Friday, January 22, 2010

Are we British or American?

In the area of Denmark where we live, there are very few Americans (we've met none). So people often assume we are from England and when I'm out shopping I will get comments about it.

Like when its rainy and overcast, someone will say, "...kindof like London weather, huh? hahaha."

Or the gentleman at the cheese shop, who I've told everytime I've been there that I'm American, still asks when we'll move back to England. (We converse in Danish though since he doesn't speak English, maybe that explains the discrepancy.)

When the Danes learn to speak english in school, they learn British english, not American. This isn't really a problem, except for a few words or phrases. Now Broderick, instead of asking for cookies or crackers, ask for biscuits or kiks.

And the other day, he asked if he could watch the tele.

Maybe he'll move back with a British accent ... you never know.

4 comments:

  1. Ha! That is funny! It sounds familiar . . . when Tobin was in school there, he came home one day and said they had a "lovely party in the garden." Ahhhh! We actually pulled him out when they started teaching him British phonics. ;)

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  2. by "there," I meant Belgium, not England. :)

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  3. sounds like Singapore, too. The British settled Singapore so the English that is spoken there is a weird Asian - British accented English. We learned all sorts of British words like "Lift" instead of "elevator" and "boot" instead of "trunk". I got funny looks the first few months back here when I'd ask a store clerk where the lift was:)

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  4. Yes of course the lift, no one knows what an elevator is. And they call their yards gardens too. I'm sure there's so many others that I'm forgetting.

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