'Quite nice, actually.' Translating British to English

How good is your English? On the whole, I'd say mine is pretty fluent. But there are situations where my Dutchness becomes suddenly apparent. I texted my friend the other day asking if she liked shrimp, but I did it with the words 'Are you a shrimp yea or nay?' She answered that she'd never been a shrimp...

There are other things, too, that make it quite clear I'm not from the UK. I don't take milk in my tea (gasp!). In fact, I asked another friend, 'So how much milk do I put in to have it be a real British cup of tea?' The answer was a very helpful shrug. 'Just so it looks like a cup of tea.'

And then there's me thinking Burns night would have something to do with bonfires or even be the same as bonfire night. #SorryNotBritish

Pickled onions... Only a Brit could get that excited over them at a party... 

When we lived in Nottingham, our neighbour once told me about the house she lived in and who had gone before. 'First it was Lord and Lady, then Colonel and Mrs, and now it's just Mr and Mrs.' She very Britishly said it like the poor house was being let down, but I, very unbritishly, can only think that titles don't necessarily make good people.

But her husband gave me the best lesson in British, though I only learnt it years later. I'd made an apple pie, but it was too big for my husband and me, since our son was only a baby at the time, so I gave them the remaining half. When he returned the tin, I asked what he thought and he told me it was 'quite nice, actually'. I don't remember exactly what I said, but I remember being a bit disappointed, because to my Dutch ears, that sounded like he was surprised it was even edible. Like I said, only years later, after having 'How are you?' heard answer with 'Not too bad.' about a million times, did I realise he probably really liked my apple pie.

I don't mean to sound like I'm laughing at my neighbours. There are certainly things in this country I don't understand or don't like, even (hello, Brexit!), but on the whole, I love looking at British culture and language through Dutch eyes and seeing both our similarities and our differences. Especially if those two are closer together than you'd think!