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John & Sarah
Re your keyboard differences in US. Does the computer not come with a "character map". Using windows if you go to Start - Programs - accessories - character map. It tells you all the keystrokes needed to produce certain characters. My daughter uses it often as she is studying both French and German so needs all the various accents and funny letters (ß is one you can't really replicate any other way).
Might not work on your your computer but you never know.
Babblin Boo
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Hi Steph
We ended up specifying the Keyboard language as English (UK) which worked well, even if we did have to remember that the labels on the keyboard buttons were not always what was produced when pressed e.g. the button labelled # now produced the correct £.
I came unstuck when at our MC's house as they were having the same problem. They have a PC running Windows XP and try as I might, I could not find the place to change the keyboard language!
John & Sarah
John & Sarah Rooke
Orlando Villas
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A friend of mine who is a Brit tells me that sometimes speaking British has definite advantages down in Florida. On a recent vacation [holiday], his rental [hire] car was hit on the windshield [windscreen] and the hood [bonnet] by a coconut [that's OK, right?]. Fearing that he might need a report for the insurance company, he called the police and asked what how to report the damaged bonnet. They told him to stay right there, and within 5 minutes a police car was at the scene. When he asked the officer if they always responded so quickly to minor accidents, his red-faced response was "Well, actually we had no idea what a bonnet was so we thought we'd better check it out"
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Oh dear! Things are quite complicated but I usually try to reply to US enquiries in American and UK in English (sorry, everyone, I mean British!), if I can tell where they originated. Usually, the dates give it away. Things do go wrong though, on occasion.
I've had a family book twice now, once last year and now this year. Trouble is, they're not on the internet and don't have a fax so we either have to snail mail (takes a long time) or telephone. We had awful problems trying to understand each other and it felt like we were both foreigners! I was trying to explain how to send a deposit check and told her who to make it out (payable) to and I even spelt the name and address, very slowly. This had to be repeated more than once and her baby grandson kept interrupting, so you can imagine it was quite a long phone call. The check duly arrived with a rather strange address (thank you Consignia!) and made out to a completely different person but I sent it to our bank anyway and it worked! I didn't have the heart to send it back and ask her (somehow!) to change it!
I always thought I communicated with Americans quite well but this family was from Virginia so I don't know if that explained the problem (MMFAN, you would probably know). I just wished I could do sign language to explain to her better via a videophone! <img src=icon_smile_blush.gif border=0 align=middle>
Blott
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We've been to Virginia a few times (it's beautiful - especially in the fall) and it's probably the most British of any of the US States.
If you get chance, visit Williamsburg - it's where the English first landed in the US and they re-enact things as if it was 300 years ago - fantastic! They take it so seriously, that if you ask a costumed character about TV they will ask you what TV is because they have never heard of it <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>.
John & Sarah Rooke
Orlando Villas
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Please, if you need a rubber for the children, be sure to ask for an eraser. It will save you a lot of embaressment as a rubber is a condom.
Reminds me of the Jasper Carrot joke about the Australian brand of cellotape - Durex!
A tap in America is called a faucet.
Jacqui
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Blott, I travel to the U.K. frequently (I love London) and have only minimal problem understanding British accents, so it's probably not you. Since Virginia is a Southern state, alot of people have an accent that is difficult for other Americans to understand, never mind Brits. They also have a hard time understanding people without that accent. Now Florida is in the South also, but it is filled with people that moved there from New York and New Jersey and other Northern states.
By the way, I agree, Colonial Williamsburg is very good.
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Thanks MMFAN - it's comforting to know that I'm not the only one! I understand Floridian very well but this accent was something else.
Blott
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A few more
sidewalk = pavement
pavement = road
median = centre of road divider
gas pedal = accelerator
muffler = exhaust
Blott
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When we had our foosball table delivered, the delivery man said he could not drive down the 417 as he had a 'tractor' on the back. I thought why is he driving around with a tractor as well? Turns out that's another name for articulated lorry.
Had a job not to giggle at Disney when the security man asked to look inside my fanny-pack (bum bag).