Originally Posted by
paborn
Let me add: one of the things about the U.S. that many miss because of our huge movie, TV and pop culture facade is the fact that our people come from everywhere. "in his cups" is very common here. It puts me in mind of a visit to Amsterdam. Whe purchasing some French Fries ( chips my friend ) the seller concluded that I'm English because I asked for viniger. Not so, I'm a child who attended the Bloomsburg state fair in Pennsylvania as a "wee lad" - see some appalachians use "wee" as they are descended from the Scotch - Irish settlers.
Also, puts me in mind of Spanish tourists to ranch areas of our deep south west - not the glitzy tourist areas but where the people live. The Spanish sometimes think they are being insulted by being addressed in the stilted, archaic Spanish of the area. They are amazed to learn that the are hearing 17th century Spanish unchanged in the households since they were cut off from Spain.
My long way of saying, you can learn nothing from a simple turn of phrase.