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I know, I know. Yesterday's rugby result was dismal. But despair not! There are still things the English are good at! Words, for one!  https://www.flickr.com/photos/mendhak/8134272291  "Stonehenge, Condado de Wiltshire, Inglaterra, 2014-08-12, DD 09" by Diego Delso. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Commons -
Yeah, I thought that title would get your attention. I’ve just spent two amazing weeks in France and England; two weeks that have taught me so much about being an ex-pat, and the concept of home, that I’m having a bit of an identity crisis. So while I deal with that, here are some other things I learned. This week, from our Gallic friends: 1. It is possible to eat every croissant a bistro has. 2. Pretty much every single street in Paris is gorgeous. Even the one with all the sex shops on it.  Yep, that beautiful. Woah, okay, there’s been far too much sentiment going on around here. All this talk of love and feelings and the like. Simply isn’t British. So to get things back on track, let’s do something silly. Buzzfeed started me off, with their excellent (and funny) list of Most British-Sounding Words. (Warning: please do not go around trying most of these words out in general conversation. You’ll get a poke in the eye, or worse, an offended sniff and no invite to Mummy’s for Sunday dinner.) Unfortunately, Buzzfeed left out a few of the best words we have to work with. Words that can be savored in the mouth like a cream-and-jam-covered scone. Oh, and my words are cleaner. Enjoy.  Photo: minniemouseaunt / Creative Commons / Via Flickr: minniemouseaunt  Image via Clipart I love accents. If I had all the time and money in the world, I’d wander the country just listening (probably spending most of my time in Boston, because Matt Damon). I love that the U.K. has so many distinct accents and even dialects, packed into an island (and a bit) the size of Oregon. I love the history of accents in the U.S., the changing vocabularies as the settlers went west, the whole New Yawk thing. Dropping your r’s is upper class! No, it’s low class, stop doing it right away! No, it’s cool to have a New York accent! Start doing it again! So fun.
Back in England, I always picked up on accents and usually unthinkingly used them myself. |
AuthorKimberley Ash is a British ex-pat who has lived in and loved New Jersey for almost thirty years. When not writing romance, she can usually be found cleaning up after her two big white furry dogs and slightly less furry children. Her first novel, Breathe,has been re-released through her own publishing company, Tea Rose Publishing. Her trilogy, The Van Allen Brothers, was released by Tule Publishing in 2019. Archives
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