...which reminds me that another thing that differentiates the U.S. from much of the rest of the world is the way we write the date.
Let me explain. Today, as I started to say, is November 9th in the wonderfully positive year of 2019 (I'm hallucinating about the qualities of the year) and we in the U.S. would write this on our slates (anybody remember slates?) as 11/9/2019 and not be reminded of anything. The rest of you, for the most part, would write it as 9/11/2019 and not be reminded of anything either.
But an American seeing 9/1l on a page is suddenly reminded of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 when nearly 3,000 people died and two very large and prominent buildings in New York City came crashing down, all 110 stories of them.
We write dates as mm/dd/yyyy and you write dates as dd/mm/yyyy.
There are other things that separate us.
We drive on the right side of the road and you drive on the left side.
We either simplify or mangle spelling, depending on one's point of view, by writing favor, honor, neighbor, maneuver, theater, center and so forth. You write favour, honour, neighbour, manoeuvre, theatre, centre and so forth.
We say to-MAY-to and you say to-MAH-to.
We never mix peas and mashed potatoes together on a plate and you do it all the time.
I could go on and on.
We are different, and yet we are so very much alike.
Here are some things that unite us.
We both put our trousers on one leg at a time. (Note. I once heard a chap say, “Burt Reynolds puts his pants on the same way you and I do” and the second chap said “Yes, but he gets to do it more often.”)
Moving right along....
If someone pricks us, we bleed (Shakespeare pointed this out as well).
We laugh, we weep, we mourn, we dance.
There is nothing new under the sun, drones in the sky notwithstanding.
This post is as jumbled as most of the ones I write.
You should be used to it by now.
Tell me in the comments some other ways we are different and some other ways we are alike. Remember to keep it clean as this is a family blog.
In the north of England, trump is a rude word.
ReplyDeleteTasker Dunham, change is to speaks and it's true over here too.
DeleteI am left-handed so everything is backward for me. I can't help you.
ReplyDeleteEmma, I don't get what you mean but I'm sure my left-handed daughter would.
DeleteWhat fun...
ReplyDeleteWe like similar shows...Doctor Who...music...KJV Bible
Bobbies carry sticks instead of guns...Put vinegar instead of ketchup on chips/fries. A biscuit is a cookie? A car bonnet is a trunk.
Kathy, a lift is an elevator and a cracker is not.
DeleteOh now, it's nit quite that simple. What about us? Canadians? We muddle everything and go back and forth. Many of our people are Americans . We mix things up. We'd be hard to categorize.
ReplyDeleteRed, it's not only true, it's Trudeau.
Delete"We never mix peas and mashed potatoes together on a plate and you do it all the time". No we don't! I've never done it: never have and never will!
ReplyDeleteOddly I think everyone in the UK would know exactly what the words nine-eleven 9/11 stand for although because you dates the wrong way around I concede that some people might think the event happened on the 9 November.
I started thinking of differences and there are many. However I decided to go in search of some other than the ones I've thought of. I came across this list in the Huffington Post.
I have to say that I disagreed with a great many of the assertions. I'm not sure where the writer was living in the UK but I suspect it was somewhere well South of Birmingham.
Taking a few at random, though, I would agree:
(As a rule) No matter how rich or poor you are- your accent defines you.
Full stop = period.
It's not the norm to have a standard coffee pot, rather the British have great kettles (the plug in kind, not the whistling kind).
The tea is superb and coffee in general isn't the best. You will find instant coffee in most house holds.
British people will always use a knife and fork to eat their dinner. Some even eat ribs and burgers with a knife and fork.
Fries are 'chips' and chips are 'crisps'. (I found this even more confusing when I lived in New Zealand).
Graham, what a long comment you wrote, Grandma! Speaking of knife and fork, you clench them firmly throughout your meal but we lay the knife down and switch hands with the fork. Very odd.
DeleteWe have a Prime Minister and you have a President.
ReplyDeleteI once stood at a breakfast servery in a hotel in El Paso choosing fillings for an omelette. When I said one particular ingredient the chef sang - you say to-mah-to and I say to-may -to. We both laughed. There's something in common, laughter and singing.
Not that you might immediately pick that if you were walking along a street in any town or city in either of our countries.
Alphie
Alphie, you have a a monarch and so do we but it is a type of butterfly.
DeleteOur measuring system if you are referring to the U.S. I believe we are one of the few countries that have not changed to metric. And of course the monetary system such as the British pound and American dollar, etc.
ReplyDeleteBonnie, I am slowly understanding metric weights, as in when someone mentions kilograms, I just multiply by 2.2 in my head to get pounds.
DeleteIn the USA you tip and in NZ we don't.
ReplyDeleteIn the USA cars have their steering wheels on the wrong side, as well as driving on the wrong side.
The USA has a cold Christmas and NZ has a hot one. And a lovely long summer holiday to follow.
The USA has snakes and NZ has none.
Here's some other comparison parameters: https://www.ifitweremyhome.com/compare/NZ/US
Kate, I didn't know that New Zealand has no snakes. I thought that was Ireland. Our steering wheels are not on the wrong side, they're on the other side.
DeleteBack in my twenties, I spent two summers as a camp counsellor in Ohio. Early in that first summer I went out to a bar with some American counsellors and had too much to drink. As I climbed into bed in the cabin I shared with Chris the Art counsellor I said, "I'm feeling very pissed!" The next day Chris said, "I couldn't get to sleep because I was wondering what had made you so mad!"
ReplyDelete(In England, being "pissed" means being drunk.)
Yorkshire Pudding, and then there's fanny.
ReplyDelete