Between water and tomato, I got really tired of being foreign in LA really quickly. People acted like foreign = imbecile every time I asked for something without tomato. It's not that hard!

Essex girl here, and I absolutely think "pitcher" and "picture" are the same sound in casual speech. I'd never even thought of it till now!

Yes! Thank you! Sometimes Americans would think it *hilarious* that I separated two vowels with an R sound instead of just leaving a gap. My accent was hours of fun for them, apparently.

I am now making my colleagues crazy by repeating "worter" and "water" over and over again trying to make them sound different in my accent! (I can't.)

Idear and idea are totally the same for me!

That reminds me of how I would always think men called Craig were called Greg when I lived in the US, because people would say "This is Creg", or at least that's how it sounded to me! (And, unrelatedly, I thought there was an American name of Gram for the first five years, because I didn't understand that they were…

It used to drive me mental when I lived in the US and people would look at me like I was an idiot for saying "par me ZAN" instead of that weird "parrrrrr me ZHAAAAARRRRN" sound that was apparently normal in California.

I would wear it if the colours were reversed, absolutely.

Entirely!

I just Googled "Brussels sprouts growing" and am STUNNED. I had no idea that's how they grow. (I also hate them, so that's my defence.)

MAGNIFICENT.

Even though I've read the books, I cheered when he said he'd fight for Tyrion. And then I had to try really hard not to irrationally burst into tears because I knew what it meant.

Me too — for a decade or more previous, and forevermore. I always just asked for a Brazilian with more left on top, and they'd have me show much much to leave.

I, too, was recently given a light-up lipgloss in a gift bag!

Yes times a million.

I remember moving to the US and thinking "Wow, for a Catholic girl I've somehow been meeting a lot of Jewish guys".

3. Is that where Mo Farrah got it?

Ha! Yes! When I first was in America I was surprised by how many men were into hockey, because where I'm from hockey's very much For Girls. Eventually I figured out they were talking about ice hockey, which made far more sense.

No, because my ears would need to do weight training for a year before even attempting to hold those things up.

I've never been to Russia so can't make any generalisations, but all the best gifts I've ever been given in my entire long life were given by my Muscovite-in-Beverly-Hills Russian teacher, who I adore more than most of my blood relatives. She once gave me fist-sized crystals taken from the chandelier she was…