![\"blog](\"http:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/goglobal\/files\/2015\/01\/blog-5.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAt a Lebanese caf\u00e9 near Buckingham Palace, it took 10 minutes for us to order coffee and scones from a waitress who only spoke a few words of English. At an Italian restaurant in Soho, our waiter spoke with such a thick Italian accent that he was almost impossible to understand. When you\u2019re traveling, you always have to keep an open mind and be patient with everyone you meet.<\/p>\n
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But lets not forget about the Brits! I\u2019ve been speaking English for 20 years now, and up until this month I really thought I\u2019d mastered it. But London may as well be a whole different world.<\/p>\n
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\u201cEllo, gov\u2019nah!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPip, pip, cheerio!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere\u2019s the loo?\u201d<\/p>\n
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Sound familiar? These are all examples of overstereotyped British phrases that most Americans are used to throwing out in humor whenever the UK is even mentioned. But I\u2019m 3 weeks into my 5 month-long London adventure, and I can assure you that we\u2019ve all been wrong this entire time. Yes, really.<\/p>\n
The first few might not come as a surprise. I mean, gov\u2019nah? Come on. But I really was shocked about this last one. I\u2019ve now been in London for 20 days and met countless England natives in my dorms, classes, and out on the street. But I have not once heard anyone refer to the bathroom as \u201cthe loo.\u201d It\u2019s just not a thing here. I know what you\u2019re thinking, WHAAAAT??!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Most commonly, the Brits just say toilet. \u201cToilets\u201d signs adorn every public restroom, with the occasional \u201cWC\u201d (water closet) thrown in. I\u2019m not sure why this disappointed me so much, but the loo is no more. All those movies and TV shows lied to us. Let it go, Americans!\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0:\u2019(<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Some phrases I didn\u2019t expect to be different, and those have led to some adjusting. For instance, \u201ccheerio!\u201d might sound a little silly, but Brits are huge fans of one simple derived form of the word. In my extensive scientific studies (ie., 3 weeks of being an obnoxious tourist) I\u2019ve come to the conclusion that \u201ccheers\u201d is the most commonly used word in the British English language.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Open a door for someone? \u201cCheers!\u201d<\/p>\n Lend them a pencil? \u201cCheers!\u201d<\/p>\n Hand them correct change? \u201cCheers!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sometimes you\u2019ll get lucky and even get a \u201ccheers, mate\u201d tacked on at the end there. It\u2019s basically interchangeable with \u201cthanks\u201d and even \u201cgoodbye\u201d but who knew???<\/p>\n I could go on for ages, but there is one last one that threw me. I\u2019ve gotten to know my flatmates pretty well so far, and they are all wonderful, hilarious people. But I don\u2019t always understand what on earth they\u2019re talking about. For instance:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cOh, last night everyone was taking the piss out of me.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is a completely normal sentence in London. Apparently, it\u2019s another way to say \u201ceveryone was making fun of me last night.\u201d The first time I heard this one I nearly choked on my dinner but now it\u2019s become so common that I\u2019ll probably have to watch myself from saying it when I come back to the states. So weird. Why, England??<\/p>\n I know I have it much easier than some of my other fellow study abroad-ers in terms of language, but adjustment is hard no matter where you go. I can already hear myself changing slightly when I talk to my local friends, like using “quite” instead of “really” and “a bit” instead of “some”….But I still don’t think my midwestern accent will be budging any time soon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Anyone who studies abroad in a country where they are not fluent in the language will mention struggles with a language barrier, and that\u2019s totally normal. But guess what? British English is SO different from American English! A lot of it boils down to accent and inflection. Basically every time I\u2019ve ordered in a restaurant … <\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>