The Brit's living in Denver

English Chocolates in Denver

A special find in Highlands Ranch, Colorado! Rocketfizz has an array of chocolates, sweeties from all over the world. You need to forget what you would pay for them in the UK, but sometimes it is worth the extra to get a taste of home.

Its' been a while

I have had other projects in the works since my last post on here. However, in that time, a development occurred which has encouraged me to revisit my blog and change things up a bit.

This development started over a cup of tea with an English friend of mine here in Denver. We realized that between us both, we knew a few other Brits. We decided to 'join forces', and nearly 12 months on, our group is nearly at 50!

It has been great getting acquainted with new friends, some very new to Denver, others have been a long time. A common theme is that we mostly came on short term contracts, and never went back. Between us we now know where to buy our British goods, how to watch UK TV, listen to tales of problems with visa's and passports.

Follow our events, updates and finds here. And all is welcome to join.

"What is that?" ... "Its a Kettle"

The first time you laugh, the second you smirk but a ? appears in the head. Third time, I am onto it, and then my suspicions were confirmed yesterday when a friend of mine (who had lived in the UK for 3 years) needed to borrow my electric kettle. "I knew you would be the only person that would have one".

I had friend who have thought my electricity in the kitchen was fusing. He hunted down the sound, to say "What is this", "Its a Kettle???". Now Brits, would you not agree you would find it bemusing to have someone to come into your kitchen and question what a kettle is?? This strange machine that sounds escalates to a extent that steam is seen sprouting from the top, followed by a click .... and our 'Brew' is ready.

I bring this to everyone's attention, because the electric Kettle in the UK is as necessary as breathing. There is probably not one kitchen in the UK that doesn't own one, and I find it funny that hardly anyone owns one over here.

Those lessons in our 'Home Ec' class (which leads to me a question of why we have a class called Home Economics?? Why are the economics in a Home relevant to making a quiche or a decent cup of tea?) that water for tea should be served at boiling point ... no you simply cannot warm the water in a microwave.

Many a time has been spent in the 'Brew room' of offices around the land, waiting for our Kettles to boil to produce our favourite drink of the nation. The nation would ground to a halt if we didn't have our cup or tea'. And I bet its the first thing Brit's do when the get back from any holiday "Get Kettle on so we can have a decent Brew". Yes us Brits LOVE our kettles.

How to say the word 'Aluminium'

I guess I knew when my daughters had become 'American' when I asked them to pronounce this word to me. How this got re-translated over the pond is a mystery to me, but it has to be up there as one of the biggest in terms of differences (along with route, pronounced r-out in the US, r-oo-t in the UK).

UK - Al-la-min-i-um

US - Al-loo-mi-um

When I now look at the work, I guess 'Alu' would seem a good translation to the yanks. But should you ever venture to our green lands and land in B&Q (its exactly the same as The Home Depot) ... why would you want to go to B&Q on holiday/ vacation looking for aluminium is beyond me .. but in case you do, we like our "la's" not our "loo's"

Language Society Admits American English ‘Only Temporary’

I just saw this article which made me chuckle. Love the changing accents throughout the article. On a serious note, call me for lessons forthwith ... I might write a Rosetta Stone on the subject??

"PHILADELPHIA, PA – The President of the American Grammatical Society said plans were underway to re-establish British English in America and revealed North American English was only ever developed to be temporary at best.

Speaking in an annoying fake British accent, American Grammatical Society (AGS) President Dr Kevin K. Evans said American English would be replaced by British English ’forthwith’ and Americans would just have to get used to it.

“We’ve had 250 odd years to promote Noah Webster’s version of English but so far only Americans south of Ohio have embraced it. More on the article"

English Pumps & Amercian Pumps

Now this advice can be taken from both Yanks and Brits travelling to the respective countries. If you are looking for a pair of 'pumps', please observe the difference below. Running in the American version is not advised ....

UK ..................................................................................... USA