I have lived in the US for 10 years, and although I take the elevator down to the lobby from my apartment, when I go outside I walk on the pavement. My children wear diapers but, by and large, I fill the tank with petrol, not gas, and throw out the rubbish not the trash. I wish I still ate sweets, but I don’t; “sweets” to my ears sound childish and wilfully obscure and, while I may cringe when I say it, there’s no question that if I ask someone to pass me the Skittles, what I’m referring to in that instance is candy.
These differences, which have been on my mind as I go through copy edits for the UK and US editions of my book, are something I am probably in control of 70% of the time. It is a peculiarity of being in a foreign country in which the language is ostensibly the same, that it makes one’s pre-immigration self actually seem further away. If I had moved to France, my English would have remained unchanged. As it is, I fear the word “chemist” is lost to me for ever, or at least for the years it would take me to reprogram from “pharmacy”.
Continue reading...from US news | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2mNFILp
SEO Expert
No comments:
Post a Comment