Once, when interviewing Philip Condit, then Boeingchief executive, I mentioned hearing that he planned to build a factory crèche.
He looked startled. Who had told me that? I named one of his lieutenants. Consternation followed – until a press officer intervened. I was clearly using a British word. The Boeing executive had talked of building a childcare facility. A crèche, in the US, was a Christmas nativity scene. Mr Condit exhaled with relief at a potential cultural crisis averted.
Many people have tales of UK-US incomprehension. But rather than trying to get rid of these differences, some want to keep transatlantic intruders out. In 1995, Prince Charles called US English “very corrupting”. He said Americans “invent all sorts of nouns and verbs and make words that shouldn’t be”.