Have a Go

Vivian just said, "I want to have a go." She is picking up so much in nursery. Some is hilarious and some is annoying. I never really thought I would be sad that she isn't picking up "my" culture. To be honest I never thought we even had our own culture till we went somewhere different.

Now she's becoming a proper Brit with accent, idioms and everything. Not such a bad thing I guess... Just not what I ever thought I would be dealing with. Never in a million years did I think I would move out of the country. And here I am. Here we are.

English-isms

I have just noticed lately that I have adopted a few English-isms in my daily speech.  I have tried to adopt the English vocabulary for Vivian's benefit once she starts school.  I don't want her to get made fun of for calling rubbish "garbage" or courgette "zucchini" or worst of all trousers "pants" (that's what they call underwear).

But aside from vocabulary there are other little things that people say that you might not notice at first, or you do, but quickly pick it up.  Recently I have found myself saying:

- "You can come to mine or I can come to yours." (house)
- "Would you like to go for a coffee?"  (instead of just going for coffee)
- "Do you want to walk round the school?"  (instead of around)

There are also lots of little things like "pop round for a visit" and/or "nip by for a minute."  People say "ta" instead of thanks and they shorten everything quite a bit.  Brilliant is commonly used here as everyone knows, but quite a few people say "brill."

When typing text messages or emails, almost everyone shortens "very" to "v" and signs their name with an x, like DarcyX or Dx or Darcy x.  (I'm starting to do this too, because I don't want people to think I'm rude for not blowing them a kiss at the end of what I say.)

When I was in the states I noticed that I was kissing people (on the cheek of course) that I usually just hug.  (I was actually quite embarrassed afterwards, because I used to think it was SO pretentious and didn't want to be "one of those.")  It's because that's what everyone does here.  It's usually one kiss on the right cheek, but there are the occasional double kissers (usually people who have lived out of the country) and then it throws me all off.  I used to be the worst at the kiss hello or goodbye but necessity has forced me to improve.

When I filled out the form for Vivian's nursery I made sure to specify that we speak American English at home.  There is a difference!

British Accent

Ever since we announced that we were moving to London, people have been speculating about when Vivian will get a British accent.

Well... lately Viv has been doing this baby talk thing that has been driving me crazy.  Whenever she does it I tell her to please speak in a "normal" voice to me.  It turns out she is just speaking like most of the people that she spends time with (including the kids of American friends who also have accents).

Now that I know that I don't correct her anymore, but it still is quite annoying.  It's funny... I thought I would love it and think it was so charming, but the transition is a bit less charming than I anticipated.  She gets a different voice and speaks kind of funny, but nails the pronunciation of the vowels and everything.

I don't know if I've written a post about this, but when you call things "British" here, English people will often subtly correct you.  For example, at Christmas I mentioned that I was making a Traditional British Christmas dinner and people would say, "Oh, a Traditional English Christmas... How lovely."  It makes sense.  4 countries with their own history, culture and accents were brought together to form Great Britain, so of course they would distinguish themselves.  I have been here almost a year and I still make that mistake... I'm working on it!  So, I guess I should say English Accent rather than British.

Vivian starts nursery in September.  She'll be going 15 hours a week, so I'm sure this whole accent thing will become much more noticeable.  We'll see what happens when we visit the states at Christmas.  I'm guessing she'll switch it on and off.  We'll see.......

Goldilocks and Just the One Bear

It's hard to convey the little differences in life here.  To help me do it I am typing out the words to a book that Vivi LOVES called Goldilocks and Just the One Bear by Leigh Hodgkinson.  We have to return it to the library today, but I'm sure we'll check it out again soon.


Once upon a time, there was this bear.
One minute, he was lolloping about in the wood all happy-go-lucky...
The next minute, he hadn't a crumb-of-a-clue where he was.
He was one COMPLETELY lost bear.

The bear didn't much like this place.
Too many bright lights and not enough twigs.
Too much loud honking and beeping and not NEARLY enough owl-hooting.

The bear was also a teeny bit scared and his furry legs had gone slightly WOBBLY.
"Maybe the thing to do," said the bear looking round, "is to nip into 'Snooty Towers' here, and get away from this TERRIBLE racket."

But the spinny 'Snooty Towers' door made the bear feel dizzy and being dizzy with wobbly legs was bad news.

What the bear needed was a little sit-down.
A little sit-down somewhere would DEFINITELY see him tickety-boo.

The bear peeked through a door and thought how very pleasant it was up here.
"Not nasty and noisy like down there," thought the bear.  "Just the place for a little sit-down."

All that whooshy travelling was certainly a hungry business so, before his little sit-down, a spot of porridge seemed a good idea...

"THIS porridge is too SOGGY," said the bear.
"THIS porridge is too CRUNCHY," said the bear.
"THIS porridge is a little bit on the DRY side," said the bear, "but it is better than nothing."
Now the bear was ready for his little sit-down.

"THIS chair is too OUCHY," said the bear.
"THIS chair is too NOISY," said the bear.
"THIS chair is JUST right!" said the bear.
A little sit-down is all very well, but what the bear needed to feel really tickety-boo was a good old-fashioned lie-down in a comfy bed...

"...THIS bed is too FROTHY," said the bear.
"THIS bed is too PINK," said the bear.
"THIS bed is JUST right," yawned the bear.
And soon he nodded off.

The bear dreamt of...
...CRUNCHING through leaves.
The bear dreamt of pottering about in his slippers.
The bear dreamt of...
...a voice shouting very, VERY LOUDLY.

"SOMEBODY has been eating from MY fish bowl!" said the daddy person.
"SOMEBODY has been eating MY dear little Pumpkin's kittynibbles!" said the mummy person.
"And SOMEBODY has been eating MY toast," said the little person. "And they've eaten it all up!"

Unfortunately, the bear was not dreaming at all.  He was WIDE-AWAKE and back in real life again.

"SOMEBODY has SQUISHED MY cactus!" said the daddy person.
"SOMEBODY has UPSET MY dear little Pumpkin!" said the mummy person.
"And SOMEBODY has POPPED MY bean bag!" said the little person.

"SOMEBODY has been sleeping in MY bath!" said the daddy person.
"SOMEBODY has been sleeping in MY bed!" said the mummy person.
"SHHHH!" whispered the little person. "I think that SOMEBODY is sleeping in MY bed right now!"

The bear peeked from under the duvet to see a daddy person, a mummy person and a little person standing right there.

The bear thought that the mummy person looked ever-so slightly familiar.  And the mummy person thought that...
SCOFFING other people's breakfast,
BREAKING other people's stuff, and
SNOOZING in other people's beds...
seemed ever-so slightly familiar too.  Then, the penny dropped...

"Little Bear?" said the mummy person.
"Goldilocks?" said the bear.

"Porridge?" asked Goldilocks.
The bear nodded.
So Goldilocks cooked up a BIG bowl and plonked it in front of him.

It was not too HOT.
It was not too COLD.
It was JUST right.

It made the bear almost forget about that once-upon-a-time when Goldilocks had behaved so badly.
THIS little bear would never DREAM of doing ANYTHING like that.

And although it had been good to see Goldilocks living so happily ever after with those CHARMING people, the bear decided it was time to go back home to the woods.