Between British television shows, movies, and books, I get many opportunities to note -- and generally enjoy -- the differences between us and them when it comes to our common language. Even without the matter of pronunciation, it's interesting that we have different words and phrases for the same things. For instance, they say "two a penny" where we would say "a dime a dozen." And I've been trying to remember to use a phrase I got from Jane Austin -- "though I say it myself" (instead of "if I do say so myself") because I like it a lot better.
It sounds funny to me when they use "stop" instead of "stay," as in, "I can't stop long," or (even better) "Did they stop out all night?"
There's also the silliness with the names the Brits have given to musical notes. A half note to them is a minim, a quarter note is a crotchet, and an eighth note is called a quaver. But it gets worse: a 16th note is a semi-quaver, a 32nd note is a demi-semi-quaver, and a 64th note they call a hemi-demi-semi-quaver.
Potato treats can provide confusion because what we call fries they call chips, and what we call chips, they call crisps. And since to them pudding can mean dessert, you can conjure up a strange picture when they say something like, "We had chocolate cake for pudding." Of course, pudding can also refer to a turnover, the Yorkshire type. And they do have many traditional dishes with strange names, such as Bubble and Squeak, Toad in the Hole, and Spotted Dick to cite only a few.
It doesn't matter what they call it because English food is absolutely dreadful anyway. These are the people who brought you fish paste sandwiches, jellied eels, and deviled kidneys on toast.
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