[dpark]

> I have trouble when I'm in American and I order water. I need to soften the t to a d, and drawl the word.

Where are you from? (i.e. What kind of accent do you have?) I find it strange that you'd have to enunciate less to be understood ordering water. If you pronounce "water" with a British accent (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/water#English), Americans should generally not have trouble understanding you.

[DanBC]

I'm English, with a reasonable English accent.

I'm not kidding, "water" is never understood, across a lot of California.

[dpark]

Interesting. I've never seen that before, but I can't imagine why you'd make something like that up, so this must just be a gap in my experience.