Quote:
Originally Posted by mrbanana
On a side note one expression I find odd in American English is 'off of' as in 'get off of me' instead of 'get off me' which Jim Butcher uses a lot in The Dresden Files. I assume it's colloquial. Also something I first spotted in Janet Evanovich's books, and I'm now seeing everywhere is: 'a couple million dollars' or 'a couple bullets' instead 'a couple of million dollars' or 'a couple of bullets'. That seems a bit odd to me.
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I have spent most of my life in the western half of the US. I typically keep the "of" and don't drop it. The expression I notice often is that in the US we typically say "would/could have" whereas my English colleagues always say "would/could have done".
Quote:
Originally Posted by pthwaite
For a formal time, such as a dental appoint,net etc, we would use the 24hr clock time as it is a definitive time. The same for meetings, ie 15:45 or 09:20. However when speaking it would generally be quarter to four in the afternoon and either nine twenty or twenty past nine, in the morning in the above examples.
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That's interesting. Now that I think about it, if I'm meeting someone in a casual environment like dinner or a drink, then they usually quote the time to me as say "eight" rather than "twenty". Sometimes it's hard to tell if they are adapting to my American English as much as I adapt to their language.
On a completely off-tangent point, one of my colleagues recently asked me if in America we still call our language English or if we call it something else.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pholy
Ahh, it's the politeness that's confusing them....   |
Yes, it must be the politeness! I have wondered about that, actually. It's not as if all Americans have to be rude and loud and wear tracksuits & trainers.
