View Full Version : English American style!
heathercobbett
10-04-2005, 22:08
I read in todays paper that it is becoming fashionable for Americans to usr English expressions,such as queue.
Won't that be nice to see things flow the other way?
I once almost made a grave error when I rang my agent to book some guests in for a fortnight.Fortunately,I always get the staff to read it back to me,so I was alerted when she said "so thats 4 nights from the 20th of June" None of the office staff had heard fortnight before!
diabloartificial
10-04-2005, 22:11
ha lol ye that will be cool strange at first but cool (they hadnt heard of a fortnight!! omg) ;)[:o)]
heathercobbett
10-04-2005, 22:26
Even stranger was that I had an American ask me if I had any danders in the house(!) I had no idea what that meant,so consulted my American MC,who had no idea either. (I did find out for myself and it is animak skin)
E. Cosgrove
10-04-2005, 22:26
I once tried to book a meal at a restaurant in one of the National Parks. I asked for half past eight[msneek]It wasn't till I said eight thirty that they understood me[msnembarrased]
diabloartificial
10-04-2005, 22:28
o god lol[msneek] they arent doing tht well stillll i cant wait to move there in 7 weeks!!:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
andrewmckay5
10-04-2005, 22:41
I was a student at North Carolina and when the music was playing in the bars a few girls asked me if i wanted to Sh*g.
A well known dance and i was very lucky in the dimness they couldn't see me blush.
andrew
LiesaAnna
10-04-2005, 23:12
nice one Andrew! or maybe not![msnwink]
imported_n/a
10-04-2005, 23:29
Two great nations divde by a common language now who said that ?.
allenc
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by allenc
Two great nations divde by a common language now who said that ?.
allenc
[/quote]
Was it Winston Churchill??
chrizzy100
10-04-2005, 23:53
I have to go between English and American a lot everyday......I have American friends well trained in English .....but I have to remember to use American with new people.....
Ray&Sarah
10-04-2005, 23:57
We had the fortnight thing come up the first time we were in Florida, I couldn't understand why they looked puzzled when I said we were staying for a "Fortnight", didn't realise that they don't ust that term in the US.[msnsmile2]
luckylady
11-04-2005, 00:25
The Americans dont say numbers like we do
I was in Sears store last year
ordering a air hockey do pick up later
The young assistant ask for my phone number
I said four, zero,seven double six ,eight, zero. double nine.
She just couldn't get it
in the end I had to write it down
Barbara
CERICROWLEY
11-04-2005, 00:49
I love the language difference in the states when we go.
The first time we went. we stayed in Animal Kingdom Lodge and used the cafe a lot, for pizza coffee etc.
When I order pizza I like to say tomayto instead of tomatoe and garage and hubby got very bemused, when order a pizza that he said can I have a pizza to take away instead of a pizza to go.
we are now becoming more used to the language and I can't wait to use it again when we are out in May
When in Wal Wart we tried asking for 6oz of Ham they had no idea what we were talking about they only seem to deal in lbs. 1/4lb or 1/2lb.
When we first took my eldest son to Florida he was 5 and as he was missing some school time he was keeping a diary of his days in Florida. Unfortunately, although he was writing in pencil, he made mistakes. You should have seen their faces in Walmart when he asked them for a rubber![msnembarrased] He now knows to ask for an eraser!
bellaepovera
11-04-2005, 02:16
Oh Lesley that is funny!! They call an eraser the same thing here in Italy of course in italian. My friend once here was talking about additives and preservatives in foods and everyone starting laughing at her here in Italy as a preservative is a american rubber if you get my drift![msnscared]
DiannaUK
11-04-2005, 03:28
Hi, the difference in language is funny, isn't it :)
My father is Canadian but we've always lived in the UK and when I first started school at the age of 5, I was talking sidewalks and elevators and my school friends thought I was a martian. I decided it wasn't cool to speak like that and it's taken 40 odd years to get out of the habit, but now I'm going to Florida regularly, it's all coming back to me.
I understand that the worst thing to say when looking for the ladies is to ask for the "toilet" as apparently this is considered a rude and crass word to use [:O] but I still find it odd to say "rest" room because rest is not what we need to do in there[:I]
Oh well, viva la difference.
Di
Robert5988
11-04-2005, 05:37
I'll give you a tinkle can cause alarm!
ctgirlscout
11-04-2005, 06:20
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by diabloartificial
ha lol ye that will be cool strange at first but cool (they hadnt heard of a fortnight!! omg) ;)[:o)]
[/quote]
I didn't know what a fortnight was either, until I came onto this forum. I think it was Blott who had to explain it to me!
diabloartificial
11-04-2005, 20:28
sorry teresa don't take offence to it, i dont mean it as an insult i hope u know tht if u take offence then dm me n ill apologise. :)[msnsmile2][msnsmile][msncool][msnwink][msntongue][angel][drinkbeer][drinkpepsi][grouphug]
ctgirlscout
11-04-2005, 20:56
Didn't take offense at all! Just goes to show how different we speak. :)
kaysvacationvilla
12-04-2005, 03:27
<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by DiannaUK
Hi, the difference in language is funny, isn't it :)
My father is Canadian but we've always lived in the UK and when I first started school at the age of 5, I was talking sidewalks and elevators and my school friends thought I was a martian. I decided it wasn't cool to speak like that and it's taken 40 odd years to get out of the habit, but now I'm going to Florida regularly, it's all coming back to me.
I understand that the worst thing to say when looking for the ladies is to ask for the "toilet" as apparently this is considered a rude and crass word to use [:O] but I still find it odd to say "rest" room because rest is not what we need to do in there[:I]
Oh well, viva la difference.
Di
[/quote]
What do you use for the words sidewalks and elevators in the UK? Years ago when I worked in a call center for a large catolog company there would be a sign on the wall stating how many callers were in "queue". This is when I first heard of that term.
Hi Kay,
In the UK the elevator is the lift and the sidewalk is the footpath or pavement(the pavement is the road) we thought it was really strange one year when we were driving to Clearwater that there were road signs saying "uneven pavement" as there were no pavements (sidewalks)! That's when we realised that in the US the pavement was not the same as in the UK. [:I]