To prepare you all for when you come to visit me, I would like to share with you a few British phrases and words. Hopefully this will mitigate some confusion you may experience.
“Cheers”: We’ll start with an easy one. When you come here, you will hear “Cheers” approximately 394587 times a day (and this is not because you will be drinking that much). Hand someone a pencil, you’ll get a nice “Cheers” in return. Make a purchase at any store, you’ll get a “Cheers”. Say goodbye to someone, you’ll get a “Cheers”. Pass by the office security man (I love him) four times a day, get a “Cheers” every time. My favorite is when British people hang up the phone. The conversation almost always ends with a very pleasant, “Cheers! Bye!” Who knew the British were so cheerful. I actually said, “Cheers” in reply to a cashier’s “Cheers” the other day, but I think that was more from a reflex I’ve gained by drinking with Ashley, who makes sure to toast every time.
“Are you alright?” (concerned tone): This one took me a while to figure out. I’m pretty aware that my face naturally falls into worried mode, but never before had so many people freely questioned me about it. I would, for instance, be in the office kitchen making some tea and a coworker would come in. “You alright?” he would ask. “Yes? Is something wrong?” I would answer, slightly perturbed. But it turns out that this is the British way of asking, “How are you?”—just a standard way to start a conversation. (I figured this out when I overheard British people ask this to people who do not naturally appear worried.) (They are a concerned people though. When Hurricane Irene was hitting the East Coast, this girl came up to me in the office kitchen and asked if my family was alright. This was very nice of her, but she scared the crap out of me. I was like, “I thought so? What happened??”)
“Taking the piss out of you”: When I first heard this one, my reaction was, “I beg your pardon?” But, this means “getting made fun of”, as in “She really got the piss taken out of her when she said ‘pants’ instead of ‘trousers’.” British Will uses this one pretty frequently, but he usually shortens it to “taking the piss.”
“Trousers”: Pants. But don’t say pants, because that means underpants.
“Let’s have a chat.”: I feel as if this has some kind of ominous tone when used at home. So whenever boss-man would say this to me, my reaction would be “uh oh, what did I do….” Here, however, it’s the way to say, “let’s talk in a friendly, non-threatening manner.”
“Netball”: I learned this one today at lunch with Brian from Liverpool and Michael from Portugal. Michael plays in a basketball league here and was telling us about his game last night. Brian asked me if I played basketball or netball back at home. I asked him what the difference is between the two. Apparently netball is very similar to basketball, except that there is no backboard on the hoop and you can’t move with the ball (no dribbling). I had actually heard Brian use the word “netball” on a previous occasion, but I had assumed he was just being a big British nerd.
“Courgette”: The other day, when I was in the office kitchen (it may seem that I spend a lot of time in the office kitchen...maybe I do), Luit (one of my favorite people that I work with—he’s really helpful to the interns and is an all-around nice guy) was telling me about this chocolate cake he wants to make. The recipe uses courgettes instead of butter, so it’s healthy! He was very excited about this. But I was confused. “…What is a courgette?” I asked slowly. Luit then struggled to describe what a courgette, in fact, is. “It’s green, it’s in the pumpkin family…what would you call it…” I suggested that it is perhaps a gourd. No, no, it’s not a gourd. We both left the kitchen very unsure of what a courgette actually is. In a few minutes, however, the mystery was solved. Luit emailed me a link, explaining that Americans know courgettes as zucchinis. So, courgette equals zucchini. Also, aubergine equals eggplant, but I don’t have a story for that one. Ashley and I just googled it.
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