I’m fascinated by the old “countries separated by a common language” aspect of British and American culture, the way we regard each other’s accents and usage. I admit I am fairly appalled every time I see or hear the British usage “different to.” That preposition doesn’t make any sense!
One activity I find fun (and this just goes to illustrate the roller coaster that is my life) is spotting the slip-ups when British authors write dialogue for American characters. These are a few very common ones (just as I am sure there are common slip-ups when Americans write dialogue for British characters, and I would love to hear about them) — when an American characters says:
- “meant to” instead of “supposed to”
- “garden” instead of “yard”
- “holiday” instead of “vacation”
- “clever” instead of “smart” in a context where the word is being used to mean “intelligent” (in the intellectual sense), not “quick-witted” or even “sneaky”
- “toilet” instead of “bathroom” or “rest room”
Most authors get that Americans don’t say “lift” for “elevator” or “boot” for “trunk,” that sort of thing, but I’ve seen these more than once and raised an eyebrow.
