A meaningless American word?

[5jj]

When I first arrived in Prague to work in 1998, the budget airlines hadn't yet ventured into Central Europe. The 22-hour coach trip to London was not particularly pleasant, but the fare was about one-third of that of the flight. On the low pay offered here in those days, we had no choice but to travel by bus.

 

[Skrej]

Sometimes a bus depot is closer and easier to get to than a trip to an airport, as well as being substantially cheaper than flying. It also offers options to make multiple stops along the way.

I once took at 20-something hour bus trip to Vegas for a bachelor party versus flying, because a) it was a fraction of the same flight cost b) I could stop off in a town along the way to visit friends for a few nights before continuing and c) it was like 45 minutes to the bus stop from my house versus 3 hours to the nearest airport. I treated the whole trip like a short vacation versus just a weekend bachelor party.

Also, unlike the airport, I was able to leave my vehicle parked for free. My only real complaint was that the extended sitting irritated my bum knee.

 

[5jj]

My only real complaint was that the extended sitting irritated my bum knee.

As a speaker of BrE, I did a double-take on the words I have underlined. I got as far as bum, and then expected a full stop. In BrE, your bum is your bottom/backside/butt, which would have made perfect sense. When I realised there was a word following bum, I had to re-think. I saw that bum was used in the AmE sense (which we speakers of BrE understand, though many of us don't use it), and all became clear.

 

[Skrej]

Wait for the story on how I tore my fanny pack....

To be fair, my BrE bum was probably irritated too, just not as much as the knee.