It’s finally time for Christmas sweaters, jumpers, whatever.

I, an American, refer to the garment on my upper half – seen above – as a sweater.

My English friends, however, call it a jumper.

I have many confusing conversations with these friends.  The baffling part is not so much the misunderstandings in and of themselves but the fact that we are both speaking the same language and yet cannot seem to get our points across to one another. 

I recently had a conversation with an English friend who lives in Dresden, for example.  When she found out that I used to live in Nuremberg, she asked me, “How did you find Nuremberg?”.  I responded by saying, “Um…it wasn’t that hard to find…it’s a pretty big city”.  Puzzled, she looked at me and inquired, “But how did you find it?”.  I said something like, “I just….used a map”. 

Only later did I realize that she wanted to know what I thought about the city.  She wanted my opinion; not driving directions.

Welcome to the life of an American abroad; pretty much everyone thinks we are idiots (like when I write the word “color” on the chalkboard and my students tell me it’s missing a ‘u’), but that’s alright because it’s Christmastime and I’m about to have Christmas music sing-along, which, as we all know, makes even the worst trials and tribulations seem like snowballs and candy canes.  Now let’s all take a moment to ponder that sentence with deep appreciation.

  ***

P.S. I have 3 sponsorship spots available for December. 

For stats and rates, contact me here.

Thanks, bye!