British Expatriate Network

It took me a while to get used to the way things are PUT over here. Not the words so much - even I knew that a lift was an elevator and so on. But other things like "pissed" meaning to be mad (angry) or "fanny" meaning something quite different where I come from!! There's been many occasions (especialy in the beginning) where my husband has said to me "You can't say THAT"! like when I called a cigarrete as a "fag". I also had a lot of trouble on the phone - I really couldn't understand what they said - worse - they couldn't understand me either!! In the gym class the teacher asked me my name. When I said Rita she said "What was that, Richa"? until one of the girls translated it into Rida............ My name's Rida??
"I guess", instead of "I suppose", "sure," instead of "of course". My husband told me that the pavement was the road and the path (pavement ,was a sidewalk, okay, I'll get there..........You see? I'm already saying okay instead of alright, that has to be a good sign. I swore I would never say "You guys" but now I DO. I even say "Isn't she cute" instead of "sweet". I hate CUTE. Anyone else as snobby as me????? grin

Raises hand!

Won't ever talk 'ammurican', it's awful! If I find myself dropping a t to a d I call home! lol. No one understands me on the phone either Rita, calling 411 is a nightmare, I never get the right number and I will not order food to be delivered anymore, hubby has to do it every time!

Sarah

Sometimes I have to get the kids to order the food just so that we get what we want! :roll:

One thing I have found very handy is learning spanish - more often than not if the person on the other end of the phone can't understand me, it's because they speak spanish as their first language. As soon as I say a few words in Spanish to explain what it is I am wanting, even though I do it with an English accent, they understand me so much better :lol:

But I refuse to change a 't' for a 'd'! Never, never, never.

and have still resisted the urge to ask for tomaaaato :wink:

Wifes name is MaRta, I feel your pain,lol
Park on the drive way, drive on the park way,lol.
Yup, it's a strange land we came across here.)

Sarah, but it's embarassing! I feel that I pronounce my words very clearly - have to say though when I first met hubby he had a job understanding when I got passionate about something and talked (he said) too fast. It got to the point that he was TRANSLATING for me to his friends and family. I speak English (if you can count that) Spanish and Dutch fluently and he has to translate my native English!!!

I won't say tomaaato either!!!

My wife had a shock when I first told her I'd been in the pawn shop. She thought I'd been in a porn shop. Haha, we still laugh about that one.

Agrees on the whole Espanol thing too.

/says "d" more than 't" these days
//also says bayzil and orrigunno

I have a lot of trouble with the so-called voice-recognition phone systems

"Tell me what service you want"

No way in hell the thing will understand me. I just hit zero until I get through to a real person.

I use American vocabulary but refuse to use American pronunciation or spelling unless I am writing something official to an American audience.

The girl at the electric company's payment desk said, after he struggled to figure out part of the address I was paying for, said "say forrrdy again, that was cool".

I had trouble with my pawns when I went into school to help the kids learn chess :shock:

This is the part when I want to say "Sod off" in a perfect crystal clear English accent. :D

I have total phone trouble too. There's this huge silence on the other end and then 'can you repeat that please?' so I have to put on my pseudo american accent. Cracks the kids up no end. Which is totally annoying considering what they sound like.

I soooo hear you......

:lol:

I have to say "aidy" on the phone instead of eighty to be understood.

Won't say feellai though, its a fillet.

Me too!! It's frustrating, to say the least. :evil:

Me too!! It's frustrating, to say the least. :evil: