Further linguistics joy

Today we discussed American English in my linguistics class. We got to a slide about differences in slang between American and British English. Consider the following scenarios:

-An American walking into her job in a UK office and being told that one of her coworkers is "outside blowing a fag."
-A Brit walking into a stationery store and asking for a "rubber."
-A Brit walking into an American bar and asking the bartender if he can "pinch a fag."
-An American explaining that he has relationship problems and being told that he should just "keep his pecker up."

In British English, you see, a fag is a cigarette, a rubber is (I assume) an eraser, and pecker is overall cheerfulness. As you know, we Americans interpret these terms quite differently.

Lori and I were DYING of laughter when we read these and we kept giggling silently through the rest of class...but I'm not sure the Brits understood what all of these phrases meant because none of them were laughing at all.

My Simon Schama "A History of Britain" DVDs have arrived at last! I am very excited for the nerdy movie nights that will begin in the near future.

As some of you may already be aware, I am going camping and hiking in Roy Bridge, Scotland this weekend (Google has pretty pictures of this area, so I am quite excited). Tomorrow the forecast indicates a 70% chance of rain. Sunday's prediction, however, includes a picture of a sun, even if it is a sun covered partially by a cloud, so I have high hopes for semi-decent hiking conditions. We will be staying at an actual campsite, which will have "sinks," and I remain unsure whether "sinks" includes toilets as well. If you can bring water in for a sink, I'd assume you can bring water in for a toilet. But I suppose I'll find out.

(By the way, Brits do not say "bathroom" the way that we do. A bathroom includes a shower. When you want to use the bathroom, you need to ask where the "toilets" are, or they might just come out and tell you that they do have toilets but they don't have bathrooms. A lot of my friends seem to have difficulty adjusting to this, as they still feel that "toilet" is not a polite term, but I guess I've gotten used to it very quickly. Still have yet to make British friends. I should get to know some people over the weekend, so perhaps in the near future I'll be able to provide you with more enlightening and amusing insights into English culture.)

Much love! Pictures of the Scottish highlands to come SOON!