Re: "made sure" - UK vs US

Bob Cunningham wrote:
In reading Agatha Christie books, I often see usages that
seem very strange, like speaking "down the telephone" and
"pour out the tea". But one I've been noticing lately is
especially jarring. People say things like "I made sure it
was in my office" where we would say "I was sure it was in
my office".

In American English, "I made sure it was so" means "I
confirmed it beyond doubt". In British English it seems to
mean "I thought for sure it was so (but maybe it wasn't)".

When English people pour out the tea, it means they serve
the tea by pouring it into their guests' cups. When we pour
out the tea, we discard it by pouring it down the drain or
on the ground.

We speak "on the telephone", which to an Englishmen may
sound as strange as "down the telephone" does to us.

Agatha Christie's English is very much of its time. "Pour out the tea" (or
more often, I think, "pour the tea") is still used, but "made sure that"
means the same in current BrE and AmE, and I've never heard "down the
telephone", though doubtless it was once current - perhaps in circles more
accustomed to summoning servants through the speaking-tube).

Alan Jones


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