yorkshirelass

At my son's footie (soccer) tournament last weekend, my husband asked if the kids wanted to go on the bouncy castle they had there, only to be told by the pack of seven and eight year olds who were all roaring with laughter that it was a moonwalk! Glad it wasn't me!

FYI -- my son's team came 2nd in his age bracket (under 9's) in the Sunshine Cup!!

ladyofthelake

It's also funny when the Americans try to be clever using Brit terms. For example my hubbys work colleague once said "We're gonna prop you up at the bar and get you really pissed off tonight"

Expat_Wannabe

Always seems to raise a few puzzled gazes when I ask if someone's taking the piss

Duncan Roberts

Picture this. Im in a car, the day before I got married with my future father-in-law, my youngest sister and her boyfriend (Dan) and my best man and his girlfriend.
My father-in-law leans over and asks "Is his name Don or Dan?" and after about 5 minutes of trying to explain he gets it, but only when I spelt it out. Phrases like "Oh, he's Daniel but goes by Don" and "Dan or Don" were uttered.
Cut to later that day my other sister tells me about her trip with my future mother-in-law and sister-in-law. "They kept asking me what Dan's name was and no matter what I said they kept saying Don" :lecture:

I don't know if this is common or just in my wifes family but all the time they describe people as being "bolloxed up" when they mean confused or such like. I thought I'd miss heard the first time, but no!

Two contries sepparated by a common language!

BrigieDarling

The first time I was let out alone I was shopping not far from where I live now, (I still smile and wish the place hadn't colsed down) I decided to brave what I considered to be a nice place to perhaps get a cup of tea.

I was still disillusioned and thought it was actually possible to get a cup of tea, that didn't taste like it had been originally fished out of a harbour in Boston some 100 years ago or something.

The gum smacking waitress asked me if I wanted it to go and she hesitated with a lid hovering over the top of the cup.

"Where?" I replied wishing I told her where I was going to sit or something before ordering, it must be what everyone else in the place had done, because they all had their coffee/tea.

"Do you want it to go?" She asked again, obviously thinking I was hard of hearing, because her voice was somewhat raised.

"Ohhhhh yes, yes I do want it to go!" I replied giving her my winning smile and praying that this was the only place she worked, because it was becoming increasingly apparent that she thought I was an irritating twit.

I handed her a dollar and she rang it up and handed me my change, I went to sit at the table near the window with my tea and smiled every time she looked over at me.

It was a while before I went out by myself again.

Lion in Winter

First port of call in the U.S. was Manhattan. Of course I had to go out and ask for a "white coffee", and got looked at like some combination Martian/KKK member. Also, if you want sugar in your coffee in Manhattan you ask for "regular coffee".

DaveC

A couple of weeks ago I managed to turn off the main road into the left hand side of our street. All credit to my wife though for saying "erm, what country are you in?" in a very calm and unpanicked voice. Especially given that there was a car coming towards us at the time.

Re brit terms, my American brother in law has gone and learned the word wanker especially for me. It is his favourite phrase term of reference for me when I'm beating him on his Gamecube.

tony_2003

My father in law has taken to calling me a "bloody bloke"
My mother in law also said that during one of their long drives on the highway he became upset with a motorist, shook his fist at him and cried "BLOODY ARSEHOLE!!!!" very cool

Geordiegirl

I was trying to order a meal in a one horse town in Texas and couldn't get the "gum chewing " waitress to understand me, she eventually turned to the other customers and said.."ya'all know what this German is saying" Luckily no one did.

ladyofthelake

That is soooo rude!!

I always have problems with the "how ya doing" routine. Instead of replying "good, how are you?" (or whatever you're supposed to say) I can't help myself but say "I'm fine thanks, how are you?" It always takes them aback and have a chuckle. What is so ******* different or funny?

RChappo

Yeah I have trouble with the "Hey what's going on?" question when it's used as a greeting in the morning. I always wonder what depth of detail people expect. I used to run through a little bit of detail like "oh just catching up on a bit of paperwork blah blah blah..." but it seem to become a bit tiresome so now I always just go for the "ohh not much" answer.

Once when I was standing waiting to cross the road at some traffic lights a car pulled up and the teenaged driver thought it would be fun to show off in front of his friends in the back by winding the window down and shouting abuse at me. So I gave him some good old fashioned Brit swearwords in return (wanker, bollocks, tw*t among them) and the look on his face was a dream...a mixture of shock and confusion!!

Yosser

I hate that "Hey, whats going on" expression, sometimes I just plain ignore the person when they say that.

Everytime my borther in law calls its, "Hey whats going on?"......Well I'm washing the dishes, doing laundry and making the kids lunches....It makes me feel like i'm under pressure to say something "rad".

I still throw out the five knuckle shuffle hand sign whilst mouthing "Wanker" when someone cuts me up on the road.

Patrick

It seems to be "Whats up!" round here. People ring me and says "Whats up" and I get paranoid, "nothing, nothing's up, why do you ask? I wasn't doing anything."

I still don't know how to reply when someone says "whats up" - "the sky?"

Patrick

dudleydowg

I personally hate the thank yous, because when you say thank you to one of them they always reply "your welcome" do they always have to have the last word? Actually they do i'm married to one

mattbutt

I have taught my friend to reply -

'no, no, thank you...'

She thinks its funny for some reason

- had to explain today that because we drive on the other side of the road that the steering wheel is on the other side too?!