Separated by a Common Language

Today I got to hear myself on BBC Radio 4's Word of Mouth talking with host Michael Rosen and anti-Americanism-ist Matthew Engel. This is just a picture. Click HERE for the program(me)! Biggest regret: that I completely blanked on the fact that sidewalk is originally a British word. Had to go...

This mail from American Susanna had me chuckling:I wanted to tell you my experience with the term gutted. I've always associated it with "eviscerated", especially when applied to a human being. When applied to a document or law or something of that nature, to me it means "emptied of its important features"....

For my birthday in October, Better Half promised me a weekend away before the birth of Grover. But since I (a) spent the first half of my third trimester in (the) hospital and (b) was cheated out of the second half entirely, that didn't happen. So this week he took Grover and me for a plush few days...

The British are masters and mistresses of understatement, one is told. Yeah, well, maybe. For your consideration, my current list of most hated, painfully overused words: essential fanatical excellence I've grumped about excellence once before, and I'm sure that it's come in from US corporate-speak....