I Say Tomehto You Say Tomahto

Dear Gentle Reader,

As I close in on nearly 20 years as a resident (and now citizen) of the great United States of America, I am musing on the linguistic differences between American English and that spoken back in the Old Country, England.

For example, the old song "I Say Tomehto and You Say Tomahto; I Say Potehto and You Say Potarto"..comes to mind.

If you say to someone "I am going back to bed for a bit," your friend who speaks American English may inquire "for a bit of what?" whereas the friend who speaks the Queen's English, or some derivative thereof, would understand the expression as meaning "I going back to bed to sleep for a while." So I would advise substituting the word "bit" for "a while."

We've all heard how to avoid the embarrassment of asking your American tennis-playing friend for a "knock up", by substituting the question "shall we hit a few balls before we start scoring games?" The very idea of having a knock up, that is sex, on a tennis court in full view of the public likely may be a deterrent for all but the most brazen of us.

A vest in American English is a waistcoat in English. Suspenders keep your pants up in American English, whereas they keep a woman's hose up in England. Pants are trousers in American English, but are underpants in English English.

And so on.

While comparing England to America, someone (was it George Bernard Shaw?) said something about..."two great peoples divided by a common language."

How true.

My point here is that English, whether spoken in Oxford or in Philadelphia for example, can be a wonderfully facile tongue and is open to many interpretations.

In this global age English is widely spoken. A friend who teaches English and who has taught in China and plans to teach in Japan says that English for a non-speaker is one of THE most difficult languages to learn. What makes it so flexible and open to interpretation and nuance, also makes it harder.

So if the English spoken by an educated Brit differs so much from that spoken by an educated American, imagine the miscommunications that can ensue when slang and colloquialisms are introduced into the equation.

Cheers