Bill Bryson is the author of several bestselling books on life in the United States and England, the first of which (1990) was The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America. He has also written travel articles for the English newspapers The Times and The Independent (About). Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951. In 1977 he moved to North Yorkshire, England, where he lived for approximately two decades with his family. In the nineties he moved back to America with his English wife and four children (Notes 1).

This paper discusses his book, Notes from a Big Country, which he wrote after his return from England to the United States, while he was living in Hanover, New Hampshire. Bryson and his family subsequently returned to England in 2003 (About).

Notes from a Big Country includes 78 articles that first appeared in the Mail on Sunday's Night and Day magazine between October 1996 and 17 May 1998 (Notes 6). The book was also published in the U.S. under the title I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years Away.

In the book Bryson covers broadly the subject of American culture, customs, traditions, and language, comparing them with those of England. He discusses topics like shopping, geology, media, food, and special features of language, and the ways in which all of these typify the American way of life.

Bryson compares various features of American everyday life with British traditions and habits, pondering the rewards and downsides of both. For instance, he considers vast forests and friendly people as some of the advantages of living in the USA. On the other hand, he praises the genuineness and laid-back attitude of Britons, as well as their Christmas traditions. The book is written in a rather diplomatic manner, equally praising and criticizing both countries. Its style is very humorous and sarcastic; Bryson has taken a convivial approach to the subjects being handled.

Differences Between the British and American Editions

As the articles were originally published for a British audience, the American edition is quite different from the original. I'm a Stranger Here Myself¹ contains only 70 articles, some of which were not included in the British edition at all, like Coming Home: Part II (285). Some of the articles that appeared in the British edition have been left out and are being substituted by these new articles.

In the American edition, many modifications have been made in order to avoid redundancy (Stranger xiii). Some parts or sentences have been excised in cases where their contents would be self-evident to American readers, like when Bryson explains what an outlet mall is (Notes 85, Stranger 48).

The articles The States Explained (Notes 154) and Highway Diversions (Notes 234) have been joined together to form a single article in the American edition (simply named Highway Diversions, on page 133). Had they been kept separate, they would have probably included too much information that the American readership knows already. Excessive information has also been left out in the article Life in a Cold Climate, where Bryson tells about the cold winters of New England. When talking about Fahrenheit degrees, he needs to tell the reader the equivalent temperatures in Celsius degrees (Notes 105, 106). As Americans use the Fahrenheit system, the Celsius degrees were naturally omitted from I'm a Stranger Here Myself (160, 161).

In The Great Indoors Bryson talks about children riding their bikes and playing ball (Notes 265). In the American edition he refers to those activities as being "Dick and Jane things"(207). Dick and Jane books are meant for small children who are learning to read, and they are very popular in the United States (Dick). Bryson must have assumed that the British readership would not be familiar with the concept of Dick and Jane, thus leaving it out from the British edition.

Differences in American and British Language in the Two Versions

In Notes from a Big Country, the influence of both Standard American English (SAE) and Standard British English (SBE) can be seen in Bryson's writing. Consequently, he uses partly American expressions and spellings of words, but British terms are encountered, as well. When it comes to punctuation, Bryson uses British inverted commas, and in I'm a Stranger Here Myself he uses American double quotes respectively.

In the book Bryson gives many examples of the differences between the two variants of English. He describes various situations where these differences have surfaced or even produced difficulties in communication.

But send me to the hardware store and even now I am totally lost. For months I had conversations with the sales clerk at our local True-Value that went something like this:
'Hi. I need some of that stuff you fill holes in walls with. My wife's people call it Polyfilla.'
'Oh, you mean spackle.'
'Very possibly. And I need some of those little plastic things that you use to hold screws in the wall when you put shelves up. I know them as Rawlplugs.'
'Well, we call them anchors.' (Notes 16-17)

School terminology is an apposite example of the differences between SAE and SBE, as is indicated in the following extract:

On another occasion when I made a reference to someone in Britain attending a state school, an American researcher said to me. 'But I didn't think they had states in Britain.' 'I meant the state in the rather broader sense of nation-state.' 'So you mean public schools?' 'Well, no, because public schools in Britain are private schools.' Long pause. 'You're kidding.' 'It's a well-known fact.' 'So let me get this straight. They call private schools public schools in Britain.' 'Correct.' 'Then what do they call public schools?' 'State schools.' Another long pause. 'But I didn't think they had states in Britain.' (Notes 35-36)

Language and Cultural References Specific to American English

Even though Notes from a Big Country was written for a British readership, Bryson still uses American English words or spelling instead of their British equivalents:

• realize (21) as opposed to "realise"
• recognize (115) as opposed to "recognise"
• advertize (136) as opposed to "advertise"
• privatize (214) as opposed to "privatise"
• gas station (15) as opposed to "petrol station"
• bracket (51) as opposed to "parenthesis"
• oatmeal (91) as opposed to "porridge"
• cookie (91) as opposed to "biscuit"

However, Bryson does use British English words and British spelling in some cases. These words have been modified in I'm a Stranger Here Myself to meet the standards of American English. When a word has been substituted, it is often because the word has a different meaning or connotation in SAE than in SBE: for example the English word "hire" used in the title How to Hire a Car (Notes 244) is replaced by its American equivalent, "rent" (Stranger 231), in the American edition.

Differences in Spelling or Vocabulary Between the Two Editions

(SBE in Notes from a Big Country versus SAE in I'm a Stranger Here Myself):

• licence (62) — license (22)
• homely (76) — welcoming (44) ("Homely" is a good example of a word that has a completely different meaning in SAE than in SBE.)
• football (28) — soccer (24)
• windscreen (191) — windshield (87)
• once a fortnight (192) — twice a month (88)
• dustbin (195) — garbage can (122)
• an inflatable dinghy (222) — an inflatable lounger (127)
• candy floss (222) — cotton candy (127)
• toilet (222) — bathroom (127)
• cheques (231) — checks (130)
• biro (236) — felt marking pen (136)
• queue (245) — line (232)
• holiday (265) — vacation (207)
• neighbourhood (265) — neighborhood (207)

The articles that were published in only one edition or the other (either in Notes from a Big Country or I'm a Stranger Here Myself) include more examples of vocabulary that is either chiefly British or American:

British:

• programme (Notes 121) as opposed to "program"
• dustman (Notes 200) as opposed to "garbage man"
• headmaster (Notes 200) as opposed to "school principal"
• titbits (Notes 225) as opposed to "tidbits" (Bryson himself compares the SBE and SAE ways of spelling this word)

American:

• maneuver (Stranger 256) as opposed to "manoeuvre"
• familiarize (Stranger 256) as opposed to "familiarise"
• elevator (Stranger 257) as opposed to "lift"
• rest room (Stranger 260) as opposed to "ladies" or "gents" (a public toilet)
• theater (Stranger 262) as opposed to "theatre"
• honored (Stranger 282) as opposed to "honoured"

Different American and British Measurements in the Two Books

Bryson often talks about figures to give the reader an idea of the measure or amount of certain things. When he uses the words "billion" (Notes 20) and "trillion" (Notes 69), it is unclear whether he has the American or British definition in mind — a billion is a thousand million (10⁹) in the United States, and million times million (10¹²) in the United Kingdom. The United States definition, though, is used more often nowadays — even in Britain (billion). Moreover, a trillion is 10¹² in the United States and 10¹⁸ in the United Kingdom (trillion). However, concluding from the context of the figures, Bryson probably has the United States definitions in mind.

Bryson uses inches, feet (Notes 33), miles, and yards (Notes 165) as units of length in both the British and American editions. These measures are used in English speaking countries generally (inch, mile). When it comes to units of volume, Bryson refers to 60 ounces as being the equivalent of three English pints (Notes 141).

Cultural References in the Two Versions

Due to the nature of Bryson's book it is filled with cultural references, as he observes cultural phenomena and habits in his articles, as in the following:

There are no Christmas pantomimes in America. No mince pies and hardly any Christmas puddings. There's no bellringing on Christmas Eve. No crackers. No big double issue of the Radio Times. No brandy butter. No little dishes full of nuts. No hearing 'Merry Xmas Everybody' by Slade at least once every twenty minutes. Above all, there is no Boxing Day. (Notes 67)

Cultural references are also being made to baseball (Notes 27), garbage disposal (Notes 47), cupholders (Notes 139) and state numberplates (Notes 154). Bryson gets particularly enthusiastic about typical American foods, especially junk food. Among these are things like the breakfast pizza, root beer buttons, pretzels, different sorts of breakfast cereals, and microwave pancakes (Notes 89-93).

Both American and British English are of great interest to Bryson. He observes the conventions of language use in both variants. For instance, he mentions the American habit of addressing people by their first name regardless of their status.

There are certain times when the informality and familiarity of American life strain my patience — when a waiter tells me his name is Bob and that he'll be my server this evening, I still have to resist an impulse to say, 'I just want a cheeseburger, Bob. I'm not looking for a relationship' — but mostly I have come to like it. It's because it's symbolic of something more fundamental, I suppose. (Notes 200)

Like many people, Bryson seems to regard British expressions as being old-fashioned and charming. He gives an example of just how difficult British English can be:

'I say, we jolly well knocked Jerry out of touch for six into a sticky wicket with those bouncing buzz bombs the boffins in G-section came up with at high tea yesterday fortnight, what?' (Notes 137)

Other American Cultural References

• Fourth of July (Notes 17)
• Jell-O jelly (Notes 18)
• dime (Notes 25) (ten cents)
• Presidents Day (Notes 99)
• Ivy League college (Notes 201)
• Thanksgiving (Notes 284)
• Martha Stewart (Stranger 257)
• Wal-Mart (Stranger 263)

Other British Cultural References

• use of the word "jolly" (Notes 135)
• East Enders (Notes 135)
• Boxing Day (Notes 67)
• ale (Notes 64)
• Marmite (Notes 137)
• Sainsbury's (Notes 190)
• teatime (Notes 199)

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Note

1. As the book title is so long, it has been abbreviated by omission of the second part of the title.

Works Cited

• About. The Official Bill Bryson Website. Viewed 05 December 2007.
• billion. A Dictionary of Weights, Measures, and Units. Oxford University Press, 2002, 2004. Answers.com. Viewed 01 December 2007.
• Bryson, Bill. I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years Away. First edition. New York: Broadway Books, 1999.
• - - - . Notes from a Big Country. London: Black Swan Books, 1999.
• Dick and Jane. Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 2007. Answers.com. Viewed 03 December 2007.
• inch. The American HeritageŽ Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Answers.com. Viewed 03 December 2007.
• mile. The American HeritageŽ Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Answers.com. Viewed 03 December 2007.
• trillion. The American HeritageŽ Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Answers.com. Viewed 03 December 2007.