British Language & Culture

Back by popular demand! It is time once again for me to share some of the idiosyncrasies of British language & culture!

I'm not taking the mickey, these are the correct pronounciations:
Borough - 'Burah', not 'buroh'
Decade - 'DEcade' not 'deCADE'
Era - 'eera' not 'erah'
Fillet - 'fill-it' not 'fil-ay'
Jalapeno - 'jal-a-peno' not 'hol-a-penyo'
Pasta - 'pass-ta' not 'pah-sta'
Schedule - 'shedyual' not 'skedyual'
Vitamin - 'vitt-a-min' not vite-a-min'

My spelling was a right laugh before, but now?
Centre
Theatre
Colour
Labour
Finalise
Terrorise
Aluminium
Speciality
Draught
Tonne

Sorry. What?
Want a band-aid. Better ask for a 'plaster'.
Suspenders? Those are 'braces'.
Baby crib? Its a 'cot'.
"Have my secretary check my diary." Your what? Americans would call it a calendar, or appointment book.
"She's really got her knickers in a bunch." (i.e. she's upset) They are talking about womens underpants... not knee length trousers.
Speaking of trousers... here is a joke for you: What's the difference between a man and a dog running? The man wears trousers and the dog pants.
Speaking of pants... I suggest not ever saying "I am not wearing pants" even if you are wearing shorts. It will elicit giggles I assure you. Pants = underpants
Car rental = car hire
U-Haul = self drive hire
Looking for the elevator? Try asking for the 'lift'.
"Blimey. There sure are a lot of punters out today!" What am I... on the river Cam now? Punters = roughly shoppers
Looking for a napkin? Try 'serviette'. (where am I France?!!)


That's it for now guv.