Impediment

As i have almost certainly mentioned in the past, one of the most entertaining things about living in America - at least to me - is the differences in language - primarily the differences in words and/or phrases. For example - to pull for someone over here, means that you support them; whereas in the UK, if you are on the pull, it means something entirely different. One early faux pas of mine was to ask people 'how's tricks?' which means, in a general sense, 'how's life?' - whereas the term 'tricking' over here (and, to an extent, in the UK) refers to prostitutes hanging out on street corners. Of course, now that i've been here for some time, i'm pretty much able to navigate these with ease (at least, that's what i tell myself) and any confused looks are met with the standard phrase 'It's a British thing. Don't worry about it'

Since my return from the UK (I guess because i was used to people understanding what i was saying), I've noticed on more than a few occasions, the slight difficulties that people have with what i'm saying, not only on the different words/phrases, but on words that are the same, but with a different pronunciation. When i was getting a fruit smoothie at the local coffee shop the other day, i had joked that i was having this (and not my usual coffee) as i needed the vit-a-mins - to be met with a slightly confused air that disappeared when i rephrased as vi-ta-mins. The same thing happened at subway with Tom-ah-to and Tom-ay-to, and oregano. These are but a couple of examples that immediately spring to mind. One thing is for sure - you know when you're back in America 'cause nearly every reply you hear is 'Huh?' or 'What?'