“Is that an American expression?”… “I Have No Idea”…
yankeebean
One of the things that I tend to do is make up random words and slang for everything. Just for kicks, y’know? Life’s too short to abide by the Dictionary (although it’s a fine book). My Mom does it, too and I think I get it from her – sometimes I wonder if we could have a conversation using only our secret code. Like two spies… or psychic ninjas.
When I first move here, people would ask, “Is that an American thing?” and sometimes I’d say “Yeah” and launch into an explanation. But sometimes I”d say, “No, it’s just a random Yankeebean thing, I like making up words”. (With lots of hand waving and general gesticulation, of course).
But recently a couple of people have asked “Is that an American thing?” and I’ve had to pause and say, “I have absolutely no idea…”
Half the time I just don’t remember if it’s American, or something I made up – I’m not even sure if it’s just something people say in the NORTH and not in the South in England. All of the terms of everywhere I’ve lived have all ended up in a big bubbling pot of vocabulary – and the origin is starting to evaporate in to thin air (I moved once a year from when I was 15 to when I was 20, so there’s a reasonable jumble in there)
So, is it just another expat shamerican thing? Anyone else forgetting what’s from where? Or should I make a doctor’s appointment? 
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Blueyedflower on 
jackie on 
I am so glad I am not alone!! My boyfriend and I have been together for nearly four years and he is still always asking me this. I am Mexican-American too so I never know if it’s a ‘Mexican thing,’ ‘American thing,’ or ‘Vanessa living in England thing’ or just a ‘Vanessa thing.’
I love your blog! Every entry has me cracking up, shaking my head because I relate so much. I wish I would have had this blog when I first moved over here to be with my boy. It is so comforting. I finally feel like I belong somewhere!
Vanessa! Horrah! I’m SOOOO freakin’ glad it’s not just me. I hoped it was expat-related and not my-brain-is-goo related
I also have just recently found this blog and love it. It’s very comforting and hilarious.
I also have no idea where half my vocab comes from. And my accent is another thing – I’ve had two people ask if I’m Swedish! One was an American I was talking with back in the States and even after ten minutes she was surprised I was American too – that’s when I knew I’d been here too long!
Keep up the good work Yankeebean! You are definitely not alone.
I have the same problem. I’m from Bermuda, which itself is a melting pot of mostly British, Caribbean and American influences, went to school in Canada for a few years, then in the US. I’m not even sure what is Bermudian, as opposed to British or American, amongst words, practices, influences that I grew up with, let alone those that I’ve picked up along the way.
Well I’ve been in the States now for almost 20 years and I can never remember what’s English or whether it’s just a family thing. Doesn’t help that my husband is from the (US) South and I swear some of the things he comes out with are made up. Such as “If I had my druthers”. What?
It’s not just you – I get thoroughly confused too, no idea whether what I’m saying is English or American. This is a bad thing as I’m a teacher, working with new immigrants. Poor sods – they’ll never learn to speak American properly!
I was just IMing with a friend and told him something would be ‘piss easy’ – he said he was laughing so hard he could barely type.
Another term falls in to the nebulous expat no man’s land!
Well not to get all serious on your ass, but most people have no idea where most of their expressions come from. It’s really only when you first move to a new place that you notice most differences. So as soon as you get settled in the lines start blurring again. Sure if I say something is wicked retarded or accidentally call a milkshake a frappe I know where I picked it up. But where did my habit of calling everything I like sexy come from? I never noticed that I always say street or ave or or whatever after every street name, but people where I live now just say the name of the street until it was pointed out to me. Is that dialectical or idiosyncratic? People just aren’t good judges of word or phrase origins or even of how they themselves speak. So I suppose my conclusion is that knowing indicates a state a of flux and not knowing is the natural state of things.
The irony is that many foreign English expressions come from English dialect words originally, if you trace them back far enough. Thus it all comes full circle I guess… a word that you may think is American may ultimately come from some isolated pocket of Devon!