As someone from a former British colony who now lives in the U.S., I switch between both forms of English pretty natively..
-
As someone from a former British colony who now lives in the U.S., I switch between both forms of English pretty natively..
But sometimes I forget what context I’m in, or I just don’t remember there’s an alternative word.
So I end up with things like ‘I bought food out of a boot’ (trunk)
Or
‘I bonked on a bike’ (didn’t eat enough and ran out of energy while cycling, not actually. Bonking on a bike. Ouch!)
-
My fave is I keep telling people I’m going TO THE TOILET (instead of restroom) coz they don’t like imagining a toilet bowl here, which is what it is to them
-
@skinnylatte nobody's told you you speak pretty good English yet?
-
@SRDas no one ever guesses I’m from somewhere else but that could be a Bay Area thing
-
@skinnylatte “I bonked while biking” is something I hear pretty frequently among my athletic friends in the USA. (But after living overseas for a few years, I too default to “toilet.”
-
@rednikki for some reason, the Thais, Malaysians, Singaporeans and Indonesians love to tell you what they are going to the toilet TO DO
like even in work meetings it’s fairly common for someone who will go hang on I gotta pee / poop ahahaha
-
Amin Hollon 🇺🇸🇲🇾🇮🇳🇦🇫replied to Adrianna Tan last edited by
Wait, "toilet" is region-specific? I genuinely had no idea. I think I use restroom and toilet pretty interchangeably, but most people where I am say "bathroom".
Hm, come to think of it I use "bathroom" when at someone's home but "restroom" to refer to public restrooms. And "toilet" for either.
-
Adrianna Tanreplied to Amin Hollon 🇺🇸🇲🇾🇮🇳🇦🇫 last edited by
@amin ‘toilet’ is kind of weird here where I am at least
-
Andres "🧠🐛✊" Salomonreplied to Adrianna Tan last edited by
@skinnylatte @amin Yeah, here in the US we say bathroom.
-
Carrie Shanafeltreplied to Andres "🧠🐛✊" Salomon last edited by
@Andres4NY @skinnylatte @amin I say toilet in the US; it doesn't sound weird to me.
-
Amin Hollon 🇺🇸🇲🇾🇮🇳🇦🇫replied to Carrie Shanafelt last edited by
@carrideen @Andres4NY @skinnylatte
Doesn't sound weird to me either, what I don't know is if it would sound weird to those around me.
Okay okay I am nerding out way too much; studying Communications has done nothing good for my existing tendency to overthink every single social interaction. At least now it's coming from curiosity instead of anxiety.
-
Adrianna Tanreplied to Amin Hollon 🇺🇸🇲🇾🇮🇳🇦🇫 last edited by [email protected]
@amin @carrideen @Andres4NY maybe it’s just a weird N Californian thing. People are fine talking about their feelings but not fluids.
(I’ve been in work situations where people can’t even say bathroom / restroom. They’ll say things like ‘I need a bio break’)