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Originally Posted by mac
Oh rather old boy, what, what....! No we Brits don't speak quite like that, Jim, although some of my North American friends enjoy trying to wind me up by making out that we do.  One or two even say I sound like the gecko in the GEICO adverts! 
And I'm mindful that in the USA, some Americans say 'quite' when they mean 'very'. In UK English 'quite' is a limiting term - 'quite interesting' would mean it's fairly interesting but not very interesting. It took me quite (!) some time to figure that my American counterparts were giving praise rather than limiting it when using 'quite' before another adjective.
I rarely use the word 'Yank' unless I'm in the company of good American friends (as a leg-pull) or unless I've been called a 'Limey'. I might even refer to 'colonists' if someone is taking a pop at me. But I digress....
I'm pleased to hear that you, too, saw the situation as I do - that of the appearance of the etheric form. (And nice examples you've given.)
I do wonder at times if other contributors pay any attention to the thread title.  |
I never realized that about "quite", Mac. Another example of how we are divided by a common language!
Another example I've heard is "momentarily". In the US, it means, "in a moment". I understand that in the UK it means, "for a moment".
The story goes that some British passengers became frightened when the American pilot announced, "Momentarily we will be flying over the Atlantic Ocean". They wondered what would happen after that: a crash-landing into the water?
I was very disappointed when I first visited England and saw only one gent during my whole visit wearing a bowler hat. It was at Oxford University. He was a middle-aged man who was yelling at a young man who appeared to be a student.
Someone told me afterward that he was a "Bulldog": a kind of security guard with authority to keep the students in line.
Jim