Cultural shock between Scotland and US?

[Selie]

So, I know that more of you are NOT from the US than are from the US, and that several of you are from the UK, and I think there's two or three of you from Scotland. Anyway, I quit my old job and in a week and a half I'm going to start work as a nanny. I'll be taking care of a little girl who just moved to the US from Scotland with her mother. Prior to moving here, they spent a year in the Czech republic, so I know the girl's used to big changes in her life (she's only 6 and already been all over the place!)

I'm just wondering if you're aware of any words or phrases I should avoid using that might be inoffensive to me but in some way bad to them, etc. I talked to the mom a bit about differences between people in both places, because it's funny, and we were both blatantly ignorant about each other's places of birth (which is better than pretending to know, I think). So hopefully I won't offend them. But I do know that there are some minor cultural differences between countries, and I'd like to avoid upsetting anyone if at all possible.

Haha, though - the accents are funny. I don't have a normal American accent (I sound more Canadian, but not properly that either) and the mom was trying to speak slowly when she interviewed me so I could understand her, but there were still a few things I couldn't understand. It's ridiculous, we all speak the same language but I SWEAR if you took people from various parts of the UK, various parts of America, Canada, and Australia, and you stuck them together in a room, there's no guarantee they could fully understand each other...

[beowuuf]

*waves* scottish born and bred : )

i'm not sure if this is canadian or not, but there was some confusion about the word jumper i think - it means a pullover here. oh, and avoid use of the word 'fanny'...thats' a big one to avoid!

otherwise the film/tv industry has done the your work for you, she'll know all your words, it'll be her words that will confuse you, i have no doubt

good luck with your job anyway! what part of scotland are they from, anyway? because the dialects in various apart can be fun too : )

[Valderra]

Apart from the Scottish accent, (depending on where they are from), you shouldn't have any problems.
However, there is a difference in words between English English (or should I say UK English) and Amercian English.

Here are a couple of links. The first one has translations from one to the other and the second one has lots of info on the difference between Amercian and English culture and even give you a list of slang phrases in the different English languages.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Atlantis/2284/

http://us2uk.tripod.com/

[Des]

I like this one

http://english2american.com/

[Valderra]

LOL I like the "Everyday Speech" section... Anyroad... hehehe Great site this.

[Gambit37]

If you're from "up north" you might also say "Anyhoo"!