... one of your commenters points out that you've said "a whole heap of things", and you don't see what's odd about that.
... you no longer recognise one slice of ham between two slices of buttered bread as a sandwich. It's simply not worthy of bearing the name.
... your 6 year old daughter tells you she thinks you should get braces on your lower teeth. In her life, 99% of teenagers, and quite a few adults of varying ages, have braces, and crooked teeth are a crime against humanity (and, for the record, mine are only very slightly crooked).
... you find yourself telling someone about Guy Fawkes' night, and explaining that it's a "celebration of democracy" (yes, I used those very words), because that suddenly seems like a positive way of describing the rather sinister practice of burning effigies.
... you still hold onto practice/practise easily enough, and humour will always need its u, but centre begins to look wrong.
... you've written 325 blog posts.
I think you'll find that the new American vision of beauty is wonky teeth.... I jest not: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/oct/24/gap-teeth-face-of-fashion
ReplyDeleteSo there you go. You're at the cutting (or biting) edge.
I have an american friend who just visited home for the first time in 19 years and found that she no longer felt american and that the uk really is home for her now. A sense of belonging is a strange thing.
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing
martine
Gutted about the sandwich!
ReplyDeleteLove the post and will keep mouth shut for fear of showing crooked teeth.
And (at the risk of sounding pedantic by having a whole heap of complaints to make about your use of the English language) surely it's a brace, not braces, cos braces are what your grandad wore to keep his trousers up.
ReplyDelete**Bracing myself now for the whole slightly risque braces/suspenders conversation**
Love and giggles
Josephine
Love the comment about the sandwich! Whenever we go to Minnesota my husband can't believe how much meat you'll get between two slices of bread. He'll go on and on about how it's too much meat and back in England having two slices would be seen as extravagant. He seems to have no problem what so ever finishing the American sandwiches......
ReplyDeleteHilarious and all very true. Especially the sandwich. Have you started to write recognize and color yet?
ReplyDeleteMy dentist here told me I needed braces - something I had never been told in my life. Luckily it was going to cost several thousand dollars,so I had the excuse of saying it was too expensive (rather than, as a lazy Brit, I just wasn't prepared to wear adult braces!).
The second comment on my blog today is a tongue in cheek (I hope) remark that I've been in the States too long!
ReplyDeleteAnd the sandwiches - my son said he was embarrassed at the thinness of the sandwiches I send him to school with.
I think we should be proud of our sandwiches because they were the original ones and they are probably healthier!
ReplyDeleteThats what I believe, anyway.
I should have worn braces, My granddaughters are always telling me my teeth are crooked. Everyone my age has crooked teeth though!
Maggie X
Nuts in May
The whole practice/practise thing drives me mad. American writers have it easy!!
ReplyDeleteIota, I love these posts!
ReplyDeleteI confess I didn't get the sandwich bit till I read some comments. Maybe cos we only put 1 slice of ham in the middle (that's cos we're so broke!! being Irish!)
And re crooked teeth, I decided to get braces 2 years ago, but ortho woman made me see a perio guy who frightened the life out of me with all sorts of extra (in terms of bother, time and money) requirements. In the end, I decided to stay with my crooked teeth.
Thanks for your empathetic comment over at mine, I would love some thanksgiving traditions whenever you have time. In spite of the awful state of the country, I still have a lot to be grateful for, not least you and ohter blogging buddies. So...thanks, Iota.
My SIL commented when she visited me here in the US, "Oh, I see you make American sandwiches." My son today: "Momma, half of my sandwich had no meat in it." It had several slices in it, but was noticeably thinner than the other half of the sandwich!
ReplyDeleteLocal TV advertising tries to convince me that age is no obstacle to having braces on my teeth, but I'm not listening!
I read somewhere recently that Guy Fawkes' night is all about anti-Catholicism!
Nothing for it then; time to pack up & go home. Or go & pack yourself an egg & cress sandwich, fill a thermos with tea & go & park next to the sea & sit in the car watching the grey waves beating the shore & the rain sullenly tapping on yr windscreen. Or better still, sit on the beach behind a windbreak with said sarnie & thermos. & think "This is what summer is like in England".
ReplyDeleteIt will make you glad to be in America! (the sandwich might too...)Unless it fills you with maudlin nostalgia instead. Always a danger I suppose...;o)
Ah. Time to pack?
ReplyDeleteLove it! And, having just come from PLIT's post about not grumbling, just have have a good old "mustn't grumble" day and you'll feel much more grounded.
ReplyDeletecenter? it'll be theater next and that's just wrong!
ReplyDeleteFun post, I understand completely. I prefer to say herb than erb and I like tomahto not tomayto. But then again, I am amazed by the size of portions whenever I go home and always pleasantly surprised to be offered a 'doggy bag' as if I didnt grow up with the phenomena. I think of it all as more of a cultural blend rather than being somewhere 'too long'!!
ReplyDelete