Suspenders
This afternoon I was listening to GQT on radio. At one point one of the panel [James Wong I think] created much amusement for the audience and embarassment for himself when discussing a gardeners victorian uniform he refered to braces by the American term suspenders. Later when I recounted this to my wife, my eldest daughter [aged 22] overheard and said she could not understand the amusement as the word suspenders made her think of what held trousers up and that braces were for peoples teeth. Her younger sisters also agreed with her, leaving me and my wife astonished. When I told her I thought this was very american she said she felt her fellow students when she had been at university had struck her as using far more american words and phrases than herself.
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pansyface, I've found folk in Asia "learn" a lot of their English by watching movies,(another Americanism right there
) so they pick up on these things.
Don't even start me on the spelling. In India , they got their English from us, they drive on the left but they love to use the word " center" . I always titter when I used to have my hair cut in a " saloon"
If you have to have your hair cut, I couldn't imagine a better place to have it done.
Terrifying vision, not for the faint hearted. Monty Don doing his gardening whilst wearing suspenders.
The thing is with language (especially English) is that it is always changing.There is really no correct way to say anything.If 2 people are talking and can understand each other that is fine.There will be differences between different cultures and generations.
So much of our language is taken from or influenced from elswhere,the Normans,Dutch,India,Africa etc.etc.
In fact some American words are the original English words and the English have changed them!
Language is dynamic and will always change (even if we don't like it!!!).