Saints

I was telling Husband that one British English-ism I’ve found it hard to drop (and I’m not sure I’ve even tried, to be honest), is the way we pronounce the ‘Saint’ in names. 5-yo overheard our conversation.

“What’s that? What do you mean? What are you saying? What are you talking about?”

I took a deep breath. This wasn’t going to be an easy one to explain to a 5 year old, but I thought I’d have a go.

“Well, when churches or streets are called St James’ or St John’s, in England we don’t say Saynt James’ or Saynt John’s, we say Ssnt James’ or Ssnt John’s, but here in America, they do say Saynt James’ or Saynt John’s. They say the word Saint like Saynt, whereas we say the word Saint like Ssnt.”

Crystal clear. I say that with confidence, because she totally got the point.

“You mean like we say St Derella?”

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