One of the things I love about blogging is that while reading through my blogroll, I get to come across wonderful colloquialisms that you don’t hear every day on a DC street.
Like “It was brilliant!”.
We just don’t say brilliant enough in the States. Every time I read it, I imagine the slight upturn in the middle, coupled with a careful British accent. That word alone kept me smiling through Bend it Like Beckham, a movie that I thought was … brilliant!
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When I came back from a study abroad program in Cambridge, I started referring to everything as “brilliant” (too many nights in the pub with my UK friends). My little sister accused me of “talking funny.”
I fielded similar complaints from my friends after a 4 month stay in London.
I inherited an ability from my mother that is liable to get us both in trouble one day – we tend to start mimicking the voice traits of those we are around. So, when we visit relatives in the Carolinas, we go Southern. When I was in London (mostly when I was in a pub and after a pint or two), my British accent picked up enough to be passable and convincing (which was embarrassing, since some of the people I was with were *trying* to have an accent … and I was fearful that I, too, sounded like a bad Monty Python skit). When I visited Canada, within days, I was “ehâ€-ing this and “ehâ€-ing that and drawing down on my Os.
It’s really unintentional, but that doesn’t help much in the face of disgust or – even more dangerous – offense. My mother has to be particularly careful – she’s a family counselor. Mimicking your patients’ voices during a session is not exactly professionally endearing.
Just before I read this, my Mancoonian-gone-Londoner houseguest of the past two weeks had exclaimed “oh, brilliant!” while reading something related to the “24” BBC series.