Christopher Davies

Growing up in England I watched television from America, read the National Geographic and thought I was fully conversant with American English. I was surprised to find that upon arriving in the USA I was barely understood by the staff at the counter. Cultural differences assaied me and without the help of a dear friend who had spent much of her adult life in the US I would have not have mastered the learning curve of surviving in America quite so easily.

I have endeavoured to save fellow Brits the indignity of asking the most rudimentary of questions as to the meaning of words such as: ornery, check mark and skycap. Many may feel that learning the differences in cuture and speech when arriving in America is all part of the travel experience. I think the savvy traveller needs to be ahead of the game and know when and how much to tip, the names of the coins and most importantly the faux pas' that one can make that get you noticed, but for the wrong reason.

I hope that readers of this book will get a chuckle from time to time and also question the origin of words and expresions they use without thinking.