BritanniAmerica

US words vs. UK words.

underwear/pants
pants/trousers
stove/hob

US words vs. UK words

underwear/pants
pants/trousers
stove/hob

soccer/football
butt/bum
hood/bonnet (cars)
trunk/boot (cars)
fender/wing (cars)
windshield/windscreen
driver's side/offside (away from the kerb(curb))
passenger side/near side (nearest the kerb (curb)
truck/lorry
elevator/lift
sweater/jumper
diaper/nappy
overalls/dungarees
eraser/rubber
private school/public school
18 wheeler/articulated lorry
gas (gasoline)/petrol
pass/overtake
2nd floor/first floor
1st floor/ground floor
liqour store/off license
store/shop
garbage man/dust man
cup cake/fairy cake
dessert/sweet
jelly/jam
eggplant/aubergine
popsicle/ice lolly
cookie/biscuit
biscuit/scone
cotton candy/candy floss
powder sugar/icing sugar
flashlight/torch
line/queue
lady bug/lady bird

Damn, somebody else's turn. We got enough server room for all the differences?

wallet/purse
purse/handbag

rutabaga/swede (England) neep (as my Scottish brother-in-law calls them)
candy/sweets or sweeties (my oldest daughter calls them)
hard candy/boiled sweets
sidewalk/pavement
camper/caravan
can/tin
blinker/indicator
cell phone/mobile phone
cash register/till

okra/lady fingers
bangs/fringe
to have sex/shag
expensive/dear
have or cost nothing/bugger all
row/argue
Murphy's Law/Sod's Law
use the toilet/spend a penny
talk on and on/waffle on
z/zed
female front bits/fanny
stop procrastinating/stop fannying around
in prison/ detained at Her Majesty's pleasure
serving time/doing porridge
lucky/jammy
uncool/naff
lustful/randy (this is a clue for the guess the band )

a couple of odd ball ones:
England/Britain
Scatland/Scotland
(this is mainly in the deepest recesses of Mississippi. Never have figure it out because they call Scott down the street, Scot)

AFAIK, lady fingers are narrow cakes about 3 inches long in both countries and Okra is called Okra. At least here. Don't know about you folks up in Scotland :p

Yea lady fingers as a biscuit thingy seems to have taken over. But I do know in most other countries that use English due to British colonisation, still say lady fingers. No one in Burma had a clue when I asked about okra yet they eat okra like we do in the south. Then someone said I was looking for lady fingers.

I usually call the biscuit lady fingers, sponge fingers. And call okra okra.

Other countries that speak English as a result of British colonization isn't the UK, though. Otherwise, there'd be no point to this thread, as the US speaks English as a result of colonization! :p

My hubby's family calls okra ladies fingers. Mum-in-law is from The Channel Islands, but hubby grew up in Bournemouth, Dorset. It may be a regional thing? Don't know.

tennis shoes, sneakers/trainers
suspenders/braces
undershirt/vest
bathing suit/swimming costume
robe/dressing gown
beets/beetroot
corn starch/corn flour
zucchini/courgette
cup cake/fairy cake
cake/gateau
baked potato/jacket potato
jell-o/jelly
liverwurst/liver sausage
crust/pastry
cream of wheat/semolina (had a Brit friend who spent time in the US point this out to me!)
parking lot/car park

Aren't plimsoles also tennis shoes or are they a brand?

my new favorite:
broke/skint

Is not the same at all. I wish it was.

No, now I am disappointed about the semolina thing...darn! Oh well, might still try it out. I actually miss my cocoa wheats more than cream of wheat anyway.

don't think these have been listed yet...

cigarettes/fags
truck/lorry
18-wheeler/articulated lorry
jerk/tosser
cram/swot (as in studying for an exam - not sure if this is Scots or common to England)
joint/spliff
collect call/reverse charge call
stroller/pushchair
buggy/pram (not sure about this one)
press ups/push ups
mail/post
mail box/post box
money order/postal order
stores/shops


Had a lot of time at work today. Our pod sat discussing the various differences in pronunciation of things like Graham/Gram, etc

Really amazing how many differences there are, even if you discount the ones that just have a minor change like adding the u to or and reversal of the -er to -re, etc.


semolina is nice as a pudding. Kind of like a rice pudding without the rice.

buggy/pram

I would say baby buggy/pram, since around here, people call a cart at the grocery store a buggy as well. But, I think in the US most people just use "stroller" no matter what the style/age of child.

I could only remember stroller but for some reason, deep in the receses of the grey matter, I seemed to recall the word buggy but where, I could not say.
Did you know pram is actually short for perambulator?

Do Americans call the wheeled cart thing at supermarkets - shopping carts? Damn it's been a long time using some words.

Up here we call those things at Tesco shopping trolleys. What's everybody else call them? Artificial canal reefs for the fish?

I've heard both trolly and buggy around here, and in the US shopping cart or buggy.

My best friend called them a trolley in the US. I always called them a cart and I still do here. I think that it is a regional thing in the US too. Sort of like calling it pop, soda, coke (even if it's 7up, Dr. Pepper etc.) depending on the state you live in. Also I have always called cash registers a till.

I always called them a buggy in the US. Here, where I live in the UK, they call them trollies.