Ok kids, this is my first in a series of "entertaining things that are going on in my life" type posts, rather than travel ones. Not to worry!!!! I'm planning for all kinds of fun-and-interesting blog posts so as not to bore you all (even though I admittedly don't know at times who exactly "you all" who read this are).
First off... I had my first real debacle with the washing machine here. Washing machines are mini. And located in the kitchen. (Weird). There are no dryers. And thanks to my annoying landlady, there are set hours we're allowed to use ours because it's a bit noisy. All of these things contributed to me throwing "neutrals" in a load that should've just be "whites". The result? BROWN everything. I mean straight brown. No splotches. No streaks. Just brand new brown bras, and clothes. <Insert sigh> I suppose things could be worse. I now have a new biege sweater dress instead of the cream one I previously wore. I feel like a college boy speaking. This is like laundry 101. Guess that's what I get for cutting corners. What's more, is that this debacle caused me to run out of time to go to the dryer and actually dry my clothes. Which means crunchy towels. Ew!
Secondly.... I'd just like to note how I'm feeling especially sad this week that I'm not around Jaymie Ramey to see her big belly baby bump in it's final stages. She's due Cinco de Mayo, and I won't be around for it. I was at Veronica's birthday party this past weekend and her best friend Caro is literally due in like 2 days. Somehow that crazy girl came out anyway. I realized Jaymie would be doing the exact same. Here's the party girl Caro. Jaymie darling, I'm imagining your big 'ole belly now!
Lastly, before delving into the depths of all things UK Slang... I think it's ALSO worth noting here yet again how much I think Europe/UK have it right when it comes to holidays. For Easter, Good Friday and the Monday after Easter were "bank holidays" meaning that no one worked. And seriously, things shut down here. Not like in the US when everything is still open even on Christmas Day! And they actually celebrate Easter pretty hard core here. Ok, maybe it was more a secular celebration of it...but it resulted in me waking up on Easter morning to a huge chocolate egg outside my bedroom door (thanks Paul.. I've been eating these for breakfast, lunch and dinner all week!)
and getting hot crossed buns delivered to me in my room (thanks Sharon!).
I could get used to this! We also went to our friend Heather's to watch the Oxford vs. Cambridge boat race. Apparently this is a pretty huge rivalry between two elitist schools who have a crazy boat party that results in adult-frat-party-like celebrations all day long. My favorite part was the mint-colored wellies that match with their school colors! So sophisticated these Brits....
Ok, on to the good stuff. Here begins the post where I share the list of U.S. vs. UK words that I promised months ago when I first arrived. There's really not much to explain here as a set up. I think it's crazy how many expressions they use and words they say that have never crossed my ears before this trip. So starting the first day, I began writing down all the words or phrases that either had completely different meanings here, or that just aren't really used in the U.S. For quite a while, I carried this little notebook along with me in my purse everywhere I went. I sort of have slowed on that because honestly, I was sick of carrying all this crap around with me everywhere. But I've got some good ones in here.
Fair warning...there were a few weeks when Paul kept feeding me 25 versions of a dirty word. I don't know why I wrote them all down, but for the most part I did. Please excuse some of them....
Ok, this was the fist sheet I wrote, which means it was from the first few weeks. things I think worth noting here are:
1) I still don't call "pants" trousers
2) I have really started to say rubbish, dodgy and fag a lot these past few weeks
3) I've just straight given up on drinking "filtered coffee" so that's already something that's dropped off my list of words of interest.
4) Petrol still gets me. I can't get used to it. It's gas people. Same thing with queue. I've noticed some of the Americans who have lived here for a while have taken up saying "queue" so I guess it's just a matter of time....
**Just skim over a few of those on the lower part of the list please.....
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Point to note on this one... it's not actually "take a piece out of you" which I learned later (and you'll see on future pages). It's "piss". I just didn't assume anyone would be so vulgar! They seem to use "piss" a lot here. It means raining. It means drunk. It's what you do when you're teasing someone.
Keen also is one of the more frequently-used ones. I feel like everyone is keen to do everything!
Manky might be a favorite of mine. Ha! Sharon says it all the time.
Actually this set is a few of my favorites.... (see what I mean about taking the "piss" out of you?)
Here we introduce just a few cockney slang words. I'm not even going to pretend to understand WHY one would speak like this. You basically add triple the amount of words to say one thing (case in point "wife = trouble and strife"). I would like someone to try to explain the recipe for coming up with these to me, because I haven't figured it out yet.
Absolutely hands-down favorite? "Can't be bothered". Seriously. It's the best. You can use it for anything. You ran out of time? You can't be bothered to do it. You're afraid of something? You can't be bothered. You're lazy and don't want to get off your bum? You can't be bothered. It basically is a cool catch-all for about anything you want it to be.
These guys have come up as I've started to work. The "rotor" will tell you when you work. The "timetable" is the schedule for gym classes. I'll check my "diary" to tell you when I'm free.
I guess maybe I'm going to start speaking like a Brit sometimes after all! ;)
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