instead of whinging

your british word of the day:
whinge [winj]
-verb (used without object)
to complain; whine.

the weather this past weekend was absolutely stunning--sun with hardly a cloud in the sky. it's such a rarity here we sort of didn't know what to do with ourselves. we spent yesterday walking around oxford, and today we took the camera out for a stroll around guildford. so, instead of whinging about all-things british, i present you with a mini-tour of our town. most of these pictures were taken within a 5-minute walk of our front door.

guildford high st--looking up the hill; our flat is across from the clock, on the 3rd floor

me on the high street, outside of our flat

the millmead lock on the guildford canal

a man and his dog, beside the river wey (pronounced 'way')

the river wey, meeting the guildford canal; and swans. and ducks.

view from bridge street, walking toward town center

same language, or so i'm told

it's easy to find references for the grammatical differences between american english and british english. but none of these are helpful at all on a day-to-day existence. idioms are one thing; but, even though i've lived here before, and learned a lot of the seemingly small variations in the seemingly inoffensive phrase, 'are you alright?', i CANNOT get used to the husband asking me this question!

if you're asked this question by an american, or in the states, it usually means, 'holy god, you're bleeding profusely from the head, are you alright? do you need medical care?' or 'you seem like you're having a mental breakdown, are you alright? do you need a bottle of whiskey?' you know, something like that. just used when someone seems in need of actual care or attention--blood, sweat, tears kind of querie...

the british usage--from what i can gather, closely resembles the tried and true phrase, 'hi, how are you?' or sometimes, 'hey, you look low on tea, would you like another cup?' but being american, when someone asks me 'are you alright?' it instigates a small tinge of panic.

i usually try and find a mirror to make sure my appearance isn't that out of the norm--hair relatively calm, no blood dripping from my nose i didn't know about, etc. when that seems fine, i reply with, 'yeah, everything is fine, why?' to which the british person just kind of makes a confused face, shrugs, walks away. i've learned to just reply, 'yeah.' but god forbid anyone saying, 'no, i'm not alright.' that response is met with equal confusion/disdain/ambivalence. in that case, the brit isn't asking how you are, or if you want tea--they're really just trying to make a pleasantry, much like an american would say, 'hello!'

this might not seem like that big a deal, but this phrase is asked of you wherever you go, by strangers, shop assistants, flatmates, husbands, friends, over and over and over and over! i can get used to it in public, get used to friends, but the husband--every time, it makes me uneasy and defensive. i guess it's just one of those things.