Shifting Vocabulary

I thought that since I'm around Americans on base far more often than being around Brits, my daily vocabulary probably wouldn't change much.

I was wrong.

So far, "Hiya" has (unwittingly) more often than not replaced "hello" or "hi" as my choice word of greeting.  We're all calling them bins more frequently than trash cans.   I find that "Cheers" works much more efficiently as a thank you / see you later / goodbye / end of conversation than anything else.  I find myself saying I'm "going to the toilet" more often than going to the bathroom.

But these all pale in comparison to the boys' language.  Yesterday was the last day of school, so now they're on holiday (not "on summer break").  They eat school dinners instead of school lunches. The black-and-white striped African animal is a ZEH-bra, not ZEE-bra.  They put on their trainers, not their tennis shoes.  It's taken some getting used to that the boys have picked up from school playing "It" (instead of "Tag").  When they tag each other they say "I it you! You're it!" (and no, it's not Cockney.)  The worst part is "base" is called "ti-ti".  I mean c'mon, seriously?  

I'm still getting used to certain other phrases.  If you go to a food place, they ask "Can I help?" instead of "May I take your order?".   If you go to a shopping establishment, they typically ask "You all right?" (which ironically sounds like "Y'all right?").  It took awhile for us to figure out that "tea" is typically the dinner meal, not the stereotypical 4pm British tea.  And I had to laugh out loud when the boys' football (= soccer) coach warned them before a penalty kick: "Watch out, boys: the kick could go anywhere.  Could catch you in the face, or in the Jacobs, so cover up."

Eli the other day was excitedly telling me about one of our veggies that was almost ripened in our tiny greenhouse:  "Dad! You won't believe it!  We have one toe-MAY-toe... or... toe-MAH-toe.... I'm not sure how to say it... anyway, it's almost ready!"  I  replied with: "Yep, sometimes we say a word one way and your friends say it another, but that's okay."   Eli nodded wistfully "Yeah, it's kinda confusing sometimes."

All this with only ten months here.  It's going to be a fun and funny vocabularic ride!