kimilseung

Today I said gas instead of petrol, zee instead of zed. Both involved a tiny, though noticeable only to the inner me, effort; and felt a little contrived. I also know it will not be perceived as contrived by my audience, and they were spared, as Thomas would say 'confusion and delay'.

Karrie72

I still have an English accent and interestingly I would feel contrived saying 'wata', 'tomayto', etc. I find that with my friends I can be myself but when I'm in a store I always roll those r's to avoid lots of unnecessary questions.

Bluegrass Lass

I guess it depends on an American's background. As an engineer, I would say 'pressurized' or 'acclimatized'. But I would not say 'orientated.'

robin1234

One good strategy is to dress unmistakably like an Englishman. The visual clue then helps one's interlocutor to expect an English accent. Viyella shirt, college or regimental tie, baggy old tweed jacket .. no need to adjust your pronunciation. For the ladies, twinset & pearls.

Jan Alaska

My co-workers were on the Aluminium / Aluminum thing yesterday. I explained that not only do we say it correctly but we also spell it correctly. Then went on to rip them about the over use of the letter Z ... I still reckon they only spell that way to get higher points in scrabble.

After nearly 11 years I do say trunk , trash, gas but I still call a tomarto a tomarto :P

robin1234

Interestingly, the "ize" used to be standard in British spelling too. The "ise" is a more recent development. (Realise versus realize, etc.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_spelling

According to this article, The Times only switched from -ize to -ise in the 1990s..

Jan Alaska

hmmm strange ... I don't remember ever spelling recognise with a z

cosmicjunkie

The Restroom...doesn't that just conjure up the image of someone sitting on the crapper for anything up to an hour, legs up resting on the bog roll holder and sipping a glass of wine while flicking through the pages of Life magazine. It will always be the loo to me! ;-)

kimilseung

Some say toilet, others have the euphemism of loo, so is it any different to say the euphemism of restroom?

BellaE

I enjoy being bilingual.

joto

I still find "you're welcome" a bit strange to have to say when it's necessary. It's sometimes hard to remember what the Britishism's are, when I go back to the UK. I don't want to sound American, but some words inevitably sneak out of my mouth, then I get funny looks, someone with a British accent and speaking American.

BellaE

Is there something wrong with that? That's what the cushioned toilet seats are for...

robin1234

I just searched in Jane Austen's novels (for instance) and she uses "recognize" rather than "recognise." Mind you, I was surprised to read that The Times only switched from -ize to -ise in the 1990s, I always thought the change mostly happened in the early twentieth century.

Michael

Or your playing footsie with the person in the next stall because you have a wide stance.

Lord_GG_Byron

I'm such a nerd, when I first saw this thread my first thought was "We are Borg"