Language can be a tricky thing.
Even going to an English speaking country can be tricky. As I have found, there
is American English and then there is British English. While they do mostly
overlap there are a few discrepancies.
Which is why you might receive horrified looks
when you say that you like someone’s pants, for an American you are harmlessly
paying them a compliment, however the British probably think you’re a creep or
they have a hole in their trousers. In England pants refers to underwear and
trousers are their equivalent to our word pants. Many simple words are
different in meaning, pronunciation, and spelling, as I’ve come to find out.
While I was prepared for the
different spellings (those I knew of beforehand), I wasn’t prepared for some of
the misunderstandings that I have encountered.
For example a few days ago I was
informed that the American crosswalk is the same as the British zebra crossing because of the black and white stripes.
You can imagine my confusion when she first said it, but I personally like that name for it better, it gives a little whimsy to the everyday. And if you’re American
like myself you will have read that as zee-bra crossing while in England it is
pronounced z-eh-bra. While American’s know the A-Z’s the British know the last letter
as Zed.
It’s fun trying to find the differences
in words and pronunciations, but I have to be careful that I don’t put a foot
in my mouth.
