A couple of ripe to-mah-toes.
When I came to this country I said to myself, “At least I don’t have to learn another language!”
Well, yes and no.
Just like there are difference between American and English hand gestures, our languages are slightly different too. There’s the matter of pronunciation.
I say “tomahto,” but you say “tomato.” No.
And unlike Americans, the English always sound out the letter “t.” So while we say “butter” and “Harry Potter,” most Americans say something along the lines of “budder” and “Harry Podder”!
To this day when I say “squirrel” my grandsons stare at me and laugh because I pronounce every letter in the word.
Aunt Doris
The English spell words differently too. Since coming to America, I now spell “tire” with an “i” instead of a “y.”
I’ve also learned to drop the letter “u” in lots of words like “color” and “neighborhood.”
English expressions are different too. My American daughter-in-law, Chris, loves to use the English idiom “half a mo,” which means “just a minute” — and she does it with a good English accent too!
There are other English expressions. Any one who is overdressed is said to be “done up like a dog’s dinner.” When somebody makes me mad, I like calling people “pompous twits” instead of “dummies.” Also, when something is rubbish I’ll get a few looks by saying “codswallop!”
I’ve often thought of writing an English-American dictionary. I already have a Cockney-English dictionary, but that’s another story!
One advantage I do have is whenever I “happen” to swear, people usually just smile and say, “Oh, the way you say that is so cute!”
Cheerio for now,
Aunt Doris
***
This is another post in an occasional series from my dear Aunt Doris, who passed away in 2015 at the age of 94. This article was originally published on 13 March 2012.
Photo Credit: Buck
Yes, I’ve noticed my fellow American’s tendency to slide t’s into d’s, which can be confusing if distinguishing between the latter and a ladder.
When I studied German in college (actually university, but for some reason we always say college), I found out the Germans do the opposite: slide d’s into t’s at the end of a word, so “hund” (dog) is pronounced closer to “hunt”.
Then there’s the whole issue of word usage, such as (from US to British):
Underwear -> Pants
Pants -> Trousers
Soccer -> Football
Bus -> Coach
Tractor-trailer -> Articulated lorry
Bandaid -> Sticky plaster
One thing I’ve never figured out: How do you ask for an Ace bandage in Britain? This assumes there are Ace bandages in Britain…. 🙂
“We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language.” –Oscar Wilde
You are the best!!!
shuckens, you don’t need to go outside of the U.S.A. to know this. you can go to different sections of this nation and you have to basically relearn a whole new language or way of communication.
My favorite English spelling is Jewellery. It just seems fancier with more letters than Jewelry. I love the Aunt Doris pieces!
codswallop!
Hit upside the head with a fish?
I never have understood the English pronouncing words that end in an “a” as ending in “er”. An example of this would be my educated English aunt pronouncing my mother’s name, “Nelda” as “Nelder”.
I guess it is just the peculiarities of different accents/dialects, Bill. I too have noticed that those from the US Northeast also add an r to words that end in “a” – but then they drop the “r” sound in other words (“park the car” becomes “pahk the cah”). Go figure!
Meanwhile, those between NYC and Philadelphia make a habit of dropping the “t” sound from words. And I’m not just talking about the word “often”, which is spoken without that “t” sound everywhere in the US. (For example, “button” becomes “buh-en”.)