There’s no denying it now: after nearly two years in London my English has changed.
The change crept up on me slowly, unceremoniously, just as stealthily and sneakily as a cat.
While I haven’t done a full-blown Madonna (she was heavily derided for her sudden faux-British brogue after spending some time in the UK), this here Canadian’s English is now peppered with British-isms.
This involuntary linguistic accommodation manifests itself in a variety of ways. I mean, I now readily say “chips” instead of “fries” and wear “trainers” — not “sneakers” or “running shoes” . My friends back in Toronto took me to task last Christmas because I couldn’t stop talking about my London “flat”. I’ve caught myself referring to NYC’s subway in conversation as the “tube” on a few occasions now. In the UK it’s “pavement”, not “sidewalk”, so without a second thought I regularly describe it as such. And no matter how hard I try, the “garbage can” is always referred to as a “rubbish bin”.
Don’t get me wrong: I will never be mistaken for Queen Elizabeth or one of her countrymen. I’ve written before about how my flat, American-sounding accent is a subject of fascination in London — I suspect that a lot of Brits love ‘Merica more than they let on. But as I’ve become “more London” I have begun to subconsciously appropriate more vocabulary and phrases native to this land than I ever thought possible.
British words and expressions that first had me scratching my head have become a part of my lexicon. For example, teaching at a school in Central London taught me that it’s not “liquid paper” or “correction fluid”, but “Tipp-ex”. I’ve learned from the local newspaper I regularly read on my daily commute (holla, Evening Standard!) that a “police lineup” is commonly referred to here as an “identity parade”… and that the “fire department” is commonly known as the “fire brigade”. I know now that “tea” is a meal here, not just a drink. Weekends often find me in London’s Heathrow airport; when it’s time to get on the plane I brandish my “boarding card” — not “boarding pass”– with relish.
There are some other expressions that really took me a while to figure out, though. For months I didn’t know that “bespoke” signaled that something was “tailor-made”. Did you know that what I would call the ER (Emergency Room) is actually known as the A&E (Accident and Emergency) here? (For the record, as long as I live A&E will forever be that television station that broadcasts an endless stream of useless biographies on Hollywood stars.) And did you have any idea that a “dummy” in England is what we would call a “pacifier” in the U.S. and Canada? There are so many more of these, it is just insane. Every day living here is literally an education, at least culturally and linguistically.
Of course, in some ways I will never ever lose the North American patterns of speech and expression that make me, me. No matter how much I’m teased for it by my English friends, I will continue to describe things as “awesome” and exclaim “Oh my god!” Valley girl-style when I am shocked, surprised, or incredulous.
But don’t be surprised if I respond to your kind gesture with “cheers” instead of “thank you”. British-isms have definitely infiltrated my vocabulary, and quite honestly… I kind of like it!
Do you know a bit of British English? Has your accent or vocabulary in a language changed after being exposed to a different accent, variation, or dialect?
86 Comments
Haha! You also said one that you missed. You wrote that your friends “took to me” instead of saying they were making fun of you or getting on to you. I love it!
I’ve been staying in the UK for a month now (although I’m only here to visit my family for a few months) and I partly can relate with the choice of words. It is also funny how I choose my tea over coffee now. I also call ‘cookies’ as ‘biscuits’ now.
I love this post! I spent 8 months in Cyprus surrounded by people from England and slowly picked up their expressions. They thought it was hilarious that I would say “restroom” instead of “toilet”. I am often questioned when I tell people I’m from Georgia, because they expect a thick southern accent. However traveling and 4 years with Jamaican friends in college has changed my accent, but if you listen closely there are hints of a southern accent. I think it’s amazing to see how our speech changes from travel.
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Thanks for the smiles, Oneika, and happy memories of my favorite city:))
I’m always peppering my kiwi accent with bits and bobs of other languages. After 2 years in London I now call my pants trousers, I want every beverage in pint size and I say sorry to everyone! Hopefully the English people we’ve met along the way have managed to pick up some kiwisms from us to ensure a more levelled language exchange.
That’s hilarious! I can completely understand. I work with all Brits here in Bangkok and I’ve adopted more present perfect than I’ve ever used in the states. ( Americans use past simple over it for some reason) I’ve also changed soccer to football, the trash can to the bin, apartment to flat and I’ve taken to saying “kick off” for getting angry or arguing. LOL I don’t think I can ever give up my chips (crisps), french fries (chips), cookies (biscuits) and candy (sweets) though!
I have lived in the UK for 8 years and I definitely took on the British dialect. I was told that dinner is called tea, because in the older days the aristocrats had their supper really late (about 10pm), so to keep them going they invented afternoon tea, which was usually served around 5pm. They served little sandwiches with the tea. The word tea just stuck with people I guess, although technically they shouldn’t call dinner tea of course.
Yes! I loved this post. Even though I don’t live in the UK, I’ve worked (and will be working) with Brits, and I find myself using more and more British English vocab with them and my students.
They call it “Tipp-ex” in French as well…I used to call it “White Out” 😉
Oh, and the A&E comment made me LOL because I totally thought the same thing!
When I first got back to the UK after living in Asia for a few years, my friends looked at me in horror when I said I needed to use the ATM… but asking a Chinese person where the hole-in-the-wall is would have got me some seriously weird looks!
I wouldn’t say I really lost my British-isms while living away, but I definitely dialed down on general idioms and simplified my language. I now work with American students in London so I generally interchange some words, so the ‘bin’ switches between being the trash/garbage can and rubbish bin.
I was also guilty in Korea of using a horrendous American accent (because I was awful at emulating it – not because an American accent is terrible!) to make myself understood. To get students to understand me WaTer became ‘wa’der’ and ‘Carn’t’ became caan’t. Oh and I really emphasised my Rs (Wherrrrrre)
I guess it’s all part of becoming more global and watching the English language become the true international language! Quite interesting when you think about it! 🙂
Ooh and the tipp-ex thing made me smile – my mum calls it ‘sno-pake’ (tipp-ex’s predecessor!)
great post! After having lived in Singapore for 5 years and now that I live in New York, I am even more aware of how my English is peppered with British and Aussie English-isms. Singapore’s English is very influenced by the British English. I say “lift” instead of “elevator,” “toilet(s)” instead of “washroom,” “tongs” instead of “flip flops,” and I’ll throw in “cheers,” instead of “thank you,” every now and then. “No worries,” is a great expression from the Aussies. Yesterday I heard a man say “cheers mate,” and I felt a pang of longing for my ancient stomping ground. I love that living abroad has broadened my vocabulary. It’s a little bit of my Singapore expat-life that will stay with me now that I am back on North American soil. And yes my canadian-ness will stay with me as I will also continue to say “awesome” and “oh my god! (like a valley girl lol)!”
This post made me smile as I am corrupting my Canadian house mate with British-isms and some good old patois just to spice it up lol! After living in Northern England and Scotland, my speech is littered with colloquialisms from those regions coupled with my muddled RP English/Jamaican makes me a linguistic conundrum to my fellow Westerners and Indonesians.
There are some British words that I now prefer to the North American equivalents. I find myself naturally using these words, like lift for example.
I don’t think a lot of people realise how many differences there are between these 2 different strands of English. It goes much deeper than just learning lift, chips and bin. There is so much to learn!
The problem I have now is mixing up the two and not knowing which strand a particular word belongs to.
I have some British friends here (in the NL) and I now find myself going to the loo and taking the dogs out for a wee instead of to pee. I’m frequently knackered and for a while I thought I must look it because they are always asking, “You okay?,” which I learned is equivalent to, “How are you?” Occasionally I just look at them and say, “I have no idea what you just said!” The most recent one to trip me up was when the massage therapist referred to the massage table as the couch. To me, a couch is what one parks ones butt on to watch tv. All good fun! Especially when we try to imitate each others’ accents. Apparently I sound a lot like Austin Powers 🙂
Great post! I think it is almost necessary to adopt these as an expat so that you can put your point across easily. Sometimes it does come down to a matter of being fully understood. I remember being on the phone with a woman and saying period instead of full stop and she had no clue what I was referring to. Also the meaning of cottaging here, is the furthest thing away from the meaning of it in Canada. I learned that the embarrassing way!
A few favs not mentioned: Fleeced (Robbed), Chock-a-block(busy, traffic jam), Jumper (Sweater). Even when words are the same pronunciation can be vastly different and that also provides for fun times for my co-workers when they hear me say words differently.
Haha, I grew up in Nigeria, colonized by the British and I used almost every word you’ve mentioned here. When I moved to the U.S, I had to adapt but there are some I still use occasionally, especially when talking to my family and Nigerian friends, i.e trousers (instead of pants), wee wee (instead of pee), dust bin (instead of garbage/trash can). It’s funny how you can slip into one jargon or the other when the audience changes. It’s good to adapt to new environment but also retain a bit of where you’re from. It makes for uniqueness. :).
I will still answer the phone “pronto” instead of hello and I still say “prego” instead of thank you or please and yes, I still say Flat as well…I actually prefer Flat to apartment now. I lived in Italy for 2 years and it just becomes second nature. I don’t realize I’me doing it until I see the puzzled look or hear “WHAT??” on the other end of the phone. The terms I brought back somehow makes me feel connected to the place I called home for 2 years. I really cherish that, it makes my heart happy.
What a funny post! I’m a Texan living in Malaysia for the last 2 years, and I’m starting to pick up the British English that Malaysians used. I’m visiting Texas right now and got a funny look when I asked someone what was their “mobile number.” Even funnier is my friend’s 5-year-old son whose accent is influenced by the British teachers at his school. He’s starting to drop the “R” sound when he speaks, especially when he talks about his favorite tree, the birch.
I think it’s pretty inevitable. I lived in NZ for 5 months years ago and definitely picked up some slang there that usually ends up slipping its way back into my speech patterns if I’m in the UK or traveling with large groups of Australians. Things like saying “cheers” instead of “thanks” and “uni” when talking about college or grad school, just to name a couple that immediately come to mind.
People usually assume that British English and American English are pretty much the same. But with all the slang differences, I swear sometimes they’re completely different languages!
I AM SO EXCITED! I already say some of these things from years of travelling and living with/interacting with Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, etc, and I certainly get teased about it when I come back to Canada (totally with you on how people react when you say “flat” instead of apartment). In May, while in London, I ended a story with, “Oh my God, it was so awesome. I was super pumped.” My British friends looked at me incredulously. “Do you…do you really talk like that?” they asked. “Say it again!!” Ha ha. I guess we’ll always be fascinated with each other’s accents!
Wish we were together in London to take the town by storm, spouting our Canadianisms left and right.
Ahh…I will always fondly remember the looks on my coworkers faces when I innocently asked what “bollocks” were during my first week of work in London.
When I was teaching in France, my colleagues all had British/Irish accents from when they did their teacher training abroad. Although I am American, I was told by my French lycee that I was to teach British English, as that is how the students would be tested on their examens. I quietly rebelled, especially since most of my students had American accents from watching American films. However, the British English grew on me, and one day on a train to Bergerac, I met with a few young Americans who couldn’t believe that I was actually American, because my accent had changed!
I definitely relate to this. After living somewhere for awhile it’s just easier to use certain phrases and accents for comprehension’s sake!
I refuse to say Bath (the town in England) with my Canadian accent. It sounds awfully silly (and nasal-y) to me.
Living in Martinique for 8 months meant the only person I was really speaking English to regularly was my English manfriend so I definitely picked up some words and a bit of the accent. When I came back to Canada, I noticed that my inflections were a little different than my friends’. Also, HIS accent was different too! I really picked up how much he toned it down in Martinique after we spent time in London together–I couldn’t get used to how…English he sounded – ha!
I really like the saying, “to wind someone up”. I don’t think we have a good equivalent to that in standard Canadian/American English?
Yours in Travel,
Alyssa
Hello! I am 20 years old and going to be traveling in Puerto Vallarta soon, my parents are freaking me out because it’s in Mexico. Any tips for safety and how to calm my parents?
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When I moved to Gabon, the majority of my friends were British and thus, I started to pick up their sayings too. I remember during the first few weeks we stopped by a British colleague’s house and he kept directing us to the settee – we had no idea what he meant. I also couldn’t help when a friend would ask for ‘a rubber’ and the ‘what are you having for tea?’ still gets me.
(PS. While my BlogLovin tells me I’m following you, it says it can’t retrieve new posts. In fact, the latest post that shows up is from May 2012. I’m not sure what the deal is but perhaps other’s are missing out!)
I definitely noticed that you had a few little phrases and a bit of an accent when I saw you last. I don’t judge though, since I’m a total parrot – I figure it may make you sound silly in your native language when you’re suddenly using new slang, but it makes learning new languages easier, so I’ll take it!
When you move to go live in another country, you will HAVE to change your lifestyle in order to fit into the society, even if the lifestyle changes includes your vocabulary, accent or even language. You have to call pants-trousers, cookies-biscuits, washrooms-toilets, otherwise they won’t understand you. but you have to agree that the Briitsh English is more superior to American English, although their accent may be difficult to wrap your head around. for example, they say compuha, instead of computer.
After a year coming back from china, I still sometimes confuse my he/she and sometimes speak English the way Chinese speak English. lol!
themanecaptain.blogspot.ca
My sister grew up in the UK and I in New York. She came to visit me a few years ago and we went looking for squash. I pointed her to the produce aisle. Little did I know, what we call squash or zucchinis, Brits call “Courgettes” and what they call squas is actually concentrated juice. Like Ribena.
Have you started finishing your sentences with innit? When you start doing that, you are truly truly intergrated.
I’m a Canadian who’s spent the last decade living mostly in Asia. One of the most confusing conversations I ever had was in Sri Lanka over making newborn kits for new mothers who were poor that we were planning to assemble and distribute at a local women’s hospital. The conversation was with a couple of Sri Lankan women. After about twenty minutes of confusion, I finally broke in and said something like, “Wait. What do you mean by diaper?” It turns out that the Sri Lankan meaning of diaper was disposable diaper only (and are also called Pampers regardless of actual brand), whereas cloth diapers are called nappies. I consider diaper and nappy to have the exact same meaning. They couldn’t understand why I thought diapers were essential for a newborn kit and I couldn’t understand why they kept insisting that it should be nappies and not Pampers when I never mentioned Pampers.
Yeah. The world’s an interesting place even when you think you speak the same language. 🙂
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If you translate “restroom” into any language…you will NEVER find your way to a toilet.
I am South African and our English is very similar to the British on we say flat, chips.
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