Musings on English things

After posting about our American visitors, I thought it could be fun to write about some of the oddities of daily life here in jolly olde England. Such as, for instance, how yesterday we took our chances on a grey day and decided to hit the links. As we hemmed and hawed about whether to play or not, first after getting off the train and then outside the clubhouse, blokes in crisp white polos and plaid shorts were buzzing around, as though they couldn't wait to get caught in a downpour, as though to say, 'if this isn't what golf is about, I don't know what is!' We took our chances and had a authentically drizzly experience... and while it wasn't that bad, I can't see what the fuss is all about.

Moving on...

Spelling
Having now lived here for a year (!) I can say there are some British English spellings that have been easier to get a hold of than others. The extra 'u' being my favourite. Well, maybe not my favourite, but I now type it without thinking about it at all. It's not that I'm forsaking my roots, it's forced Darwinism, Microsoft Word style. I've also caught myself writing programme but only after having recently seen it written. Two conventions I can't seem to get used to, though, are realise (among others) and centre. The 're' ending just looks plain wrong to me, it makes me want to pronounce things in a French accent.

Pronounciation
Speaking of pronounciation... after all this time (and in fact, for awhile now), hearing English accents as background chatter is natural. In fact, when we were home at Christmas, Jason & I both noted how strange it was to be surrounded by strangers with American accents! We kept looking around wondering: Where did all these Americans come from!?

That said, every once in awhile I do a double take at pronounciation. One less interesting I heard the other day was 'innovative'. Not 'IH-no-vay-tive', but 'in-NAW-va-tive'. However the more humourous (there's that u again) word I heard recently was urinal. Not 'YUHR-ih-nul', but 'yuh-RYE-nul'. HA!

In order to get by, I have to consciously 'mispronounce' some words, the most common being tomato. I say tuh-MAY-toh (really more like tuh-MAY-doh), but they say toh-MAH-toh. The guys making my sandwich stare blankly. Let's call the whole thing off.

Sandwiches
Sandwiches here by default all have butter or margarine. If you think tuh-MAY-doh is bad, imagine the stares when I refuse (or specifically ask for no) butter / marg. Just a little light mayo, please, for me; nothing for Jason. Half the time they can't believe it *so much* that they still put butter on anyway. Must be lost in translation.

Meanwhile, the sandwiches here are measly, downright pitiful. Whilst (oh yeah, whilst! I love whilst!) the bread is generally delicious -- a year in and we're still remarking at least once a week how tasty the given bread we're enjoying is -- beyond that, you get one slice of meat, one slice of cheese, and, if you want it, 'salad', which consists of a few shreds of iceberg, 2 slices of toh-MAH-toh, and some cucumber slivers.

I was at a brainstorming session last week (remember: I work on margarine), and someone was lamenting the decline in use of margarine on sandwiches, attributing it to all those crazy extra fillings people are putting on these days. I bit my tongue. But then, someone (a Dutchman, not an Englishman), said: 'I mean, look at the sandwiches in America - they now have more fillings than bread!!!'' He was genuinely incredulous. I jumped at my chance: 'I KNOW! The sandwiches here are terrible!!! (Man, that felt good to say!)'

I could go on & on about the food and the eating habits of the English, but maybe I'll leave that for another time.

PS - Today was generally blue skies and 70F. Murphy's Law also holds true in England.