4 ms·

Also, us Dutch get taught British English at school so it makes sense for us even in English.

• arp242 5y ago
  Most non-native speakers don't really use "British" or "American" English anyway, but rather a mixture of both, not infrequently unaware that a particular word or phrase belongs to one or the other variant. My English girlfriend didn't know what "parenthesis" are for example; turns out it's very much an American thing – I had no idea – and it's brackets in British English apparently. There's been a few other confusions like this, and I still can't remember if "lift" is the American and "elevator" the British or vice-versa.
  • chrstphrknwtn 5y ago
    > not infrequently unaware So, often unaware?
    • kubanczyk 5y ago
      Rarely aware, eh?
  • taylodl 5y ago
    Okay, if the word your girlfriend uses for "parenthesis" is "brackets" then what word does she use for what Americans call "brackets"? (Notice I use the British quotation style for interrogative sentences even though I'm American, it just makes sense). And do they use a different word for what Americans call a "brace"? As an aside, being an old C/C++ developer I still remember being taken aback upon hearing someone pronounce #define has "hash define." (But I use the American style for declarative sentences!) I've always heard it pronounced "pound define" going back for decades. Language, it's fun!
    • arp242 5y ago
      It's "square brackets" for [ and ]. It's confusing the same word means something subtly different; you have the same with "chips" (French fries in the US, crisps are used for US chips, in New Zealand chips is used for both though which is even more confusing) or "pepper" (bell pepper in the UK, chilli pepper in the US).