“America and Britain are two countries separated by the same language ‘ is credited to Irish writer George Bernard Shaw, although from what I can tell Oscar Wilde and Churchill have both tried to stake a claim on this provocative quote.
These words have popped into my head time and time again over the past week, prompted by conversations with either longtime expats or visiting Brits; the longer that I live here the less it makes sense. Although knowing Shaw it was probably meant ironically. A friend of mine lent (or ‘loaned’ if you are US-educated ) her car and told the borrower to leave the key in the gas door – which led to her having to break into the car to get the key from inside the door, on the ‘gas side’ as requested – if only she has said leave it in the petrol cap!
Losing v loosing is my current pet peeve. I have especially noticed it on social media amongst my American friends who prefer to use loosing even when they have lost something. Brits in LA member Rosemary H is currently getting a right bee in her bonnet due to spellcheck/autocorrect, which can’t differentiate between they’re, there and their. I wanted to console her but I wasn’t sure whether ‘there, there, there’ was the correct term in the circumstances. But I do feel her pain! I think my favorite ‘lost in translation’ moment was when I was home for a fortnight and was whinging about the cold summer weather. I moaned to my mum that I had only brought two pairs of pants with me – I think my confusion at her horror may have been the moment when I realized I was perhaps slightly more American than I had thought. I think Eddie Izzard summed it up perfectly when he wisely observed that “America and Britain are divided by the Atlantic Ocean”!
I am sure we have all had issues with ‘water’ and ‘warder’ , but we would love to hear your anecdotes of being misunderstood in either country, as they never get old! Feel free to tweet us @BritsinLA or drop us a line on Facebook or at britsinla@gmail.com . The funniest one may get featured in our next column.
Big congratulations to our Pub Quiz winners The Jurassics; it was nice to see someone else take the top spot for once – although I think I spotted a Pikey Blinder champion or two in their midst!
Come join us every other Tuesday for the fun and games – and don’t hesitate to come solo, we will either find you a team or pair you up with Ron Jeremy! All info can be found on our website www.Britsin.LA (no ‘.com’)
Cheers!
Eileen
