All The Best; (abbreviated).

When I came to live in America fifteen year ago – well fifteen years and thirteen days to be precise – I knew that a lot of things would be different; for a start I'd have to learn to drive on the right hand side of the road and that I would have to call the pavement the sidewalk and the roadway the pavement; but there were lots of other things I didn't know about.

For instance a girl on the flight coming over told me not to mention the word queue; nobody would know it and to replace it with 'line' so instead of standing in the queue you would say standing in line.

In my fifteen years of being here a lot of people have got to know what queue means; or gotten to know, as they say here. I'm not claiming credit for the spread of this word as they had to call the thing you wait in when you are waiting for someone to take your call when you call a business.

That word back there gotten by the way was common in England many many years ago but was dropped and it's only used now in the phrase ill gotten gains.

Over the past month I have learned from the BBC the phrase the noughties to describe the first decade of this century. It obviously started by being called the noughts and progressed into the noughties – a play on the word naughty being bold, and – er naughty!

In fact I think the word came from the BBC.

There are lots of other things they don't say here often – three fourths for three quarters and I have rarely heard fortnight, spanner, fishmonger, cough-sweet and loads of others. I was here for many years and suddenly found that people didn't use the expression 'one off' and instead said 'one of a kind;' but the expression is catching on now; must be me again!

As well as driving on the right the brakes on a bicycle are the other way around with the back brake at your right hand so if you rent a bike (not hire one) at Venice Beach check the brakes before you set off.

We all know about the spelling – which I don't agree with, by the way; that will have them worried!! As far as I can ascertain the American spelling was used to make things easier; they spell diarrhoea as diarrhea! Now when you have spent your entire life trying to spell such a word and then when you are nearly there somebody says it's okay you don't have to bother any more, it's a little deflating!

But to anybody that has an interest in the history of words and want to know where they came from it's a bit like a name change to anybody trying to trace their family tree. The derivation of the word diarrhoea is Greek

Which brings me to my point (if there is one); I can accept center rather than centre, honor rather than honour, program rather than programme etc but when I came here I found something else that is different.

At school and in business I learned that when you write a letter to a company and start it off with 'Dear Sirs' you conclude it with Yours faithfully; if you started off with a personal address as 'Dear Charlie' you conclude with 'Yours sincerely.'

Here in America they finish them both off with just 'sincerely.'

No 'Yours' or even a difference between addressing the whole company you are writing to or a certain individual there; after the Dear Sirs they put a full colon (or as the texters say dot dot) instead of a comma; no starting each paragraph a tab in - but all that I can stand.

Just because they do it doesn't mean I have to but lately I have noticed something else that's starting to get my goat.

No it's not the phrase 'very fun' – which I have learned to live with – but now I get e-mails signed 'best.' What happened to 'all the?' Is it really so hard to put the two words there to make it all the best?

And what do they mean? Best what? Best wishes? Best love? Why don't they cut it all out and just put wishes? In fact why do they write at all why don't they just leave the page blank if it's too much trouble . . .

Oh hang on! It's not going to rain after all – I can go out!!

All the best!