A lesson in language from an American school camp Despite living for 17 years in the United States, I am constantly reminded that, although our languages share a common root, there are numerous nuances that set us apart. This fact was brought home recently when our youngest son returned from Outdoor School. Now, Outdoor School is a revered institution in our Oregonian School District. Brave teachers take their classes of 11-12 year-olds off to camp for a week of fun and learning. Camp consists of wooden cabins, a dining hall, a bathroom block and, as was the case this year, a lot of rain. The camp fire was reduced to an electric look-a-like in the middle of the large meeting room, and they were allowed to keep their hats on during the Flag Pledge each morning. Generally, you can think of camp as the sort of place that inspired Alan Sherman's song, Camp Granada. The penny dropped. "You mean a niche," we replied, but adamant that it was a "nitch" he headed for the ultimate family resource for dispute resolution - the internet. Searching for "nitch" the computer quickly settled the argument as "The word Americans say when trying to pronounce niche." He was still not really convinced but, as I was now feeling somewhat vindicated, I proceeded to test this answer with my long-suffering American friend. I have to point out that this particular friend is quite used to my many British quirks, so over a cup of tea I popped the question of a "nitch." She assured me that "nitch" was definitely how she would pronounce the word, but eager to try out her new app she invited me to speak into her phone and see what word it would give me. So, in my best schoolgirl French I said "niche" loud and clear, waited while the phone thought, and sure enough "niche" appeared on the screen. Spurred on by my success I continued with "nitch" and the phone went off to think again and, after what seemed to be an extended period, asked the question "Is Nick coming?" Clearly an English "nitch" caused it problems so my friend retrieved her gadget and gave it her best "nitch." To my utmost satisfaction the phone came back with "a word meaning niche." Going forward, I now know that although my "niche" here among my friends may be important, particularly with tea and biscuits, more pressing is to determine what it was that made camp "nitches" far more exciting than those at home. This article was originally published in the Telegraph Weekly World Edition.