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I'm a Yorkshire man, so though English, my English is often difficult to understand. And the more we've travelled the more I've noticed that some things are rarely understood: E.G.

Instead of saying, 'what' or 'Pardon' when I don't understand something, I say 'sorry'. The short form of 'sorry I don't understand'.

And, I say 'past' the our, so 'half past 10' rather than ten thirty.

And the other day, someone told me not to forget to collect something and I said 'no, I won't forget'. To which they said 'so you'll forget?'

So....

If you're a first language English speaker, what parts of your language aren't understood by all?

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Instead of saying, 'what' or 'Pardon' when I don't understand something, I say 'sorry'. The short form of 'sorry I don't understand'.

I say this now - probably because lots of Eastern Europeans say it in English instead of excuse me - but I think actually a lot of Americans don't.

"Take care" is sometimes how I end an email ... sometimes people take this more seriously than I mean it (are you worried about me?).

I don't know if it is really misunderstood, but "what do you do?" is interesting to me too. It means of course "what is your job", but I think in many other languages, they just say, "what is your job" if they want to know that. Maybe there is some wider social meaning to this...

Couple. As in "it's a couple of miles from here".

In the and a lot of rest of the world, 'Excuse me' just doesn't work anymore, so one tends to have to push, and then say 'sorry' afterwards.

The other question that doesn't work to well is 'how long will it take'.

Used when, for example, you're on a bus and you want to know how long before you get to your destination.

The other thing you hear a lot is the use of the word 'make' and applied to shopping or photo.

So.. 'Did you make a photo?'

Instead of 'take.' And in the case of shopping 'do the'.

We had trouble with the word coffee this morning - I think I do get bugged, when the words are so similar. It's goffee here rather than coffee, and we were staying it, while sat in a coffee shop, and making drinking gestures - Though that might be stupidity over the lack of understanding.

YES! "How far is it", "how long does it take", "which is closer, x or y"(nearby towns)... The latter I spent hours explaining to my good Brazilian friend who is fluent in English and teaches at a university. He actually had me come to his English class to try and explain this to his students as it was so foreign a concept for him/them.

In Cincinnati, Ohio we also say Sorry instead of pardon. Like excuse me what did you say? Maybe that is where it comes from, England. Most people in the US don't say Sorry in that context.

I say 'sorry?' any time I mean for someone to repeat something. Or, 'zegt je?', which is just Dutch for 'what did you say?'. 'Huh?' or 'What?' just wasn't translating. The different uses of 'make' and 'take' were some of the first things I noticed, and realized it's because of how it's expressed in the native languages. Two examples for the instance of a photo, in Spanish they say 'hace un foto', and Dutch is 'een foto maken'... 'make a photo' in both. And 'take' is often used when referring to food or drinks, 'I'll take a coffee' (or sandwich, etc.)

I know there's others that I don't even realize anymore, and I'm sure I use myself. Sometimes I don't even remember what the 'correct' way to say something is anymore... All part of my degradation of English from living in a non-native country.

When I was traveling through Austria, the headphones of CD player snapped in half (this was in the days before the iPod). So, I went to the front desk at the hostel I was staying at, and asked them for some tape that I can use to repair my headphones. To my dismay they didn't understand the word "tape." So I searched in vain for a good synonym; if "tape" didn't work, why would I try "adhesive"? After playing a bit of charades and explaining the purpose of tape--"the thing that you use to put pieces of paper back together"--they finally understood and gave me their Scotch tape dispenser (not that it worked, but it was better than nothing).

I've noticed that very few people (or at least ESL students) seem to understand the following sentences:

"Do ... for homework."
"Be quiet."
"Class begins at 8 AM."

I sometimes get confused when English speakers refer to "toilet" as "bathroom".

In Dutch (and many other languages), you say "please" when you give something to someone. I tried to explain to my mother when we were in Ireland that you shouldn't say that in English, you should say "here you go" or "here you are" or something but she just didn't get the concept. "But that's not polite!"

I use sorry instead of pardon or excuse, but I think that its left over from when I lived in the UK.

I think one of the most confusing things is when I ask for something to go, I always forget to ask for take away.

Well Dharker, I'm American through and through, although I watch and read enough British media to be comfy with Britishisms. I can't figure out the listener's confusion over:

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And the other day, someone told me not to forget to collect something and I said 'no, I won't forget'. To which they said 'so you'll forget?'

In any case, because of my travels, I tend to refer to the toilet and sometimes get odd looks from other Americans -- like it's a dirty word.

And I sort of think that Steve Martin is to blame for the decline in American usage of "Excuse me." I hope I'm not the only one old enough to remember his SNL (that's Saturday Night Live ) character who would drawl out "well excuusssse meee." I know that's what I hear whenever someone says it.

Just came across another one:

Americans say:

"Call me at 555-1212."
"I can be reached by email at xyz@abc.com"

But Brits, and probably other English speakers say:


"Call me on 555-1212."
"I can be reached by email on xyz@abc.co.uk"

I was reading an online article and knew immediately that it came from a British publication.

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Originally posted by seraphim:
I sometimes get confused when English speakers refer to "toilet" as "bathroom".

I think that's mostly an American thing. Restroom is another common euphemism for toilet. It's a sign of a somewhat uptight attitude about bodies and bodily functions.

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Originally posted by HampdenHoop:

quote:

Originally posted by seraphim:
I sometimes get confused when English speakers refer to "toilet" as "bathroom".

I think that's mostly an American thing. Restroom is another common euphemism for toilet. It's a sign of a somewhat uptight attitude about bodies and bodily functions.

Yes, "restroom" is strictly an American invention. When I first hit London, and asked where the "restroom" was, people looked at me as if I had three heads. Europeans understood "bathroom," but as I continued my travels, I either called it a "toilet," or whatever word it was in their native tounge.

It's just that when someone asks for the bathroom, I think they want to take a bath, not go to the toilet.

Another thing that has lead to misunderstandings: in (British?) English "half ten" means "half past ten", while in Dutch, it means "half past nine". We never learnt in English class that you could leave out past, so I really got that wrong the first time I heard it.

I think English needs a better plural 'you'. We have improvised with 'youse', 'you lot', 'you guys', 'y'all' etc.

In the Philippine's they say 'Comfort room' for toilet. In the UK I ask if they have a loo or a toilet, in the rest of the world I ask if they have a bathroom.

As for the 'no, I won't forget' I think she didn't understand because I started my sentence with 'no'.

I have a strong Yorkshire accent though, so I'm used to not being understood.

But even "toilet" changes. When Jane Austen described Emma as being "at her toilet" it did not mean that she was on the thunderbox.

It took me awhile to get used to the British way of asking "how are you?" when they would ask me "are you alright?". I would say "yes, I feel fine. Do I look alright?"