Thanks to this site....

[Food Lady]

....I've been using words like colour, armour, and queue.

[Merriweather]

Welcome to my world. Being an American who lived almost a decade in the UK, my speech & spelling are a weird mix of the two languages (and American & English have a lot more differences than the common ones everyone knows).

Old habits die hard

What's funny is that my granddaughter, who has never left the US, has now picked up a few expressions from me.

[dragon_wings]

I'm an anglophile. I love British humour, slang, and pop culture. I use British slang in my everyday vocabulary.

[Jester]

I have never been to the UK, or even off of the continent of North America. And yet I still use the adjective "bloody" way too often for an American. And not because my sister has lived in the UK for nine years, or I was once engaged to a Brit....I'd been using that phrase for years before either of those things came about.

Still won't use the extra "u," though.

My sister, however, has picked up a slight English accent and has definitely adopted many of their phrases, such as using "mobile" for cell phone, "petrol" for gas, etc.

[Food Lady]

(and American & English have a lot more differences than the common ones everyone knows).

That's true; it's not just spelling or choice of a word. It's phrasing. If I were in a car as a passenger and it stopped unexpectedly, I might say "Why did we stop?" whereas a Brit might say "Why are we stopped?" It reminds me of the difference between west coast and midwest vernacular. If a west coast household is running out of milk, someone asks, "Do we still have milk?" A midwesterner will say "Do we have milk yet?" A west coaster hears "yet" and thinks of an event in the future. I don't know if that makes sense.

[Merriweather]

That's true; it's not just spelling or choice of a word. It's phrasing. If I were in a car as a passenger and it stopped unexpectedly, I might say "Why did we stop?" whereas a Brit might say "Why are we stopped?" It reminds me of the difference between west coast and midwest vernacular. If a west coast household is running out of milk, someone asks, "Do we still have milk?" A midwesterner will say "Do we have milk yet?" A west coaster hears "yet" and thinks of an event in the future. I don't know if that makes sense.

Yep, all sorts of small things. Like in the US you might stop by someone's house (meaning you pop in for a minute). But in the UK, they might ask when you get there "are you stopping?" which we would equate to "are you staying a while?".

My daughter picked up stuff even qicker than we did, as she was in the local school, and I remember once, not long after we moved there, we were shopping, and without thinking, I asked her if she liked a "vest" (I knew it was a waistcoat there, but just didn't think).. She immediately went bright red, and in her best stage whisper said "Mum, it's a waistcoat!!" cause nothing embarreses a pre-teen girl more than having their parent say the name of an undergarment in public (a vest is an undershirt, and often worn by girls too young for bras).

And after living over there, I absolutely cringe when I hear someone refer to their pouch on a belt as a fanny pack (they're bum bags over there) because fanny refers to a different (female) part of the anatomy, and is a word not used in polite company

[Pixilated]

Welcome to my world. Being an American who lived almost a decade in the UK, my speech & spelling are a weird mix of the two languages (and American & English have a lot more differences than the common ones everyone knows).

Old habits die hard

What's funny is that my granddaughter, who has never left the US, has now picked up a few expressions from me.

A Canadian author once wrote that Canadian English is, as you put it, "a weird mix of the two [British and American]." As an example, the author said, it would be "tire center" in the U.S. and "tyre centre" in GB. Here in Canada we pick one from each list and get "tire centre."

Many friends and acquaintances of mine have picked up a lot of British expressions from the Harry Potter series.

[ArcticChicken]

My BFs Dad is English, and while my BF doesn't have an accent, he does have a few British pronunciations- by which I mean he says the letters like an American, but he puts the British emphasis on the words (HARass instead of harASS).

[Food Lady]

Now, that has to be weird.

[AnaKhouri]

I was watching Wire in the Blood once and the cops were yelling that the suspect was in the 'garridge'.

I was confused until they opened the door to the garage (gah-rahge in American)

[Lace Neil Singer]

Ah, English slang. So extensive, and yet... so confusing to the uninitiated American. XD

I remember posting, "Jeez, it's pissing down right now," on a forum and confusing people, til I explained that I meant that it's raining. XD

Oh yeah, and I once had an American ask me, after watching an English based police show which isn't on any more, "What's a boot?". Well, it's what you guys call the "trunk".

[Jester]

And after living over there, I absolutely cringe when I hear someone refer to their pouch on a belt as a fanny pack (they're bum bags over there) because fanny refers to a different (female) part of the anatomy, and is a word not used in polite company

While I am familiar with this and the other Britishisms brought up so far (other than vest/waistcoat--that one was new to me), I have to ask, how do Brits react when they meet someone whose NAME is Fanny? Is that the equivalent of Americans snickering when they meet someone named Dick or Peter?

[XCashier]

I watch a lot of British shows, and have read lots of books by British authors in the original text. Most of the time, I can mentally transalate things: car park = parking lot, lift = elevator and so forth.

It took me a while to figure out what "gaol" was, or even how to pronounce it. Gowl? Gall? Oh, it's "jail"!

I'm sure there are many other such examples.

[Lace Neil Singer]

While I am familiar with this and the other Britishisms brought up so far (other than vest/waistcoat--that one was new to me), I have to ask, how do Brits react when they meet someone whose NAME is Fanny? Is that the equivalent of Americans snickering when they meet someone named Dick or Peter?

There are very few women around nowadays with that name; like the name "Joan", it's a very oldfashioned name.

But, yes.

[Jester]

Amusing that you should say that, as I know a girl named Fanny (admittedly living HERE, not in the UK), and my mother's middle name is Joan....and I have met a few Joans, but can't think of any I know at the moment.

I can just imagine the giggles in the UK when the news hit that not only had Freddie Mac failed, but so had Fannie Mae.