Because Kenya was once inhabited by lots of British people (still is) it has adopted many of its ways of speaking and spelling words such as colour and aeroplane. It is a great source of amusement and confusion to me as well as an annoyance when I fail to use the 'correct' word for an item because its so long since I've heard it spoken. Occasionally, I use the words that I'm used to for the sheer joy of seeing the looks of confusion on the faces around me and the thrill that comes with feeling as though I've exacted some sort of revenge on people for making perfectly normal words and phrases no longer normal.
Here are some of my faves:
chips= french fries
crisps= chips -these two kill me. Chips are chips and fries are fries and crisps
aren't anything. Unless you are talking about chicken and then the
word you are looking for is 'crispy'
biscuits= cookies
boot= trunk (of car)-dont get me started on this one.
jumper= sweater
DJ=tuxedo
poppin/nippin=going out/coming in ie: “I'm going to nip to the store for some milk”
seriously?
posh= fancy/rich- this is just a silly word that really shouldn't be used unless
you're talking about spice,as in one of the spice girls.
Half ten= ten thirty.- no. just. no. It can be half past the hour, thirty minutes
until the hour, but half 'whatever number' just isnt
acceptable... I totally use this one all the time btw.
Maths=math- this one I just cant get behind. Why are we adding letters to words
that have no need for them?
So there it is, almost three months in Kenya and I'm still having difficulty communicating with the locals. Maybe next month I'll finally get it.....
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