[biofox]

I am the only Brit in the department I work in. No one gets the cultural references or British idioms I use, and I've found myself significantly changing the language I use to a very utilitarian and direct style to prevent the endless blank stares... reading this blog post just made me realise that this self-editing has made my interactions rather more 'flat' and unnatural, as they now lack spontaneity, with everything passing through a secondary filter before leaving my brain.

[kstenerud]

I have a cunning plan: Sneak as many Brits into Hollywood as possible, and have them slip in as many British references into American films as they can. Over time, they'll effectively BECOME British, and Robert's your father's brother!

Just whatever you do, don't mention the taxes! I did once, but I think I got away with it...

[haritha-j]

Is it as cunning as a fox who’s just been appointed professor of cunning at Oxford university?

[kjellsbells]

Oh Baldrick, you must have attended one of the great Universities. Oxford. Cambridge. Hull.

[haritha-j]

You won't fool me with that. Everyone know's Oxford's a complete dump! (I'm coincidentally at Cambridge currently, which really makes the joke work)

[dhosek]

I got that last reference. That episode has the funniest exchange in the history of television:

—He keeps talking about the war.

—Well you started it.

—No we didn’t.

—Yes, you did. You invaded Poland!

[YeGoblynQueenne]

At a guess ... Fawlty Towers?

[hdgvhicv]

I do wonder how many americas say “dayta” instead of “darta”, and “fewtile” rather than “fewtill” due to Patrick Stewart’s influence.

[card_zero]

Wasn't that already attempted once, in the 1950s?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_American_Speech

[cuttysnark]

I experienced this. I only lived in the U.K. for 6 months, but the number of chiefly British phrases/words/idioms that nestled their way into my way of speaking and stayed (20+ years on) was interesting and somewhat surprising.

For example, I never said "supposed to" again — "meant to" has always sounded and felt so much better. Similarly, "can't be bothered/asked" often exactly describes the situation in a way that "I don't want to" seemingly can't.

I'd also like to add "bum bag" v. "fanny pack" was a valuable lesson and a memorable laugh.

[billyjobob]

> can't be asked

What you heard wasn't what they were saying.

[bmacho]

what was it then

[jowsie]

Arsed. Both are used in my experience, though arsed seems more common. Could be regional.

[stavros]

"Asked" is usually a euphemism for "arsed".

[RetroTechie]

> can't be bothered/asked

Aussie translation: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/can%27t_be_fucked

[dijit]

I live in Sweden (and have for 11 years), a lot of the "charm" in my speech has been filed away, I speak in a very neutral accent (which barely registers as british anymore) and I use americanisms a lot, avoiding "false friends".

(IE; I never use the word "chip" to mean crisps or fries - I will instead use "Crisps", despite it being british, and fries, despite it being American; in order to avoid ambiguity.)

The more difficult one is "pants", I would say underwear or trousers.

It's interesting how I only notice how much it's contrasted when I go back to the UK and hear others, I notice people using words that I've put a mental "X" on, and its only then that I realise that I've put the mental "X" on the word... because it no longer feels natural to hear it.

[MrJohz]

I don't do the "chips" one, because it's usually clear enough from context, and the people I speak English to generally know me and my foibles. But I do religiously say "half past 6" now, instead of shortening it to "half six". In Germany, you count towards the next hour, so our "half past six" is their "half to seven".

To avoid ambiguity, I always say "half past" in English so that Germans (and I!) remember to compensate for the language barrier. Unfortunately "half to" isn't really a thing in German, so I can't do the opposite when I'm speaking German.

It's more complicated than this and how you say "quarter to eleven" is A Whole Thing in Germany, but everyone agrees on the half hour at least

[dkdbejwi383]

> (IE; I never use the word "chip" to mean crisps or fries - I will instead use "Crisps", despite it being british, and fries, despite it being American; in order to avoid ambiguity.)

In Australia we don't care about ambiguity or clarity and refer to both the thin sliced cold things and freshly fried rectangular ones as "chips"

[Symbiote]

I live in Denmark, and for such basic words (crisps, trousers, maths, aluminium, football, quid, couldn't care less, fire engine, motorway, petrol, public transport, railway, tram) I use my native British words.

People occasionally comment that it's a British word, but being misunderstood is so unusual I can't remember a recent example. Essentially everyone has read/watched Harry Potter, Dr Who or Midsomer Murders, and Europeans are probably ten times more likely to have visited the UK as the USA.

[drnick1]

Fire engine and railway aren't specifically British. There are much better words like boffin, or my favorite, bellend.

[Vinnl]

Wait, "couldn't care less" is British?

[Symbiote]

Many/most Americans say something like "I could care less about the World Cup".

British people say "I couldn't care less about the World Cup".

Both are saying they have no interest at all in the World Cup. I don't know why Americans phrase it that way.

To give a documented example, the lyrics of Teenagers by My Chemical Romance:

    They said, "All teenagers scare the livin' shit out of me"
    They could care less as long as someone'll bleed

[HardlyCognizant]

I always assumed the American version was using "could" ironically. Now I'm wonder if is an unintentional neologism.

[Vinnl]

Ah, I'd heard that latter one, but I thought that was just a mistake in the sense of "could of". TIL!

[gnubison]

I think everyone says “couldn’t care less”. But Wiktionary does say “could care less” is “American, nonstandard, proscribed”, so I guess only Americans have that (defective) alternative phrase.

[petepete]

There are a few things like that which stand out when I'm watching/listening to American media.

Another is 'on accident'.

[physicsguy]

I had that when workign with a lot of other Europeans. When I moved to a company where everyone was British I had to re-adapt, particularly because I'd become more direct after working with a lot of Germans.

[raesene9]

I have a similar experience, for the last 5+ years I've worked in companies where very few of the people I work with are British which does require care on both language and idiom. Combined with being older than a lot of colleagues, cultural references need to be picked with care :D

[Twirrim]

When I moved to the states nearly 20 years ago, my pronunciation sharpened up (stopped dropping consonants) very quickly. Over time I stopped using idioms, and the few bits of Cockney Rhyming slang I used (Butchers, Scooby; which are look, and clue, respectively).

I think it was less as a conscious act and more as a result of just not being around people that use them. There's a sizeable element of cultural reinforcement involved.

That said, they'll pry my British spelling out of my cold, dead, hands.

[basilgohar]

I wish you worked with me, in that case.

I've had the pleasure of working with many different people from different backgrounds, including many Brits. I've always found the dry, understated humor from them to be endearing, making casual conversation more interesting. My parents are both from the Middle East, my wife is from Southeast Asia, and I have many Middle Eastern, Desi, African American as well as African (as in continental) friends, so I may not be a "typical" American in that regard.

That being said, don't underestimate the value you bring by sharing your cultural insights. I don't think I told anyone to their face that appreciated their cultural value, but I hoped that my engagement and cheerfulness in dealing with them at least communicated that I was happy with their presence.

It might be that your engagement with someone opens them up to a part of the world they've yet to experience or know much about. Granted, there are lots of places with more gaps than the US and the UK, but there's still value in that and I started with those examples but mentioned it comes from all sides.

[ifwinterco]

Cultural insights are one thing but the issue is if you slip into full flow of Britishisms and let your accent loose people who only speak English as a second language can't understand what you're saying.

There's nothing unique about this though, it's the same for every language - it's one thing knowing Spanish well enough to hold a conversation where the other person is speaking slowly and making it easy for you, it's quite another to be able to slot into a group of native Chilean Spanish speakers in full flow.

I travel a lot so I'm used to adapting my use of English depending on who I'm talking to. I find there's a way to express things and still enjoy using the language without making it hard for non-native speakers to understand. But also, when you do end up in a group of entirely Brits it is fun to be able to just let loose

[throwaway2037]

    > My parents are both from the Middle East, ... so I may not be a "typical" American in that regard.

If you are from Detroit or Houston, then that would sound typically American to me. I say this over and over again on HN: The US is simply too big and too diverse to generalise about. It's better to pick a region, then generalise. The US has roughly 6-8 big cultural zones. In comparison, Europe, which has fifty countries is infinitely more diverse than the US, even if we only look at native Europeans that live there. Think about it: Germany shares a border with France. Literally, it is like Mars vs Venus in terms of their culture and language. And there are many more examples. There is nothing like it in the US.

[mikestew]

I am the only Brit in the department I work in. No one gets the cultural references or British idioms I use…

Oh, fer feck’s s sake, it’s not like the U.S. hasn’t had Monty Python for fifty years. Me, after a steady diet of British motorcycle magazine’s for the last 40 years, I speak Brit just fine. But I would think the diversity and prevalence of online forums would get folks up to speed. I dunno, maybe people just don’t pay that much attention.

OTOH, I do recall an Australia coworker who expressed appreciation that he didn’t have to explain idioms to me (Oz has moto mags, too). Obviously it’s a real problem even in this age of connections.

[throwaway2037]

Are your other department members (a) native English speakers, but not British, or (b) non-native English speakers? In my experience, there is a huge difference. I am a native English speaker. When speaking with (a) but from a different region, you can usually speak in your normal style, but don't use too much slang. With (b), I remove any slang and choose my words much more carefully. My goal is to communicate well, even if I need to adapt my style.

[rkangel]

I worked in a US office for a while (but with a few other British people as well). I didn't feel the need to edit my sense of humour luckily, but I purposefully switched to saying things like "sidewalk", "elevator" and "bathroom" because it made interactions a lot easier.

[prewett]

I'm American, but I've said "washroom" for a long time because I'm not asking to take a bash, but at least I wash at some point afterwards. Most people seem to understand fine, but I do get a few now and then.

Funny story, I was visiting Hong Kong one time, and asked the young waiter, who seemed to speak English just fine, where the washroom was. Blank stare. Bathroom? Cesuo (Mandarin)? All blank stares. I was a little out of options at that point... Turned out the word I was looking for was "toilet", which is a word I never use.

[therealdrag0]

Unfortunately in multi-cultural workplaces language is driven to common denominators for efficiency.

[ocschwar]

I'm often shuffled into teams where I am the only American and everyone else is Indian, working in India, and I take a small measure of pride in switching to the formal register that Indians like to use in workplace English, and using the idioms they have.

[whateverboat]

There's a big difference between live discussion and blog. A blog reader can search what something means, live listeners cannot.

[hnfong]

You're not alone. That's essentially the experience of most people having English as a second language.

[kurtis_reed]

Think of it as learning a second language. It should be a lot easier for you than most people.

[recursivedoubts]

Well, then... G'day, mate! Let's put another shrimp on the barbie!

[mattlondon]

+1 very similar situation, one of only two Brits the rest from all.over who speak "international English"

Despite all the woke stuff I still have to hide my en-GB background in my BigCo

[fredley]

> "Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller."