Heading into London from South America, I was looking forward to being able to communicate in the same language, instead of relying on Google Translate.
Ha!
The young lad at the botanic garden ticket booth has repeated a question for the third time. Each time my reply was “I’m sorry, can you say that again?” And I’m still staring at him blankly. I’m wondering if I can ask him to say it in Spanish; that might be easier to understand. (Google Translate really needs to expand their functionality to include British to American translation!) I’m too embarrassed to ask him to repeat it a fourth time, so I answer “no” and hope it’s the right answer. (It seems to be, because he hands me my entrance ticket.)
And it’s not just the accent. I notice on a walk yesterday a whole new vocabulary out here. It looks like fly-tipping is bad (criminal, even), but the ha-ha deserves a “save the ha-ha” campaign. I’ve heard cow-tipping is illegal in the US; wonder if it has something to do with that?
It turns out it’s the ha-ha that has to do with cows—it’s a ditch used on farms to keep farm animals away from private gardens, and some people are not happy about its demise. And fly-tipping means illegal dumping. (From Wikipedia: The term fly tipping is derived from the verb tip, meaning “to throw out of a vehicle”, and on the fly, meaning “spontaneously or extemporaneously; done as one goes, or during another activity” – to throw away carelessly or casually.)
So there you have your (British) English lesson for the day.
9 responses to “Save the Ha-Ha”
My site Article Sphere covers a lot of topics about Search Engine Optimization and I thought we could greatly benefit from each other. Awesome posts by the way!
gRobeZxliV
This is quality work regarding the topic! I guess I’ll have to bookmark this page. See my website Seoranko for content about Video Streaming Services and I hope it gets your seal of approval, too!
Impressive posts! My blog Webemail24 about Memes also has a lot of exclusive content I created myself, I am sure you won’t leave empty-handed if you drop by my page.
Fly-tipping! Love it!
Mary and I had a walk yesterday and talked about your amazing adventures. Your outside Quito glamping, volcano hike, and May bird photos are enticing. The plate billed mountain Toucan ‘s plumage reminds me of Jacob’s coat of many colors.
Best of luck on your sea voyage.
We had a ha-ha ditch around my boarding school when I attended Yateley Hall as a child. So funny that the saying still remains.
That’s wild, that you actually knew the word!
I find that to be true in England especially with cab drivers and train conductors. I also had a friend whom I could not understand half the time. But we are the ones who left the queen’s (now king’s) english.
Yes, I’m having the same challenge with taxi/Uber drivers.