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.

[TheOneWithTheNicestSmile]

Smashleyhop, your Dan/Don thing happened to us when we lived in NY.

DH was asked at work what my name is - he told them it's Jan & they said 'your wife is called John?'

[SconeRhymesWithGone]

SwedishEdith asked upthread about what we say if you fancy someone. It is just plain "like" as in "I think he likes you." Or maybe "interested in." "Fancy" is much better.

For someone who fancies himself, that would probably be stuck-up or big-headed.

[TheOneWithTheNicestSmile]

UK dungarees are US overalls - jeans are sometimes called dungarees iirc. A jumper there is a pinafore dress. Our tights are pantie-hose (sp?) 'Vest & pants' could cause embarrassing confusion

When we first arrived & were buying a used car we asked about 'servicing costs' (it was a 1970s full-size beast with an 8-litre engine so we were a bit concerned) & the guy looked completely baffled, as if we weren't speaking English at all. There are loads of different words with cars - hood, trunk, gasoline, fenders, station wagon, mini van, antenna, fully-loaded...

[SconeRhymesWithGone]

We have tights, but these are thicker and opaque. Pantyhose is sheer.

[MorrisZapp]

Ive learned from the Gap website that a UK vest is called a US tank, and a UK waistcoat is called a US vest.

And they cannot understand me saying water, even when carefully repeated. White coffee drew similar blank looks.

[blueshoes]

Smashley, York-shire . I am proud you have finally gone native.

Errol, what didn't your colleagues understand about "one-off calculation"?

Scones, you reminded me of panties v knickers ...

[zipzap]

As a student in the holidays I used to look after groups of American high school students over here as part of their tour of Europe. I used to have quite a long list of things to go through with them at the start of each new group.

Worst one I got caught out on was when I arranged to meet the group back at the coach at a quarter of two ready to move on to the next stop. I used to reckon on getting to the coach 20 mins early to sort everything out but I got back and the entire group was there. The leader was really angry, saying she expected me to be first at the coach, early not late etc, whereas I was horrified that they were all so early back at the coach and wasting valuable sightseeing time...

Turned out that for them, quarter of meant quarter to. For me - it was quarter past. Did mean we had a very surreal conversation where we were talking at completely cross purposes where we were talking about the same words but they had completely different meaning for both of us.

I also remember some groups getting very het up about how I wrote things down. They couldn't cope if a 7 had a line through it or if I did 4's the wrong way (open I think but can't remember for sure, was a long time ago!) or 0 without a stroke through.

Later on I was involved in designing photocopiers and one of my jobs was to translate the uk English interface into American English and Canadian English (different yet again). Which has been quite handy as one of those silly trivial facts that you can drag up when people want you to introduce yourself with a silly interesting fact that others don't know about; it's been a useful conversation starter!

[GoodnessIsThatTheTime]

I'm English and never heard a quarter of. I'd have assumed you meant a quarter to too!

[PigletJohn]

I was highly amused to hear a young American woman, smartly dressed for a dinner, being described as arriving "in vest and pants"

[spamm]

I now live and work in the USA and my team have a whiteboard on which they record my strange English sayings - most recently I said something about a: "bulldog chewing a wasp". They loved that one.

They do use strange expressions for things, but I am getting quite used to it now, and my UK colleagues think I sound American, although the American colleagues think I sound quaint.

[PigletJohn]

and once I lost my wallet in Wyoming. My UK bank sent a new card over for me, but the hotel filed it under "E," waiting for a Mr Esq to collect the package.

I think it was there, in Ididarod training season, that I heard someone say "I guess I'll mosey on down to Main Street"

[Legologgo]

Lol at wife called john.

I love H's American firm once specifying women wearing a dressy pant suit.

[Raxacoricofallapatorius]

I've never heard a quarter of for time either. And I'm painfully English.

Thanks for the television info. I think we probably watch more American TV than the other way round. Seems like they deliberately show antiquated, class-based drama. In fact, don't they remake our popular shows?

I had an American post grad student once who didn't get sarcasm. She was from Boston and said we never say what we mean or mean what we say. Monty Python horrified her and she said Blackadder was cruel and puerile.

[Raxacoricofallapatorius]

How do you ask for white coffee BTW? And does nobody drink tea?

[knickernicker]

Huge swathes of the UK refer to trousers as pants. I'm in Manchester and I'm the only person I know who calls them trousers so an American referring to pants wouldnt seem odd to ne.

[Beastofburden]

Turned out that for them, quarter of meant quarter to. For me - it was quarter past.

I have never heard "quarter of" meaning "quarter past". I thought Americans used it to mean quarter to and Brits didnt use it at all.

I think that may be a family phrase....

[theDudesmummy]

I was amazed to find (this was quite a few years ago and in North Dakota, so may not be generalisable!) that Americans did not understand the word "queue". They even accused me of making up a word when I explained it to them

Also some confusion arising about "pissed"; I meant drunk and they meant angry.

Just on the different terminology for time issue: I grew up partly in S Africa, and in Afrikaans "half-vier", for example, would mean half past three (halfway to four in other words). I have never completely got the hang of the English way of using half-four to mean half past four!

[80sMum]

There is no such phrase as "a quarter of" in English pertaining to time. That phrase would only be used to describe quantity.

[strongandlong]

I lived and worked in the midwest for a little while. My boss thought it was hilarious when I described the pizza she'd bought me as 'lovely'. Apparently she'd only heard it used to describe e.g pretty flowers.

Queueing = standing in line. Taken much more seriously by the British that by anyone else in the world, ime.

I used to hate having to ask for hot tea! That nasty over-sweetened cold stuff has nothing to do with tea! argh.

[mummytime]

The half four meaning half three, comes from the German doesn't it? (dimmly remembering German lessons).

A tutor in the US was shocked when the British students kept asking if he had a "rubber" and to pop outside for a "fag".

I once got a fold away bed in a hotel room when travelling with my 2 month old, I'd asked for a Cot not a Crib.

[Legologgo]

does she mean " a quarter to"

[theDudesmummy]

In North Dakota called queuing "standing on line". Even more strange than in line I thought!

Yes Afrikaans is a Germanic language and there are lots of similarities (although of course it is much closer to Dutch).

Also now remembering with a shudder that stuff they refer to as "tea".

[Beastofburden]

yes, half vier means half past three; but they dont have "quarter of"; the German for quarter to is Viertel vor and quarter past is Viertel nach.

[Beastofburden]

on time again- a pp said the Americans don't normally use the 24 hour clock and refer to it as "military time". When I was a child, the 24 clock was specifically a European thing; the Brits thought it was weird. I think it became popular here in the 1980s.

[theDudesmummy]

I have lived in the UK for over twenty-five years and still get confused over that time thing!