peterbainham

Of course, I wouldn't actually say that to anyone. I usually just end up stuttering out a earnest and boring reply to these types of questions.

geordiegirl2

Doesn't surprise me from that side of the Tyne.

Sally

Visiting them in the summer :scared:

geordiegirl2

Have a drink there for me, went to see the film Goal at the weekend, made me yearn for home and a good night out on the quayside.

Sally

Will do

ladyofthelake

You sound like my husband, always thinking of the smart answer 2 hours later.
Welcome to the forum, you'll do well here.

Beer:30

Yes, my wife has the same problem.
I suspect that it is because for most wait staff english is their 2nd language.
After she requests a glass of water a few times only to get a blank stare, I will just blurt out "agua" and the problem is solved.

peterbainham

I think this is a problem with the softly pronounced 'a' (or schwa-ed, if you like). Without fail, everytime I order a 'tall' latte from Starbucks I get the reply 'two lattes?'.
Got help them if they meet a Kiwi and their messed-up vowel sounds.

Smaug

Hehe, that's when I usually resort to sign language.. (okay.. so I resisted a crappy joke about giving them the finger..)



One funny experience I had walking out of a store, when I asked an employee a simple question. He asked me again what I had said, so I repeated myself - a little slower, and a little louder. He seemed to understand because he answered my question. He then asked 'So what language is that?' ...

scrubbedexpat099

I do seem to have the same issues, but my standby line is that the Senate is making English the official language so it might be a good idea to start learning.

TruBrit

i'm saying this very quietly but after hubs and i spending some time over the weekend with an aussie couple i have to say give me the usa dialects any day of the week over that aussie one, omg it drove me nuts by the end of the evening

snowbunny

In conversational speech I usually use the American variants but if I'm speaking to Toon, who knows British English, I use both variants depending on which one pops into my head as I'm speaking.

Jerseygirl

LOL its the ear penetrating loudness of some Americans that gets to me.

TruBrit

hmm much softer down here although still loud ...the aussies i think were trying to compete with the louder north usa accent...hmm not good

CitySimon

OK then... Here's one that happened shortly after I came over from England.

I went into a local restaurant and noticed they had draught Guinness, when it came in a can I shrugged and made a throw away comment that I if Guinness was draught, shouldn't it be in a glass (obviously forgetting that draught it used to describe theserving of beer with a draughtflow/widget/pressurised can).

I was advised by this waitress that the word spelled "draught" was actually pronounced "draw-gt" and that correct spelling of draft was, well, "D-R-A-F-T"!

After a few minutes of her trying to convince me that draught and draft were different words (rather than different spellings of the same word), I decided that it wasn't worth getting into an argument with a waitress and ended the conversation by saying:

"OK then... What does DRAW-GT mean?"

She tried to get out of it by saying "It's probably a British or Irish word!"

When I replied that I was actually British, she promptly went red and left! (obviously, she didn't get a tip off me)