London Vernacular

The English speak English, and the Americans technically derive much of their culture from the British. And yet, there are some things that are as markedly disparate as the spelling of "United States" and "United Kingdom." (The emphasis being on the latter half of those words.) The biggest difference that came to my mind first, obviously, is the color of the bark on the oak trees. It's a much darker hue here in Britian. But besides that, there are some very different words and phrases between the two Western nations. For example, at the Victoria and Albert museum this week one of the curators told me she needed to look at my ruksack. I didn't quite know how to interpret that, and only after twenty minutes, a very awkward moment, and a translator, was I able to get "backpack" out of "ruksack." Another example came during Church. I am working with the youngsters in the nursery. Asking what one child's name was, I heard "Kite." I thought that was a strange name, but then again so is having a Queen protected by stiff guards with fake guns & tall, furry hats, so I just accepted "Kite" as an acceptable name. Afterall, who am I to talk? I want to name my kids Malachi, Jamal, Ezra, and Surfboard. I called this poor little now-traumatized girl Kite all afternoon until I saw her with her American mother who called her "Kate." Woops. Not my Bad; I was told her name was Kite. But the greatest vernacular difference of all came that same afternoon when the head mistress asked me, "Brother Bennett, would you please take Daniel to the loo before he wee-wees in his trousers?" I nearly wee-wee'd my own trousers when I heard that phrase! There are certainly many differences between the Americans and the British, but at least we both have only one 'r' in the spelling of our nationalities, something we can build on. At least it's a start.