[WJW]

I'm reminded of the mandatory "cultural awareness" training for UN Military Observers about to be deployed to some warzone. While it seems like the most boring thing ever, it was a lot of fun. Even for cultures that are seemingly not very far apart like the English and the Dutch, it is so easy to make a mistake about the intended meaning vs the actual meaning. In some way it is even more pernicious than interacting with cultures that are "obviously" different, because it will lull you into thinking you don't have to be on your guard.

Example: When an Englishman calls an idea "interesting", he thinks it is horrible. A Dutch person hearing "interesting" will interpret as the other person indeed being interested and will follow up on it later.

[ben_w]

“Great Britain and the USA: two countries separated by a common language” (or similar) comes to mind.

So many examples come to mind. On a seasonal theme: mince pies in the U.K., which are filled with mincemeat. Mince pies are a sweet vegetarian snack, because “mincemeat” isn’t “minced meat”.

Conversely, “biscuits in gravy”…

USA: https://daisysworld.net/2012/01/25/buttermilk-biscuits-and-g...

U.K.: https://old.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/65dg0d/americans_i_ha...

[beerandt]

I found Creole in the Caribbean to be a similar situation.

If you speak English, know a little French, and can understand most accents, dialects, and localisms in the US (especially the many Southern ones), then understanding Creole can be pretty easy.

At least I unexpectedly understood it somewhere between 80-100% the first time I heard it in person.

British, Irish, SA, Aus, and NZ versions of English actuality sound more "funny" to my American ear, even if Creole requires more focus to listen and comprehend.

Creole to me sounds more like an extreme slang and accent more than a different dialect, in an "uncanny valley" sort of way.

[brnt]

I count English among the 4 I speak, and I rarely have trouble dealing with accents, be they strong French, Arab, Indian, Spanish. But Chinese is often quite difficult for me to follow. Plus British dialects! So I'm sorry to say to you Britons that you're lousy English speakers, as far as I'm concerned ;)

Also, fun fact: Belgians have the same accents in English, no matter if they speak Dutch or French first!

[ben_w]

> So I'm sorry to say to you Britons that you're lousy English speakers, as far as I'm concerned ;)

Fair. As a teen cycling along Portsdown Hill, a white van driver stopped to ask me for directions. I didn’t recognise the name of the place they said they were looking for until I cycled on to the next signpost and realised their accent had just confused me and that the place itself was a local village I knew perfectly well.