Friday, 25 February 2011

Photo Friday!! - Royal Mail Letterbox





This is what the post boxes look like in Great Britain. If you're wondering what in the world the huge E II R is in the middle, It stands for Elizabeth Regina (Queen in Latin) II (because she is Elizabeth the second). This is tradition for the Royal Mail. They put the Latin initials of the reigning monarch on the post box once it is erected. Unlike the US Postal service, you can't leave mail in your mailbox and raise the flag for the postman to pick it up. You have to either drop your postaged letter in one of these or go to a post office.


- An American in the UK


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Monday, 21 February 2011

Money Talks

Let's you and I talk a little about dosh, quid, and booty! What in the world am I talking about? Cash, of course. There are some major differences in the coinage and the look of the paper (notes, as their called here) money is much different in look and texture. There are nine different denominations of coins: penny, two-pence, 5 pence, 10 pence, 20 pence, 50 pence, pound, and two pound.

Remember back in the late 90's when they were pushing those Sacagawea dollar coins? They actually stuck here in Britain (although they definitely don't have a Native American on the front.. more like.. the Queen). They've done away completely with one pound notes (or bills). It's nice not to have a ton of one dollar bills around, right?

Let's talk about size and value. The British penny is practically identical in size and color to the American penny, it's also worth the same amount 1/100 of the pound (of course this is totally ignoring the current exchange rate with the dollar, but bear with me, it's easier for me to explain it this way..). The two-pence is the size of a quarter and is made of copper, just like the penny and is worth.. you guessed it, two pennies or 2/100 of the pound (I'm just going to stop telling you what it's worth now, you get the idea.) The 5 pence coin looks much like the American dime. It's the same size and color, however, unlike what your brain is telling you, it's not worth 10 pence. The ten pence piece looks very much like the American quarter. It's the same size and color and has the course edging on it. The twenty pence piece is about the size of the American nickle, but it is hexagonal in shape, it's also silver. The fifty pence piece is about the size of an American half-dollar, but it is also hexagonal in shape, and weighs much less than a half-dollar. I will include a picture below of the British coins next to their American counterparts in value order.




Because of the size similarities, but the value difference in coins, it is difficult at first when you're trying to pay with coins. After a while though, you get the hang of it. Next up is the pound notes. I don't have a lot of money to flash around so I can't tell you every denomination that they have in Britain, but the notes that I have encountered are: 5 pound notes, 10 pound notes, 20 pound notes, and 50 pound notes. For demonstration purposes in sizes, I will show you a twenty dollar bill next to a twenty pound note. Each note has a different size and color. The 5 pound note is much smaller than the twenty pound note.




As of today the British Pound is worth 1.6246 USD. That means that your money doesn't go that far when you come here from the States.

I hope this has been helpful and look forward to our next discussion.

- An American in the UK

ps. Thanks to Tom for reminding me about the two pound coin.


Friday, 18 February 2011

Photo Friday!! - London Metropolitan Police Constable




This is what your typical constable looks like in London. There are regular officers who wear bright yellow jackets (like highway workers) and checkered hats and there are also community support officers who are somewhat like our college cops, but they get cooler uniforms. Most law enforcement officers are unarmed in the UK, unless they're in train stations or airports. They are usually packing a sub-machine gun when they are in public transport hubs.

Do you have a picture request? If so, email it to USAmericanintheUK@gmail.com and I'll do my best to get it for you.


-An American in the UK



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Monday, 14 February 2011

Dialects of Britain

I'm a bit of a language geek, so yes, it's back to some more about the English language here in Britain (I did warn you). In America, we have our own regional dialects. Let's try to list some of them.. You've got the Northern bunch (probably North Dakota, Minnesota, Ohio, and such) they don't all sound the same as each other, but I would say similar, you've got the Southern bunch (pretty much West Virginia and downwards), you've got New England, you've got the Midwest and west (which I can't even tell the difference between even though I from the Midwest). There is a pretty good amount of variations. Oh! I almost forgot your good ol' fashioned Texan accent, it is worth mentioning after all.

I'm sure if you really were picky about how you class dialects, you could find some variations on each region, and add a few. (maybe more if you include city accents such as, Philly, New York [and it's Burroughs] and others). Now, with that in mind, let's compare that to what I've found about Great Britain.

Here in Britain, there seems to be a universally known skill that people have. They can tell you where some one's from (whether it be a part of London or a city somewhere in the backwoods) just by hearing you talk for a short period of time. People in town's that are a 15 minute drive away can have a different dialogue that my wife can pick up on and can tell me where they're from. Now, I don't know how well versed the entire population is, but it seems to me that most people can do this. Given this revelation, you can imagine how many different dialects of English there are in Britain. There are tons (to give an American expression).

Yes, the United States is much larger than the UK, but I would say, as a norm, most of the United States isn't that varied in speech. I think there's something about movies and tv, maybe even the fact that we intermingle and move around so much that there is still a good cohesion of language. That said, I have absolutely no theory on why in the world you can drive a short distance here in the UK and the dialect changes. It would be interesting to find out why, maybe someone's already found out and wrote a book on it. Maybe I'll have to look into that.

The good thing about most of these dialects is that if you know English, you're pretty safe in that you'll understand them. For about the first 4 months that I lived here I did have some problems understanding the Cardiff accent. I learned quickly to just give a friendly smile as I asked them to repeat themselves so as not to be rude. The main problem I seem to have is when people throw in a word that I don't recognize or say a word that we pronounce differently.

Because I like lists, let's go over a few words that are pronounced differently in Britain:



                                      American            British Pronunciation

                                    Controversy        Cont-trer-vissy
                                    Aluminum             Al-loo-minium
                                    Yogurt                   Yah-gurt
                                    Urinal                   Your-eye-nal
                                    Garage                  Gair-edge
                                    Titanium                Titt-anium







There are more and I will do my best to catalogue all the ones that I happen upon so that you can be aware of them.


- An American in the UK


Friday, 11 February 2011

Photo Friday!! - St. James Park



St. James park is located in London, England. It's actually quite a nice park, especially in the summer months. I took a couple of strolls in it when I went to London last June and it's almost like walking into a Disney forest with all of the squirrels running around and coming up to people or even following them around! If you're going to London and are anywhere near St. James, make sure you take your own stroll in the park and bring some nuts for the squirrels, they'll eat right out of your hand!

If you've been there or have a good story to tell about St. James Park, leave it in the comments below for the other viewers to read.

- An American in the UK




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Monday, 7 February 2011

"England and America are two countries separated by a common language "

So maybe George Bernard Shaw knew what he was talking about when he said that. Even today there are times when I look confused when someone asks me to "give it a bash" or someone else looks confused when I ask for fries (chips over here) with my burger. It amazes me how much we've changed directions with the English language since the 18th century in America.

There are so many different words and phrases that are used in the UK that I have compiled a fairly long list of them. I plan on sharing them throughout my posts, but I'll give you a good list of them now to go away with and feel a little more experienced in what words mean what.


American

British

Thanks

Ta, Cheers

Ornery

Cheeky

Isn't it?

Innit?

TV, Television

Telly

Disappointed

Gutted

Cash Register

Till

ATM

Cashpoint

Fries

Chips

Chips

Crisps

Jello

Jelly

Jelly

Jam

Restroom

Loo

Pants

Trousers

Underwear

Knickers, Pants

Friend

Mate

Great

Brilliant

Good Looking

Fit

Car Hood

Bonnet

Car Trunk

Boot

















If you would like me to elaborate on any of these examples or provide you with an example of how these words would be used in every day British, let me know.

As you can see, there are some words that would easily confuse someone if you use any of these words an American context. I constantly call chips fries which will normally get you a strange pause before figuring out what you're talking about or before they say "excuse me?" Just think of it this way.. It's probably hard enough to understand what in the world I'm saying in the first place with my American accent (yes, we all have one, we just don't think of ourselves ever having an accent), not to mention I'm asking for the wrong thing entirely. It's easy to get caught in the trap of thinking that everyone should know what I mean. How hard can it be? Don't you watch TV? You should know what fries are! But, then you realize that you're not in Kansas anymore (to quote probably the worst and most overused joke that people like to state to someone from Kansas; if you don't know what I'm talking about maybe you should google the Wizard of Oz and read up on it..)

Maybe I was a little harsh in the first "official" blog. I didn't mean to discourage you commenting at all. Please do leave a comment, just don't descend into anarchy in the comments. I would really like to hear from you, the readers, as to what you would most like to have discussed. You control the topics, let's remember that. I just write about them. So, right now, you're giving me free reign to write about whatever I want to. This means that I'll be writing about language and geography (since they are favorite subjects of mine) and you won't get as much of the cool stuff or stories. Also, if you have an experience from travelling to the UK that you would like me to integrate into the different topics, feel free to email me (again, at USAmericanintheUK@gmail.com) and I'll be sure to pass your story along and give a link to your blog if you want me to.

I think I've rambled on enough for one post. Hope I actually hear from some of you this time.. or else. (you've been warned)

-An American in the UK


Tired, but happy: Superbowl XLV - in the UK

Yes, I watched the superbowl tonight here in the UK. Luckily for the last four years BBC has shown it here live. I did the normal thing and had a bunch of the guys over and we had a good time feasting on chips and salsa and chicken wings. There were a few times I had to explain some of the rules, but for the most part (thanks to Madden and also because most of the guys follow American football in some way) they knew what was going on. We were even able to watch it in HD since it was also playing on BBC One HD!

My snopsis of the game: Greenbay started phenominally and showed why they got to the superbowl in the first place. Before the end of the first half the Steelers answered back and came back with a vengence in the second half. I was sitting a little more uneasy than I was in the first half when the game came down to a one possession lead. Through a little bit of strategy and amazing Greenbay defence we came through as the victors!


An American in America

(if you couldn't tell I'm a Greenbay fan)

The only thing I missed about the coverage was the good commercials, but I'll have to look them up online tomorrow. The game showed from 10:30pm to about 3:30am, so I'm sorry if my post is a little bit jarbled and all over the place. It just goes to show that you can still enjoy a bit of home even from 5,000 miles away. (you can change enjoy to plain "be ashamed of" when it came to Christina Aguilera and The Black-eyed Peas)


- An American in the UK

Friday, 4 February 2011

Photo Friday!! - Cardiff Castle

Cardiff Castle



This is a castle in the middle of Cardiff. It was actually built on the site of an acient Roman fort. It's definitely worth a visit if you're in the Cardiff area.


-An American in the UK





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