At the turn of the millennium, while on a business trip to Cheshire, England, retired insurance agent and part-time wine lecturer, Bart Springer, found himself captivated by a woman reading a book in the lobby of the hotel as he was registering.

"I flirted with her," Bart remembered."I allowed him to flirt with me," said Meriel.At first, he was captivated by her British accent, and soon after returning the 3,000 miles to his home in Jim Thorpe, he began communicating by email. The relationship quickly began to deteriorate, however, and both soon realized that American and English words and expressions often have quite different meanings.Recognizing they were separated by a common language, Bart and Meriel abandoned sending email, and instead spoke, which minimized the language confusion, and they soon married. Now they live in Jim Thorpe where Springer built an English tea room for his new bride at their Albright Mansion Restaurant.But not a day goes by without some confusion between English English and American English. For instance, at our interview Meriel asked that we sit at an undressed table. When asked, she explained that once a table is covered with a tablecloth and has its settings in place, it is dressed. Until then, it is undressed.She explained that she grew up as a "ampshire og." In Hampshire, the locals drop the letter "h,", the eighth letter of the alphabet which they pronounce as "haitch" perhaps as an overcorrection from the American pronunciation "aitch." From the beginnings of words, they call their longtime residents "hogs," much like Jim Thorpe residents call their longtime residents, "Chunkers."In their restaurant there is no shortage of new words to be learned by the staff. An eggplant is an aubergine. A rutabaga is a swede, and a zucchini is a courgette. Our French fried potatoes are chips in England, and what Americans call potato chips are called crisps there.It is likewise important to properly pronounce certain words, "herbs," for instance."If you say herbs in England, you are thought to be uneducated," Bart explained. "In the U.S., it is exactly the opposite."For those who had been to England many years ago, some things have changed. Once upon a time, hamburgers were called Wimpies, after a chain that took the name from a burger-eating character in a Popeye cartoon. With the proliferation of the American burger chains, the English have accepted the word "hamburger."Among the oddest of food names is a steamed, log-shaped suet pudding studded with currants called a Spotted Dick. There's a similar dish, the Yorkshire pudding - a savory mixture of milk, flour, salt and egg - that is whisked in a hot pan, and put in an oven where it expands into a steamed egg bread. Once the dish served to poor children, it has become gentrified and now may be found served alongside a slice of roast beef.Here's a primer on the proper English terms for clothing:• A buttoned sweater is a cardi or a cardigan.• A pullover sweater is a "jumper." An American girl's jumper is an English pinafore dress.• If you are in trainers, you are wearing sneakers, not diapers.A generation ago, the English called their diapers, "nappies." But nappies were cloth diapers, and cloth diapers have been replaced with the disposable kind, so they are more likely to be called Huggies.• In stormy weather, don't go out without your Macintosh (raincoat), wellies (rubber boots), or your brolly (umbrella).Automobiles are another area where there are differences. Not only do the English drive on the other side of the road, they think about it on the other side of their brain. I first noticed this when Meriel was talking about butchering in England, saying that she had "no truck with abattoirs (slaughterhouses).""Truck means experience," she explained. "What they call a truck in America, in England it's called a lorry.""A tractor trailer is an articulated lorry," Bart added. "And you'll find an articulated lorry mostly on a dual carriageway (a four-lane highway). A three-lane highway is a motorway. A two-lane road is an "A" road, which is wider than a "B" road. A "B" road is a lane for only one car in one direction with every now and again a pull-off to allow passage for an oncoming vehicle."Americans going abroad have to realize that they really don't speak English," Bart noted. "The English can hold an entire conversation in front of an American without them "twigging" (understanding) what it is. It's important that if the English want to take the mickey out (make fun) of you, they can easily do it, right in front of you, and without you knowing it."