Language

The standard British greeting — a question in form only, requiring the answer "alright" and no actual information about how you are.

The everyday British words that mean something different, or nothing at all, in American English — from pavement and boot to pants…

The extraordinary variety of British speech, in which accents can change recognisably within twenty miles and carry immediate signals about region and…

The naming conventions of Britain: shortened forms, the fashions that sweep the birth registers, and the names that instantly signal a decade…

The stock of proverbs, idioms and set phrases in everyday British speech — many of them ancient, some misunderstood, and a great…

The prestige accent of England — "BBC English" or "the Queen's English" — spoken by a small and shrinking minority, and no…