Anyway, her being home reminded me that at school, when one of the children isn't feeling well, they will say, "So-and-so is feeling poorly today" (almost pronounced "pauwly"). Then, if it gets worse, they will be "sickly."
The kids have also told me a few words recently that they've learned at school that are different than American expressions. Here are a few:
- a marker is called a "felt-tip"
- the bathroom is the "toilet" or the "loo"
- tape is called "cellatape"
- a sink is a "tap"
- a garbage can is a "rubbish bin"
- when you do math, which they call "maths," and you add two numbers together, you would say, "2 add 7".
- if the student buys a hot lunch, it is called "dinner" (see previous blog about "tea") AND
- a pencil eraser is called a "rubber" (I think I will need to correct that quickly before they go back to school in the States)
5 comments:
HA!
Yeah, that last one could draw some looks (from the adults). Hopefully it'd go over the heads of the kids though.
You say the kids have picked up the accent already? You got a video camera? Would love to hear some of it. :o)
Praying for health and protection for you all...
Do they say, "I'm in the toilet" when they're in the bathroom?
What about how they call cigarettes fags? That one might be a tricky one to 'unlearn'! LOL! I can't wait to hear their British accents. I love your blog, I only wish there was more of it - no guilt from me, I totally appreciate the craziness that more than two children bring! :)
Yeah - Englishisms are funny. We have some british friends here and we're always going back and forth, "do you say ...." Then we started trying to play tricks on each other like "oh, we call tires 'roundies'" The most outlandish was "what?! you don't call hair 'spaghetti'"?
Anyways, I do try to send my son to school with a rubber everyday, but as with you will have to do some re-education before returning stateside. Ours will have to be more extensive though. "How are you?" in Arabic is "kiifak?" with the last syllable being pronounced like the 'f' word. Yikes!
Brian
that made me laugh out loud.
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