> I thought Harold's example "half four" was intended as something that is
> said _only_ by Brits -- Americans certainly never seemed to use it when
> I lived there, but that is a long time ago.
The phrase "half past four" is rare, but possible in American English.
I have never heard "half four" in the US. (And given the fact that
"halb vier" in German would mean 3:30, I would be unsure what was
meant if I heard anyone say "half four".)
> If "have you got" is no longer distinctively-British enough (though, do
> Americans really say it), how about "her skin has spots on", absolutely
> normal in England but impossible in America without an "it" on the end.
Although I normally say "do you have", the phrase "have you got"
does not have any feeling of Britishness to me. In fact, I might
even say "have you got" in some contexts in which the two phrases
are not interchangeable.
John Sowa
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