So, I have had several people ask me about my spelling. My favorite time has been when I had a person come up to me at college and tell me that I was spelling things wrong or that I was calling things by the wrong name. All I have to say is, oh silly American English. So, today I am taking a break from my usual posting to clear up some terms and spellings that people keep telling me are incorrect.
First things first. Where was I born? Not in the Commonwealth! Amazingly I was born in the middle of the United States to my wonderful Mother and Father that are of Oto-Missouria/Dutch/Prussian/Scottish/English decent. So, how do I end up sounding like I’m British rather than American? Well, it comes from learning my English from people that use Oxford English. *sigh* For the longest time my teaches and professors thought I grew up overseas. Oh well. That’s life.
Next: the questions that I get the most. “What is up with you adding a u to various words?” and “why do you keep spelling the word color wrong?” I am not spelling colour wrong. To me you all are spelling colour wrong. I spell it the same way that I have always spelled it. The same thing goes with flavor, labour, honour, and neighbour. Also, I sometimes people think that I spell words like centre, litre, and theatre wrong. No, that’s how the English spell the words center, liter, and theater. Sometimes I spell things like practise instead of practice or connnexion rather than connection. Most of the time I spell things like catalog this way: catalogue. That’s just one of my quirks. I’m not spelling it wrong. I’m spelling it right…in the Commonwealth.
Also, some of the phrases that I use in my everyday life are more British than they are American. For example, I often ask people if they would fancy a cuppa. Most of the time I end up with people looking at me strangely. Of course growing up in Oklahoma asking someone if they want a cupppa tea isn’t that far of a stretch and people there just look at me like I’m abbreviating the sentence and then finish it with what they want. When being asked if you fancy a cuppa, what a person is asking is if you want a cup of hot tea. Speaking of tea, when being asked how one takes their tea or coffee what you are being asked is do you want cream, milk, sugar, or nothing in it and not what kind of cup you want it in. In a lot of places outside of the States it isn’t uncommon for people to put milk or cream in their tea. I do this all the time. For a long time my boyfriend thought I was drinking coffee until he notice the tea bag in my empty cup. For those who would like a new type of tea to try I would recommend PG Tips. It’s delicious. I enjoy it quite a bit. I always have a box at work and at home so that when I feel the need for a cuppa I have it available. I also use my mobile not my cell phone. For the ladies, and this relates back to one of my previous fashion posts, I wear tights regardless of if they are called pantyhose. It weirded my boyfriend out when I started talking about ice lollies. Those are popsicles for those who don’t know.
I could go on and on, but alas, I have so many things to get done today that I must cut my post shorter than what I would like. I will try to start posting little random tidbits at the end of my post though or explain things that may be unfamiliar to those who were not raised by Europeans.
Until the next time!
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