Empathy black hole

By shellbom - 17/11/2009 21:33 - United Kingdom

Today, I rang British Gas to cancel my boiler cover, as I'm totally and utterly skint. I told her the reason was I was getting divorced, moving house, losing my job, and had no income at all. She was very sympathetic, and said, "How would you like to pay your £37 cancellation fee?" FML
I agree, your life sucks 28 896
You deserved it 4 039
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Top comments

xCrackerx 3

I'll translate for you, #2. Clearly you don't understand English. I'll try Ebonics. Today, I holla'd at my gas company to cancel my plan, cuz I'm broke as ****. I told her my baby momma was leavin' me, bouncing up outta my crib, I ain't gettin no mo' chedda from my job and I got nothin' in the bank. She was all sad for me and shit, and she said, "Yo, how you wanna pay yo damn cancellation fee?" FML.

153 10
ShaunathinShavis 0

There is more British jargon in this fml alone than I have heard in the last year

124 6

Comments

coolsteve 0

first of all us "Brits" never refer to ourselves at British, we would say English, Welsh, Scottish etc. we only seem to say it when talking to Americans label us british. Also, its some of the americans on here who label their country as ignorant and condescending. how hard is it to realise what skint means from the context, I mean its not gonna mean anything other than "broke"

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Maxine17 8

But what about when Americans use American culture things like IHOP, Wal Mart, Verizon, and we British people don't know what these are? Do we moan and bitch about it? If you've you never heard of it, JFGI; it's what we have to do if we don't "get" something.

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gigi37 0

You make such a great point. I know if someone asked what Walmart is on another post, so many people would bombard that comment with "how can you NOT know what Walmart is?" or "It's the best store ever, YDI for living somewhere else." I guess people don't realize it's designed as a international site, not a national one..

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_londongirl_ 0

Being English I can't say how hard this would be for Americans to understand. But I always manage to understand American FMLs, regardless of how much American slang they use... And to the people saying OP should not be using 'local' slang: she probably didn't even realise any of those terms were particularly British/just didn't think about it. I for one didn't know that 'skint' was not used in the US. And i definitely didn't know that 'ring' and 'move house' are seen as British slang.

3 0
flying_vegan 0

Britain's never put anything out into the US? What's that language you're typing in then? Check and indeed mate.

3 0
gameoverman_fml 0

It's one thing to be unfamiliar with colloquilisms and terms from other regions. It's quite another to bitch and moan about people using "localized" words that somehow make it impossible for basic comprehension to shine through. Wah wah America, suck it the **** up. The rest of the world doesn't cry when you start whipping out your ******* obscure state abbreviations and expecting everyone/anyone to know what you're talking about, so bump a few brain cells together and figure this shit out for yourself.

0 0
catatonicsleep 17

You only don't see our TV because your channels won't buy it, you just copy it and make your own version, like life on mars for example...

1 1
pointzero 0

And yet another FML goes down the tubes as a regional bashfest. Good job humanity!

3 0
Hexefrau 5

Boiler Cover = Insurance coverage on your boiler. Americans have boilers too, you know. Nowhere did the OP refer to the gas company as a "boiler company", #96. Really, the Queen's English isn't THAT hard to understand, folks. I fail to see why everyone gets their nuts in a knot over etymological and colloquial differences.

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Hexefrau 5

And let me just add that I live in San Diego, am an American citizen, and lived in the UK (North Yorks) for 3 amazing years. The language differences are not tough at all, unless you run into a drunk Scotsman with a speech impediment. THAT is difficult to comprehend.

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stridercab 12

Can we PLEASE just...kick the non-Americans off the site...their FML's aren't even funny. Hell, I'm a Comp Sci major, I know it can't be THAT difficult for the moderators to filter out all the non-American IP Address country codes...

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_londongirl_ 0

I might be wrong, but wasn't this site started in France? So yeah sure, lets just kick off all the non-Americans, that sounds right...

3 0
Seni_Seviyorum_fml 0

This site was French before the Americans took it over ;) I don't have anything against Americans, but they are seriously making themselves look stupid by not understanding this FML. THANK YOU for those who understood this just from common sense. Also, no one is better than the other, but I must say, yes, English IS English. =) Another point, it's not British, it's English. Britain contains 3 countries. The United Kingdom contains 4. Work it out for yourselves. One more thing, I'm 15 years old. Surely that means I'm inferior and not as smart? Or, on the other hand, maybe not. =)

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Lydia1749 0

If you're a Computer Science major what the **** would you know about funny?

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Witchcraft_fml 4

Here's a thought... How about we all get over this "Which country is better?" bullshit and shut the **** up? If you can't understand the FML, tough noogies, skip over it and move onto the next one. "Omgzz, I can't understand the FML, kick all non-Americans off!" "Omgzz, you can't understand?! Americans are so dumb!" "Are not!" "Are too!" "No, you are!" "No, you!"

2 0