Definitely divided by!!
There's a book I've read a couple or three times (originally read it as a web story but bought the book when it was finally published) set in the wilderness in Alaska. In it one of the M/Cs (who seems to be as big a coffee addict as I am) mentions that she takes special coffee along on her treks, made from beans she grinds herself (not something we do a lot here - most coffee is bought ready-ground, and sealed in vacuum packs). In the same conversation she says she takes a
French Press. I had no idea what one of those was, but I assumed from the context that it was some handy little gadget she used to grind the beans.
Even to a coffee nut like me that seemed a hell of a lot of trouble to go through - especially on a camping/kayaking wilderness trip. I didn't think to look it up because it wasn't
that different. It's not the totally different words that cause the problems - if it's not familiar you have to look it up. Words like
diaper (nappy to us Brits) or
pacifier (dummy to us) make no sense in British English, so if you haven't already learnt them from tv you look them up.
No, it's the familiar words, the ones that
do seem to make sense that cause the most problems, Because you think you know what they mean and it isn't until you reach a point where you stop and go "WTF??" that you realise they aren't what you thought. False friends they're known as. Like "biscuit", or "subway", or "pants". It doesn't just happen with the different English dialects. It happens in other, close-neighbour, languages too. Like Dutch/German, or Spanish/Portuguese (a Portuguese friend once almost came to blows with a Spanish chap who thought he'd complimented her - but the Spanish word he used was an dire insult in Portuguese!!)
Anyway - there I was, bumbling along quite happily, thinking I knew what it was, and then I read another book where the character
brewed a coffee in a French Press. OK. Not something to grind the beans then. But what the hell was it?? Not a percolator - coz I'm pretty sure Americans use the same word for that. A filter machine then?? Nope, don't think so - I bought a cheap (amazingly cheap) one of those once, in Burbank, and I'm sure it wasn't called that. What then??
I gave up and Googled it.
On for pete's sake!! A
cafetiere!! Well why didn't you say so?? Now it made sense. Yeah, I could see taking a cafetiere with you - especially if you get a travel one.
Ah well, one day we'll all speak the same dialect. Probably based on present-day American. (Or Chinese). Until then, you Yanks aren't 'arf confusing.
See you next week. Goodnight and may your God/s go with you.
Ze
