Lingo Layers.

First, there was Cockney. "Rosie Lee" for "Cup of tea."

Then, there was clipped Cockney, which is far more common. "Donkeys" for "Years" from "Donkeys Ears" meaning "Years and years."

Further on, there begot Oxford slang. "Bop" for "Party" and horrible pronunciation as in "Mordalin" for "Magdalene."

And now, I'm learning work slang. So far we have "cabbage" "pony" and "magic." Mercifully, none of them are rude. There is also the naming lexicon, which I'm thinking of putting a wiki entry in, for all the many names one goes by. Usually it is your actual name or your initials, which makes up your email address. However, there is also the possibility of a nickname or other name you wish to be called by. This has resulted, for me, in the following exchanges:

"Hello. My name is Cristin."
"And what else?"
"Um, Cam. Sometimes Elf. You?"
"My name is David, but they call me Stuart and sometimes Dis."
"Excellent."

I go through this, on a daily basis, with at least three people. My overriding problem is that I will possibly go through this with many of them more than once, because this is a fairly large company.

When I moved to England I thought I would learn a lot about history, culture, and language. What I have learned so far is that they are very strange, just like the US.

See? We're not so different after all.