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.

Fascinating topic! I was born in the USA, American mother, English father, grew up in Canada and have lived here in the UK for the past 13 years and I'm obsessed with the small differences between American/British/Canadian English...

I'd say in general Americans (and Canadians) understand most of what Brits say or at least pretend to! We've still got a bit of an inferiority complex so we assume that you all are Lord and Lady Lahdedah and that your use of the language is the correct one!

That being said my southern English DH who has as close to RP as you get these days is always being misunderstood when we're in North America. I still get to hear about the time he asked for an English breakfast tea in a coffee shop and wound up with a cherry green concoction...when we're across the pond I tend to do the ordering now..

My granddaughter just went through her graduation ceremony, with diploma, cap and gown, for nursery school.

It's totally possible to not get your high school diploma though. Quite a lot of Americans don't. 'Graduate high school' doesn't just mean 'leave school'. It's an achievement in itself.

Just like you used to be able to leave school but that didn't mean you passed School Cert.

"Quite" isn't mean in itself. It just means roughly the same as "moderately". So the weather might be "quite cold" or someone a bit over average height would be "quite tall".

Sometimes, though, it can can be used to mean"very" in situations where it would not be polite to actually state the truth openly. So if someone mentions that the restaurant you are all meeting at is "quite expensive" it is a warning that the prices are eye-wateringly high.

OK fake graduation ceremonies for nursery or anything below 12th grade is a bit silly though ...

Actually I don't know why I'm asking, I'm from the South, home of the veiled insult

Indeed, be wary of a Southerner who uses the phrase "bless your heart"
anywhere in a sentence addressed to you. That is not actually what they mean.

Scone I knew you would pick that up!

I miss the South. People where I live now, they think I'm a lot nicer than I am.

Hmm, is American whole milk the equivalent of British normal milk, 3.75% fat? We buy whole and I still don't know. Wait, what's the difference between regular and normal milk?

surely "normal" would be silver-top?

Izabelblue we are quite similar then, English mum, Canadian dad, grew up in Canada, here for 11 years.

For those of you North American parents or families living in the UK, how do your DC sound? Did it change when they started school?

My two are language sponges. When we go back to Canada in the summer it takes them all of a couple of hours to sound completely, 100% Canadian again (they were both born in London). Takes them a day or two to switch back once we come back to England, but it is much faster if they see a friend. The teasing, oh my!

Very occasionally I have to help with vocabulary. A mobile phone here is a "cell" there. Not even a "cell phone", just a "cell".

In (my part of) Canada we call whole milk "homo milk" as in "homogonized". No idea if that has changed in the last 2 decades though

We call it blue milk (to match the cap)

Blue milk is homogenised but in British English it would be pronounced hommo (phew)

Silver top is not homogenised, PJ.

Surely 'regular' & 'normal' would be the same thing?

I thought UK milk was 4%, 2% & 1%

It irked me too mardybra, when jane leaves character in frasiee used the americanism in place of what an english person would say.

Im irish but was complimented on my beautiful british accent in the states. My xmil was puce when somebody said that (of the group) i had the nicest british accent. true tho as xmil a bit estuary

Scone

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

This expression is common in the US South.

I think the thing is that there is no such phrase in English English. However it is common in American English, IYSWIM...

Lol at homo milk

Full fat comes from milk as well though, because milk used to be "half fat" and "full fat", then they changed the labels some time in the 90s to say "semi skimmed" and "whole". Hence "full fat coke".

In UK English, regular isn't used to mean normal. It describes only polygons having equal sides, or frequency of bowel movements...

I recently heard Jack White proudly singing "Oh I think I smell alright".

Took me a while to work out the song was I Smell A Rat . But was a bit surprised, it sounded hilarious!

But would "I smell alright" make sense in US English? Having looked at this thread, it's an explanation.

"Homo milk"

Whole milk = full fat (approx 3.8%)
Homogenised just means it's been whizzed around v fast to make the fat and water content blend and not separate - which is why you only rarely see a layer of cream on top of your milk.
Fresh milk = not pasteurised, but not UHT

Nought to do with Englishes, just ways of treating milk.

I SO want some homo milk in my vair English tea now…

exactly. not. We dont use regular to mean normal.

On Quite: well, if the post is quite ironic then it's quite likely that you will get the meaning quite wrong.

Means: in order

Fairly ironic; more likely than not; completely wrong.

HTH (I know it doesn't)

Quite can also mean exactly. Usually slightly PA.

'Well, quite.'
Also, well quite right too means absolutely spot on.

PacificD thank you for that!

Am at misspelling homogenised so badly. I was concentrating on the odd "z" spelling you see. Quite.

Yes, sorry I was unclear, the durex comment was his mates daring him to say it to the American girls at the bar to see their confusion, I ruined it by being British and knowing what one was, lol

I have British GCSE's and I also gave an American high school diploma, it is not something you simply get on leaving school, it is for achieving a certain level of grades both throughout your time at school and in your final exams. I also have a college diploma, which means I went to university and got a degree, lol.
Freshman - first year
Sophomore - second year
Junior - third year
Senior - forth year
Degrees generally take 4 years as opposed to three over here.
Here a first is the highest grade, over there it's a 4.0 GOA (grade point average).

Pacific, was 'not pasteurised' a typo?

Fresh milk sold commercially in the UK is all pasteurised I think? Whole milk is also homogenised - dunno about semi-skim & skim. (Well, skim doesn't have enough fat to need it).

Milkmen used to sell raw unpasteurised milk (green tops). I don't know if they still do

Typing on z phone is a pain.

* have a high school diploma, not gave*
* GPA, not GOA*