On 1/19/2011 1:00 PM, Arfa Daily wrote:

I once got in a lot of trouble with my boss when I was young and worked
for a U.S. based company. At that time, I didn't understand that there
was a big difference between British 'tongue-in-cheek' humour, and the
much more direct U.S. type. I was talking on the phone to one of the
designers of a piece of equipment that we sold here in the UK, and asked
the guy if he could arrange to send me some screws for the cabinet, as
they were a thread that we didn't readily get over here. He asked if I
knew exactly what size they were so I replied, quick as a flash,
thinking that I was being funny, "I guess that they are round about
3/16ths APF." "What's APF ?" the guy asked. "American **** Fit", said I ...

Stony silence on the phone. Half an hour later, I was summoned to the
boss's office. Apparently, the guy had been really offended by this,
thinking that it was a slur on what he considered to be good American
engineering, and had called my boss to complain about me. Just goes to
show how easily offence can be caused between nations, even when they
speak what's basically the same language ... :-)

While on vacation in the Dominican Republic we ran into a really nice
group from the UK who were there for a wedding. We would hang out and
talk with them down at the in-pool bar almost every evening. I never
quite got used to them asking me to bum a fag. I'm from the US and I
smoke cigarettes, not fags.

--
-Scott