There's this new British guy at our company. Everytime we have a meeting with him, we joke around and say we need a translator.

One time, we were talking about characteristics. For short, we call these "chars", pronounced CARES. (Since that's what the first syllable of characteristic sounds like.)

At the very end of the hour-long meeting, he asked, "Excuse me, what are CARES?" When we said that's our abbreviation for characteristics, he was enlightened.

Apparently in Britain they pronounce it CHARS (as in char-broiled).

Makes sense, but whenever I hear him talk, I can't help but think about the British version of The Office.