It all started at my job interview, when I asked them what "mono typing" was, thinking it might have something to do with me being on my own. They looked puzzled. They had actually said "a certain amount of typing".
Once, I said "apricot", by this time we were great friends, they fell about laughing and mimicking my accent, apri còt! They didn't believe me, "it's apri cart", they insisted. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, this is how it should be pronounced: \ˈa-prə-ˌkät\ (<= click; or \ˈā-prə-ˌkät\)
Brought up on a regular diet of "Bonanza", "Rawhide", "Bewitched " and "Bronco Lane", I was not only used to American accents, I loved them. American English sounds so much more fluid, relaxed, interesting and warm. My British accent sounds stiff and formal in comparison.
When my brother took his family to Disneyland in Florida, he had a guide book to read before they left, to make the most of their stay. It said never to ask for a "fag" or a "rubber". Both quite innocent in Britain, one meaning "cigarette" the other "eraser". The American meanings might not get past the censors on my blog (ha ha).
My American friend might look confused if I say "my shoes fitted well", she would say "fit".
We are all used to sidewalks and pavements, lifts and elevators, fanny-shapers and girdles.
Probably the most spectacular episode of misunderstandings, happened to me on an aeroplane. An American woman was loudly proclaiming that she wanted a "shag", someone near her must have explained what it means in Britain, because she exploded in laughter and the whole plane joined in with her. A "shag" in America is a sort of short, pixie hair cut.
You might like to look at Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers on YouTube in Let's call the whole thing off (5:34).
No comments:
Post a Comment