Things that Americans find odd about the UK

There's also "schemes" used sort of like "programmes", I guess.  Internship schemes, recruitment schemes, etc.

And I live in South Lanarkshire Bluegrass Lass! Where are you?! 

Currently living in Hamilton. Yourself? I don't have my visa to stay here just yet. I'm only visiting, but am returning back to the US on Friday and then applying for my visa with the goal of being back the first week of Oct or thereabouts.

Currently living in Hamilton. Yourself? I don't have my visa to stay here just yet. I'm only visiting, but am returning back to the US on Friday and then applying for my visa with the goal of being back the first week of Oct or thereabouts.

I'm way out on the eastern border now in the middle of nowhere.  I guess the nearest place is a village called Biggar though I'm not actually in it!  We just moved a couple of months ago from Bothwell, just down the road from Hamilton! 

That's practically The Borders!

That's practically The Borders!

  Definitely feels like it sometimes! When we moved, we couldn't even believe we were still in South Lanarkshire.  It's a far cry from where we were living!  Many of the locals here think we should just start our own Utopian county with Peebles. 

I've lived in London since 2000 and have gotten used to most sayings, except this one: "revising for exams".

To me, revise means to edit/change something, studying means to prepare oneself to take an exam.

If anyone knows why "revise" is the commonly used term here in that context, it might help me get used to it (finally, after all these years!)

It's just a standard word over here... from Google's definition:

"Reread work done previously to improve one's knowledge of a subject, typically to prepare for an examination"

http://www.google.co.uk/search?cx=w&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=revising+revise+revision#hl=en&safe=off&q=revise&tbs=dfn:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=HjZeTvWcCcm08QO9tcjFAw&sqi=2&ved=0CBgQkQ4&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=9bc2c12fe7b1c385&biw=1600&bih=799

I'm way out on the eastern border now in the middle of nowhere.  I guess the nearest place is a village called Biggar though I'm not actually in it!  We just moved a couple of months ago from Bothwell, just down the road from Hamilton! 

I think my husband's uncle lives in Biggar so I have heard of it..although I probably couldn't find it on a map if my life depended on it!

It's just a standard word over here... from Google's definition:

"Reread work done previously to improve one's knowledge of a subject, typically to prepare for an examination"

Online Etymology Dictionary says:

1560s, "to look at again," from M.Fr. reviser, from L. revisere "look at again, visit again," frequentative of revidere (pp. revisus), from re- "again" + videre "to see" (see vision).

Meaning "to look over again with intent to improve or amend" is recorded from 1590s. The Revised Version of the Bible was done 1870-84; so called because it was a revision of the 1611 ("King James") translation, also known as the Authorized Version.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=revise

One thing I am finding odd is the first floor in the UK is the first floor up. In California, we always had the second floor was the first floor up. The first floor was the ground floor.

One thing I am finding odd is the first floor in the UK is the first floor up. In California, we always had the second floor was the first floor up. The first floor was the ground floor.

I'm guessing that the "floors" that get numbered over here are the raised ones, then.

I'm guessing that the "floors" that get numbered over here are the raised ones, then.

Yep!  The ground floor here is '0'.  The ground floor in the US is the first floor! 

I think it goes by how many flights of stairs in the UK and the countries which follow the British convention.  Anglophone Canada, Scandinavia, Latin America, FSU all follow the "American" scheme:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storey#Numbering

Yep!  The ground floor here is '0'.  The ground floor in the US is the first floor! 

And boy does that confuse me when I go to the States and get in a lift (elevator) and press 1 only for the doors to open up again!  

I think it goes by how many flights of stairs in the UK and the countries which follow the British convention.

Charles Dickens often had Cockneys talk about (say) rooms in buildings being (for example) "up one pair o' stairs" (up one storey). Nowadays we mostly say "flight" instead.

Not all of Latin America uses the American scheme. In Brasil we use the European, with 'térreo' for ground floor and the first floor above that.

Not all of Latin America uses the American scheme. In Brasil we use the European, with 'térreo' for ground floor and the first floor above that.

I think it varies by country. In Argentina & Chile they go planta baja then the pisos: primer-segundo-tercer-cuarto-quinto-sexto etc But in Peru and Mexico I think they go with the American scheme in the sense that planta baja and primer piso are synonymous.