As many of you know, I am British Expatriate living in the USA. I’ve lived here long enough to be quite familiar with the majority of differences between the cultures. I still find myself translating UK English to American English in my mind before speaking. However, in the main I use American terms when in American company, although, I’ve still got quite a thick British accent.
A lot of the differences are very subtle and it’s only after living here for so long that I am attuned to them. For example, we Brits tend to use a lot of words in a sentence. I know that sounds a bit far-fetched, but I can assure you that it’s quite true.
When I first came over I would order food at fast food restaurants with a “May I have veggie burger with French fries, please and I would also like to have a large drink as well”. Too many words! My American friends would say, “Hyacinth, just say, I’ll have a veggie burger with fries and a large drink”. I would say that’s just plain stupid and in my opinion, they should employ staff that can understand more than one way of speaking!
I believed that my accent was at fault and to a degree it was a part of being frequently misunderstood. Seeing as I was not going to get my way and have the entire fast food industry in America, train their staff to understand me, I decided to shorten up my sentences and cut out a lot of the niceties. And of course, I had less difficulty communicating.
Then I went through a phase where I thought that I would just be myself and to hell with being clear and understandable. I soon came to the realization that was too extreme. Using British phrases such as, “What are you like?” and “I don’t give a toss”, just cause a lot of confusion. (You can find the meaning to these British Sayings on BritSlang.com). So I found a happy medium and so ends this little anecdote.
I just decided that I would be clear when I have to deal with people who are strangers but be myself around those who really know me. My partner is used to my little British Sayings and occasionally takes the mickey but I can give as good as I get.
Check out one of my other sites, which is a dictionary of British Sayings and Slang Words. Let me know what you think!
Well we all speak english (well sometimes not in the U.S.However sir when you placed youre food order.with please and thank you .you showed something that is lost in american culture that needs to come back ,MANNERS im only 33 and I must say (I look like a hells angle lol)however i hold the door open for people comeing in to or out of a building,I say yes sir and yes mam to an elder.my friends say im out of place.but manners should be restored here and all over the world
P.S YOURE SAYING I DONT GIVE A TOSS WELL AMERICANS WOULD SAY IT IN ALOT RUDER WAY However it means the same thing lol
John,
Haha! Thanks for the comments!
- Mark and Hyacinth
Hiya John -
It doesn’t matter the era in which you live…:) I agree that we should all practise respect and have good manners. I was brought up to be polite and I am grateful for this as I like to address people in a mindful way. I also try not to judge based solely on appearance so your Hell’s Angel look wouldn’t scare me off!
Cheers!
Great to know ,Im just a star gazer and nerd for the most part lol,However people do still judge by appearance and I have had some look and pull there kids out of the way lol,im a single dad ,and my point is thus in oure times now everything is about how you look,if you look good you dont need talent just an agent
One thing if I may ask how did i go from a meteor site to this? lol not that I care much but are you and meteor mike one and the same ?
LOL
We run quite a few sites and this is just one. Some are more serious like Meteor Blog and others are a little more frivolous like etablog.
No we aren’t. I am Meteor Mark’s partner in crime as it were,
Thanks for taking a interest.
Hyacinth
Very, very true! Teehee