An American tourist charged his frustration about how one big language difference between the US and the UK almost had him ‘arrested’ after he tried to find his accommodation in London
While there are currently 67 countries in the world that has English as an official language, bringing the total to 88 countries and territories in the English-speaking world, it’s safe to say the language still differs a lot depending on where you are.
This is something one American tourist named Nick Toteda recently learned during his visit to London where he had trouble finding his accommodation due to one big language difference. Taking to Instagram, Nick went on to share how he was ‘almost arrested’ after a big miscommunication happened between him and his Airbnb host.
In his video, Nick is seen sitting on the floor in a bedroom as he went on to tell the story of how he almost broke into a stranger’s flat in London.
“British people… I just nearly went to jail for breaking and entering because of your lingo,” he said at the start of his video.
He went on to explain the weekend prior to him making his video, he booked an Airbnb in a block of flats in London. After getting the keys to the flat, he went on to text the Airbnb host to ask where the flat is. The host then replied the flat was ‘on the first floor to the right’.
So Nick went on to say he walked up to what he believed was the correct flat and tried to unlock the door with his key, but without success.
“It’s not really working so I’m like fidgeting around with it,” he explained, before telling the Airbnb host that the door isn’t opening, claiming it’s the right key but that it’s ‘not turning’.
The host then goes on to tell him to try the other locks on the door, which had three locks stacked on top of each other. However, this still didn’t work as he couldn’t get into the flat. He was then told to ‘really pull’ on the door and the lock as it was an old door.
“I’m here like pulling on this door, and out of nowhere, a woman opens the door,” he revealed. “And she’s like ‘pardon me? Can I help you? Why are you doing that to my door?'”
Nick went on to say he froze as he wasn’t expecting anyone to be in the flat. He went on to explain it was his Airbnb, to which the woman replied it was in fact her home, making Nick apologise before showing her the Airbnb listing, saying it was on the ‘first floor to the right’.
“She was like ‘first floor? That’s one above’,” Nick recalled, sharing his confusion. However, he still walked up to the next floor, where he immediately was able to get into the property.
As he got inside, Nick went on to ask the Airbnb host if he had in fact meant the second floor, however the host quickly dismissed this, saying it was one floor above the ground floor.
“I’m like ground? When has the ground ever been a floor in a building? I was so confused,” he said. “Apparently British people say ground floor and then one. Every other country I’ve been to, it’s been one, two, three, like counting levels to a house.
“Why are we saying ground floor? Who has ever said that?” he said. “I’m lucky she’s not pressing charges because I could not survive in jail to be honest.”
People quickly took to the comment section, with many viewers this fact was ‘common knowledge’ across the globe.
“It isn’t just a British thing. It’s literally everywhere in the world apart from the States!” one person claimed. Someone else also wrote: “Is it me or is ground floor extremely normal globally. Like every country I’ve been. Even hotels in the USA from my experience…”
Someone else said: “As an American, the term ‘ground floor’ makes total sense to me. What doesn’t make sense to me is calling the literal second floor of a structure the first floor.”
