This helped me to improve my conversation with Americans in the United States of America.

* I don’t open conversation (on telephone) with a “Hello” but with a “Hi”
* The telephone is never “engaged”, it’s always “busy”.
* I don’t “disconnect” a phone, I simply “hang-up”.
* I never “mess-up” things, I only “screw them up”.
* I never have a “residence” tel. no., I have a “home” no.
* I don’t stop at the “signals”, but halt at the “lights”.
* I don’t “accelerate”, I “step on the gas”.
* My tire (tyre) never “punctures”, I may have a “flat”.
* The trains have “coaches” or “bogies’ no more but “carriages” or “boxes”.
* There are no “petrol pumps”, but “gas stations”.
* I no longer meet a “wonderful” person, I meet a “cool” guy
* I don’t pull the switch down to light a bulb, rather flick it up.
* I don’t “turn on the heat”, I “turn on the juice”.
* There’s no “Business Area” only “business districts”, and no “districts” but “counties”.
* No one stays “a stone’s throw away”, might be “a few blocks away”.
* There’s no “Town Side”, it’s “Down Town”.
* In restaurants I no longer ask for a “bill” and pay by “cheque”, rather ask for a “check” and pay with (Dollar) “bill”s.
* There are no “soft drinks”, only “sodas”.(“pop” in Minnesota)
* Life’s no longer “miserable” it “stinks”.
* I don’t have a “great” time, I have a “ball” or balls].
* I don’t “sweat it out”, I “work U’r butt off”.
* Never “post” a letter, always “mail” it and “glue” the stamps, don’t “stick” them.
* I no longer live in “flats” or “blocks”, find an “apartment”.
* I no longer “like” something, I “appreciate” it.
* “#” is not “hash”, it’s “pound”.
* I are not “deaf”, I have “impaired hearing”.
* I are not “lunatic”, I are just “mentally challenged”.
* I do not “Give an Exam”, I “Take” it.
* I am not “disgusting”, I am “sick”.
* I can’t get “surprised”, I get “zapped”.
* I don’t “schedule” a meeting, I “skejule” it.
* I never “joke”, I just “kid”.
* I never “increase” the pressure, I always “crank” it up.
* I never ask for a pencil rubber, I ask for an eraser.
* I don’t try to find a lift, I find an elevator.
* I no more ask for a route but for a “RAUT”
* I don’t ask somebody “How r u ?”, I say “What’s up dude?”
* I never go to see a game I go to watch a game.
* If I see “World” champions (or Series), read “USA” champions (or Series).
* There’s no “zero” but “oh”, no “Z” but “zee”.
* There’s no FULL STOP after a statement, there’s a PERIOD
* If someone gets angry at me, I get “flamed”.

In short I don’t speak English, I speak American. :D

 

6 Responses to American English

  1. Jayanti says:

    Nice and cool collection.colorful too not colourful.

  2. Veer says:

    some of those need to be tweeked ;)

  3. Veer says:

    i dont “change” i “tweek” :D

  4. Mahendra says:

    Very nice observation and collection Paras. Enjoyed, very true about lot of those sentences. English sorry American is even different in Kentucky compared with rest of the USA

  5. Priti says:

    nice collection paras… it was fun reading these.. this list would surely be helpful for anyone coming into US for a smooth transition in speaking american english.

  6. Neena says:

    Paras, I remember one , I don’t put on makeup or lipstic anymore,I wear lipstic or makeup.Good post paras.

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