Sorcha, everyone back East says "root" for "route" (rout). On my sons's SO's first visit to Colorado, she was telling a ghost story from New England around a campfire one night. It included some "route" something or other. Everytime she mentioned it, one of the Coloradoans would look kind of funny. Finally he leaned over to me and asked what in the hell she was talking about, some kind of weird plant or what?!

Also, if you hear any of the BritComs on BBC America, you will hear they put a different accent on condoms than we do. we say "kahn dums" and they say "cawn dawms" with the accent on the second syllable instead of the first. It almost sounds like "gendarme" in the way that it rolls off in a rather slow fashion, rather like unrolling one of the things!

I've always loved British English and tried to use it as much as possible when I was a child. My grandfather was a very proper English-American gentleman. I was thrilled to find so much of it on the Mudcat and to be able to hone my skill at it. One of the nicest compliments I ever received from a Brit was when he told me how delightful it was to visit with me because he didn't have to constantly explain the idioms he used.

As for regional dialects, there are some BBC programs for which I almost wish they would provide subtitles! I work hard at catching it all because I love to hear and learn new dialects and language usages but some of them are almost unintelligble!**BG** I am sure the same could be said about parts of the US, too.

Great thread, Murray. I am hopeful there will be more!*smile*

kat