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.
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.
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.
Half past and quarter to are Britishisms?
I use them frequently. I also tend to use "quarter of" as often as I do "quarter to."
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.
But from ages 10 through 17 or so, I must have walked by that church clutching one of her books dozens of times.
Hil, that's pretty awesome.
I love L'Engle: she's so compassionate. That said, I recall not liking House Like a Lotus much; it's the one where
Poly freaks out because an older woman makes a pass at her, right?
I now have a sudden hankering to reread a ton of L'Engle. Maybe after the Rowling binge, and then the Pratchett binge...
I was given a hard time for using them. Dont know if britishism but seen as odd.
That said, I recall not liking House Like a Lotus much; it's the one where
Yeah. It's a very oddly written scene, too.
There are a lot of strange things about this book. Polly, who's 16, is dating a guy in his mid-twenties, and her parents have no comment at all about that. They seem happy that she's being social at all.
