Obviously, English is the primary language spoken in the U.K., but since living here, I have discovered that British English varies from American English in more ways than I had thought. I’ve found myself incorporating the new vocabulary in various, subtle ways, saying I’m “in the queue” rather than “in line” for theatre tickets, asking if an issue is “sorted” instead of “sorted out,” and expressing gratitude with “cheers” as opposed to “thanks.” I haven’t had any great difficulty working out what people are saying, but one topic of conversation I’ve been struggling with is talking about the weather. The standard unit of measurement for temperature is Celsius here, so if I ask someone how cold it is, I have a moment of shock when someone says it’s 15 degrees, even though it’s perfectly lovely outside. I was also talking with my flatmates about how warm it was in Boston a few weeks ago, and said it was in the 60s. They looked quite alarmed, and asked if everyone had burst into flames (60 degrees Celsius is 140 degrees Fahrenheit). But aside from that, and one British friend who is bent on proving how ridiculous our version of football is (“You don’t play it with your feet, what kind of a word is soccer anyway?!”), I haven’t really had a problem adjusting to the new vocabulary and culture. One of my favorite phrases I’ve learned relates to one I already knew—I’ve known for a while that in England, underwear are called “pants” and what we would call pants they call “trousers.” This makes it very easy to get into uncomfortable situations (for example, the phrase “Oh, I just need to put on some pants” takes an entirely new connotation), but what I didn’t know is that there’s also a phrase, “That’s pants,” which refers to something that is bad, unfortunate, stupid, etcetera. I find this adorable, and plan on bringing it back to the States.
Highlights from the week: seeing Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf starring Imelda Staunton in the West End (one of the best, most powerful performances I’ve ever seen), visiting Borough Market (a huge farmer’s market on the south bank) and eating fresh bread and cheese on the bank of the Thames (spring has sprung in London, and I couldn’t be happier about it).
