In other words

The way British people word things often sounds poetic or old fashioned. Take for example, an incident that happened at playgroup yesterday. A little boy was given a balloon to celebrate his birthday this week. A while later, there was a loud bang, and one of the children asked "What that noise?" His mother calmly informed him that "the balloon burst". Not "the balloon popped" as I would have said, but burst... I used to work with a woman who didn't "bike"...she "cycled". And when she occasionally would have a flat tire (or tyre) as it is spelled here, she would describe it as a "puncture". Recently, I visited an English friend up the road with two small children. As I was leaving she was joking about some friend of hers who she referred to as "daft as a brush". Good thing Claire wasn't with me then, or we might both be rolling in the street...