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Americans say these all the time - very, very common phrases where I grew up (the south).
My husband has a favorite phrase to use when we're on a long road trip: "I've gotta pee like a wild Comanche on a Russian racehorse." He freely admits he has no idea what that means or where that term came from.
In NC and SC, we say pitch but use it a little differently. It's not uncommon to hear someone say they are thinking about going and pitching a tent somewhere. That means to go camping. Also we call putting up a tent, pitching a tent.
KathrynAragon: The russian race horse is used here too. I don't know where it came from either. Don't care to speculate too much on that one.
Here in the Deep South of Northern Florida, people say, "I'm fixing to..." as in, "I'm fixing to make some chicken," or "I'm fixing to leave in five minutes."
In NC and SC, we say pitch but use it a little differently. It's not uncommon to hear someone say they are thinking about going and pitching a tent somewhere. That means to go camping. Also we call putting up a tent, pitching a tent.
KathrynAragon: The russian race horse is used here too. I don't know where it came from either. Don't care to speculate too much on that one.
We pitch a tent up here too but we don't call the campsite a pitch.
He used to own a caravan company back in England--thank goodness, a man who likes to camp! The garden hose was a hosepipe; he now calls it a hose so that I will understand him.
I will say one thing for English men, at least the one I married: they know the difference between the tea towel and the hand towel. I've had American men start to help dry the dishes with the hand towel but this one knew, right off the bat, that you use the tea towel. And he knew enough to call it that.
(Of course he calls the stove, the cooker. The cups were beakers, I think. Now, being from the North of England, he just calls them mooooogs.)
We pitch a tent up here too but we don't call the campsite a pitch.
He used to own a caravan company back in England--thank goodness, a man who likes to camp! The garden hose was a hosepipe; he now calls it a hose so that I will understand him.
I will say one thing for English men, at least the one I married: they know the difference between the tea towel and the hand towel. I've had American men start to help dry the dishes with the hand towel but this one knew, right off the bat, that you use the tea towel. And he knew enough to call it that.
(Of course he calls the stove, the cooker. The cups were beakers, I think. Now, being from the North of England, he just calls them mooooogs.)
I had no idea that there was even a difference between a hand towel and a tea towel! There's certainly not in my house - if so, I don't know it! LOL
But then, I don't even associate any towels with tea at all. Except paper towels, if I spill some...
I had no idea that there was even a difference between a hand towel and a tea towel! There's certainly not in my house - if so, I don't know it! LOL
But then, I don't even associate any towels with tea at all. Except paper towels, if I spill some...
So what do you call the small towel you use to dry your hands after a trip to the bathroom?
Another word I grew up with in England - used by my Dad who was from Derbyshire - gubbins. Do Brits still use that word to describe odds and ends?
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but this one knew, right off the bat, that you use the tea towel. And he knew enough to call it that. 
