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.

High school students are also freshman (= Y10) through to senior (= Y13)

US university and college degrees for high academic success are often:

Summa cum laude: with highest honors
Magna cum laude: with high honors
Cum laude: with honors

You will sometimes hear that someone "graduated Phi Beta Kappa."
This refers to a honor society for top achievers.

@HeartsTrumpDiamonds I'm from the Homo milk side of Canada as well..tee hee...however, weirdly I don't actually have a Canadian accent - even though I left the US when I was 4ish, I've picked up more of my mother's midwestern US accent than canuck. Though my little sister sounds Canadian through and through...

DD is quite young (18mo) but so far her early words are coming out very southern English indeed - a big surprise to me who though she'd have some sort of North American twang!

I thought Phi Beta Kappa was just a fraternity!

that US university stuff is so alien

That's quite something izabelblue My mum moved to Canada in 1967 and still sounds Vair English. She is RP all the way and yet her brother, my uncle, could not be more cockney He was over for tea at the weekend* and I really noticed. He even said "innit".

They didn't grow up together.

*Canadian translation, he came for a visit on the weekend

NiceSmile, oh crap, yes, that was a typo

To clarify, ALL milk sold in the UK (and most of the Western world, I presume?) is pasteurised, but 'fresh' milk is UHT.

There's also the use of the word 'right' to mean 'yes'.
"Did you just arrive here?" "Right." - meaning "yes, I did".
My brother does this all the time, drives me batty

I am from USA & I have said many things over the yrs that baffled British friends. I'm sure I could easily rustle up a few but must get kids to bed, now.

annoys me when British think they already know all things American.

Fresh milk is NOT UHT.

I get my milk delivered from a local dairy farm, not homo. They do silver top, and have Guernsey cows so gold-top as well, It is about 5-5.5 fat. They might possibly sell green top at the gate. The gold is very yellow and has a thick top.

Homo semi and skim they deliver, but bought-in.

The delivery van comes round about 4am, I presume he goes back to the farm afterwards and does the morning milking.

Our milkman used to sell homo milk but it had to be ordered specially - had a red & silver striped top iirc

(We had it on order & sometimes it was mis-delivered before it got to us so we were left with red-top semi-skim. Used to make me v cross)

(Stopped getting doorstep milk because a) it took up far too much room in the fridge & b) the kids kept opening newer bottles first)

Ok.
I give up.
Of course fresh milk is NOT UHT.

I know what I mean in my head but it just does not come out right.

Disclaimer: I am not a farmer.

I worked in New Jersey for a while with teenagers. I taught some quite hardcore, urban kids (I'm welsh and definitely not very urban) some fab phrases, including "you chopsy bugger". They loved it. I loved the mangled noo joisey welsh valley pronunciation of it. So funny!
They all loved to hear me say towel and twelve

UHT was called sterilised in the very old days (50 years ago) & was delivered to the doorstep in bottles with metal tops like beer. My mum used to get 1 bottle on a Saturday to make rice pudding with

Most milk in France & Spain is UHT.

Milk float.

Not to be confused with ice cream float.

I know, pacific - there there

I have days like that on MN too!

Holiday I think the assumption that British people are more familiar with Americanisms rather than the other way around is because our telly and cinema is probably 2/3 homegrown and 1/3 US in origin - ditto literature both high and low brow. The average Brit will have a reasonable understanding of mainstream US language. The snobbier more broadviewing Brit might also have watched stuff set in different parts of the States such as The Wire.

From the extensive period of time I've spent both in the States and with Americans I think they would struggle with some of the more dialect parts of British English - particularly from the north and Wales and Scotland. I know Londoners who struggle to recognise what people from Norn Iron Northern Ireland are saying.

You're right and it is a misnomer but it does have some basis in truth.

And when I was living in America, everyone thought I was Polish (welsh valleys) and asked sometimes when I was speaking quickly if I could please speak English

I had a conference call with a Texan who we had been emailing. She asked about my colleague "Now, Alastair, is that a boy or a girl?" Alastair was in the room with me and I couldn't bear to introduce him after that. Is Alastair not used in the US?

Alastair Crowley? Famous American satanist, maybe it's just her?

Alastair is not a common name in the US.

I don't know all the Brit colloquialisms, I certainly don't know all the Americans ones either.

I'm from the NE and there's still lots from up here, Geordie, Mackem, Boro etc. I don't know, lol

Aleister Crowley 73 greatest Britain in a BBC poll. I'd not heard of him before. I'm a bit puzzled as to how he got to 73rd.

I said to an American girl I was directing in a play "I'll grab you some kirby grips for your fringe". Blank look.

American translation "I'll get you some bobby pins for your bangs".

To the same girl "I like your jumper". She was again, confused A jumper in AmEng is what I would called a dress or possibly a pinafore.

Mind you, I went to International schools for 18 months where we mostly used AmEng, even though we were mostly Brits, or children of Brits. It took me years after I moved back to the UK to stop calling them sneakers and sidewalks . I think it was because the majority of kids TV was American rather than British. I watched Barney and Sesame Street, rather than Playdays or Tellytubbies.

It did take me a while on here to realize what people were wearing when they said jumpers. I thought you were all very into short girlish dresses.

In spite of spending time in UK and Mr. Google, I still don't fully understand the expression "taking the piss." It seems to mean either making a joke, taking advantage of someone or both. Can someone clarify?

Both, depending on circumstances. If you're close, and making a joke, you can be "taking the piss". This is a mutual thing, which both parties percieve as funny. If it's a fairly new relationship and one partner is taking advantage of the other, it's not mutual, so it's not funny.

God, it is difficult, isn't it?