Hello Toph! 

How does that quote go?  "Two nations divided by a common language"?  (it’s been attributed to too many people to try to nail it down)

I think I can say with complete security that everyone here is very happy to have you aboard under any title.

Having spent 20+ years in the USAF in a career field where I traveled a bit and even served here in the US with quite a few allied military members.  I was lucky enough to spend time with members of HMAF,  (that’s Her Majesty’s Armed Forces ya’ll) the CF, (Canadian Forces) and the ADF (Australian Defense Force).  Mostly we worked with the Air Forces of each country, but not always.

Now, I have visited Omaha both for work and to visit friends stationed there and was pleasantly surprised at the amenities there.  I am at least a little ashamed to admit to having some preconceived notions about what it would be like.  There are some really nice museums, the zoo is fantastic, the botanical garden is great, a respectable symphony orchestra and venue for visiting orchestras, some very fine parks, and much more.  Omaha takes its cultural life really serious as I’m sure you know!  It isn’t the cow-town I admit I expected, well, not totally at least.  They do take a certain amount of pride in calling themselves that in some cases, since that’s how Omaha got its start and is fondly, even joyfully celebrated at times. 

I bring all this up because the folks here from West Virginia can understand my attitude I’m sure.  I grew up in Ohio, so I’ve been exposed to plenty of the bad press about WVa but due to family trips and friends from WV, I knew all along that there was no more truth to it there than anywhere else.  I have no idea why I fell for the attitude when it came to Omaha.  I really, REALLY should have known better!

I must ask Toph, how you dealt with that overwhelming "Corn Huskers" mentality while you were there!  It’s even worse in the military where most things macho including, or should I say ESPECIALLY all things (American) football are celebrated to the Nth degree.  I guess if you are a big football (soccer) fan at home, it’s not such a stretch for you, but my non sport fanatic friends in places where sports teams are celebrated as if a religion were horrified by the attitude there.  When there was a ‘Huskers’ game scheduled, it was as if it were the second coming!

We did have a LOT of fun with the language differences, boots/trunks, bonnet/hood, caravan/camper, queue/line, vest/t-shirt, lift/elevator, etc and those are the EASY ones.  In the AF, we ran into some eye openers like flyover/overpass on freeways, I mean the motorway!  A flyover in the AF has nothing to do with cars.  Hehe, the list goes on and on.  The children of my coworkers had special fun, they had to switch languages between home and school!  It was a real conundrum for them when English as a second language was actually – – – English!

Did you ever get used to eating corn (I mean maize!) on a regular basis?  Most of my coworkers from GB looked at corn as nothing but livestock feed and the thought of serving it at dinner was somewhat horrifying.

Sorry for the LOooooong post, but the talk of language differences and you spending time in Omaha just kick started some reminiscing for me.

Well, it looks like Suzanne's techie figured out how to get you your old login back! 

I came back here to this thread to make this comment since it touches on the 'language differences'. I hope Suzanne sees it, but she's pretty observant so I think she might.   I was looking at all sorts of recipes on the main blog pages and found the one about "Tea Cakes".  Well!  I'll bet Suzanne's Great-Grandmother, out on the plains of Oklahoma would have considered what we call Muffins, as Tea Cakes, just as in my slight experience, modern day Brits would!  (perhaps Toph can comment on this?)

Are teacakes and scones rather closely related?