Step Lively to the Way Out

We just had an amazing 13-day trip to the United Kingdom!

I found myself frequently thinking about cultural differences.  Not surprising, right?  It’s already a topic I consider often since we are living in Germany.  I would guess it’s at the forefront of any traveler’s mind when they journey to a foreign country.

However, this time the language differences were something I could really sink my teeth into…since we were in a place where I actually spoke the local language.  Or, in theory I do, ha ha.

From the moment we stepped off the plane, we couldn’t always understand the people we shared conversation with.  Just as is true regionally in the U.S.A., there are many variances of British English depending on where you are (or where the speaker is from).  There are the fast talkers and the slow talkers.  There are those that have come from other countries and learned English.  So, it was almost like a foreign language.

The main thing that interested me were the different phrases and nouns that we

encountered.  Here are some of my favorites from the trip.

1) Way Out – The exit is still the exit, but it’s mostly called the “way out” in England.

2) Tube – This is the subway.  People will still acknowledge the word subway, it’s just not as common.

3) Flat – An apartment.

4) Mind the Gap – this means to watch out when you get off the tube…sometimes there is a gap between the train and platform.

5) Queue Up – Form a line!  The English are really quite excellent at queueing

up, which I sincerely appreciate.

6) Take Away – Food which you are taking with you, to go.

7) Loo – Restroom

It doesn’t take a writer to notice and appreciate the contrast of how language is used.  It’s one of those things that makes life interesting and kills the tedium which would exist if we were all the same.  God save the Queen!