Divided by a common language

Yacht's crew divided by a common language 

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 

Ben Meakins 

Comments (20)

Clipper race crewmember struggles with Atlantic divide...

Sailing is a great leveller. You can discover many things about your crewmates when confined to a small, wet yacht mid-ocean. But it seems that some on-shore differences are harder to shake off than you might expect.
American round the world crew member Quannon Au on board California in the Clipper 09-10 Round the World Yacht Race shares some tips from the American-flagged, mainly British-crewed entry...
"Don’t let the giant stars and stripes flag on the mainsail fool you. With our skipper and most crew either hailing from the UK or having a British background, we are definitely more a steak and chips than a burgers and fries boat, with just a few Americans onboard. Sometimes when I hear Pete call for the Yankee 3 to be brought on deck immediately, I wonder whether one of my fellow Americans has gotten in trouble with skipper, before realizing that he’s talking about one of the headsails. Part of my ongoing training on this race, then, has been learning to navigate the subtle and not so subtle cultural differences. The following are my results thus far after many weeks of painstaking cultural anthropology. But don’t cry for me, Arkansas. If my work can help just one American coming onboard in a future leg then it will all have been worthwhile.
Tea: Where else would we start but with tea? Brits drink tea as much as Americans drink coffee. Actually, Brits drink tea as much as Americans drink any liquid. Whereas our franchise coffee shops foisted things like the “grande latte mochaccino with soy” on the rest of the world, on the boat you’re more likely to hear something like “tea, white, strong, 1 sweetener, extra milk.” Also, “tea” can apparently mean dinner. Or lunch. Which seems like it could lead to questions like “would you like some tea with your tea?”
Biscuits: What we call a biscuit, they call a bread roll. What we call a cookie, they call a biscuit. Crackers can be biscuits or crackers. But chocolate chip cookies are always cookies. Chocolate chip biscuits? Don’t be silly.
New and Exotic Foods: These may require some practice to get used to. Remember, your British crewmates have had their entire lives to get accustomed to the flavour. You have a lot of catching up to do. Dig in and add an extra helping of that Branston Pickle. Ask your crewmates about that jar of Marmite and they’ll tell you that many of them have eaten it from a very young age. They may also tell you that it’s a brown gooey substance left over from an industrial process. Fascinating. Repetitive Sauces: Peri peri sauce. Reggae reggae sauce. I haven’t yet seen “saucey sauce sauce” but it could be hidden somewhere in the galley. Asking for “brown brown sauce” or “mango mango chutney chutney” will only elicit strange looks, however.
Potatoes: Fries are called chips. Chips are called crisps. Jacket potatoes are what we call baked potatoes except, um, wearing cute little potato-sized biker jackets, I guess.
Manners. You may hear your crewmates ask for things using lots of extra words. Don’t be intimidated. This is called “being polite”, but being American no one will expect you to learn it. Just remember that “I couldn’t perhaps trouble you for a hot drink, could I?” translates roughly in American English to “Yo! Lemme get a coffee!”
Aluminum vs. Aluminium: Brits don’t know that we spell the word without the extra “I”. Don’t let them know this and instead insist that we pronounce it differently just to make them mad. Then watch as they get mad. Good clean fun every time.
Buoys: Brits prounounce this “boy” and find our pronunciation of “boo-ey” to be hilarious. See aluminium. Rinse and repeat.
Clothing: Pants are called trousers. Underwear is called pants. So saying “wow, my pants sure are dirty” may result in awkward silence. Followed by humiliating laughter.
Shortening words to make them more fun to say. Searching for a breakfast with chocolate biscuits? Do a “recky” on a “brekky” with some “chocky bickies”! If you’re a smoker you might even enjoy a “ciggy” afterwards. You can actually say these things.
Finally, if you’re a guy and someone accuses you of wearing a big girl’s blouse, well, you can probably guess that it’s not a good thing. British dudes don’t like wearing big girl’s blouses."

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Graeme,
November 11 19:51

ooh yes!
Been there.
Don't even mention the confusion generated by fanny and/or ass.....
Chaos is a certainty- and a few ashen faces ;-DD
Language is wonderful!

Pete,
November 11 20:26

Excuse me, but one does not wear a big girls blouse, but one is (and this is not a compliment) a big girls blouse. This neither refers to large breasted ladies nor does it refer to items of clothing. Gramatically, it may be a metaphor, or a simile. I don't know not being a grammar t..t.

Simes,
November 13 22:36

Rule Britannia!

Ray Cole,
November 15 12:34

For more fun and games try telling a US garage mechanic to get the spare tyre from the boot, or pop the bonnet and check the oil..........

Mary Sturgess,
November 18 01:57

I had an American sailor on my boat (J105) last year. Fenders are bumpers to American sailors, whereas bumpers are fenders on our cars. He also told us dirty sheets are lazy sheets! Great fun.

Bolshy,
November 23 13:24

Announce that its faggots for tea...or ask for a fag....or inform a female(US) crew member that you`ll knock her up at 3am for her watch...and you`ll get some really interesting reactions

CB,
November 23 14:17

There's always the British smoker who's gasping for a fag.

splinters42,
November 27 15:32

Try asking your American secretary for a rubber!

eddie coyle,
November 30 13:32

An american aboard his boat gave us a plate of little pancakes topped with bacon, fried onions and pinapple slices.We were ready for anything after that- you betcha!

Graham Houghton,
December 05 04:24

It's, 'You are a big girl's blouse,' not, 'You're wearing a big girl's blouse.'

Allan Boyes,
December 08 14:01

The size of my blouse is my affair, you big jessie

Sam Brown,
December 23 22:41

We had a bit of an emergency at night on our boat where I was the only Brit. The cry "Give me the torch!" produced a puzzled look and no action until I realised and added swiftly "The flashlight!"

James Windle,
January 13 09:04

And another thing: A sandwich is not a sandwich to an American unless it contains A LOT of absolutely everything you can find in the galley.

Davey,
January 13 19:51

Aw that's just the tip of the iceberg. Someone I worked with went across the pond to do a tough course about maintaining a piece of military hardware. After making a drawing error he asked "has anyone got a rubber?" which caused some very strange looks. More strange looks followed after he followed the first mistake by saying "Cor I could do with a fag". Same language but often poles apart.

Jayprime,
January 15 16:13

Surely the accusation is of 'being a big girls blouse' not of wearing one!

Brian,
February 04 15:40

I spent a bit of time in the US. Then came back and had the family on the ferry to France. Arrived down to the car on arrival in Cherbourg to find a puncture on the right-rear. Crewmember: "Wot's up ?" Me: "I've gotta flat". Crewmwmber: "No prob, happens all the time". He reappears with pertable battery and jump-leads...

Grant Goulding,
February 23 13:08

Made me laugh. Excellent and of course I think since both the Brits and the Yankees can laugh at themselves I only wish all cultural differences in the world were as benign! Long may we be different!

FABIAN DIAZ,
April 20 21:55

I almost fall of a chair while laughing

Interesting, because I speak spanish in my country, and learned american english, and did some gaffes while talking to british people

JJF,
July 27 16:25

I've witnessed some innocent statements in both languages that can be rather unfortunate in translation on the other:

1. Can I bum a fag? (English slang request to steal a cigarette from someone)

2. Let's blow off John (US statement to ignore what John has to say)

Generally I've found it difficult to explain why these statements are not ideal to the person saying them.

I suggest that it's best to stand back and watch the outcome.

Richard Shorter,
September 07 20:12

You forgot to mention that as well as calling buoys "boo-eys" the American lateral buoyage system is the opposite way round to ours so to English eyes all the buoys are on the wrong side of the channel.