Americanisms!

Hi envious - My daughter-in-law is American, and my son and family all live in New Jersey. I too have learnt to say 'good job' to the grandkids!
I've lots of relatives along the Eastern Seasboard - from Washington through to Maine.
Nice to see you here

I think you may be the only American on here at the moment, Envious, but there will be lots of us who'd love to chat with you - I can think of one in particular who is very keen on all things American!

Lovely to have you here!

hello Enviousamerican how exciting, I would love to visit USA but probably will never happen. What is Nashville like

Nice to have you with us Envious.
My DiL is American and we love visiting her and DS - they are in Virginia, not far from DC.
My vocabulary has expanded over the years - for example I have learned to say 'Good job!' whenever the DGCs do something praiseworthy

Surely I'm not the only american here? any questions I would gladly answer if I can.I live in Nashville,TN.,and no I do not like country music.I visited London on a tour with a friend when I was 19. It was 1971. I would love to visit again but I have back problems that limit sitting. so I'm happy just learning about your beautiful country.

anno - teasing the hair reminds me of a train journey to St Andrews, when I met another student (going to Edinburgh) - we had a big giggle over her 'teazle brush' for back-combing....

That will teach me to read the whole of the previous thread but when they get so long I don't always have time. and can't always be bothered.

I au paired in France and the mummy was American. On my shopping list she wrote 'cotton' but no colour, so, hedging my bets, I decided to get one reel of white and one of blue. What she really wanted was cotton wool - duh!

Nelliemoser It was half mentioned earlier that fanny is a slang term for bum in the US. It doesn't have sexual connotations.

I understand that what we call a bum bag the Americans call a Fanny bag. Which sound much ruder to me.

Now I do remember that, Movedalot!
Yes, and jolly painful it was, too...

Mine was net and it took a lot of work to make it stiff. Do you remember how it used to ladder your stockings?

Jeni its called hair spray these days and comes in aerosol containers and I don't think the smell is so bad these days Ariadne

I think that was the time of my life when I spent longest getting ready to go out. Did anyone else sleep in rollers?

That sounds very elegant Jeni I've never had the patience to grow my hair - I always think there are so many more options when you do. I don't think the hair spray today is anything like the industrial lacquer I remember, I could have sliced a cheek off

Never came across a foam petticoat, but I had one with plastic hoops in channels between the tiers. One of them came out and wound itself round my feet in the middle of a Scottish country dance.

I've just started tying my hair back or wearing it up again. Requires lacquer.

I remember the fine art of clipping a beret onto that backcombed hair too

Moved oh, the choking smell of that lacquer in the girls' cloakrooms! Did you have a foam petticoat too?

Spring chicken Ana or just a short memory? That's usually my line to DH as he is a whole 2 1/2 years older than me.

Before my time, Movedalot...

Back-combing and then squirting on lacquer from a squeezy bottle, then carefully combing the top layer before squirting again. Reminds me of sugaring the petticoat

Grannyknot did you visit Hearst Castle when you drove along the PCH?

The 'castle' itself is weird but the grounds, location and views were spectacular.

And talking of fanny ..... I overheard a 70-something American tourist in London asking the shop assistant for a fanny bag so she could store her bits and pieces!

Oh yes - back-combing. I was lucky in that I always had short hair, as in an urchin cut - not enough to back comb. It must have caused ruined hair and split ends!

That was in the 60s, of course. Don't think my hair would like to be back-combed now.

That brings back a memory, Joan. On holiday in Vienna, I teamed up with a Hungarian/American girl. After a swim, I was doing my hair, back-combing it to death as usual and she informed me that I was 'teasing' my hair.

Sometimes we really can misunderstand each other, I mean Americans and English.

I was once on a tram in Vienna with a fellow student, an American. I had a new handbag and a tatty old purse, so when she said "I like your purse" I was flummoxed. We sorted that one out, then she went on to say she also had a very old pocket book. "What book" I asked. She explained that it isn't a book, it is what the English call a purse.

At that point we gave up and morphed into German. At least we both spoke the same version of that language!

I think we are all more knowlegable about each others different dialects these days - I generally understand what Americans mean, 'cos we are exposed to so much of it. Sometimes, though, their demotion of the letter T to a letter D or just a space, confuses me.