American woman Leah Lamarr has opened up about one phrase that was spoken to her in a coffee shop that left her baffled as she could not understand what it meant
An American woman in London has shared the one saying a coffee shop worker told her that she can’t seem to get out of her head as she found it odd.
Moving to a new country brings plenty of funny misunderstandings and culture shocks, and one American woman living in the UK has taken to social media to recall the moment she was left baffled after she was asked a ‘weird’ question inside a coffee shop. Taking to Instagram, Leah Lamarr filmed herself walking the streets of London as she told her 187,000 about the phrase that she couldn’t stop thinking about.
“I was just at a coffee shop in London when the cashier used a phrase that no one in America has ever used before,” Leah said at the start of her video, as she walked around London.
So what was the phrase that she’d been told? She went on to reveal: “She said ‘are you happy to pay?'”
This ended up taking her by surprise, as she found the phrase itself to be odd, as she couldn’t understand who would be happy to pay for anything.
“Am I happy to pay? No, I’m not happy to pay, Henrietta,” Leah said. “I’ve never been happy to pay for anything in my life, in fact I’m sad to pay. I’m willing to pay, but am I happy to pay? No, absolutely not.”
“As a matter of fact, is there an option? Cause if so, I’m not paying,” she added
However, this answer had not been a hit by the coffee shop worker, as Leah went on to explain: “Apparently it wasn’t an option, we just stood there for a second, she goes ‘will you be paying cash or card?'”
Leah also took to the comment section, where she went on to reveal: “I’ve been confused so many times here.”
Despite Leah’s clear confusion, several viewers took to the comment section of the video to point out that the saying was just a polite way to ask if she was ready to pay.
“So you didn’t realise you were being politely told to pay and leave?” one person commented. A second viewer clarified: “Translation: Are you happy to pay NOW or is there anything else you would like? It’s just British manners.”
Someone else went on to explain: “Happy in Britain sometimes just means satisfied or ok. Say when someone explains something and they say ‘happy?’ Meaning understood? Or ok? Or ‘I’m happy with that’ or ‘everybody is happy’ it doesn’t mean I’m ecstatic or everyone is jumping of joy, it just means sorted, or agreed, or ok.”
However, this didn’t seem to be common knowledge for everyone, as another viewer said: “I live in London for 12 years and I’ve never heard this. Or just didn’t notice?”
“As a Brit, I have genuinely never heard this expression. Might be a regional thing,” another viewer said.