Monday, April 16, 2012

Britishisms



Every expat blogger in the UK is required - by law, I think - to do at least one post about Silly Things the Natives Say.  Somehow, even though I've written about our grammatical disagreements, I don't think I've covered the semantics of speaking the same language completely differently, except sort of vaguely here.  (Yes, I'm a huge nerd.  It's cool.)  But the topic came up last week at lunch in Chelsea with a few lovely American ladies.  It was generally agreed that we shouldn't use the English word when there's a perfectly good equivalent in American; for instance, don't say you're knackered if what you mean is tired or exhausted.  However, I have to admit that words and concepts that we don't have in the States or that I only learned here in England are creeping more and more into my vocabulary.  It's all about context, I think.

Here are some examples:

I say "mom" when I talk about my mother but I say "mum" when I talk about Jon's mother.  She's just, you know, his mum - not his mom.

The kids I babysit have their last meal of the day around 5pm - that's "tea."  I don't eat "dinner" at 5pm, so I can't call it that, and my family didn't use the word "supper."

The couple who lived above us in our old flat used to have "domestics" all the time.  A "domestic" is shorthand for a family fight, but I'd never before lived in an environment where I heard the sort of arguments that inspired police visits (true story) and so the phrase was taught to me in English rather than American.

When I tell stories about Columbia to my English friends, I say that I went to "uni" instead of saying that I went to "college."  College in the UK is a different concept; it's basically the last two years of high school and it prepares you for university.  American colleges are British universities, and I'm enough of a snob to want people to know that I have a degree.

The ideal breakfast after a hard night on the town is a "bacon butty."  It's essentially a bacon sandwich - bacon with ketchup in a roll - but it will always be the British butty to me because I never enjoyed one in the States and therefore never appreciated it as a sandwich.


I could go on, of course (gypsies live in caravans, not trailers, because we don't have gypsies in America; Jon and I fight over who has to do the washing up because I have only ever not had a dishwasher in London; etc.) but I think we've all got our Britishisms.  What are yours?


10 comments:

  1. I don't live in the UK, but I do have many friends that do. I've found myself saying "uni" instead of college! I love the little differences too.

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  2. There are a lot of Irish travelers aka gypsies in Memphis! My ny friends had no idea they're in the states too.

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  3. Hmm...interesting post: with the exception of "mum", I have not used any of these terms before and had also not even heard of a couple until I read this (but I never shorten "university" to "uni"...I find it so annoying!).

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  4. Not to be pedantic but, you can also go to a college after high school, eg. Art college. The term connotes a less academic and more vocational form of higher education, but you hit the nail on the head - when you want people to know you have a degree from a university, you say "uni".
    I'm currently writing something about American "colleges" and have to explain to Brits that although there are technical differences, it's an all-encompassing word. Except when Americans say "school" that is; That's a whole nuther post!

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  5. The uni thing is the same in Canada but the rest of those are hilarious! I've noticed a few of them, like "domestics" when watching British television. I also love their interesting vocabulary like "boot of a car" or "trolley" or "pavement" instead of sidewalk...the list goes on...or lorry for a truck ;)

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  6. this is mind blowing post thanks for sharing

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  7. Haha, I'm a total snob about my degree too and always say I went to Uni when I'm talking to someone in the UK!

    But, I'm having so much trouble with the different spellings--especially on my blog! I hate having red lines under everything I write, but all my friends hate having me writing in English English, which I can understand because, really, do we need that extra u in favorite? No, not really! So what's an Expat to do???

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  8. I'm with you on the mum and mom thing. I have a mom, husband has a mum. He calls my mom, mom not mum too.

    Jillian brings up another v good topic- spellings! I try and stick to English spellings b/c otherwise I get screwed up at work (and I basically write all day for a living) but I still look at words sometimes and think, that is so wrong.

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  9. I'm with you on the mum and mom thing. I have a mom, husband has a mum. He calls my mom, mom not mum too.

    Jillian brings up another v good topic- spellings! I try and stick to English spellings b/c otherwise I get screwed up at work (and I basically write all day for a living) but I still look at words sometimes and think, that is so wrong.

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  10. As an English girl who spent a year travelling around America and liviing in Canada, I love this! I would consantly discuss american/canadian/english differences with words and grammar :) The biggest difference we noticed was sarcasm - how we british are sarcastic most of the time and how many canadians and americans we talked to didn't "get it", or thought we were being genuine. It's all so interesting :)

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