Language Barrier Monday

Imagine you are visiting England, you are settling into your hotel and the front desk tells you the lift is just 'round the corner. Well, if you are suffering from jetlag, you might find yourself asking, 'lift what?'

Language Barrier Monday

This time of year, today's focus word gets a lot of use in England and you will be hard pressed to miss hearing this word if you are visiting.

Language Barrier Monday

Back again with another fun difference in language between the UK and the US! While this one isn't quite as difficult to figure out, I do find it a fun change to the US word.

Language Barrier Monday

Having just returned from England for Christmas, I am armed with a whole lot of new posts for our Language Barrier Monday series. Get ready!

Language Barrier Monday

Wow, it's been a hot minute but we are bringing back an oldie, but goodie with this post.  The Language Barrier Monday series.  It hasn't been on my mind much lately, as we haven't had to translate anything for each other in a while.  

However, it came as a little reminder when Chris returned from his trip to England last week.  Upon which, I informed him that the house had remained strangely tidy in his two week absence.  (hm... weird.)  Well, he didn't think so, because his response...?  "Bloody Cheek!"  Haha.  No translation necessary.  Pretty sure I get the gist of what he was saying there.  Just thought it a funny expression, so I wanted to share with all of you.

For all stateside readers, I challenge you to use this on someone this week.  What response did you get?! Haha.  

Language Barrier Monday

LBM returns for a surprise visit, because well, this one was just too good to let it go unspoken.

Sunday morning, I came out of our bedroom and stood at the top of the stairs, to see Chris sitting cross-legged on our front room sofa.  It sounds so cheesy now that I think back on it, but instinctively I said, "well don't you look cute, sitting criss-cross apple sauce."  And instantly, I got the heartiest laugh I had heard from Chris in a long while.  Which then, of course, made me laugh in response.  

So a few hours later, we were still kind of laughing about it whenever one of us reminded the other about it. And Chris said, "you should put that one on your blog, about how hard I guffawed at your little country saying."  

Little did he know that his saying would be the one I would be posting about.  Who says guffaw?  Is this a common British thing?  Either way, I was laughing pretty hard at his use of such an antiquated (in my opinion!) word.  Ha.  Love unexpected moments like that that have the ability to make us laugh so hard our stomachs hurt.  And it did.  Deep belly laughs.  

It was a good weekend.  Feeling grateful.

Language Barrier Monday

A few years ago, about this time, Chris asked me if we were planning on going to a fancy dress party.  I have to admit that I had no idea what he was talking about.  So I responded confused, "you mean like a black tie-type party?"

"No, like for halloween!"

"You mean, a costume party??"

Haha, that is a funny one to me because something that seems to simple can be completely misunderstood.

The memory of this conversation is a great reminder that I need to actually prepare for this Halloween if I plan on going to my own fancy dress party this year!  Fall will be here before we know it.

Language Barrier Monday

When we were in Washington for our American Wedding, I was reminded of yet another British term that is commonly misunderstood here in America.  

The subject we were talking about eludes me, but it had to do with the cost of something.  The high cost, to be more exact.  But Chris' mom used the term most obvious to her, saying how dear it was in England. 

I feel like I have reached a new level of acclimation, because this almost went unnoticed by me.  It probably would have if I hadn't started the Language Barrier Monday series last month.

Happy Monday!

Language Barrier Monday

Today's post is not so much about an inability to understand each other, but focuses more on the English accent.  Or more accurately, the American obsession with the English accent.  The following is a true story.

Last month, Chris and I went on a camping trip (the one where the giant bug attacked me) up in the beautiful Rocky Mountains, and stopped off to enjoy a small town 4th of July parade.  Being from a similarly sized town, I felt right at home and loved every minute of the parade and our time in the town.  

When we first parked up, we grabbed our camp chairs out of the boot (aka: trunk!) and found a nice sunny spot on the curb quite close to where we parked (LOVE that about small towns!).  We were about 30 minutes early for the parade, so Chris set off in search of bathrooms (toilets!) at the local visitor's center, while I held down the fort.  

While he was gone, a very friendly (and chatty, it turns out!) lady asked if the spot next to me was taken.  I slid my chair over a bit to make room for her and told her it was all hers.  I was feeling especially talkative myself, so I struck up conversation with her, learning (among so much else!) that her and her husband had recently retired outside of this small town.  We had been chatting for close to 20 minutes, nonstop I might add, when Chris returned.  I introduced them and they exchanged a total of maybe 20 words before the parade started. 

As the parade was winding down, our new friend leaned over and told us that we were welcome to stay with her and her husband anytime we wanted to come up to the mountains, even if we had other plans while we were there, and proceeded to give us her phone number.  She followed that by saying (I'm paraphrasing here) that we were welcome because of Chris' handsome accent.

Um, hello?!  I just learned everything there was to learn about you (I won't share all the details here, you will just have to trust me that I know this woman better than some of my work colleagues!), and apparently that wasn't good enough for her because I have a boring American accent (which means no accent at all).

Chris often downplays the love for his accent here in the states, but I am telling you, he could sweet talk a black bear if we ever encountered one on our camping adventures.  Not. Fair.

Happy Monday!

Language Barrier Monday

A few years ago, when Chris and I were still living in San Francisco, we frequented an Italian restaurant called Bacco.  It was a really nice restaurant, with dim lighting and a warm, welcoming atmosphere, only without the sky-high prices or attitude that typically accompanies those types of restaurants.

The service was no exception.  The servers were always friendly and helpful.

One evening, we ventured in after a long day of work and were greeted by a server that we did not recognize.  She welcomed us and we chatted for a few minutes about the weather before she asked us both where we were from.

Chris looked at me, so I politely replied that I hailed from Washington state originally, and continued to fill her in on our new arrival to San Francisco.  

She then turned to Chris, "And how about you, where are you from originally?" (Everyone is always curious about the accent. But don't worry, I'm not bitter or anything...)

Chris, feeling in a fun mood, responded, "have a guess."  Smiling up at her expectantly.  

{ Side note: This is a fun game for Chris and I because 9 times out of 10, people will guess that he is from Australia.  In fact, most of them say "which part of Australia are you from?" To which he cheekily responds, "London!" }

His question to the server, was clearly not understood. As she responded, "Oh that's great..." with a confused smile pasted on her face, and walked away from our table.

Haha. Our shocked laughs could not be contained.  She obviously thought his response, 'have a guess,' was him saying the name of where he hailed from and she had not heard of it!  

Are we cruel to get pleasure out of these awkward conversations? Because we totally do.

Until next time... Happy Monday!

Language Barrier Monday

A few years ago, on a run-of-the-mill Starbucks stop, Chris was driving and had placed his usual order (English Breakfast tea, aka Tazo Awake tea).

"Will that be everything for you today?"  the perky barista asked?

"Actually, can I also get a bottle of water?"  Chris innocently asked?

After several seconds of silence, at which point Chris was wondering if he had heard him at all, the barista slowly responded, "Uh, no, sorry... we don't have any live music here..."

While I will admit that the way Brits say 'bottle of water' is a bit tricky to understand, I have no idea how the barista managed to hear Chris ask if they had any live music at Starbucks?

Water is a tricky one for us to understand when said in such a "posh" accent. :)  Especially when compared to our "wadder..." and it still manages to throw servers off in restaurants when Chris informs them that he will just stick with water.  They inevitably look at me with questioning eyes (sort of a deer-in-the-headlights sort of look), to which I respond, "he'll just have wadder..."

Happy Monday!

Language Barrier Monday

Language Barrier - a figurative phrase used primarily to indicate the difficulties faced when people who have no language in common attempt to communicate with each other.

The first time Chris' family came to visit us in San Francisco, I remember his Mom asking if we had a flannel she could borrow.  I immediately thought of this:

A strange request, but if I had a flannel shirt, by golly I was going to let her borrow it.

Little did I know she was after a wash cloth!  If given a hundred guesses for what flannel meant in England, I am quite confident that wash cloth would not have been among them...

Happy Monday!