Posts Tagged ‘british sayings’

British Speak On this Side of the Pond

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!