[ torch! ]

sooooooo... i'm british & lived in the states for dare i say it 10 years on the 24th of this month! wow! that's a kind of major-ish anniversary! i just looked up the traditional anniversary gift present & it's tin or aluminum!! lovely! mmmmm looking forward to my 10th wedding anniversary present then!!

anyway...there are lots of funny differences in the language ~ for example in the uk we say trousers, in the states we say pants. pants in the uk is underwear.

i thought i'd come across most of these but i was recently surprised!

we had a few major things done to our house... like a new water mains... which cracked & also got a new tankless water heater when our old boiler broke... these things require permits & once installed someone from the township has to come to inspect he work.

this happened & i led the inspector guy into the basement... the light was on but the area he needed to look at was in a dark corner. he asked is there another light? i looked around because we did have something rigged up at one point. he saw a light switch & said don't worry i've found it & he flicked it. i replied you'll be lucky!! that would be far too easy!!

i saw a flashlight,  grabbed it & said to him would you like a torch? (which is what we call them in the uk)

he had his back to me & said in a kind of 'i don't think so voice' errrr no that's fine & as he said that he turned round where i was standing holding a flashlight.

i was thinking suit yourself, stay in the dark!

then he must have realized the whole 'language barrier' thing! & explained it to me (to be honest i was very confused!!) did he honestly think i was going to get a piece of wood, set light to one end of it to light my basement!! how medieval!!