Use of English

Now we all know that Americans say 'elevator' when they mean 'lift', 'trunk' when they mean 'boot', 'truck' when they mean 'lorry', 'sidewalk' when they mean 'pavement' and 'pants' when they mean 'trousers', but I came across a new interpretation of the English language recently.

Imagine my concern while, on the air at Boston airport, the pilot came on the PA system and said that there was just a plane crossing the runway, but that we would 'be in the air momentarily'. Momentarily?! I was hoping that we would be in the air for the full hour and a half of the journey!

Fortunately the journey did last for the scheduled time, but it got me thinking about how strange it was that one country should interpret a word as 'for a moment', while another country should interpret it as 'in a moment'.