Thanks for the clarification. Linda.

I fancy that the British idea of American English is probably based on East Coast usage.

Hey, my new credit cards finally arrived today so perhaps I should celebrate! I must telephone them to give them my new number so that I don't have to queue when I see something that I want.

(For those who are wondering, I mentioned somewhere that the credit card company made me cut the old ones up that weeks as someone fraudulently used my card number to gamble! More than a week with no cards was sheer purgatory.)

I haven't seen Joe Bloggs in years either! He used to live on Union Street, but moved. He was named after his father, Buster!

I haven't seen Joe Bloggs in years either! He used to live on Union Street, but moved. He was named after his father, Joseph!

You lot are too quick! I was typing a reply to Linda's question about my purchasing on QVC, then got called to the phone, came back and hit the reply only to find that my post didn't follow her post! You really should give a person time to chat to their mother between posts.

The one that puzzles me is the use of the word visit. Americans seem to say
"Oh yes, we visited with Grandma last week." we say
"We visited Grandma".
and "We had a good visit with her"
we say
"It was great visiting her."

Again, I think that's the assumption that Grandma had an active part in the visit as well instead of merely sitting there like a lump on a log while the rest of us stared at her.

Off topic a bit, although I've never brought anything off QVC itself, been to the local warehouse twice. I enjoy the craft hours!

I don't know if this stuff has been mentioned before in this post (I've been gone a LONG time from FT).

In the UK people use "I've" in a way that it is almost never used in the US.

UK- I've a lot of books on my shelf
US- I have lots of books on my shelf, or, I've got a lotta books on my shelf.

Another thing, the use of "our" when referring to a family member.

in the UK people sometimes refer to family members as "our Bill", or "our Jane".
People in the US don't do that.

lastly- this is something I have come across in a few British TV shows:
"I'd give it you back." Now I haven't heard it used a lot in Britspeak but I know I've never heard it from any US people. I know my English teacher would have a fit if she heard that sentance.

I heard one on an US show that sounded strange. "I could care less" where I've only ever heard/used it as "I couldn't care less". Is that a common saying?

One that sounds mildly odd to British ears is the phrase "Who is this?" when asking who is calling on the telephone. I would always say "Who is that?" and keep "this" for my end of the call, such as "This is Biggles".

Reading Bill Bryson's books I noticed that he talks of "making change" when he pays for something and receives coins in return. As a Brit I would always say "Do you give change?" or "I was given change".

Talking of Bill Bryson, he notes that Americans refer to California wine, whereas the Brits call it Californian wine. So would Americans refer to Australia wine or Austria wine?

I suppose it would depend what country it was from.

Would they know the difference?

Some points for Geek's observations:

I've got... etc. was always taught to be an extra, superfluous word, ie 'got', which we were taught was unnecessary at school, and therefore if people here use 'I've a lot...' rather than 'I've got a lot...' they were taught the same as I was.

The 'our Bill' to refer to family members is mainly a dialect used in the North of England, and not in common usage otherwise.

You can hear something like 'If I had your pencil I'd give it you back', but it isn't a very well-educated way to say it, 'I'd give it back to you' is clearly the proper way, as you meant.

Okay I've got another:

I've heard it maybe once or twice on British TV shows: "I thought I might do."
In one TV program here's how it was used:
"Do you know him?"
"I thought I might do."

Is that something commonly said in the UK?

'I might do' on its own looks normal to me. If someone wasn't sure if they knew someone, they could say 'I thought I might do...' but this should be followed with '...but I don't think I did' or similar, as otherwise it's only half a sentence, and more bad grammar than common usage.

So I'd think the total 'I thought I might do' would only be used after thinking you did or would, and then finding you hadn't. So if you were asked 'Did you mow the lawn today' you could say 'I thought I might do, but it was raining', but there the extra 'do' is always superfluous, as 'I thought I might' is sufficient.

Huh?! I think you lost me on that one, Satguru!

This one's totally new. I've never heard it before now.

Quote:

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The 'our Bill' to refer to family members is mainly a dialect used in the North of England, and not in common usage otherwise.

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I beg to differ, Satguru. I am West Country through and through, and we use the term a lot: our Mam, our Gran, our Bill etc. It is used a great deal in Wales too.
I agree with Linda that a lot of errors are through ignorance and not regional differences. The phrase"I haven't got" is incorrect, as has been said. "I do not have" is what is required there.

I understand Ren, I said 'mainly' for that reason, as I meant it was probably used in other places as well, but I mainly came across it used on northern TV series like Coronation Street (ie rather than in my real life) though I have heard it from other places as well. But (as far as I know) it's not used in London, which is why I could only think of which TV areas I'd heard it used on.

I am from Southampton Satguru, my mother uses it all the time, our Susan (moi), our Brian, our Maureen etc.

Now off the spoken word but still a difference, the use of knives an forks when eating a meal. I get the impression that we use them differently in the two countries. Here we normally eat holding both the knife and the fork the whole time, the knife in the right hand, the fork in the left assuming that you are right handed. We cut the food as we eat, we don't cut the food then put the knife down and transfer it to the other hand as I have seen done in the US, we help the food onto the fork using our knife and retain the knife in our hand. Am I correct in thinking that this is not how you do it inthe US?

I had always been taught to cut one food item, put down knife, transfer fork, spear food, eat, then start again. It wasn't until I was a teen that I saw a friend from Germany use the knife to push the food onto their fork. I thought that was so much more polite looking than using bread to push it on their fork, that I changed my habit and now use the knife.

Doesn't the food get cold before you are halfway thorugh the meal? Do you eat off the back of the fork the way we do, with the tines curving downwards?

Ugh! We should think you very ill-bred dear. So what do you do with your knife and fork at the end of the meal?