Funny how English borrows from other languages to express thoughts and ideas. Vive la difference sounds much better than ‘long live the difference’. There are lots of differences to amuse us within the English speaking world, especially the words we use, or just local customs. I’m sure we have all had confusing moments visiting or being visited, or even reading a novel set in another country.
‘How long have I got till the shops shut?’
‘About five hours.’
‘I’ve just got to put the salt in the dishwasher’
‘WHAT!’
Which would you put on your dinner?
When I was young I was worried that I was going to get arrested for jaywalking, even though I wasn’t sure what that was. I have since realised that idea must have come from watching American cartoons, perhaps Top Cat? There is no such offence in Britain…
I was reading a novel and very involved in the plot, then the leading character, who seemed to be quite sensible, decided to have biscuits and gravy for breakfast! Had I misread that…
What oddities have you come across in your travels or reading?
Times and Tides of a Beachwriter 
This was a fun read. I have lived most of my life in the USA. In 1976, when I was in my early twenties, I lived in England for several months. One day I went to a grocery shop and asked the woman behind the counter where they kept the butter. I pronounced it the way we do in the USA: buh-ter.
The shop keeper did not know what I meant. There were several other women nearby, and they did not know what I was asking for, either. So I described it. “Butter is yellow, it is made from cow’s milk, and you spread it on bread.”
“OH!!” everyone shrieked. “She means boo-tuh!”
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Hello Linda, yes I can imagine the hilarity as you described butter! What part of England were you living in?
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I was in the small village of Mundesley, in the county of Norfolk.
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When I lived in the south, someone would say, “I’m going by So-and-So’s.” It took me the longest time to figure out she meant “going TO So-and-So’s.”
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I stayed in Barry in South Wales.
If you wanted to know where someone was, you asked, “Where’s he to?”
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There are a multitude of ways words can be swapped round for local use.
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Similarly, in New England if you want to know where someone is, you say “Where is he?” In the South, they say, “Where he at?”
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Ha ha, yes Liz I would have imagined them just going for a stroll and passing by!
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That’s what I thought, and I couldn’t figure out why the person was telling me that she passed by someone’s place.
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I beta read a travel memoir from a fellow author in Tasmania.
I picked up on the fact that she’d written manchester without a capital letter. I maintained that because it is the name of a city, and therefore a proper noun, it should be capitalised.
She told me that manchester refers to linen, and that stores often display signs for the manchester department!
Since the north west of England/Manchester was famous for cotton milling, I’m guessing the goods were shipped to Australia from Manchester, and that’s where the name came from.
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Yes that is right. When we emigrated to Perth in 1964 the department stores had manchester departments, a shame manchester is no longer king of linen!
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I love biscuit and gravy for breakfast, preferably sausage gravy.
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I would like to try that.
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To each their own. I’m sure other cultures thinks we in America are an odd and curious bunch. I imagine that’s true for just about any group of people. I sometimes make a peanut butter and banana sandwich. Those who have never heard of that look at me like I’ve lost my marbles.
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I like peanut butter and banana sandwiches, you have reminded me I haven’t had one for a while. When I was a child I though peanut butter and jelly sandwiches sounded bizarre. I had never had peanut butter and jelly was the wobbly stuff we had in a bowl at parties.
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Hey, Pete, good to hear you make peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Makes me feel I am not alone!
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Great minds think alike. (At least that’s the excuse I’m going with.)
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You’re never alone with a peanut butter sandwich. My brother when he was young once saw someone on television extolling peanut butter and honey sandwiches and he was hooked.
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I’m English but have recently become addicted to peanut butter KitKats. I also like banana, Marmite and cream cheese sandwiches, and many years ago introduced my local sandwich shop to tuna and cheese sandwiches which became quite a hit locally. Odd and curious is good. 😀
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Hello V, well the banana, marmite and cream cheese sound odd, but I often have a craving for marmite and sometimes have it with humous!
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I read a lot of children’s books published in Britain when I was a kid in Prince George British Columbia. Among the unfamiliar terms I encountered was when a character said she would treat her friend to a “cream tea.” I wondered what kind of treat that was, assuming it was tea with cream in it, which just sounded strange.
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Hello Audrey, yes I can imagine! Tea is perfect for washing down the lashings of cream and jam on your scones when you have a cream tea.
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💜
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When reading American novels, I used to wonder what ‘Grits’ were, as so many people in the books seemed to be eating them. I found out what they are many years later, and I certainly don’t want to eat any!
Best wishes, Pete.
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Ha ha Pete, yes grit is what we used to put in the bottom of the bird cage or on icy roads. I still haven’t fully grasped what they are.
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Grits are a type of porridge made from coarsely ground dried maize or hominy, the latter being maize that has been treated with an alkali in a process called nixtamalization, with the pericarp removed. Grits are cooked in warm salted water or milk. They are often served with flavorings as a breakfast dish. (from Wikipedia)
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Hmm okay thanks Pete, I think I’ll stick with Scots Porridge oats.
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I love the richness of English – so many ways of expressing similar things gives it such subtlety – due to the external influences the language has had over the centuries. And regional differences are wonderful – we’re lucky to still have them, because they are dying out. How many words are there for a lane, ginnel, twitten…etc? Or a roll?
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Yes my friend in Lancashire is always talking about going through the ginnel. We don’t have to travel far for differences to appear and of course new expressions appear all the time.
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I remember traveling in the deep South of the U.S. for the first time at age 21 and asking a gas station attendant for directions. I could tell we were both speaking English but I could not understand anything he was saying
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Ha ha, yes it’s the same for us when we visit some other parts of England or Scotland!
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Okay, those milk chocolate digestive cookies caught my eye. I used to loveeee them as a kid and haven’t seen them in years! Now I want to find them. Thanks a lot, lol. 🙂
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Yes Debby you really can’t beat a chocolate digestive.
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Here here! 🙂
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