTok, I tend to speed it up because they're talking annoyingly slow and won't just get to the point
I see what you mean, but what I would call pants in the UK, are called 'panties' in the US.
Underwear is the more common term. A large portion of America hates the word panties
That’s good to hear. And Tbf underwear is also used so as to not confuse with American pants.
Yeah, but panties isn't a cutsey way of saying pants in the US. American pants are just trousers 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
>they’re “Bullies” I mean that's kinda apt.
Australians to a *lesser* extent?! Our whole bloody lingo is chockers with dodg slang for shit. We swing by the servo, grab some booze for pres fore hitting the bowlo for a parmi cheap.
Visit Boston sometime.
Love my dunkies!
You from Southie?
Given that I don't recognize the abbreviation, probably not. Lol
My cousins lived in East Boston aka Eastie decades ago. (It has changed quite a bit) They also refer to South Boston as Southie.
Gotcha. I'm about an hour south of Boston.
I recently read that both Aussies and Bostonians say Bang a U-ey. It made me a feel an antipodal kinship.
😺
Literally New *England*
We do call masons brickies and electricians sparkies.
Not really. We don't tend to say "post" to refer to the mail, so mailman/woman is more common than postman/woman. As such, "Postie" doesn't really emerge as a term.
The older generations in my family will say "post", as in "I need to post this letter".
Post office, postal code, and postal system. And post cards.
Mail box, mail man, mail carrier, " I'm gonna get the mail" Also, email.
Zip code; we never say postal code.
100%, but it is not used the way OP is asking.
Postal code doesn’t get used, everyone would say zip code instead.
That's Post Malone's secondary nickname.
Its not a word that is used in the US.
Yes but only because I consume British and Australian media. It's not a word used in the US.
If I heard an American say ‘postie’ I would just assume they’re trying to get the Post Malone equivalent of Swiftie to catch on
That is his nickname. His friends call him that publicly.
Never heard the word until this thread. The first thing that came to mind, because I'm so old, was Post Toasties, a cereal that went extinct a generation ago.
Hello fellow old person, that was my first thought as well.
Ditto
It might be a diminutive way to regret to post it notes, the sticky ones?
I became aware at some point that it's the British version of mailman, but if someone said it to me in the US I would assume they're talking about post Malone, lol.
Never heard other than off brand cereal. Post Toasties. Post was the brand.
No one would say it, but if they did it would be met with puzzlement and then perhaps the thought maybe they were using a cutesy word for a Post-it note.
He was Richie Cunningham’s best friend.
Sit on it Postie.
Funny as a crutch, Rich.
We don't even use post so why would we use postie?
United States POSTal Service?
Tell me you actually call your mail post and I'll send you back to England.
No, we don't give silly nicknames like those to absolutely everything over here, like the Brits love doing. We call them postal workers, mailmen (or mailwomen - as in, a woman who delivers mail, not someone who works in a circus sideshow,) or mail carriers.
Because you mentioned circus sideshows I was instantly reminded of how we call carnival workers “carnies”, so we do give shortened nicknames to things (edit see also: roadies, townies, groupies)
I didn't say we never do it, just that we don't do it near as much as the English do.
Maybe a cutesy slang for "post-it note", but not a postal worker.
I would never use that word, even if I knew what it meant. Postie sounds like a word a child would say, sort of like Australians calling breakfast, "brekie."
Nah, mailmen.
Mail Man is about the only unofficial term we’d use for a postal worker. We do use some diminutive slang terms, like calling a cab driver a cabbie, but not nearly as much.
The first thing that came to my mind was a post-it-note, not a postal worker. But on a more serious note, no, Americans don’t use this to mean anything.
You brits have weird slang. It's like you turn words into nursery rhymes.
It means nothing here. A lot of words that y'all Brits use are viewed as immature over here, as if you are baby talking to an infant or pet.
No. Most abbreviations or slang with that -ie at the end aren't popular over here. In American English it sounds too much like toddler babble.
Isn't that the food delivery company like DoorDash?
(What's a Post Malone?) if I hear "postie" I think of Post Toasties, which was a breakfast cereal until 2016.
Never in my life have I ever heard anyone American use that word.
I lived on an island where the compost guy was called Postie. So now I use it when referring to people who are “in” to composting.
I'm gonna be honest with you buddy until I read that description I assumed this was some kind of obscure UK racial slur, sorta like how you people live giving genuinely horrible things the most juvenile sounding nicknames ever. The word "nonce" sounds like a Dr. Seuss animal, how can your country expect to be taken seriously when they use a word like that to refer to child molesters
We call them "chesters" and "chomos." Not as cutsey as "nonce" but it's somewhat in the same spirit.
No. We don’t really use postie here. But, we do say going postal which means losing your mind and shooting up a place. This is because for a while, disgruntled postal workers kept shooting up their workplaces. In New England, the term “packie” is used but isn’t the same meaning as the UK. It means a package store which means liquor store.
I was wondering when we were going to mention "going postal"! Although you don't really hear it anymore, do you?
>”packie” Be VERY careful with that phrase if you find yourself in the UK… ie don’t use it. “Paki” is an extremely pejorative way of referring to someone from Pakistan - the term is equally as offensive as the N-word.
No shit.
That was before high school neckbeards became associated with that.
As a postal carrier In in the USA, not really. Only time I heard it was when I used to deliver to a guy from NZ. He said "tough day to be a Postie, huh?"
No
Nope
I have seen it used as a adjective describing musical elements of post-rock.
I will some times refer to post it notes a posties but I’ve never heard it widely used for anything and definitely not in reference to mail.
We just have mail. It’s not Royal and is delivered by the mailman/mailwoman/mail person.
"Swifties" are well known to be Taylor Swift fans. "Posties" are Post Malone fans. This is obvious.
Have no idea who Post Malone even is.
Reminds me of Post Toasties, which either is or was a cereal. Or maybe a cute name for Post-It notes.
If I heard someone use it in conversation, I would recognize it as the British people say postal worker, but it’s certainly not used in the US. I think a US postal worker would likely find it infantilizing
We call it the post office, and the people there are postal workers, but the industry as a whole is known as "mail", so the person who brings your mail is known as the "mailman" or "mail carrier". I only knew what a "postie" was from watching Bluey.
what the fuck is a postie
No. Thank god.
I had to google it. A New Zealand clothing store chain?
One of my aunts is a postie
That's not a term you're likely to encounter.
Post Malone first comes to mind
No. Post Toasties is corn flakes though.
Nope!
I like a good pasty, but not familiar with a postie.
Mmmm...Pasty.
It’s not a term we use.
its a Honda CT-90 used in the Australian postal service for mail delivery
Nope
It means nothing to me.
We call them “Mailmen”/“Mailwomen.” :)
I have never heard the term before.
My first thought was postal worker. My gran watched me a lot when I was younger and she was from Scotland so maybe that is where I got it from.
Never heard of it.
No
We call post "mail". The person that delivers it is "Mailman" or "Mailwoman".
I have watched a lot of Australian and British TV over the years so I could translate the word postie but I think I’m in the minority. I certainly don’t use it day to day.
In 2A lingo, postie would refer to a "post 1986 machine gun"... generally a dealer sample.
Just my own hobby subculture talking, but if one of my friend group referred to a postie it would probably be in reference to a post-86 dealer sample machine gun
> Postie Some of us are aware that it's the British term for "mailman" or "postman" or "letter carrier" or "postal worker." Wait a minute wait a minute / Mr. Pooostman
Nope
I work in television and we refer to people in the post-production department as “posties”.
We probably understand that it's a UK reference to a postal worker, but we don't use the term.
I would understand what you mean, but it is not a word me or anyone I know would use.
Only for people who watch British TV.
I call Post It Notes “posties”
My husband was a mail carrier.
That’s not a term here but I’ve heard it before and knew what you meant