Ameringlish*

After an incident at my office last week, I am now willing to concede that Americans really do speak another language from the UK and former British colonies.  (No gloating, Graham.)  It took me a good ten minutes on Friday to convey to my Kenyan colleagues that I was in need of a band aid.  Not a cloth bandage, but just a simple sticky wrap to put over the blister forming on my toe.  Finally after showing them the offending toe and acting out what I would like to do to it they determined I was looking for an elastoplast.  Elasto-what? According to Wikipedia (the source of most useless knowledge floating in my head) this is a brand name for a sticking plaster or adhesive bandage.  Both generic terms I would never have thought to use to explain the item I needed.  Perhaps I should work on expanding my vocabulary. 

*The name of this post is stolen from the title of my bestie's blog about life as an expat in the UK.  Check it out here.

Pants vs. Trousers

Colleague: You wore a dress today?

Me: No, I'm wearing pants.

Colleague: (smirk)

Me: (oblivious)

Photo credit: ck-blog.com

Induction? You mean, orientation?

After arriving late in the evening in Nairobi on 1/11/11 (I just wanted a reason to mention the fun date) I spent the next day recovering from jet lag and lounging about the guest house and trying not to scare others with my lingering manly voice.  Eugene from the Nairobi Skillshare office came by on Thursday morning with Evans, my guide to the "induction" process.  This must be a Britishism* (look it up, I swear it's a word; if it's not it should be) because I laughed out loud (also a possible side effect from jetlag and being heavily medicated for a sinus infection) when he told me that I would spend the next few days getting inducted and he just looked at me strangely.  I refrained from asking what I was getting inducted into, the Hall of Fame for Awesomeness perhaps?  A cult?  Childbirth?  (*My theory was confirmed when I got a follow up email from the UK office wishing me a nice induction.)