Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

milasavesmoney wrote: »

p.s. I love seeing the differences in how our two nations spell the same word. i.e. check--cheque.he UK.:)

What about the way you people, on that side of the pond, pronounce aluminium and nuclear. :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

I use my debit card at the bank from an inside cash machine out of sight of the windows, a bit further into the building than those by the entrance, once a week to get the housekeeping. Once I have the cash I can use it as I want and not leave a trail except on CCTV which is unfortunately one of the givens of life.

NewShadow

milasavesmoney wrote: »

p.s. I love seeing the differences in how our two nations spell the same word. i.e. check--cheque
My American spell checker on this computer tried to change the spelling when I typed in the way this word is spelled in the UK.:)

Apparently it's from the Norman 'eschequier' (exchequer) - the state office dealing with the royal revenues.

It's derived from the word for 'chessboard' (escheker) because of the chequered tablecloth on which the accounts were kept by means of counters.

GreyQueen

We also ask for the bill at restaurants rather than the check.

We walk on the pavement instead of the sidewalk, and have kerbs instead of curbs. Our asphalt is called tarmac. We have motorways instead of freeways, multi-story carparks instead of parking ramps, carparks instead of parking lots.

Our portable telephony is a mobile rather than a cell, we wait in queues rather than stand in lines. Several of our words have 'u's which have been dropped from US-English and others still have the 'ph' inherited from the orginal Greek, rather than had the two letters rendered phonetically as 'f'.

School is where you go as a child, we go to college or uni(versity) as young adults. We fall about laughing at the suggestion you should be 21 to be served alcohol in a bar - like most people I know, I could drink alcohol in pubs by age 15. Although you can't have a driving license until you're 17 or vote until you're 18.

Cars have bonnets not hoods, boots not trunks, bumpers not fenders and exhausts not mufflers. Nearly all UK cars are manual transmission as Brits tend to think automatics are expensive to run and repair and only suitable for people whose physical impairments prevent them from driving a manual. If you have driving license for automatics only, you're not allowed to drive a manual.

I drive manuals and also occasionally borrow my brother's automatic Astra - he has co-ordination difficulties and couldn't master manual gear changes. Driving 'stick' is far more fun, imo, particularly rallying around with the old block changes in something small and nippy.

One difference which always phases the Americans I meet is that in buildings over here, the floor at street level is the ground floor, and the first floor is the one above that.

You probably have as many head-scratching moments reading on MSE as the rest of us do on American blogs and sites. Feel free to ask about anything which baffles. I sound like a BBC newsreader IRL and am fluent in standard English and Utter Nonsense (various dialects).

jk0

I had an American girlfriend a couple of years ago. She was a mature student at Reading University. She asked me to pick her up on 'Shinfield'.

GreyQueen

jk0 wrote: »

I had an American girlfriend a couple of years ago. She was a mature student at Reading University. She asked me to pick her up on 'Shinfield'.

What's a Shinfield - I've never been to Reading and have no idea why that would be amusing.

jk0

Sorry GQ. I did wonder if you guys would realise what I meant. (Realize in USA:) )

Shinfield is a village in Berkshire, but my friend wanted me to pick her up on 'Shinfield Road'. Just Americans often don't say the 'road', 'street' etc.

mardatha

I'm in a lot of medium circles with Americans on FB, and it can utterly ruin a serious seance when an innocent American medium comes out with
"I have a middle-aged gentleman here, he's not too tall, bald on top... and he is wearing suspenders".
Every UK medium in the circle collapses into hysterics :D

GreyQueen

mardatha wrote: »

I'm in a lot of medium circles with Americans on FB, and it can utterly ruin a serious seance when an innocent American medium comes out with
"I have a middle-aged gentleman here, he's not too tall, bald on top... and he is wearing suspenders".
Every UK medium in the circle collapses into hysterics :D

OMG, that visual is priceless.:rotfl:

mila; 'suspenders' in Brit-English are things attached to a garter belt which hold up your stockings. Things which hold up a feller's trousers (err 'pants' are underwear here) are called braces.

I read a fair amount of US authors and am still scratching my head about a few things I encounter.....

Actually, the more you think about it, the more confusing it gets.

monnagran

I watched Judge Judy the other week. It must have been a boring day. Did you know that no houses in the US are burgled. No, not one. Many however are (wait for it) ..................BURGLARISED.

What fun. Today I have rendered my bedding WASHISED. I am about to make sure that they are IRONISED. Tomorrow I have a friend coming over so I will be VISITISED.

The possibilities are endless.

Bernard Shaw was right. Two nations divided by a single language.
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