Negotiating With the British

Axstane

I found myself agreeing with quite a lot of that but at the end of the day I dislike these catchphrases.

It is very courageous to bring these misunderstandings into the light of day but not necessarily wise to have done so.

This sort of discussion may well be very much to the fore at some future time and I sincerely wish you all luck in gaining support.

Kenny

First "Peanut Twitter" and now this Maister Massie...?

Writer's block...? lol

Rhoda Klapp

They Say: Lessons have been learned

They mean: We are going to do it again exactly the same way and cross our fingers

Others hear: They aren't going to do it again.

Russell

Say: "Moving forward...."

Mean: "The present is shit and all bets are off"

Others: "We have a long future together"

Nakor

No foreigner should deal with British bureaucracy without at least having sat through two viewings of Yes Minister.

Mr. Green

Just brilliant.

Have sent the link to a few friends, one of which is eastern European. He has replied saying "..and all these years I thought it was just me!"

John Dubai

British say "We do not support this treaty"

British mean "This is a gross injustice and will cost millions."

They hear "We love this European treaty, and we accept it".

OSMarsupial

Brits: "That's a great idea!"
We mean: "Yeah, not bad, not brilliant"
Translated as: "They like it."

Andreas

In the eve of globalisation and given the fact that Brits (with the Americans) use the de facto comon language (Koinè), in business the British English has to bow to international standards, that is, be clear with foreign!

Kevin Lynch

You say (to an Irishman): How very Irish!
You mean: Eccentric, amusing....but quite clever.
We think: You supercilious, patronising racist bastards!

Kingstonian

We say: I think we should draw a line under this.
We mean: I really don't want to talk about this anymore, it is embarrassing.
They hear: They want to underline how important this issue really is.

Nate

For some reason I hear all these in the voice of Rupert Grint.

Ken

One I heard recently:

"He is really getting up to speed in his new position", which the Brit meant as "He is completely unqualied for the job", but which I took to mean "He shows a lot of promise".

Queen Khentkawes

I may have gotten this from Edwin Newman's book, "Strictly Speaking":

When the State Department issues a bulletin saying that President [name] and [name of world leader] have had a frank discussion, it means they were yelling at each other.

Tracey Henley

Are you sure you're not talking about the Chinese?

Brian

We say (in US): "I'll be there in a minute."
We mean: "I'll be there in about 5-7 minutes."
They hear: "This person will arrive in a minute."

Stuart

As a Brit who has worked for a large American Corporate for over 15 years, I can honestly say this is completely accurate and explains a lot about the mis-understandings I have had over the years. Truly brilliant.

chandra

What a Brit says: "[high brow explanation], Yeah? [more high brow explanation] Yeah?"
What he means: "Please acknowledge the staggering beauty and intelligence of what I just said, while I take a breath."
What we think: "Huh? Can we go back to the first part?"

Max Loppert

"Shall I refill the pot?"
= For heaven's sake teatime is over, don't you know to leave?

Tim

Brit says: "leave it with me"
He/she means: I'll never touch this again.
People understand: Great they are all over this and will make sure it gets taken care of.

greggers

Perhaps I am British......but that doesn't mean i am. God that's sick....I'm pagan and think it's good. Keep a stiff upper lip...just mention the war.

Charles

I don't generally have faith in anything a Brit says, including "a" and "the."

Arthur

We need these for other nationalities. From experience, when a Frenchman says, "Globally..", he means, "In Europe". When he talks of Europe, he means France, and when he talks of France, he means, "ME". "We must take the global view" is French for "stop arguing and do what I say".

Jeremy Miles

A public school in Britain is a private school in the US.

Doug Hall

Interestingly although I'm an American I find that I tend to interpret things as the British do. Perhaps it's genetic. My grandfather and his family were from Newcastle.

glenn rose

As a supplement to 'lessons have been learned' - 'Robust systems are now in place to ensure'... means -
'we've shut the stable door after the horse has bolted, but have changed how things are done so that the management can't be fingered in future', and is understood to mean,
'Lessons have been learned ...'

Martin

I don't agree. "Quite good" can mean both "extremely good" and "terrible", depending on context and intonation.

John Edwards

"Your proposals are not necessarily unreasonable" meaning we haven't quite worked out why to oppose them yet

"I'm not much attracted to that proposal" meaning it will never work and I will do everything possible to make sure it never happens

"I'm seriously unrelaxed about the situation" meaning I am absolutely furious about what you've done