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Amerenglish trivia

post # 122 — June 30, 2006 — a General post

This, via my brother-in-law, Tony Sacker.

Apparently, he heard a dinner speaker point out that Americans and Brits use the word “momentarily” to mean different things.

In Britain, it means “for a moment.” In the US, it means “in a moment.”

This led to some moments of fear for some Brits when an American airline pilot announced “We will be taking off momentarily.”

3 Comments

Michelle Golden said:

LOL, that WOULD be disconcerting…funny that we use “momentary” for the British meaning

posted on June 30, 2006

Eric Boehme said:

That is great!

One wonders if Uk English and US English are two different languages.

Even though I am born and raised in the US, I consider that the Brits speak “real” English.

posted on July 2, 2006

Shaula Evans said:

I just came across Separated by a Common Language – http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/ – dedicated to observations on British and American English by an American linguist in the UK (via the Lord Celery blog – http://tinyurl.com/jtowt).

I’m enjoying it as a Canadian married to an American who spent his early childhood in England; I thought you and Kathy, and your readers, might get a kick out of it, too.

Quite the translation tool!

posted on July 20, 2006