On 06/12/15 14:33, Gary Woods wrote:
"Christina Websell" wrote:

Americans think they speak English,

I should probably remain silent and be just though a fool, but:

I never thought I spoke English, though I understand a lot of it passably.
Watching "Last of the Summer Wine" has taught me there are subsets of
English that might as well be Swahili!

It's not just accents, but local language usage. You won't find anyone
outside a church using "thee" in the south.

Many years ago I was on holiday in New England during the Fall. While I
was staying at a tiny hotel in Chester, Vermont, three Oklahomans
appeared for a couple of days. We met at breakfast next day, all
chatting away quite amicably. After breakfast, I confessed to the hotel
owner that I couldn't understand a word they were saying, as their
accents were so strong. He just grinned and said that he couldn't
understand them, either! I have no doubt they couldn't understand a
British accent. But we were all too polite to keep saying "Could you
repeat that, please?"

--

Jeff