sweet nothings

english or british?

it seems a lot of good contemporary books are by british authors. so in reading them, and in honor of bridget jones' diary coming out here are some british words that i don't understand. anyone want to help me out?

jumper: ok i think this is maybe a sweater? it seems guys and girls wear this. i picture a big one piece saggy dress, over a t-shirt, but i'm positive that is not what it means.

marquee: for a marquee, it seems to be something important for weddings, which seem to take place at home a lot in these novels (is that normal?) i picture a huge gaudy sign w/ the bride and grooms' name on them, maybe in like carnations or something? in reality i bet it is a tent, maybe for the reception?

CV: Now i think this is a resume. But what does C V stand for?

I'll add more as i think of them. I wonder if i could buy a book w/ vocabulary differences for english/british english?

Also, i'd like to find a way to incorporate the words 'keen' and 'brilliant' into my everyday language without people staring me down. Not gonna happen is it...

We are planning an England vacation for next spring, maybe May? London hotels are expensive. Neither of us have been there before so it will be an adventure. I don't like to be gone away from home for too long, the longest i've done on a vacation was about 8 days. But i think we'll have to make it around 12-14 days to take advantage of the lost sleep/adjusting plus seeing London plus castles and countryside plus a couple touristy destinations (yay stonehenge!) and that could end up taking a while. I just don't know how many days i can go eating out, and leaving our cats here!

Maybe I can learn some more 'slang' before we go.

Ok, so British books (or do you say English? or UK? there's so many names) that i like are:
About a Boy
High Fidelity
Shopaholic series
Can you keep a secret (same author)
Bridget Jones' novels
Babyville
Curious incident of the Dog in the nighttime

I like how i'm reading these kinds of novels and one day i thought i'd major in lit. oh well, that is out, plus these are fun.

posted by larissa @ 1:25 AM