The Jest Ed-you-cational

Most of the English teachers at my school learned English from British teachers. If they spent time abroad, it was probably in England, and they speak with British accents. As the local American, part of my job is to help distinguish American from British English. Usually, a teacher will say something, then turn to me and ask, "Do you say that in America"? or ask me how I would spell words like "color," etc.

(Incidentally, the variety in how English is spoken in various countries is a source of some comfort to the language assistants. If a teacher says something that sounds somehow weird or non-native speakerish and asks me in front of the class if it's correct, I can truthfully say, "Well, I've never heard it like that, but maybe that's the way that say it in England." We can worm out of the tricky position of correcting the teacher without telling an outright lie. And who knows what they do say in England? Bunch of limeys.)

Anyway, one of the teachers today told me a joke meant to illustrate the difference between the two varieties of English, and it goes like this:

An American asks a British person, "Do you have children"?

And the Brit says, "Occasionally."