Americans just don’t understand English

Sometimes in the United States I am reminded of the old phrase in the movie My Fair Lady, based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion and uttered by Rex Harrison: “In America they haven’t spoken English for years…”

It happens, for instance, when my English-born wife Dawn tells her American friends she is going to the “car park”. They think she is taking her car there to enjoy itself, maybe going on a roller coaster, or to appreciate the scenery. In the United States you need to say “parking lot”.

The same happens when an English person refers to a “public school”. In the United States, public school is the school around the corner, free of charge, run by the government, at tax payers’ expenses, for the benefit of the populace…

But in England, a “public school” is the “crème de la crème”, like Eton or Harrow. Or Rugby, where the game of the same name originates. To go there you need not only a lot of money but the best connections possible. It is where the aristocrats and the financial elite send their offspring. Children of privilege, roughly from the age of 8 until the age of 18.

Why are they called “public schools” if in fact they are very expensive? It is because they are open to children that don’t necessarily live in the locality where they are situated. These local schools are called “parish schools”. But the “public schools” accept students from other parts of the country.

Accept, that is, if you have a lot of money and know the right people.

What Americans call Public Schools, the English call State Schools.