I told the sweet little British lady who was babysitting me that I didn't want a biscuit.
A man walks down the street in that hat, people know he's not afraid of anything.
Wash ,'The Message'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Laga - May 25, 2011 2:02:39 pm PDT #14913 of 28286
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.
Polter-Cow - May 25, 2011 2:15:25 pm PDT #14914 of 28286
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
But you DID. You just didn't know it.
Consuela - May 25, 2011 2:16:47 pm PDT #14915 of 28286
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix
As a child, I found it much easier to handle things like scones, lorries, and crumpets--because they weren't words I already knew--than words I knew, like jumper or biscuit, which were Clearly Wrong.
Of course, now I'm just as likely to say "arse" as "ass", and "bollocks" is one of my favorite curses. So I'm apparently now residing somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic ocean...
Laga - May 25, 2011 2:32:08 pm PDT #14916 of 28286
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.
But you DID. You just didn't know it.
I know! I was also a little freaked out when I heard the family talking in the morning and the babysitter's son asked if he should go knock me up.
Sue - May 25, 2011 2:32:29 pm PDT #14917 of 28286
hip deep in pie
I don't know how (well through my parents probably), but I ended using a few vaguely British phrases as a kid that caused what seemed like an unnecessary amount of confusion at the time.
I still remember asking for chips at a McDonalds and the girl behind the counter thinking I meant potato chips. That happened a lot. I learned to say fries. But hey, fish and chips is VERY POPULAR around here and I don't know why people can't figure it out.
I also remember getting teased for saying half-past four, instead of four-thirty.
Typo Boy - May 25, 2011 2:34:55 pm PDT #14918 of 28286
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.
Yeah I freaked people out by saying things like "half past four" and "a quarter till 3" in college. Did not know they were not standard language until I got laughed at a few times.
Laga - May 25, 2011 2:37:01 pm PDT #14919 of 28286
You should know I'm a big deal in the Resistance.
I say half past and quarter to! It feels odd when Brits say "half four" I never know if that's 3:30 or 4:30.
Connie Neil - May 25, 2011 2:42:00 pm PDT #14920 of 28286
brillig
Half past and quarter to are Britishisms?
Anne W. - May 25, 2011 2:43:10 pm PDT #14921 of 28286
The lost sheep grow teeth, forsake their lambs, and lie with the lions.
I use them frequently. I also tend to use "quarter of" as often as I do "quarter to."
Hil R. - May 25, 2011 2:47:38 pm PDT #14922 of 28286
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l
I use them frequently. I also tend to use "quarter of" as often as I do "quarter to."
Me too. I think I tend to use "quarter of" for hours that start with a consonant, and "quarter to" for ones that start with a vowel, so I kind of slur it to "quarter o'six" or "quarter t'eight."
I'm rereading "A House Like a Lotus." Madeleine L'Engle books were a huge part of me as a kid and teenager. I was so sad when she died, and then I read her obituary and found out that, for most of my life, she'd been the librarian at the church a block away from my grandmother's apartment. I wish I could have known that when she was alive, and maybe gone and met her sometime, but I have no idea what I would have said. But from ages 10 through 17 or so, I must have walked by that church clutching one of her books dozens of times.