Learning English

(Finding my way through Harrogate this week)

After talking to Mom about my family history, I have learned that my ancestors are serial-movers. According to Mom, her side of the family got to America from Germany because they were running away. Now that is what I call running away!

I figure I should follow in the footsteps of my great great grandparents and have moved to a country that is foreign to me. Although my outward appearance blends in seamlessly, the second I open my mouth the librarian, the bank manager, the O2 and McDonanlds’ clerks, and the new running group recognize “this girl is NOT from around here.” That is right, I am the one with an accent now and I have a HUGE American accent.

(The view from my McDonalds "box suite")

Eric (my American bf/roomie) and I had a talk about this. He is not surrounded by the native accent as much but I will probably be and to be honest, I love it. I am really enjoying listening to people talk but then I open my own mouth and sound so different. Weird! I don’t know if I will acquire any sort of accent but I do know that I am already picking up on some great new vocabulary terms.

“Red Boy” “Rent Boy” being the newest one I learned the other day as I was sitting in McDonands taking advantage of FREE internet with the purchase of water and side salad. A group of teenage girls were eating lunch and discussing the term. One of the girls did not know what it meant therefore I was fortunate to not only hear the term but I got a definition as well.

Rent Boy=Male prostitute.
I had originally thought the word was “Red Boy.” It totally made sense to this Wisconsin girl--red light=red boy--makes sense right? I was wrong. Luckily, before I posted this, I had the good fortune to mention it to some Harrogate residents who corrected my error and got a laugh out of my my American translation. Thank you, sooooo much Kariba Creative team!

There are others that I am sure I will be learning. I don’t know exactly what the crag is yet. The women at the running club kept talking about a wedding run where they ran out to the “crag” and had cakes. Sounds amazing and I know for a fact that the cakes were very yummy. I got to have some after my first group run. However, I don’t really know what a crag is. I am imagining it is some sort of land formation. Maybe rocks or a valley? According to my “researcher” roomie: The UK was an area where the glaciers stopped in the last ice age. Being from a region of Wisconsin which benefited from the glacial stopping, I know what glacial rocks look like and it is very pretty.

Here are a couple more terms, which are new and very important for me to know. I will put the English term first then the American Definition and why it is important for me to know.

Boot = Trunk of your car
I suppose if someone tells me to put something in the boot and I didn’t know this I might be very confused. Luckily, Eric pointed out a “boot sale” when arriving in Harrogate. No, no my NY friends. Do not get too excited. There are no Prada, LV, or even Areosoles at this sale. Rather, it is a sale that takes place from the back or “boot” of your automobile.

Coriander Leaves= Cilantro
This is probably not a UK/US thing but it is something I needed to learn. In NYC we called the leaves of the coriander plant cilantro. Just like it says in my Microsoft Word Encarta World English Dictionary. However, I was not informed that they were two in the same before I went to Asda to get fixings for guacamole. Normally, I would just smell the stuff since it looked like what I knew to be cilantro but they had it completely sealed and I could not smell it. I was going to take a leap of faith but then spotted a whole coriander plant for sale on an adjacent rack. When no one was looking, I took a tiny leaf to sample and sure enough… I learned in Harrogate’s Asda that coriander leaves are cilantro.

Plasters= “Bandaid” or plastic bandage.
I found this out while in Boots drugstore (again, this has nothing to do with footwear). I was looking for bandages for my sore knees that I fell on a week ago in NY. Anyone who knows me, knows that this is a very critical piece of information. As an American child, I was known as the “band-aid kid” because of all of my injuries. I suppose if I were a UK kid I would have been known as the “plasters-kid.” Hahahahaha, that cracks me up a bit.

Chips=Fries
Yes, I know this is one of the most popular terms and I know it pretty well, I’m not confused by it. The reason it is important to me here is that I do not have the internet yet. ((Hold on, I’m piecing this one together.)) Since I do not have the internet at my flat, I need to go to McDonalds to get it for free. This means I spend a few hours a day at McDonalds. Eric is teasing that I will soon refuse to get out of bed without the promise of a Big Mac and shake. So, with all the time I spend at Micky D’s, it really tickles me to see a tiny blonde British child say “Chips! Chips! Do I get Chips?!” I have to reform my preconceived notion of the McDonald’s “fry smell” to mean “chips.” It is not solely the idea of fries, it is the fry smell that is McDonalds. I have to learn that that smell is chips not fries. Oh dear, now I am confused.

Anyway, I am also learning a lot about a culture. At first glance, it is seemingly identical to the one I grew up in but at second glance… I am found a bit lost. I am also learning the English way of living. Apparently, you do NOT have tea at teatime. That was a lesson I learned from my designer replacement Victoria before I landed in this sunny isle. Vic is from Oxford and lives in NYC. She filled me in on UK living while I filled her in on marathon running. It was a fair trade off methinks but I wish I had a pocket Vic right about now. I would get so much more use out of her here.

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(The Stray((I think that's what it's called)), and yes, it is sunny!)

Side Note: I bet you caught me say “this sunny isle” and maybe you thought I was being a bit facetious but I am not. It has rained one day since I landed but other than that, it is very very sunny here in Harrogate. I could possibly get a tan if the temperature rose a few degrees. ☺