kimchi

Yes, very interesting! 'Rocket science' has always been the standard phrase here (with 'brain surgery' a distant second) and I can't imagine things being so very different between Kent and Cambridgeshire (and I partly grew up in Herts and still spend a lot of time there). 'Rocket' is from European languages but I would guess it's a safe bet that modern usage came from the American space program.
It wasn't Argentina - my friend was talking about a very specific Welsh dialect spoken by a mountain people (I'm pretty sure it was Peru) that haven't left the area for hundreds of years - just a village of them. I wish I recalled the full story, it was quite something. Iirc the dialect is not one that many people in Wales now would be able to fully understand.
One interesting thing about moving to Asia for a number of years was how new phrases took hold in the UK when I came back for holidays, often in a relatively short space of time. 'No brainer' was one that puzzled me greatly at first. It was also the rise of the (commonplace) internet and mobile phone so us expats (of various nationalities) had our own self-developed terms for things like sending text messages. 'Text' as a verb was completely new to me when I returned, and felt very strange.
One I can't stand (and I don't know why) is 'reaching out' in the media e.g. 'we've reached out to Sony for comment'.
 

Which reminds me of a line from Monty Python:
We'd like to apologize for that last sketch. We're sorry. We really are sorry. We're honestly so ****in' sorry...
😎

I find it endlessly fascinating (and as per this thread, endlessly full of surprises!). The strange thing is, albeit before my linguistic interests, I went to university in Leeds (obviously with folk from not only all parts of these fair isles, but also many from around the world) and don't remember any great problems or differences at all! Even in Asia, apart from the odd one like 'fanny' not much stands out. And mostly I never notice anything on this forum either, apart from the occasional msiplaced word by a non-native speaker (who is usually far too apologetic about their English)!

@kimchi I think it might be Patagonia. 
We had Patagonians attend my University in Wales where they were learning 'the language'.
Not how to speak it of course, they were fluent, but the language itself, like you and I might study 'English'.
Hardy fellows.

https://uk.indeed.com/cmp/The-Royal-Mint/reviews

@kimchi, I am far from infallible, In my world “rocket science” is an American term, and rarely used by Brits. Perhaps a regional and Industry thing?
With regard to the Welsh speakers in Argentina, I went to a lecture a long time ago when a Welsh soldier recounted talking to a mortally injured Argentinian in Welsh. A long way from both of their homes.
Best
Dicker
 

Someone posted a link to an employer review website the other day (it may even have been on this thread) and it made for grim reading indeed, alas at the same time making perfect sense. Loyal employees of 20 - 30 years leaving in disgust, a sales team completely removed from the production side, an upper management who simply don't care and are incompetent, sales managers who bully staff to achieve targets, impossible time pressure on the QC staff...all leading to an endless circle of rushed production and despatch, returns, promises made to customers (in good faith by the phone team, mind) that can and will never be fulfilled by the other teams...but management are happy as long as the bottom line is good.
One never knows how true these things are, naturally disaffected staff are likely to leave the worst reviews imaginable. But (and hopefully I've amalgamated/summed up the scathing reports fairly) enough of it rings true to me and tallies with what I heard privately from one dealer a few years back.
I gave up collecting new Royal Mint stuff with the QBs. Whatever the truth is I personally decided it was too much hassle for the enjoyment I was getting. I'll finish off my Liz proof Sov collection and then I'm done (strangely I've never had a single problem with those, though I know others did this year - I've always thought the Mint must have their 'A team' on the flagship product).
It's been like this in general for years, I don't think things will change sadly without a total overhaul of the Mint

I love the anecdote about double fisting, certainly Not what sprang into my mind I can tell you.
To be fair a lot of the Americanisms I often use myself, 'coffee to go' for example.
There's only one thing Americans say which drives me up the wall and that's...
"I'll write you later."
Instead of the British version "I'll write to you later."
I guess on reflection it's only like saying "I'll phone you", but still.
I can deal everything else, even with 'rout' and 'booey' for 'route' and 'buoy'.
As for US spelling, a lot of that came from traditional British spelling so it doesn't bother me.
Samuel Johnson who wrote the British version of the dictionary decided English didn't look refined enough and decided to make it look more like French or Latin. Hence the old spelling of 'dette' became 'debt' as in Latin 'debitum'. Amusingly 'color' was altered to 'colour', same with 'favor' changing to 'favour'.
So the Yanks are doing it the original way, same with US customary units of measure which were based on old English measures, it was the UK which changed the measurement system to 'imperial' in the 1820s.

What is sauce for the mongoose should be sauce for the mongander 😉

The boss at our local zoo realised we did not have a mongoose.
He asked his secretary to ask a supplier for a pair of them.
She wrote "Can you please supply us with two mongeese?"
Realising that didn't sound right, she "corrected" it to mongi.
Then she tried mongooses. The boss didn't like that.
After some thought and discussion, they decided to write "Please send us a mongoose"
P.S. Please send us another one.
😎

Listening to an American say herb is borderline painful 

How does she pronounce them?
...and how does she pronounce transportation?

English is Hard
We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
 
If the Plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet, 
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
 
Then on may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
and the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also a brethren,
But though we ay mother, we never say methren.
 
Author Unknown
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But the plural is not the, this or thim!

That's a good list of Americanisms.
I can think of a few:
Brit: "I'd like a coffee to take away please!
Yank: "Oh, you mean a coffee to go"
 
Yank: "We open Monday through Friday"
Brit: "Do you mean Monday to Friday?"
Yank: "Uh!"
 
One common Americanism is verbing nouns.
Another, even worse is verbing adjectives, for example "a colorized coin", instead of "a coloured coin".
 
Yank: "I have just gotten my degree in English"
 
Brit: "Who sang Ruby Tuesday?"
Yank: "Dunno, was it the Kaiser Chiefs?"
Brit: "No, they sang Ruby on Wednesday"
 
Yank: "Make America Great Again"
Brit: "Again?"
 
Yank: "You're from London, England?"
Yank: "You're from London, England, Do you know Fred Smith?"
 
I don't think the English language grates on Americans. They simple don't understand it.
Don't ask me about the use of euphemisms to avoid taboo words, or euphemisms to avoid taboo euphemisms.
😎

Double fisting!  Excellent, never come across that one before (fnarr).
 
'Fanny pack' in America = 'bum bag' in Britain.  That always amuses me.  And don't say that you love eating faggots (a classic British dish).  And also when a Brit says to an American 'Can I bum a fag', they are asking if you'll give them one of your cigarettes.

Good to see the rather phallic looking carrot in hand photo.
When my mouse hovers over it, I get a message "Enlarge image".
It makes a change from being asked "have you got anythng smaller?"
😎

Someone posted a link to an employer review website the other day (it may even have been on this thread) and it made for grim reading indeed, alas at the same time making perfect sense. Loyal employees of 20 - 30 years leaving in disgust, a sales team completely removed from the production side, an upper management who simply don't care and are incompetent, sales managers who bully staff to achieve targets, impossible time pressure on the QC staff...all leading to an endless circle of rushed production and despatch, returns, promises made to customers (in good faith by the phone team, mind) that can and will never be fulfilled by the other teams...but management are happy as long as the bottom line is good.
One never knows how true these things are, naturally disaffected staff are likely to leave the worst reviews imaginable. But (and hopefully I've amalgamated/summed up the scathing reports fairly) enough of it rings true to me and tallies with what I heard privately from one dealer a few years back.
I gave up collecting new Royal Mint stuff with the QBs. Whatever the truth is I personally decided it was too much hassle for the enjoyment I was getting. I'll finish off my Liz proof Sov collection and then I'm done (strangely I've never had a single problem with those, though I know others did this year - I've always thought the Mint must have their 'A team' on the flagship product).
It's been like this in general for years, I don't think things will change sadly without a total overhaul of the Mint

I don’t think the COA number has any relation to the order coins are minted. We were discussing this the other day on the SOTD sovereign thread.
It might be good if people share their QC numbers but they most likely relate to an individual checking them.
For me, these quality issues have sort of ruined this series which is why I’m not buying anymore to complete the set. Buying these expensive proofs should be exciting and enjoyable, not leaving people filled with dread when opening their parcel.

Maybe Harry ended up chasing the dragon at his birthday party?

I think they missed a trick here, and also it's a shame for collectors who had the whole set until this unexpected coin (11th in a series of 10!) arrived.
Glad I picked up a few 1ozers in great condition

Yep, he has to ask his mate Democratic People's Republic of Korea to do it for him

Does this mean Cuba Gooding Jr can't use PayPal?

I think @BarryWoods has been getting a bit of a kicking here but for what it's worth I think he has some good points, maybe just coming across the wrong way as they are being construed as bitterness (or everyone's just trolling and having some fun winding him up...lol)
 I think a lot of this comes down to what you expect from the mint and the hobby in general. I started collecting bullion coins just to keep my money private and save. Recently I got interested in some of these rare proofs as I couldn't believe what some were fetching and thought it could be nice to have some appreciating assets, this actually then saw me becoming interested in collecting.
 I got the soverign 5 coin set but it was damaged and returned for replacement, needless to say in spite of assurances it would be replaced a couple of months later I was refunded with no warning.
 On the quartered arms release day I got a 2oz gold, called to confirm as I didn't get an email, followed up a few days later and was told it was out of stock and basically tough luck (I was lucky enough to at least get the 2 oz silver). 
 I secured a 10oz continuation set at a very fair price from a seller here who has been great to deal with however we are still waiting for the quartered arms! 
 Now with more qc issues on this 'prestigious' release that will see people with incomplete sets I have come to realise something.
 This just isn't for me, maybe older heads around here will tolerate this and its normal? However I don't need another expensive hobby that really brings me nothing but stress and honestly very little enjoyment (even if this is a good forum).
 These are very expensive luxury items and I don't think the comparisons with the likes of rolex are totally without merit, if they launched a premium watch and sent it out covered in scratches or not functioning there name would be mud. Imagine ferrari launching a new car and sending it out leaking oil everywhere with a smashed windscreen? I don't think think the people running the mint have any passion or real love for their brand, all that matters is the bottom line and while they can trade on their heritage that won't change. In truth most people don't care about proof coins so the goings on here that would be a scandal for other luxury brands will never be public enough to shame them in to getting there act together.
 I'll conclude my purchase on the gothic 10ozs as a deals a deal but in all honesty I don't really care that much about them anymore. Whether I keep them or just sell them on I don't yet know but I am just going to stick to bullion now as I really like having gold, I like the interesting designs and I apreciate not having to stress about completing series, future value etc. So I guess I am a collector still just one that doesn't real care that much for the hassle around collecting the latest shiny proofs.
 Maybe people like Barry, rather than being angry should just say its not for them and leave the scrapping over shiny stuff to those that don't mind the process. The mint won't change, the ebay flippers won't change but we can choose not to support or engage with something that just makes us cross.
 
 ...well that was long wasn't it?