Before we began this adventure, we participated in cultural training, read some books, and had dinner with former ex-pats. From each of these we walked away with a list of words to not use or that had different meanings. In September, I began volunteering in a reception classroom (similar to kindergarten) at a school down the street. The students in this class quickly became my British vocabulary tutors. I instantly knew I misspoke by their quizzical, confused, or curious looks after I gave an instruction or asked a question.
On this one particular day, I was sitting with a four year old boy writing his letters. As would be expected for a student learning to write, he made a mistake; however, the classroom pencils do not have erasers on the end of the pencil. I asked this precious little boy to grab an eraser. As he scurried off to grab one, he mumbled something under his breath. Upon his return, I asked him what he had said. In the sweetest, most innocent British accent, he confidently stated, "You said eraser. It's called a rubber. You should have told me to get a rubber!" As I sat listening to my vocabulary lesson from this sweet four year old, I could only imagine the look on my face. The word "rubber" conjures up a completely different image as an American.
After a brief moment of culture shock, we continued on with writing letters. Again, a mistake was made, so I asked this young boy to erase the error. Laughter from my little student signaled that I had again made an error. With a smile on his face, he explained, "I'll rub it out, not erase it!" I chuckled at the thought of the phrase, "Rub it out," becoming part of my daily instructions to a small child.
With each day, a new word or phrase is added to our vernacular. As we continue to learn British English, remember the lights are always on!
~W
