Kid Talk - September 28, 2025

Everyone has made comments from the get-go about my kids getting accents once we moved here. I have no doubt that at least G and C will adopt a British accent at some point, maybe R but his American accent is pretty well established by 8 years old. I haven't noticed any changes in them yet, but I HAVE noticed different ways they say things, vocabulary changes and such.

The first one I noticed was after G had done his week of summer term, he came home and said zebra with a short e (like in pet) instead of a long e (like tee). At first I thought he was kidding, so I jokingly corrected him and he in turn corrected me right back. So guess we're saying short e zebra now.

Then recently, both of the boys have come home saying adults with an a like in advertisement instead of how I say adults with an a that sounds like a short u (umbrella). Wow, so sorry about my explanation of the English language and letter sounds, even though I love writing it's not my area of expertise.

They also now say "wee" instead of "pee" or "potty" - which I absolutely hate by the way. There is just something about hearing an adult say, "Do you need to take a wee?" that just makes me cringe. Now, you're thinking about what you say aren't you? I think in our house we still most often say, "Do you need to go potty?" which I'm sure makes my 8 year old cringe too.

Some other words and sayings that have popped into our conversations, especially coming from the kids:

"It's been sorted."

"Bruh or bruv."

"football" (instead of soccer)

"wellies" (instead of rain boots)

"takeaway" (instead of to-go)

I had a friend tell me that say "block" is very American - I was telling her about a house on the next block.

I know there are others, but I'm blanking now that I've sat down to write this. I'll keep you posted as more comes out of the woodwork.