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.

[Ludways]

I lived there for several years and for the majority of time I was understood perfectly well, occasional explanation of words. However when theres a mismatch it can get to be very funny.

A few funny stories about the difference in the word fanny!!

Oh and I once got very good friends with a bloke I met in a lift, he'd stepped back onto my foot and I mumbled "wanker" under my breath, he turned round and laughed his head off, he was a Brit too.

I was once sitting in a bar in a out of the way place and a bloke came up to me and my mate and asked if we would allow us to use a durex on us in a broad London accent, my mate had no idea what he was talking about but I told him off, his mates wet themselves when he shouted over I was a Brit too.

I could go on all day!!

[TheOneWithTheNicestSmile]

That doesn't even sound like British English - 'can I use a Durex on you?'

[Beastofburden]

weird "can I use a durex on you" must have been a bet, nobody says that IRL.

[Beastofburden]

One thing I have noticed, weirdly enough, is that American colleagues when they write formal papers, have an incredibly pompous, 1950s style. It as if formal "high-class" American English has stayed the same for a long time , while British English has gone more towards Crystal Mark Plain English.

[zipzap]

Sorry, I wasn't very clear in my post about times and 'quarter of'.

It was the group leader (American) that had said to meet at the coach at a quarter of two. It wasn't a phrase that I'd come across before really (I'm English) but it was fairly obvious to me what she meant - and that a quarter of had to be quarter past two because if something was 'of' something then it has that something and thus it was obviously quarter past (I was 19 at the time - it seemed perfectly logical!) - whereas if she had maybe said a quarter off two then that would have meant a quarter to. (and no, I haven't heard anybody using that expression, just trying to explain my logic!).

After it happened I polled my non-American friends as to what time they thought a quarter of two was. Everybody said they guessed - nobody had come across that way of describing the time before. But it was about 2/3s thought it was quarter past and a third thought it meant quarter to. So definitely unclear - even though I was on the side of the majority. Not much good for all those that had been waiting though - and it was another thing that got added onto my list of differences to go through on the way from the airport/port to the hotel!

[SwedishEdith]

Oh and I once got very good friends with a bloke I met in a lift, he'd stepped back onto my foot and I mumbled "wanker" under my breath, he turned round and laughed his head off, he was a Brit too

That sounds like start of a romcom

[ErrolTheDragon]

Most of the Americans I work with do understand the word 'queue' -because in software, events are 'queued'. One of them did get a bit confused between that and 'depth cueing' (another technical term - where you give a visual 'cue' of 3D-ness.

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

yes, I was testing my DD on her German yesterday (she's learning it, I vaguely know the numbers and not much else) and that came up.


My DH really did ask his US secretary for a 'rubber', and was childishly amused by a female colleague referring to her 'leather pants'.

OTOH, one of his male colleagues had absolutely no idea why approaching a female British colleague and warmly pronouncing 'Hi, I'm Randy' was perhaps not the best way to introduce himself.

[ErrolTheDragon]

One of the more subtle differences is the word 'quite'. To British ears, 'quite' tends to mean 'ok' ('the weather was quite nice for the time of year') whereas Americans seem to use it more positively - more like if we said, 'oh yes, that's really quite nice'. Until I realised this I could get a bit miffed by something I'd worked on being described as 'quite good'.

[EvansOvalPiesYumYum]

I lived in Germany for a couple of years in the 80s, working for the American Army. You can imagine - lots of Americans from all different parts of the US with their own accents and word usage. (As well as lots of us Brits too). Added to that, we all used German words for some things too, like "schrank" for "cupboard". It was like a whole new made-up language at times.

Aside from the usual "rubber", "fanny", "sidewalk" stuff, Dipsy Dumpster for a skip always used to make me chuckle - I still use it now, sometimes.

One of my (Brit) supervisors did get in trouble once, though, for calling a black GI a "good boy", not realising at all that it was offensive. She didn't mean it in the way he took it, we use the phrase all the time in a good way, but to a black American to be called a boy is insulting. Much of the time the language barrier is highly amusing, but sometimes it can unintentionally cause issues. She was upset by it for a very long time.

[lazypepper]

I have some American family members. They came over for a visit recently.

Much uproar when I asked DH "here's your coffee, cock".

Cock is a bit of a term of endearment where I am in W Yorks. Not rude at all.

I asked about Americans using the term Handicapped so much. As opposed to in the UK we say "with a disability" instead.

I explained the "spunk", "spunky" to them.

Now that has a totally different meaning!

[lazypepper]

I have quite a broad Yorkshire accent, but found myself speaking in more slowly, and much more 'poshly' - in the hope that they would all understand me.

[EvansOvalPiesYumYum]

O/h's brother lives in California, and we went to visit last year. Preparing for a party one evening, BIL's wife was asking me to "Ceranne-wrap" (sp??) plates of food. Had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. Plus she was saying it really quickly with the accent, so it was coming out as "srainwraip"

Of course, she meant Cling-Film.

[TheOneWithTheNicestSmile]

saren wrap I think (it's a brand)

[TheOneWithTheNicestSmile]

\link{http://www.saranbrands.com/\SarAn wrap}

it's like us saying hoover for vacuum cleaner

[EvansOvalPiesYumYum]

Thanks - I know that now! Just took a while to get it . . .

(They say "Kleenex" for tissues). Some things are obvious, Saranwrap just wasn't

[TheOneWithTheNicestSmile]

scotch tape (sellotape for us) is another of those

(in Aus the sellotape brand used to be Durex - which is a whole other area of embarrassment/confusion! )

[Beastofburden]

again, when I was little it was called both scotch tape and sellotape- they were two brands of the same thing. Scotch tape had a tartan pattern on the cardboard bit.

[TheOneWithTheNicestSmile]

oh you can still get Scotch tape here

but the common name in the UK is sellotape & the common name in the US is scotch (even for unbranded)

[SmashleyHop]

Ha! I remember getting the panicked phone call from DH from the store.. "What the bloody heck is a Q-tip?? Nobody knows what this is! I've even asked a store clerk." Poor guy had no idea we call cotton buds Q-tips which is a brand name back in the states. Same as Scotch tape, Saranwrap and Kleenex. Although I was a bit confused why everyone was so proud of their vacuums. Assumed everyone owned a Hoover brand since they "hoovered"

[TheOneWithTheNicestSmile]

"store clerk"

is that a cashier or an assistant, Smashley?

[SmashleyHop]

Is that a thing too?? Crap- If I'm expected to know everybody's official job title I am screwed. Doesn't help DH purposefully teaches me the wrong words for funzies. I kept calling my toddler "Little Bugger" around DH's grandma since he told me it was the same as "cheeky monkey" Turns out I really offended her. He thought it was hilarious.

[SconeRhymesWithGone]

There is no such phrase as "a quarter of" in English pertaining to time

This expression is common in the US South.

To ask for a white coffee, you would ask for coffee with cream.

Some Americans drink hot tea (forgive me, I have to differentiate because I am a Southerner). I learned how to make a proper pot of tea in the UK and I even use loose tea leaves.

[Mignonette]

Some of my favourite Southern sayings from a friend-


'So good it makes you wanna slap yo mama round the head'

'Duller than a row of tents'

'Duller than a mud hen'

Gotta love the South for picture-esque sayings!

[TheOneWithTheNicestSmile]

yep, that's a thing too!

oh that is mean with the Bugger . I hope she understood!

I know it's utterly harmless in the US - when we were there (early 80s) you could buy both a baby bike trailer, & some sort of child walkie-talkie, called Little (or Li'l) Bugger

oh! I just googled Lil Bugger & there's a \link{http://www.justmommies.com/forums/f909-baby-gear/1590304-lil-bugger-snugger-ring-sling.html\sling} called that now

\link{http://messagesfromtheroad.com/DW8/AntiquesBusiness/VWBugger/Little_Bugger.html& a VW Beetle camper conversion} called Little Bugger!!!