10 July, 2007 | 3 Comments

just received:

how be you? do ya fancy lunch tomorrow? love me xxx

3 July, 2007 | 5 Comments

I have a new Britishism to add to my collection. Last week a British friend e-mailed to check up on me and I told her I was feeling a bit blah, stressed out with moving, etc. And she wrote back:

“I’m sorry you’re feeling a bit down, chuck…”

Chuck? I’d never heard that before, but apparently it’s a term of endearment. Very cute.

12 May, 2007 | 4 Comments

Last night at the pub, my friend told me that it’s fun “to take the piss out of men.” I had no idea what she meant by this, but I just agreed with her because it certainly sounds like fun. Then when I got home and discovered what it meant, I realized it’s something I already do quite often.

And yes, it is fun.

25 April, 2007 | 6 Comments

I have three languages inside my head — American English, British English and French. In Paris, I totally reverted to using American English, so it’s been an adjustment to begin using British words again. And sometimes they just don’t come into my head fast enough.

Today at school I was running for the elevator — or lift — and the doors were closing, so I wanted to call out to the people inside to hold it for me. And my poor brain is so confused. I called out “Hold the….,” “Uh….hold the phone!” You know, there’s no way to recover from that error, so I just rode up three floors staring at my shoes.

In more English-language hilarity, I was observing a class the other day with a few of my classmates/co-teachers. In the class we were observing, one student was well below the level of his classmates and was holding up the whole lesson with his bumbling and confused questions. The born and bred Londoner sitting next to me leaned over and whispered in a tone of grave seriousness, “He should be put down.”

This made me laugh so hard I had to actually leave the classroom. What this woman meant was that the student should be moved down to a lower level class. But of course, in American English (but apparently not British English?), “put down” is a euphemism for killing an animal that is sick or dying. For example, “Our dog was really sick so we had him put down.”

It was the end of a very long and tedious day and my classmate/co-teacher leans over and essentially says, “This student isn’t as smart as the others. He should be KILLED.” I just lost it. I haven’t laughed that hard in at least a year.