"Ticked . . ."

"And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi,

Let me now go to the field,

and glean ears of corn after him

In whose sight I shall find grace.

And she said unto her, Go, my daughter."

Ruth 2:2  KJV

As I got on the coach Wednesday morning at YMG (Yearly Meeting Gathering) the Friend from BYM standing by the bus said "You've been ticked." I chuckled and said "I know what you mean by that, but in the States 'ticked' has a different meaning."

This incident reminded me of the difference there are in our languages. Like the word 'ticked' - this Friend meant that she had checked me off on her list - in the US 'ticked' would mean that your angry, upset or 'pissed off!' I knew this Friend didn't mean that she was angry, upset or pissed off at me - or that I was at her.

There have been other words . . .

Tuesday as I was leaving one of the upper floors of the Humanities building, after my 'Scouting and Guiding Conversation' workshop, I decided not to walk down the stairs, but rather take the 'elevator' . . . ugh 'lift!' WHOOPS, I actually said 'elevator' in front of a couple of British Friends . . . I caught myself and corrected myself quickly.

During my quilting workshops I tried to remember that what I call 'batting' here they call it 'wadding.' 

In my Scouting workshop Friends talked about Remembrance Marches - which was something that British Friends had issues with. Which led to some discussion as to how Young Friends might still be able to participate - doing it in a Quaker way. I had to ask if they were 'marching' (giving demonstration of that) and I was told no, they were just walking, so it was more the manor of the walk.

So whilst I've been traveling through England the last couple of weeks, even though we all speak English - not all of our words have the same meaning and in some cases we use totally different words for the same thing.

Some of my favorite phrases are "Mind the crack" a "Mind your step." With Friends one might use the phrase "Mind your words!" In the US we would say "Watch your step" and "Watch your words."

I know that there are a lot of other words I could have used here, but being told that I had been 'ticked' kinda made my day!