Erin Moore's Blog

Last weekend, this showed up on my Facebook feed and I can't resist sharing... In this episode ofAnglophenia ("British culture with an American accent"), hostSiobhan Thompsonasks US citizen and fellow YouTube star Rusty Ward of Science Friction to pronounce some British place names, and hilarity ensues. I love this because it reminds me of every time I've ever landed somewhere new and had to learn to speak all over again. And it reminds me of every time I've ever felt chuffed (in British

My book,That's Not English: Britishisms, Americanisms and What Our English Says About Uswill be published in the U.S. at the end of March. (Please watch for it in England in Autumn 2015.) It has just received its first review,here. And some generous advance praise from authors I admire: “As many of us know, straddling the Atlanticcan be quite uncomfortable—and it doesn’thelp that the word ‘quite’ doesn’t always meanwhat you think it means. This is a brilliant guideto the revealing differences

A couple of weeks ago, a classmate of my daughter’s gave her a book called Clara Button and the Magical Hat Day by Amy De La Haye and Emily Sutton. It’s the story of a little girl named Clara who loves to make hats for her animals and dolls while wearing a hat made by her Granny Elsie, a milliner who died before she was born. When her brother carelessly tears the special hat, Clara’s mother decides to make it up to her by offering her an outing, wherever she likes. Will it be a day at the pool?

It has been years since Tom and I made it back to America for Thanksgiving. It comes at a time when we're already beginning to feel overscheduled with Christmas invitations and to-do lists, Tom’s busy at the office, and let’s face it: who would be crazy enough to spend two full days in transit and jetlag small children for the sake of 48 hours in the States? Not us. Yet I’m always a bit homesick at this time of year, missing our families and the prospect of a long weekend of hanging out with

Yesterday was Remembrance Sunday, which commemorates the sacrifices of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts. Remembrance Sunday takes place in the UK each year just before November 11th, Armistice Day. In the weeks leading up to Remembrance Sunday each year, The Royal British Legion sells red paper poppies to raise money to help Armed Forces families.This year, about 350,000 volunteers helped to ensure that they brightened

Four years ago, when my daughter was born, I learned that the National Health Service sends a midwife to the home of every mother within a week or so after she leaves the maternity ward. It's a friendly visit to make sure she is recovering and her new baby is thriving. The midwife arrives with a backpack full of equipment, including this portable baby scale. When she pulls it out, it looks like a pillowcase with a metal hook--mildly sinister, and not something you would want anywhere near your

Little Henry Moore was born on September 7th--welcome to the world, sweet boy!My stay at the maternity hospital was not allfun and games, but we did have a few laughs, thanks to the very English art of understatement. The anaesthetist, describing the potential (serious, but unlikely) side effects of an epidural, referred to them as "a bit of a bore." Later, while he was putting a drinking straw- sized cannula in my arm, the midwife asked him if he wanted some gauze and he said, "I should HOPE

My four-year-old daughter started "big girl" school this week, and she is so proud. Like 90% kids in England, she wears a uniform. (In the US, fewer than 25% do.) When she first saw her uniform over the summer, Anne was upset that no part of it was pink. But then she realized she would get to wear a hat just like Madeline's in the books about the twelve little girls in two straight lines... And she noticed that her father's old L.L. Bean bathrobe was exactly the same green and blue plaid as her

The weather is really nice in London today. I was surprised when I opened the newspaper over that rarest of treats—an al fresco lunch—to find dire warnings about the “heat wave” expected to begin tonight. Apparently, temperatures are forecast to climb to about 89F tomorrow!! Forgive me, but in my opinion this does not qualify as a heat wave. This time last year, I spent a week in Manhattan with temperatures climbing above 105F. That is a heatwave. In south Florida, where I’m from, we barely