Last night, however, I eating some rather delicious Mexican food in the company of my new American friends and it occured to me quite how much slang I use in my everyday speech.
"Knackered", "B*llocks!", "pop" (as in "pop to the shops"), "brilliant", "gorgeous", etc, etc.
And that's without all the Britishisms that are a respectable use of language, "pavement", "post", "shop", "cinema", "film".
There's nothing like a blank stare or an amused expression to make you intensely aware of how you yourself use language.
But I've mentioned before how difficult I find it to write dialogue, so maybe a new self-awareness can only be a useful thing.
By the way, everyone seems to like the use of "cinema", and as I can't bring myself to say "movie theater", that one will be staying.
2 comments:
I know what you mean. But I'd rather go without than have to ask for a tom-ay-toe. It's pronounced tom-ARRRRRR-toe.
I find americans like to hear the word biscuit. They find it funny.
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