Queen's English....
When we were small, we were encouraged to read The Statesman and listen to BBC so that our English would improve. By English, we knew that is the "Queen's English". "American English" was not considered as something we should learn, maybe as a remnant of the colonial past, India still considered it good to imitate the British way of life.
I forgot about the difference in English after settling down in my US life. Words like "last name", "parking lot", "elevator" and "bell pepper" came easily to me. Funny thing is that when I speak in Bengali, I say "lift" but when conversing in English I say "elevator". While we were planning for the trip to London, we laughed about words like "lorry" and "car park" and about driving on the left side of the road. The first blow came the moment I put my foot on the British Airways flight. After telling the flight attendant that my seat was right next to Arnab's (who had just got the direction on where to go), he said, "lovely!"
Next was another flight attendant bringing a "trolley" and asking if we'd like to have a "cuppa tea".
In the "toilets" it said - don't flush "rubbish" and there was a specific place to dispose off "nappies"!!!
More is coming... I know. It's hard to believe that it is the same English language!!!
When we were small, we were encouraged to read The Statesman and listen to BBC so that our English would improve. By English, we knew that is the "Queen's English". "American English" was not considered as something we should learn, maybe as a remnant of the colonial past, India still considered it good to imitate the British way of life.
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| South Kensington |
I forgot about the difference in English after settling down in my US life. Words like "last name", "parking lot", "elevator" and "bell pepper" came easily to me. Funny thing is that when I speak in Bengali, I say "lift" but when conversing in English I say "elevator". While we were planning for the trip to London, we laughed about words like "lorry" and "car park" and about driving on the left side of the road. The first blow came the moment I put my foot on the British Airways flight. After telling the flight attendant that my seat was right next to Arnab's (who had just got the direction on where to go), he said, "lovely!"
Next was another flight attendant bringing a "trolley" and asking if we'd like to have a "cuppa tea".
In the "toilets" it said - don't flush "rubbish" and there was a specific place to dispose off "nappies"!!!
More is coming... I know. It's hard to believe that it is the same English language!!!
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