Becca Jane St Clair

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You’re In America Now, Speak American

I worried before my trip to the US that I was going to sound “too British” and people would think I was putting on airs….have you ever seen that episode of Friends where Monica and Phoebe have a friend who moved to London and then comes back and talks with a (fake) British accent? Yeah, I was afraid I might wind up doing that subconsciously. Don’t know what I’m talking about?

http://youtu.be/a1wGVD93NXY

Or where they are making fun of her (beginning of this clip):

..and I was THAT American. I can’t help it. I’ve spent two years in the UK and using British words for things so that people would know what I was talking about. My cousins took great delight in poking fun at me for saying things like “ring up” and “put it in the rubbish”. Words like “mobile”, “garage” (pronounced differently in the UK), “loo” or “toilet” (instead of “bathroom”) and “trousers” (instead of “pants”) have crept into my vocabulary without me even noticing, but it makes me stick out when I’m talking to an (American) family member or friend.

But at least I still sound American. While I was at the Lincoln Christmas Market, a man at one of the stands asked me if I was Scottish and the man running the stand with him responded that no, he thought I was Irish.

I wonder if the more time I spend outside of the US, the less American I will sound?

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