Oh, dear surely the "aren't foreigners funny" thing went out with Queen Victoria. English people are no more endearing, quaint, agressive etc. than any other people and as for nutters, I've visited California (only joking). That woman was either barking mad or pulling your leg.

Ha, I'd never heard that before about Australians raising the end of their sentences..I'm going to be really paranonid now checking myself for whether I do or not....

Lucy et al - The rising inflection thing at the end of sentences seems to be a common phenomena with a lot of English speaking youger people - but it's true - we Australians have caught the habit badly! <BR>If you've read Bill Bryson's latest offering "Downunder" you'll have noticed his comments on the practice. <BR> <BR>Anyway - back to the original posting ... <BR>When we were in the UK in April, the garage man put everything about the UK into perspective for me -my husband had just been drenched with about a litre of patrol from a faulty pump- <BR>'It's a quaint little place once you get used to it!' <BR> <BR>I quoted that phrase back to myself many times during our trip! <BR>

Jan, it is www.mamtaskitchen.com, thanks for asking... <BR> <BR>Tony, yes I think the questioning inflection has come from the large number of antipodeans in London these days, and seems to be taken up by younger teengaers as a way of distinguishing their speech from their parents generation... <BR> <BR>I also tend to pick up other's accents easily and have to be careful people dont think I am taking the piss...

Tony, Anniel, others: my cousins from around Philadelphia always ran their sentences up at the end. Drove me nuts, what with my being accent-less and all ;). What I noticed in England was the lilting manner of speech South of London, not so much sliding up as moving up and down. Took two weeks to lose it after we returned home. I thought it to be a lovely, gentle manner of speaking, so didn't mind picking it up. I'm one of those empaths (chameleons) who pick up speech mannerisms unconsciously - and you should have heard my sister after two years in Tennessee! Totally unintelligible to the rest of the family.

I've found many older people in the UK end almost all of their questions with "no?" <BR> <BR>Also, I get tired of hearing my name said 64 times in a sentence when I'm over there. Every sentence starts with Jason, ends with Jason, and there are a few Jasons in the middle.

Jason, listen mate, it's what makes Britain great, no?

Thank's Wendy I've been meaning to borrow Bryson's Australian book from my parents & I'm definitely intrigued now!

Lucy -do! <BR>And while you're at it, see if they (or your local library) have "Notes from a small island" by the same author. <BR> <BR>The whole book really encapsulates everything this posting is about, yeah?

Hi Wendy - I actually brought 'notes from a small island' for my Dad's birthday a while back so I'll be able to borrow it too. I did read his one about traipsing through Europe which was great ('Neither here nor there' i think it was?)

I don't know if this is an endearing or loveable but my first trip to England 10 years ago I was quite startled when asking the taxi driver about the royal family he was amicably chatting about them, then paused and said with all seriousness: "You know, Fergie is a whore." I do love the Brits!!

<BR>&gt;the hotel woman sounds psychotic to me <BR> <BR>I'm sure she was just acting in accordance with EU directives about hotels acting as banks. <BR> <BR>;-) <BR> <BR>

<BR>Oh no! We're not going to start discussing _accents_ are we? <BR> <BR>How about some 'loveable American tourist' tales, just to keep things even? The behaviour of American visitors can be so endearing. . .

I live in Wales, U.K. and was stopped in a town by an American couple who asked me the way to the coal mines. They said they wanted to see the miners coming up from the pits. The wife said she hoped they would be singing. I think they had seen 'How Green Is My Valley' or something similar. I directed them in the direction of the Rhondda valley but gently explained all our mines had closed some years ago and all we have is Heritage Centres run by ex miners who would probably give you a tune for a few bob, if asked.

Well, there was the American tourist who asked why Stonehenge had been built so far from the airport, the one who was surprised that the Queen had built Windsor Castle under a busy flightpath. An American was overheard in the theatre at Stratford saying, "The Merchant of Venice, that's the one with Fagin, right?" <BR>We have noticed another quaint thing recently, a family of children can be armed to the teeth but a grown woman can't drink a glass of beer without being arrested.

&gt;Well, there was the American tourist who asked why Stonehenge had been built <BR>&gt;so far from the airport, the one who was surprised that the Queen had built <BR>&gt;Windsor Castle under a busy flightpath. <BR> <BR>These are probably urban myths, but they are in keeping with the _spirit_ of comments we hear from Americans. <BR> <BR>I remember a rather loud conversation between to young American tourists on a train in Berkshire that went something like this: <BR> <BR>"Where ya goin' today?" <BR> <BR>"To see Stonehenge." <BR> <BR>"Aw, I been there. It's just a pile o' rocks!" <BR> <BR>It made me wonder if many Americans think of Westminster Abbey as 'just an old church'!

Two American tourists were driving through Wales. As they were approaching Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio gogogoch they started arguing about the pronunciation of the town's name. They argued back and forth until they stopped for lunch. <BR> <BR>As they stood at the counter, one tourist asked the employee, "Before we order, could you please settle an argument for us? Would you please pronounce where we are... very slowly?" <BR> <BR>The girl leaned over the counter and said, "Burrrrrrrrrrrr, gerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, Kiiiiiiiiiiing."

<BR> <BR>We once took an American friend of ours on a tour of the Brighton Pavilion. For those of you who don't know, it is the sea-side palace of King George IV, built to look like Taj Mahal on the outside and very ornately decorated in a Chinese motif on the inside. <BR> <BR>As our fried walked through the exotic, ostentatious rooms (click the little icons at http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/bhc/...on/index3.html to see them), she kept exclaiming how 'fabulous' they were and saying how she wanted to decorate her house like that! <BR> <BR>But the real clanger came when she asked me, "So how did this guy make all his money, then?" <BR> <BR>After blinking a few times to regain my composure - and heroically suppressing a belly laugh - I answered as patiently as I could, "Well, he was King of England!" <BR> <BR>"Oh," she said with a note of disappointment. <BR>

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Author: Stoney ([email protected]) <BR>Date: 6/10/2001, 6:34 am ET <BR> <BR>Message: I recently heard a conversation bewteen a rather loud American woman and her English friend. Part of it went like this: <BR> <BR>Englishman: "Has your furniture arrived yet?" <BR> <BR>American woman: "Yeah, but I had to sell my dining set. The table wouldn't fit in the tiny apartments you have over here!" <BR> <BR>I guess she couldn't afford a decent sized flat!