Stiftsemlan

Did I ever tell you about my first meeting with a certain shop assistant at M&S and he asked me if I was from Canada? I did probably mention it before but since it has been a while I'd better tell the story again...

It was my first weekend in London and of course I had to explore the city. I went to Tottenham Court Road and walked down Oxford Street. There were people everywhere and it took me some effort to finally reach an M&S-shop (I was starving!). I couldn't find the sushi and instead I grabbed a sandwich and I waited patiently in the line before I could pay. I tried to be nice to the shop assistant who was not very patient when I tried to separate the British pound from American and Swedish currency in my wallet so I said something like: "My wallet is kind of messed up because I got Swedish money and American dollars together with the British pounds...". He didn't even let me finish until he stared into my eyes and asked me if I was Canadian. Of course I said no (because that's true...) but I still considering it to a compliment to my very American English. The ironic truth this story indicates is that if you are a Swedish girl, spending your whole summer in the Country of Big Brother and suddenly get a job as au-pair in London and you TRY to speak with a British accent, YOU SOUND Canadian! The perfect mix?

I should add that I'm trying real hard to not sound American. Probably you think I'm not trying hard enough though I don't spell ‘really' with a double-L and Y in the end. But that's certainly not true! Fact is that I sound kind of British in the beginning of every conversation but somehow my accent changes along the way and I suddenly make an awful American-influenced noise instead of the beautiful British English I'm so fond of. Last week I called Orange's customer services to provide some answers for the plenty of questions I had in mind, but at the time I started talking the woman on the phone interrupted me to ask if I was American. Once again I said had to say no (‘cause that's the truth!) and at the end of our conversation she gave me 100 free text messages and 90 minutes within the UK (poor Camilla). And what have we learned from this? Well, call your customer services and listen to what they have to say - you will be rewarded (especially if you're new to this country and speak a mix of three different accents)!

Finally I want to talk about a typical English word that does not seem to exist in the US. "Pardon" is a common word when you ask, in a polite manner, someone to repeat what they just said. Even though my dad reminded me of this word BEFORE I went to London for my first time (I was 11) I've never used this word. Every time I end up in a special situation (where the most appropriate word is "Pardon") I get panicked and just shout: "WHAT!?". It's a shame that I've never really used it, even though I know what it means and when it's suitable to use it, and that's probably the main difference between British and American accents; the American language is rude and full of impolite words! That is also probably why my English cannot be considered as British, so far...