BristolUK

Close enough.

dbd33

If you're in Tim Horton's the staff won't be native English speakers. They probably won't speak English at all. (Unless you're really beyond the black stump). So it's not going to matter what accent you use. If you get a cup of wet stuff and a lump of stodge then be happy.

My accent has, of course, faded to nuffink.

bats

My accent changes depending on to whom I am talking. It always has it's not a conscious decision at all. Generall though it's an odd mixture. When I was in England many people thought I was Irish or Australian, here they think I am Irish or Scottish.

Siouxie

I have a tendency to do the same bats.

Funnily enough, my son (who has a strong English accent) is always being asked if he is an Australian, a New Zealander or a South African. When he says he is from England they say "Really? Wow!"

Duh....

Alan2005

The inability of cradles to understand butter and water actually amazes me. I know it's not the way they pronounce it themselves, but given the context you'd think it would be easy enough to work out. But, no, you might as well be speaking chinese.

rwin

That's okay. We wonder what happens to the "r" in half your words

emjaca85

I've had many fellow brits say I sounded Australian lol

And the whole Butter/Budder thing is funny.. but to be honest I don't pronounce T's anyway lol its bu'a to me...

Lorry1

I have never had a problem asking for a bottle of water here. In the states however, it took a few goes and 3 different servers in McDonalds (yes, I know!) before they got me. I refuse to say wader, I just will not say it.

My English has definitely become more posh the last few years, I think in rebellion to refuse to speak the Canadian twang

bats

The there was the brat who asked me what language I was speaking.

"English, I am English, from England so I speak English".

bats

The posher you are the less you roll your 'r's.

jeannie in a bottle

RockiesFellow

Obviously a great question judging by the number of replies. I suspect most of the word pairs have already been listed, but I can immediately think of two things always catch me out and both are caused by confusion between UK and US word conventions.

1. In the UK you go to a Tyre Centre, in the US you go to a Tire Center, but in Canada, it's a Tire Centre.
2. Dates in the UK are dd/mm, in the US mm/dd, but in Canada there is no one convention. Some organisations work on the US system, some on the UK.

And don't get me started on word pronunciations; oregano, basil, risotto, tomato, depot, vase, buoy. Takes some getting used to.

BristolUK

And sometimes the year comes first.

rwin

How could the English screw those ones up?

Auld Yin

And don't get me started on word pronunciations; oregano, basil, risotto, tomato, depot, vase, buoy. Takes some getting used to.

You know you just don't live in a different country, you live on a different continent. You need to get your head straight. It's neither right nor wrong that many words are pronounced differently or that many words have been substituted for the same items in the UK. Get used to it, there are approximately 400 million people speak using/pronouncing words this way.