{"id":78,"date":"2011-11-12T14:40:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-12T14:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/12\/english-as-a-second-language\/"},"modified":"2017-03-16T09:08:39","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T09:08:39","slug":"english-as-a-second-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/12\/english-as-a-second-language\/","title":{"rendered":"English as a second language"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5674127283327143282\"<\/a>
I have spent a great deal of time on the tube this week observing these lovely British people. While they obviously speak English, it is the “Queen’s English” as opposed to American English (which is quite different from Texan English). As a side note, I heard someone ask if someone spoke English or British. It’s a fair question if you ask me.<\/p>\n

So for any friends that are considering or already planned a trip over soon, I offer here a crash course in what I refer to as British (instead of English). <\/p>\n

If one throws their rubbish in the bin, they are throwing the trash into the trashcan.<\/p>\n

If someone asks you for a rubber, they would like to erase a pencil mark.<\/p>\n

They may ask what is on the telly, at which point you should know which tv shows are on and at what time.<\/p>\n

Trousers are of course pants, but it seems harder to understand when it is pronounced like trous-ahs.<\/p>\n

If you hear someone say (and I did) “I do believe I have been firmly slapped upon my buttocks”, they mean they just got their ass chewed by someone else. This too sounds even more fun in British.<\/p>\n

If someone would like to have a go, they really just want a turn to try whatever it is going on.<\/p>\n

If you happen to be driving in London and you go into the congestion charge zone in your car, you best go online and pay your \u00a310. If not you get a ticket for almost \u00a380. The congestion charge zone is the center of town where the City is doing everything possible to discourage vehicular traffic. Just going once is deterrent enough for me. <\/p>\n

There are several unwritten rules to mass transit as well. The most notable one is during rush hour (also referred to as armpit hour), it can become so crowded that the normal rules of social engagement and space no longer apply. It is perfectly acceptable to use the person next to you as a support during the sometimes chaotic movements of the train. Falling into the person next you happens so frequently that it is just accepted. No embarrassment, no shame, just a simple “oops, sorry” is sufficient. One thing that is not allowed is phone conversations. While most people make no eye contact (which is almost physically impossible during armpit hour), you will certainly be stared down if you dare speak on your phone. <\/p>\n

As I slowly understand and appreciate many of the locals’ customs, I am beginning to understand why there exists a certain pride in being a London girl. The city is massive, the sights are never ending, and the place seems to never sleep. It is beautiful and fast paced. Everything is here. The costs are outrageous, but I understand why people pay them. This is a great place to live.<\/p>\n

Cheers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have spent a great deal of time on the tube this week observing these lovely British people. While they obviously speak English, it is the “Queen’s English” as opposed to American English (which is quite different from Texan English). As a side note, I heard someone ask if someone spoke English or British. It’s…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-78","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-london","7":"category-micha","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8k10v-1g","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":67,"url":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/2012\/01\/14\/to-be-or-not-to-be\/","url_meta":{"origin":78,"position":0},"title":"To be or not to be…","author":"Micha Lunt Hooper","date":"January 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week, I felt I might be transitioning to a Brit. While out with a guy on my team, I asked him if I could \"put my rucksack in his boot\". Of course for my Texan friends, I was asking if I could put my backpack in his trunk. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "London"","block_context":{"text":"London","link":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/category\/europe\/united-kingdom\/london\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56,"url":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/23\/advanced-language-lessons\/","url_meta":{"origin":78,"position":1},"title":"Advanced language lessons…","author":"Micha Lunt Hooper","date":"March 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Advanced language lessons have become part of my every day dialogue. Here's some of the new words and phrases I have learned recently:plaster - also known as a bandaid in Texanspeak. (When Keali was teaching me how to properly refer to her bandaid, I mean plaster, she tried to explain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "London"","block_context":{"text":"London","link":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/category\/europe\/united-kingdom\/london\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89,"url":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/2011\/06\/26\/the-goods-and-bads-of-the-next-adventure\/","url_meta":{"origin":78,"position":2},"title":"The goods and bads of the next adventure…","author":"Micha Lunt Hooper","date":"June 26, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The Hoopers are gearing up for another big move. This one won't be quite as far as the last one, but an international move nonetheless. We are terribly saddened to be leaving Holland. We ended up absolutely loving it here. There is so much to love. In honor of my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Micha's Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Micha's Blog","link":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/category\/blogs\/micha\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61,"url":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/12\/waiting-waiting-thinking\/","url_meta":{"origin":78,"position":3},"title":"Waiting, waiting, thinking…","author":"Micha Lunt Hooper","date":"March 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"So we are 10 days into Scott being gone. So far, so good. The kids and I had a great Sunday after a not great Saturday. Sunday included beautiful weather, a scooter trip into Kew, a trip to the bookstore for gifts for their friends, and cooking. The most fun\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "London"","block_context":{"text":"London","link":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/category\/europe\/united-kingdom\/london\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50,"url":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/2012\/05\/19\/the-hoopers-go-manor-style\/","url_meta":{"origin":78,"position":4},"title":"The Hoopers go manor-style","author":"Micha Lunt Hooper","date":"May 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"We had a three day bank weekend, so we decided to head to the country. After many hours of searching the internet for pseudo-nearby castles, we finally settled on going towards Bath\/Bristol area to Bradford-Upon-Avon. There was a \"family friendly\" manor house hotel.The house was beautiful and huge! But the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "London"","block_context":{"text":"London","link":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/category\/europe\/united-kingdom\/london\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54,"url":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/2012\/04\/17\/a-little-more-british-everyday\/","url_meta":{"origin":78,"position":5},"title":"A little more British everyday….","author":"Micha Lunt Hooper","date":"April 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"We had a great weekend. We attended our first rugby match. Let me just say: wow!It was an absolute blast. Keali was glued to it! She loved watching the players tackle and get so rough with each other. Our aggressive kid on the other hand could not have cared less.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "London"","block_context":{"text":"London","link":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/category\/europe\/united-kingdom\/london\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":289,"href":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions\/289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/passportsnothallpasses.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}