Tomato/Tomotto

It's no secret: I'm married to a Brit. Seriously, who can resist that accent?

And although we both speak English, we've had our fair share of run-ins with our language barrier. I recently discussed one of them here.

Once I said I was using cilantro in a curry dish, and my sister-in-law looked at me like I had two heads (coriander is the only word they use for that).

Some of my favourite sayings from husband's repertoire are:
It's all gone Pete Tong - rhyming slang, meaning it's all gone wrong
It went a little bit pear-shaped - another way of saying things have gone wrong
Bits & Bobs - basically means bits and pieces, as in "I'm going to the grocery store to pick up some bits and bobs" I've really taken this one on.

Since Husband has lived in Canada for 5 years now, he is starting to naturalize his accent. He no longer says tomotto, he says tomato. He also says cell phone (not mobile), parking lot (not car park), and ketchup (not tomato sauce). When we go back to England for a visit though, his accent gets stronger and all his old sayings come out. I love it.

Even my voice gets different when we visit England. I emphasize different syllables. I am always worried that someone will notice and think I'm taking the piss (making fun of them).

The one saying that gets me every time is so simple. When you first see someone, instead of saying hello, they say "you alright?" I always say, "yes, how are you?" This is wrong. "You alright?" is basically saying hello. Even though I know this, I always feel the need to answer the question.

via

I'll leave you with one final Brit-ism. They call crossing guards The Lollipop Man (or Lady). This is because the stop sign they carry looks like a big lollipop. That one just makes me smile.








Stay tuned for future Brit-isms. They come up almost daily.

xx E.

ps. a baked potato is a jacket potato