Americanisms Again - with the Queen's English - the equivalents in the UK, Canada and Australia

I keep thinking I have seen them all, or everybody must know this by now. Then I see comments on news articles online, where the commentator is puzzled or outraged by the use of a strange word. So, to enlighten the frowning faces, and maybe make you smile or laugh, here are some equivalents.

American English - British English

attorney - lawyer

counselor - legal representative in court

first floor - ground floor (UK, Canada, Australia)

second floor - first floor

snap - press stud

story - story (a story is a tale) or storey (level in a building)

zipper - zip

British English - American English

first floor - second floor

ground floor - first floor

lawyer - attorney

press stud - snap

storey - story (level in a building) 

zip - zipper

Updates on Comedy Courses + Watching Improv On Line

Clown laughing. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problems
1 Where can I attend a comedy or compere course?
1 What if I am not eligible, not near the venue, don't have time and just want to watch on line?

Answer
1 Amused Moose course update.

2
Watch comedy TED talk on line. The lady demonstrates to the audience
1 Make yourself memorable by telling a joke about your current or previous profession.
She tells a story about pastors. She was a pastor or pastor's wife. I can tell a story about a speaker.
2 Get the audience to act in pairs.
3 Mislead the audience about when to start.
4 Do a short audience game.
5 Have an action and a silent part alternating. (That way the noise doesn't build to such a crescendo that you can't get back their attention.
6 Keep switching so both members get a chance to act or speak.
7 Get feedback from the audience.
8 Repeat what was said by the audience. (I listened to the video and either the sound on it goes quiet at the end or my playback isn't up to it. Unless you have subtitles and tell the watchers how to find them, repeat the audience shouts and comments, for the benefit of people n the audience at the time and anybody watching later. Give feedback and summarise at the end.
9 End with follow up action, how people can contact you, see you again.
10 Interestingly she does this to develop team work and customer service.

Does it always work for everybody? That depends on whether the exercise is short enough and has a purpose and does not eat into time needed for more vital activities.

On one occasion I went to a Toastmaster's conference where we had a game which involved a scrummage and passing balls and tying people up with string and knocking items off an overhead line.

Everybody else seemed to think it was hilarious. Except for three people. One left immediately. One left half way through. I stayed to the end, watching a very frustrated photographer who could not get any photos of the event because it was a melee.

Riotous Games
Why did I not join in?
a) It seemed pointless.
b) It was wasting time.
c) It was not related to the promised programme (learning to speak).
d) I was tired and not sufficiently quick thinking to do an active game.
e) I was smaller than several large men and thought I would be trodden on or knocked over in the scrum.
f) The clearing of chairs and putting unguarded property in piles on a far table or under it and scattered around the room, some of which was moved, did not strike me as safe. I was afraid of losing my shoes, smart shoulder bag, clipboard, notebook and pen, and spectacles, mobile phone, and damaging my clothes and property.

When does it work for everybody? At one conference we were missing the speaker leading a workshop. Nobody noticed because in the ten to twenty minute wait the Area Governor got us to stand in a circle and do an introduce yourself event.

We formed in pairs, of people who did not already know each other. If one person was left over, they paired with the leader.

We said our name, how to pronounce it, where we lived and worked, what our job or hobby was. We stopped after two minutes to repeat to the person what they had told us.

Then we swapped who did the talking and who did the listening. For the last five minutes we went around the circle saying what we had learned about the person on our right.

If the person due to speak had not arrived, we could have continued with: "My name is .... What (other person's name) didn't tell you was that I ...."

If we had needed to wait another five minutes we could have played, "What I would like you to help me with ..." . We could have ended with, "What I can help you with ..."

If we had needed to fill another five minutes we could have gone around the circle with feedback on what we thought of the game, when we could use it for networking in a club or organization.

Each of these games is a successful way of filling time when the meeting is running late - or the speaker doesn't turn up at all!

If you are running a conference where many people are there to make friends or network, include an exchange of business cards so the audience feel they have met you and somebody in the audience.

You Tube On Ted Talk And Demo On Improv With Audience Workshop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMxS27bvM0s
https://www.amusedmoose.com/media/
http://speakersandtoastmasters.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/what-i-learned-about-improv-at-brighton

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

PASTA - Problem, Answer, Story, Tip, Action And Author

Problem -
In the past some of my posts have had no structure. After I read them and re-read them I find that I forgot to end with a call to action. I correct later, adding my author's credentials and ask you to like my pages and share them, read my profiles, and read about my books and read extracts, and buy my books.

Answer
From now on I shall follow the PASTA structure in my posts.

P - problem
A - answer
S - story
T - tip
A - call to action (go to websites)
A - author

Story
I gave a talk on writing books and why you should write your family history to a toastmasters International speakers' club called HOD. Sina sent me a copy of his new book. I noticed that each chapter not only ended with a story, it had the sub-heading Story.

I thought, how strange that he not only follows the system used in Toastmasters of telling a personal story to illustrate a point and make it memorable (and personal to the author, therefore always original), he shows the structure in the sub-heading.

Then I recalled one of my heroines, Mrs Beeton, household management and cookery book pioneer. For a long time I thought that she invented the system of listing ingredients then method, a time sequence, to aid shopping and laying out the ingredients and utensils on the table, finally cooking.

She did not invent the method. But she made it popular. Therefore, never mind whether Sina started the system or copied it, nor whether I have started the system or copied it. I shall stick to it to organise my posts and so you know what to expect.

If you place the call to action too early, your reader will disappear. (We are often told in Toastmasters speakers' meetings by the evaluators not to give out handouts at the start because people will start reading them and miss the beginning of your speech.) So place the call to action or name of another website at the end.

You cannot guarantee that the reader will not skip to the end. I don't know whether creatives do this more than scientific, methodical people. I often am short of time, running late. I waste time reading blogs instead of getting on with important work (getting washed and dressed, paying bills, writing books, filling in tax returns). I sometimes flip from the opening of a book to the end, naturally in a library bookshop when I already have too many books and am considering buying the book, or wanting to know the end without paying the cost of another expensive book. However, I also sometimes start at the back of the back and flip forward.

I noticed a friend in Singapore flip from the back of a book. She apologised for doing so. I explained, "I often do that - I thought it was just me!" We wondered whether anybody who was Muslim or Jewish or Chinese would start at the back of the book or the left of the page. We could not reach any conclusion.

One way to keep the readers interested is to tell them they will reach information later. But you have to stop them skipping to the end. A small number of people deliberately disobey instructions, perhaps because their early training has taught them that instructors have ulterior motives and it's safer to do the opposite. However, most readers, listeners and people will follow instructions. A hypnotist picks out people who follow instructions readily.

TIP LIST
1 Read each post, mine and other people's, methodically.
2 However, note the call to action at the end.

ACTION
Write your own documents, speeches, letters, following this formula. Call me if you wish to receive advice or help. I will give a small amount of advice (two or three sentences, five minutes, reading a sentence or something which takes no longer than five minutes to read, under 500 words) to anybody free of charge if I have time to both friends, especially those from Toastmasters, and strangers. However, if you want an hour of my time, a professional job, do not know me personally, please pay the going rate.

AUTHOR
Angela Lansbury, author and speaker.
See my other travel posts on this blog. Read other blogs on grammar, spelling, language, speaking. Like my pages and share them. Link to me on Facebook and LinkedIn. Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Watch me performing my poetry and speeches on Facebook and Toastmasters International club pages and on YouTUbe.
Author of:
Wedding Speeches and Toasts. (Ward Lock/Cassell. Several editions. In some libraries. Also second hand copies on the net.)
The Best Man. (Ward Lock/Cassell.)
Quick Quotations. (Lulu.com - or buy from me when you see me.)
Who Said What When. (Lulu.com - or buy from me and get it signed when you see me.
New copies of my books are mostly £10 / 20 Singapore dollars. One of two books which are thicker, cost me lots of postage to get delivered to my home and /or with lots of illustrations are £20. Sometimes I have an old battered copy which I will sell cheaply.