7 Ways to Tell You've Been Influenced by British Media

I am American. I was born and raised in the Central Valley, but I have been reading books and watching telly from across the ocean since before I can remember. I grew up quoting Monty Python and not quite getting American humor (I still don't get why American Pie is funny). I read the Harry Potter books the summer I turned 11 (still waiting for my letter). All of this has culminated into this bizarre way that I interact with the world. A lot of my friends have similar problems, so let's see how you can tell if you've spent way too much time being influenced by British media.

7. You say "wicked" or "bloody" just to get away with cursing

As a kid it was highly frowned upon by my parents if I cussed. Most kids had a similar issue. I read the Harry Potter books and started saying "bloody" and I got away with it! My mom had no idea what I was saying. The best part is that sometimes I picked up phrases and didn't even realize they were British--the joys of being a kid. Oddly enough, having read Harry Potter at such a young age, I still say Happy Christmas instead of Merry Christmas. I try to remember to say Merry Christmas, but it always slips out as Happy. I sometimes feel like I'm in second language acquisition and have to hunt for the American way to say something.

6. Fanny

You laugh whenever someone says "fanny" and they mean someone's gluteus maximus. This one always cracks me up. I hear the most prim and proper people say "fanny" and I just grin and nod, and all the while in my head I am dying. They have no idea what they just said. There are a few others that are similarly set up. Mostly innocent words here in the states, but say them in a foreign country and you might find yourself receiving a hand gesture you think is the peace sign.

5. The V Sign

That is unless you happen to know that the hand gesture is actually the equivalent of someone flipping you the bird. I was reading a book once, couldn't tell you what it was because it was years ago, where a character after having been chased onto the tube flashed the peace sign (he really did mean that) at his pursuer. Another character smiled and told him that he was really close to being very offensive. That stuck in my mind for a while until the Internet allowed me to look up what the heck these characters were talking about. I certainly wasn't going to ask my mom.

4. You prefer humor that requires a bit of intelligence to understand

 Oh don't get me wrong, you enjoy the body humor of Rowen Atkinson as he is assaulted by an invisible man on the tube, but you also love the double play of words. You're quite fond of the humor that goes over the heads of many other Americans. The confusion on Baldric's face as Blackadder insults him yet again makes you positively giddy. This, of course, makes it really hard for you to understand American humor. What's so funny about "and then"? Okay maybe I don't get that because I'm not a stoner, but honestly just give me the box collection of Monty Python and I am a happy camper.

3. Colour or Color?

You're convinced that color needs to have a 'u' in it and you're never sure why your spelling teacher rolls her eyes at you when you say that. True story mates. It wasn't until I was nearly into High School that I realized there was a difference. Color wasn't the only one that threw me off either. Admittedly I was never all that wonderful at spelling. Spell check became a godsend once I entered High School, but favorite needs to have a bloody 'u' in it too and grey makes more sense than gray.

2. Boxing day

You're not quite sure what Boxing day is, but you want to celebrate it. Probably because it sounds cool. I looked it up, it has nothing to do with boxing. The holiday is actually when servants or tradesman would traditionally receive gifts from their superiors, which confuses me since it's a bank holiday. How does that work? If you're not at work then how does your boss give you a gift? Boxing day, not as awesome as my youthful self believed. Unless you're into rugby.

I once was chatting with a friend of mine who is from a country that celebrates Boxing day, he didn't even know what the day was for. Why do holidays continue to be celebrated even after everyone has forgotten their purpose? Even more interesting, why don't we celebrate the cooler holidays like White Day? (Yes, I know that's not British.)

1. You're more aware of British actors/actress than American ones

Seriously, ask me to name the first handful of actors that pop into my mind and I'm going to list ones from my favorite television shows and movies--which, interestingly enough, are all British. The last article I did was "How to tell you're a Whovian" based off of things I do because Doctor Who is my favorite show. I can name most of the actors in that show and give you at least one other thing they've been in-- for the majority of them, anyway. I cannot think of a single American television actor I can do that with (other than John Barrowman, and that's because he is in Doctor Who, so we aren't counting him). I have to specify television because Robert Downey Jr. is in Sherlock and I might be just a bit obsessed with that.