The Land of the Free & the Home of the Brave (expats)... All Those in the US!

[UnderRated]

I just finished the old thread by accident

You could substitute alfalfa sprouts for cress, or is that just too fusion?

The other english fillings that immediately spring to mind are too horrible to contemplate - corned beef and spam . Not together obviously.

I think your spread sounds capital, m'dear.

Well that's almost stopped me wanting to go to Hawaii!

What's with that? Some war-time austerity hang-over? Hello - you live in a big ocean, why not eat fish, not processed foul-meat.

Yes, spam is a WW2 thing & v big in Hawaii. Processed meat in tins much better than fresh fish, obv

We had a scary tornado last night. All ok though

I'd never noticed Arby's

We were at the lego store today - DS now has his first set of 'real' lego. He spent hours with it this afternoon. Thought of Dooney as we did touristy stuff today.

I've never seeen cress in the US. Or cress seeds. Very odd.

Hope everyone is ok

UR

Hello everyone

Back from 'blighty' as DH insists on calling it now he's an expat

Am glad you are back, Anorak. How was the trip?

I just made pudding - proper pudding. Is it bad that I prefer the processed yellow stuff in the pots? I refuse to buy it but I think the fake vanilla flavour is better than the real stuff Perhaps I am just remarkably unsophisticated.

Went to county fair today so mum could have fried oreos. DS is such a city kid that when he smelled the cow barn, he said, "Where's the giraffe?"

I think my eyes are bleeding on the vanilla statement. I have to get my vanilla beans in rather largeish quantities so it won't be hideously expensive, because fake vanilla is odd-tasting. Although, admittedly not as odd tasting as other fake flavors.

I wondered about you and the tornado. I was a bit too out of it to ask the other day, though. Oh, yeah, save some touristy stuff for when we get there.

Hello anorak. Yes I really did miss you. I posted about it either late last thread for U. S. people or early this one.

I'm so sorry about the vanilla. Usually I am a bit of a ponce about that sort of thing. I am suitably about the pudding.

Anorak, tell us about blighty

Is ebay a good bet for lego?

SuperBunny have you changed names recently?

ebay great for lego - we sold a huge box of duplo before leaving the UK and it did very well indeed.

dooneygirl why have you been feeling out of it? (sorry too lazy to read the whole thread )

Best things in blighty -

• going to the pub
• seeing friends and family
• comedy shows on TV and proper quiz shows like Mastermind
• Having open windows and proper cool fresh air coming in at night - and dry sheets and clothes
• finding what you want in the shops
• hours and hours of girlie shopping
• travelcard into London for the day, lunch in a Wetherspoons pub with a friend you haven't seen for a year, wandering round shops alone and slightly tipsy all afternoon then meeting another friend for a pub quiz in the evening, and winning
• Driving hundreds of miles on motorways and seeing the wide blue sky dotted with clouds and the sun sink slowly spreading into a pink and gold horizon
• staying on my oldest friend's smallholding in Devon, sitting in the garden while her husband is attacked Gulliver-style on the lawn by three boys, laughing till your face hurts and saying no thanks to wine because you are perfectly happy without it.

I live and work in the UK but have a lot of US clients.

What I want to know from you expats in the US is this:

Is there a class in High School for the special teaching of yukky phrases?

I give you this example just this minute:

"Thank you for reaching out."

WTF is reaching out? I called him. On the telephone.

Followed by "That was such a worthwhile conversation."

Are they all quite mad?

I think it is mostly learned in training sessions, not necessarily from business schools, but from corporations themselves in their employee training sessions. I must admit, I've never heard those two that you mentioned, but am sick to death of the requisite business phrases like "think outside the box", "pushing the envelope", "on the same page", and "a level playing field".

Anorak, you could search the whole thread, and I wouldn't have said. I've been living off of 0-2 hours sleep a night for the past week or so. The puppy and my children have all decided to take time off from sleeping for some reason.

Yes, I would agree with Dooneygirl and say it's definitely a corporate culture thing. I worked in Chicago for 6 months and gathered enough BS Bingo points to last me a lifetime, and the ability to do very esoteric flip-charting.

Me again, could I link back to my thread as I need help again from all you wonderful Californians

thread here

Yes, Anorak, it's me: UR

Your post made me homesick. More than I felt already - my mum just left

Quattro - they all talk like that. They're a funny bunch over here When I was teaching, they all used phrases like that all the time - this was an elementary/ high school, not business My favourite was when I taught special ed for kids with emotional/ behaviour problems:

Teacher: Why are you about to throw that chair at me?
Girl: Because I'm PISSED OFF with you
Teacher: Well, get UNPISSED then

Both collapse in heap, laughing

sangers look fab, cali

She was here a week It's gone so quickly. I feel so silly sitting here, aged 30, thinking, "I want my mum"

Has it already been a week?

[pathetic]

I'm going to a BBQ tomorrow - are profiteroles ok to take? I don't have ingredients for anything else.

And a pot of home-grown tomatoes?