A bit of Brit-Speak/Ameri-Speak humour...
 

It's an oldie but a goody, but in an attempt to brighten your day...<BR><BR>An American had been working in London for 3 months and was very homesick. He had nothing against the English but was frankly tired of the whole thing, the city, the country, the “odd” ways, and the sometimes-strange language.<BR><BR>On his way to Heathrow his cell phone rang. It was his boss back in Kansas City telling him that a new project was in the works and that he would be staying in London for at least another month.<BR><BR>Furious, our intrepid hero explained he’d already checked out of the hotel. The boss man said no worries, and gave him the address of his new lodgings.<BR><BR>Upon checking into the hotel the American found the clerk to be a Mr. Fawlty type. After the necessary preliminaries the American picked up his bag and said, “Where’s the elevator?”<BR><BR>“The LIFT, sir, is down the hall and to your left.”<BR><BR>The American bridled, “Where did you say the ELEVATOR was?”<BR><BR>“The LIFT, sir, is down the hall and to your left.”<BR><BR>Unable to stand it any longer the American dropped his bag on the floor, turned, approached the clerk and, teeth gritted, leaning over the counter, he said, “I’ll have you know that we Americans invented the damned ELEVATOR!”<BR><BR>Quite unruffled, shuffling some papers, the clerk looked up and matter-of-factly said, “Quite right sir, and WE invented the language. The lift is down the hall and to your left.”<BR>

Weird...I heard that story years ago (told as "true") and just a couple of day's ago I was trying to remember how it went. Thanks!

I have such a clear picture of Basil saying that... :)<BR><BR>Thanks for the Fawlty Towers reference -- my grandmother and I used to watch it on PBS.

Had to top this as it made me smile this morning! I think the differences make things all the more interesting! But we Brits have it easier, I think, in translating ameri-speak. I remember watching 'The Monkees' and the Banana Splits' when I was three (** years ago now!) and since then, US TV and films make it very easy to get into the lingo. Its like being bi-lingual ;O)

I used to like to Sour Grapes... the dancing girls who used to appear mid-way through every Banana Splits show.<BR>

I also used to love US kids programmes like Lost in Space.. Danger Will Robinson!!...although I was always amazed that Will addressed his parents as Sir and Maam.

<BR><BR>Fanny pack always cracks me up.

I can't get over criticism of the US president being referred to as bush bashing.

Not language exactly but I like the story of a Briton and an American having a mild argument.<BR>Yank: "And you burned Washington!"<BR>Briton, guiltily: "Good grief, did we?<BR>I thought he died in his bed!"<BR><BR>An American friend pointed out that Washington is supposed to have had wooden teeth, so perhaps that's how he was set alight.

don't know about the rest of the brits on here, but does anyone else dislike british accents in films? it puts me off! and I'm english! Id rather hear american accents. One exeption: Sean Connery! a gorgeous scots accent if ever I heard one

&gt;don't know about the rest of the brits &gt;on here, but does anyone else dislike &gt;british accents in films<BR><BR>Depends on the film. I can remember as a student killing myself laughing at American Bible epics. "Truly he is the son uv Gard" and the immortal "Beharld the Sodomite army".

The American pronunciation of buttocks kills me.

i remember being a teenager in London singing along to American Pie with my friends as we all wondered what the hell did he mean by driving his "Chevy" to the "levee" - i think we decided it was some kind of toll road (levy??)<BR>Thanks for reminding me about that truly awful "truly that was the sun of gaaaard" - that cracked me up

I can never get my tongue around the way they pronounce aluminium. I sound drunk

First, in the US we actually spell "aluminum" the way we pronounce it -- "you lot" put the "i" in after the "n" and think we've somehow botched it. As for "buttocks," not all Americans pronounce it with the accent on the second syllable -- just the uncultured (same ones who talk about a matched set of furniture as a "soot/suit" rather than a suite. <BR><BR>Now then, how does one pronounce "figure"? Americans at least recognize that there's a long "u" -- it's not "figger" let alone "figgah."<BR><BR>Then there's what many Brits do to words like "law" and "draw" -- they add an "r" to elide them with the next word (if it begins with a vowel) or a suffix like "-ing". Mike Myers was correct about those of you who like "drawring."<BR><BR>What about "leisure" which somehow comes out "lezzhur" or "schedule" which comes out "shedyul"? <BR><BR>As for accents in movies, we in the South of the US have been too polite for decades to mention that Vivian Leigh's "southern" accent in "Gone with the Wind" was quite embarrassingly wrong. She was so pretty, though, and she "got" Scarlett's spirit, so we haven't said anything.

I hate to admit this but the American Aluminum is the original and correct, we at some point stuck in the I to make it sound like other elements.<BR><BR>The main difference between English and US pronunciation is that we (but not the Scots, or the Cornish) don't have the post vocalic or rhotic R. Father pronounced fathuh.<BR><BR>Lingua you're dead right! Strangely we get an R into phrases like "The Shah of Iran" = "The Shah Rof Iran"<BR><BR>A friend of mind had an old Triumph Herald (car) which he christened Harold. We had hours of fun getting his Canadian girfriend to say "Harold the Herald" and she was completely incapably of pronouncing the two words differenty.<BR><BR>We got more vowels though...hot shot, not haat shaat.

Reminds me of the true test of a Boston accent, especially if you're trying to detect a fake one. When asked to read aloud "I parked my car in Harvard Yard," the faker will say "I pahked my cah in hahvahd yahd," whereas the true Bostonian will say "pahked my cah RIN . . . " Get the idear?

As Oscar Wilde said, "America and England, two countries separated only by a common language."<BR><BR>US

Spoon, what's the British pronounciation of "buttocks"?

I enjoy reading this post - I will have a blast when I get to London & Edinburgh soon, especially for a Californian (flat or no accent!) Thanks for the up on some new differences I had not heard of.

Uncle Sam, I believe that quote is credited to George Bernhard Shaw.<BR><BR>What has always amazed me about American films concerning W.W.II is that the Germans almost always have a British accent!<BR><BR>Almost all Romans in gladiator-type films have a British ascent as well.<BR><BR>I have friends from great Yarmouth with their “northern” accents, they say “mooz-im” for museum and “moozic” for music. <BR><BR>(Of course if you’re truly from Yarmouth you know that might just “be a load of old squit!”)<BR>

I'm curious, too. How do the British pronounce buttocks? Why is it so funny the way Americans pronounce it?

One of the last time I was reduced to incapacity was the South Park episode with the couple who had buttocks (butt-ox) for faces. <BR><BR>Americans say butt - ox<BR><BR>It's the gap between the two sylables that I finds funny.<BR><BR>

Um that's incapacitated by laughter, rather than by Lager, which is more common.<BR><BR>Speaking of which its 5pm on Friday. Pub time!<BR>

My husband is Australian, and it's 'see you this arvo', risoles not hambergers, and ,yes, Americans speak American, not English.

Please pardon my ignorance...I'm an American... How do the English pronounce buttocks???

OK, so you're saying that Brits believe that the language on South Park is typical American-ese?<BR><BR>South Park?

"Buttocks" is PROPERLY (even in Webster's Dictionary for the US) pronounced with the accent on the first syllable -- more or less, "BUTT'x." Pronouncing it butt-OX may be common in the US, and even heard on that gold standard of grammar and pronunciation, "South Park," but it's just wrong. Sorry, people.<BR><BR>Actually, there's another difference here between Brit-Speak and Ameri-Speak -- that's how a double T in the middle of a word is pronounced. In America, except for parts of Maine, the double T is pronounced almost the same as a double D -- e.g., "butter" is pronounced pretty much like "budder." In the UK (and parts of Maine), the double T is still clipped, so "butter" will be, more or less, "butt'r." <BR><BR>I picked that up once when some slightly rude Brits in Salt Lake City were giggling about the "Church of Ladder-Day Saints."<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>

Can a Canadian speak here? When a hollywood actor trys to 'act' Canadian, they will say something like hot/cold out (pause) eh?<BR><BR>It brands them a fake. The Canadian way to say this is hot/cold out tay? Always carry the last consonent into the eh and it will sound correct. <BR><BR>Not that we say eh that often eh? It is considered a very Eastern (hence bad) mode of speech.

Lingua and David, Americans of all ilk pronounce buttocks BUTT'x. I suspect South Park did otherwise for a little (potty) humor.<BR><BR>After a little thought (and muttering all manner of words), I agree with you on tt's in the middle of words.

&gt;Lingua you're dead right! Strangely we &gt;get an R into phrases like "The Shah &gt;of Iran" = "The Shah Rof Iran<BR><BR>I had elocution lessons at school and one of the exercises was to say "I saw a man sawing a piece of wood in the drawing room". That "r" is uneducated speak.<BR>As for Vivien Leigh's "Southern" accent, I'll raise you Dick Van Dyke's "Cockney" one.<BR>One thing I've noticed about Americans is that they don't say "an". They'll say "a awkward situation" where we'd say "an awkward situation".<BR>Rita, since when was Yarmouth in the North? It's in East Anglia which is South East.<BR>Finally, try asking an American to say, "I'm going to marry merry Mary" ;-)

My dear Uncle Sam:<BR><BR>I believe that since you are now living in your little perverse colony of texas, you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about with respect to history of the British Empire. It was Sir Bernard Shaw who spoke those eloquent words, not Oscar Wilde. You and your fellow american savage colonials are quite cheeky.

Lord Covington,<BR><BR>I do humbly apologize as I obviously steered so far from the true course of rectitude. <BR><BR>Oscar, did however say "that he could handle anything but temptation. " (paraphrase...one of my favorite quotes!<BR><BR>What I want to know however, is how do the Brit pop artists talk with their strong Brit accents and yet sing with none at all?<BR><BR>US

&lt;What I want to know however, is how do the Brit pop artists talk with their strong Brit accents and yet sing with none at all?&gt;<BR><BR>The same way as the Americans do it.

Personally, I don't know any Americans who would say "a awkward situation". I'm sure some do, but definitely not all or most of us! <BR>

Akshelly, most Americans I know would be saying "a nawkward situation", just as they are likely to say "a negg" or "a nawful stench."

Re: Language differences (even tho' we speak the same lingo!)<BR><BR>We in Britain can quite safely say 'we are rolling a fag'(ie we are making our own cigarettes). In America we would have problems, apparently we would be saying that we would be duffing up a gay person. Is this true or am I being wound up|&gt;&gt;

What does a nEnglishsman say if he wants to 'borrow' a cigarette.

My daughter spent one college semester in London - she loved it. But she once said to me, "You know, they have all the same words we have. They just mean something else."

You must see the new Austin Powers Goldmember movie. In one scene, he and his father speak in code by speaking in British slang. It's hysterical. As an American I had no idea what they were saying. If we were all the same we'd be bored off our arses.