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The UK and the USA were once referred to by George Bernard Shaw as "two countries divided by a common language". To this day, Brits and Americans continue to misunderstand and confuse each other. Thankfully, Grammar Check has put together a handy infographic comparing 63 British words to their American counterparts, and it needs to go viral for the sake of communication.

A lot has changed since British explorers brought a funny language called English to the New World over 400 years ago, and the USA is quite proud of the unique accents and identities they've carved out for themselves. The trickiest part is the vocabulary, as some British words came to take on different meanings in the States, while others never made it over the pond to begin with. Have a look at some of the best examples below, and check out a similar diagram from the US State Department here.

#2

Differences Between British And American English

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Sweep the Leg
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm happy to be American, but it really is ridiculous that we call it soccer when the rest of the world says football, or futball, or all the other variations I heard during my years of travel.

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#3

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Gaidagh Chapman
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

ALUMINIUM! WORCESTERSHIRE! MAGDELAIN COLLEGE OXFORD! It's a minefield of vocabular snobbery that makes the unique difference. Proud to be British but hate the pretensions!

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#7

Differences Between British And American English

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#10

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Samantha Manley
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It is a description based on the fact the fabric has a "nap" ie fibres that stick up but in the case of this material don't lay in a certain direction & doesn't have the meaning tied to hair & race that it does in the US (at least that I'm aware of). When I moved to the USA. I was very confused the first time I heard someones hair described as nappy.

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#11

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Karou Auri
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the UK you have pubs and bars...they're just slightly different things!

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#15

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Karou Auri
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This one isn't right really... it will be called something different by almost every other person!

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#16

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Pandykinz
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Australia, I bought tickets to a "torch light tour" only to find out they meant flashlights and not fire torches. Disappointed.

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#17

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The Cappy
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nuance. In USA, holiday tends to refer to the date itself, and vacation refers to what you do with it.

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#19

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Joey
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Calls gf "help! I messed up! Theres a dead body in my boot!" Shes gonna pick me up and take me shoe shopping.

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#20

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Paula Graham
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A wardrobe is a stand alone piece of furniture and closets are built in. At least where I'm from.

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#24

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Julia NotMyLastname
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

WAIT YOU GUYS SAY ANTI-CLOCKWISE I hate to be that American but wow I never knew that

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#25

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Joey
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You def dont wanna erase your paper with a rubber in the us...thatll get messy

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#26

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Jason Hook
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But Jello is a trademarked name. Oddly enough, so are Band-Aid and Kleenex

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#27

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Nick Gisburne
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

UK overalls would be work clothes covering the body including the arm. Hence 'over all'.

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#28

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Lydia Juerss
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Tube or Underground in the UK and really only the London one is called the tube.

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#31

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Marc Magnee
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Car comes from carriage, used to carry. But now we only call one type of thing a car. So, I suppose parking lot would be more modern. In Australia though, it's still car park.

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#32

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Rob Whelan
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the UK & Ireland we differentiate between a Truck and a Lorry, the image above is of a Lorry but the difference is that a Lorry can never detach its trailer where as a truck can and is usually much bigger than a lorry.

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#33

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#35

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Diana CrunChewy Watson
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As an American, whenever I hear about a car's bonnet, I think of a VW donning a frilly nursery hat.

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#36

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Loretta Lancaster
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Tire in U.K. Means to be tired, sleepy exhausted. Different spelling very different meaning. Same as - are u shore? Would be wrong. Seashore. And are you sure sure.

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#38

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Nick Gisburne
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the UK you'd only call it a yard if it had some sort of hard surface - stone or paving. If it's mostly plants, it's a garden. Or in my case, I have a jungle :D

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#39

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Susanne Carvin
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I heard "barking mad" in a Cary Grant movie I once saw. I thought they made it up for the movie, but then I heard it somewhere else and realized it was a British expression.

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#40

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Nick Gisburne
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'd say (in the UK) tin of beans, but would throw away the empty can. Cans of beer though.

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#44

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Aunt Messy
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Generally railway refers to a company and the railroad refers to the actual tracks...or so we use it in Canada.

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#45

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Rob Whelan
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's called a Zipper universally, but we thought it would be cool to shorten it to Zip, as in Zip it not Zipper it.

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#46

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Ariel
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I find it annoying that 'apartment' seems to have replaced 'flat' in my area of the UK. It is called a flat here, apartment sounds too American.

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#47

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Pandykinz
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Aussies call them number plates too, caught me off guard when my husband asked for my number plate ???

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#48

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The Cappy
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Pavement" is a word in common usage in the USA, but refers more to the substance of the sidewalk. So you can fall and hit the pavement equally well if you are on a sidewalk or in a parking lot.

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#49

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Jenny Mason
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You've used a picture of a maid/cleaner which is confusing the issue a little. Binman/dustman applies to garbage collector...the people who come round in a big lorry to empty bins weekly/fortnightly.

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#51

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Pippi Halliwell
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Geez, hope they're not going to list all the spelling differences separately in this way. We could be here all night....

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Pippi Halliwell
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We don't have Freeways in the Uk. Just Motorways, A roads and B roads (all of which could have tolls on them, but there arn't that many toll roads (lol, we'd moan like hell). We're not that big a country compared to US, Canada or Australia. I actually thought they were just called Freeways in the US (probably because the dog in Hart to Hart was called Freeway because he was found on the freeway. Geez, I'm showing my age now, lol).

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#58

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Stu Neville
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7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Whisky - no 'e' - Scotch. Whiskey with an 'e' - from anywhere else.

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