"Doug Miller" wrote in message
. net...
In article , Tony Williams
wrote:
I was 19, sitting around the dinner table in Tucson,
with my aunt's neighbours... "to see the nephew from
England".

We were talking about taking a hike on the Sunday, and
one of them remarked how she had difficulty in waking
up on the weekend. So I leant over and casually said
"shall I come over an knock you up then?".

Sudden silence.

I guess you learned pretty quickly that that phrase has a *very* different
meaning here. grin

When sitting down to dinner, we habitually put "napkins" in our laps to
protect our clothing from spills, and to provide something to wipe our
hands
on. As I understand it, you use "serviettes" for that purpose, and
"napkins"
for something altogether different.

I believe the phrase "keep your pecker up", which in England is meant to
extol people to be cheerful in the face of adversity, has a very
embarrassing meaning in the States.

A few years ago we took a train trip across Canada and fell in with a group
of Americans. By the end of the trip I had them calling the railroad: the
railway, switches: points and ties: sleepers. Oh and the engineer was the
engine driver.
--
Keith Willcocks
(If you can't laugh at life, it ain't worth living!)