Randa, I've seen your wedding photos on the photobucket thing and you could out-Hurley Liz Hurley any day - and with far more decorum. Decorum - there's a good English word. Agree with everything Kat suggested in terms of trying to sound like a (posh) Brit (and Liz is quite posh). Other words/phrases you might want to throw in are:
- terribly, as in "he's terribly charming"
- absolutely - used as Kat suggested or just as in reply to something in order to show agreement, e.g. "lovely party, don't you think?" "oh absolutely" (maybe Yanks do this too - trying to think whether I've heard it on the West Wing). Come to think about it, the "don't you think" bit is also quite posh Brit
- Quite - said in a very clipped way to agree with someone who's just told someone else off, e.g. Father to child "That's more than enough of that behaviour from you", mother chips in "quite" (god knows why - doesn't really mean anything)
- "Well, quite" - rather like "absolutely" used to agree with something but probably something more negative, e.g. "she'll worry herself to death over that boy" "well, quite".
- "okay, yah" - stereotyped speech of very posh Brits, eg Princess Di
- "I'm terribly sorry" - we Brits are always apologising (e.g. if someone bumps into you - YOU say, "oh I'm so sorry")
And if you really, really want to sound like a Brit, fall back on the old standby and talk about the weather. Endless topic of conversation, we can bore ourselves senseless over it, especially if there's a good dose of rain to moan about - though the moaning should only be taken to a certain point before someone is obliged to say "but the garden could really do with it, though". Yeah, it is a national pastime.
One can also brush up one's English accent by listening to the great institution which is BBC Radio 4. Some of the best public service broadcasting you are every likely to come across and can be listened to via the internet.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4
Anyway, have a fab halloween party.
Caroline