American and British (English)

During the six-some years I spent in Greece, I used up an inordinate
amount of time trying to deal with UK/US English issues. It was a
painful experience for me, because like most Americans, I lived in a
comfortably isolated cocoon of experience here and when I read UK-
printed material, my mind just slipped past the differences and didn't
note them.

In Greece, everyone was out to take Americans down a peg or two, and
that meant I had to listen to a lot of crap about how the language I
speak is nothing more than a botched abortion of a patois, while
"English English" is the truth and the light. Generally, this attitude
was promulgated by individuals who could barely speak a word of any
variety of English (abortions included).

A lot of Britons made a lot of money off this idea in Greece by layin'
low and sayin' nuffin, of course, which at first furthered my
quintessential American prejudice that Brits are sneaky, backstabbing,
effete little weasels.

Over time, my impression of the British changed a great deal, mostly
because I started to work with them at difficult times. By "difficult
times," I mean from August 2001 to August 2007, which included the
infamous days of September 11, 2001, March 20, 2003, and July 7, 2005.

Any shade of prejudice regarding the "effete" British died the day I
watched about fifty soccer fans literally beat a path through
thousands of riled-up Greeks out of a Champions League game. "Weasel"
or "wolverine" is, on the other hand, a very good name to hang on men
that ferocious at bay. And "backstabbers" just doesn't hold water
under any kind of sustained scrutiny, most especially as regards money
matters. For those of my fellow countrymen who have never been exposed
to this phenomenon, if a Brit tells you that you will be paid X amount
of money at such and such a date, you will either get your money on
time or hell will freeze over, and you'll probably get your money in
the end all the same, plus a reasonable amount in interest for the
unseemly delay.

The Brits can certainly be devious, however, in the same way Americans
can be devious, which is something that the rest of the world has
problems understanding, which is possibly our greatest advantage in
dealing with those who would exterminate the both of us.

So all in all, I left Europe very, very sure of the fact that the
British are the most honorable friends the Americans have ever and
will ever have, and that we have a lot to learn from them about honor
in general.

What was left of my initial scramble to understand the way the right-
ponders use English and how the left-ponders use it was an on-going
fascination about the differences and similarities in our language and
the tantalizing hints they drop about who we are and what's important
to us.

And a few suspicions about Canadians...
.

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