11 Differences You'll Find As A Brit Living In The USA

I'm a British bloke currently residing in the good ole US of A and have been here for nearly twenty years. You may think that aside from some simple terminology differences they're pretty similar countries - but it's a shock and a half to go from busy London to slowpoke Memphis Tennessee and the disparities soon become apparent. Ultimately having travelled the entire US from end to end, it's remarkable what a lot there is to learn in terms of culture, language and even societal norms that I thought were the same. So without further ado let's peruse the list. Actually that's a statement you would not hear in America, so instead I will translate - let's get 'er dun! Much better.

11. You Will Fluently Use The Local Jargon

The first time I saw a sign outside an American restaurant that proudly boasted "Chicken and biscuits in gravy" I asked myself who would eat such food? It must be a joke or a mistake because it sounds revolting. I know biscuits are known as cookies here in the US so what then are biscuits? I was informed that biscuits are in fact scones. Well that doesn't make it any better - scones and chicken and gravy? Alrighty then. Most of us know the usual UK/US variations - crisps are 'chips' and lift is 'elevator' but it's interesting to note that I automatically now use the words chips and elevator during conversation. I don't manually convert it for the sake of clarity, it comes naturally. Same with the missing U in flavor, color, favorite and so on. It just happens. On occasion however my Babel Fish gets drunk on lite beer and I use a British word without realizing it. I was in the Post Office or as it's known here the United States Postal Service (see number nine) and a guy walks straight to the counter flouting all conventions of waiting your bloody turn. Everyone was too polite to say anything but I'm from the UK and we are not having that nonsense and so I announce sternly there's a queue here, mate. He turned around and genuinely looked confused, like a baby expecting some orange but getting lemon. He didn't understand even when I repeated myself all he did was scrunch his face up further. Finally, my internal language minnow kicked in and I said there's a line. tumblr Yes 'line' equals queue. They don't use queue and have no clue what it means in that context. Upon realizing the error of his ways he went to the back of the line, er, queue and all was well.