Do Americans understand British English?

[knickernicker]

I can't think that there is any American phrase, word or accent that I wouldn't understand, but I wonder if an American would understand everything I say.
I remember sitting for a meal with some people from Boston and being acutely aware of needing to edit what I said to remove any British idiom. It was an odd feeling as when watching American films I forget they're a different nationality.

Well I lived in England for a couple of decades, and never heard "fair play" used the way we use it in Wales, in Wales it is a really common phrase but in England I didn't hear it used.

It's common around here (south england) but lower incomearea and in my experience is men I know that say it.

Lush means gorgeous. Welsh again, Well lush is really gorgeous.

As in "he's lush" "this cake is lush" etc.

All I know about welsh idiom I get from watching "Stella". I loves it, it is so warm and cuddly. Sme of the idiom I can kind of hear Welsh structures poking through, like when they say, "that'll be fine, is it?" Which is guess is like n'est-ce pas? In French.

Welsh sentence structure is completely different to English, so in Wales you will often hear people essentially speaking Welsh but using English words. Older people will sometimes ask to "rise" their money from the bank/PO, because in Welsh the word (codi) to rise up is the same as the word to take out . The

I heard it was a bit like French. But I always find it by interesting to hear someone speak their native language but using English words. It makes the inferences between the two languages very clear.

It isn't like French particularly, but it is like Breton. We have a different alphabet, with different vowels, and letter sounds that don't occur in English. (Several villages near me have no English vowels at all).

at the no-go vowel villages!

English tourists do blanche at names like Eglwyswrw!

Is w always a oo sound in welsh, as in cwym, or does it need the y?

Cwm = coombe, doesn't it? (Same word, same thing - a valley)

It is similar to an 00 sound, yes. It doesn't need the y. Cwm is pronounced like more like the 00 in soot, than in broom.

Thanks for the explanation of lush!

New ones … "tidy"?? Seems to not be like "this room is tidy" but more like "good plan"?

Also "cracking." Seems to describe every positive thing imaginable. Cracking bloke, cracking house, or just as a way to say "that's a good idea," like "Want to do this?" "Cracking."

It's really interesting to me that sometimes I can't tell whether some things are exaggerations or intended to be funny. People in this show say "All right" constantly. When people in real life see each other, do they really say "All right?"/"All right. All right?"
instead of something like "Hi, how are you?"/"Good, how are you?"?

Also have found that lot of the time I have to turn on the captions to understand what Ness is saying

A'right for a greeting is a regional thing. (It's kind of all run together, not like saying 'all right' at two separate words)

In the North-West we'd definitely say 'a'right KeatsiePie?' and you'd say 'a'right, Grendels?'

Ha, it's funny to picture doing it! I like it, it's very efficient.

Americans have completely different words for lots of baby things. So much so that even though I was raised over there, I learnt the British words only, and I get confused by the American terms & visa versa (e.g., snaps for poppers, I still don't know what a bassinet is, etc.). How many of you know what a nukky is?

Here's a subtle one. I worked on shop floors a lot in my youth. When the shop is empty in Britain, staff say that it's "quiet". But when the store is empty, Americans say that it's "slow". Took me ages to get my head around "quiet", sounded so wrong.

I have to seriously edit my words when talking to American relatives. And my kids can't understand Captain Underpants at all, which yet again shows that British people don't understand lots about American culture. DC get Calvin & Hobbes ok, at least, but still ask the odd question.

Nukky is a pacifier/dummy isn't it, and I think it comes from a band name?

Are you saying British kids don't get Captain Underpants - because it was very very popular with a lot of my son's friends, but my son didn't like it (and I would say he was more bi-lingual American/British than most), he just didn't like it.

Denis/Dennis the Menace is the biggest area for cross Ocean incomprehension as they refer to quite different characters on each side of the pond, and probably say a lot about underlying values/attitudes.

I'll come up with more challenging vocab tests after my trip next month, lol.

Yeah, my kids totally can't get CU. Maybe it's because I didn't used to let them watch enough crud TV.

My son at 7 was floored when asked by an American what his favourite cartoon was; he hardly watched any cartoons. But then at 17 he complains that he is deprived because: we didn't have an X box or a playstation, he didn't even have a Wii until he was 13/14, he never played Zelda or certain other games.

US bassinet = UK crib (ie small bed for new baby - they're often on wheels)

Otoh, US crib = UK cot (ie large bed for baby)

& US cot = UK camp bed!

Confusing or what?

Lush, cracking & 'all right?' are not Welsh, they're British - tidy is Welsh though - it's a term of approval (for almost anything )

The us cot confused me on a number of occasions, it just didn't make sense to have an adult in a baby bed! I didn't know there were two Denis the menace either. I didn't like the British one.

Actually 'all right?' (for 'hi' or 'hello') - is a NW England thing. I used to live in the SE & it wasn't a thing there. I can't speak for other parts of the UK!

The US Dennis was in a cartoon strip - nothing like Dennis the Menace - just the same name. Cute annoying kid with grumpy elderly neighbour, Mr Wilson (played by Walter Matthau when they made the movie)