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.
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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.
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!
The word crisp moves from the back of your mouth to the front as you say it
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.
In the UK you have pubs and bars...they're just slightly different things!
This one isn't right really... it will be called something different by almost every other person!
That's because Americans are so prudish that they have to use a euphemism for everything related to a bodily function. Women don't "sweat", they "get misty". One doesn't "fart", one "breezes", and so on.
I don't think it's a nowadays thing, but rather a holdover from that pseudo-Victorian thinking that was really popular, especially in the south, where if you were wealthy you tried to be very "proper". No American I've ever met or heard of would use the terms you mentioned there.
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I always call it a bathroom, regardless of whether or not there's a bath. I'm super classy like that.
I don't know why I feel the need to keep commenting what is said in Canada. I just like all the little differences. In Canada it is often called the Bathroom or Washroom.
Agreed, I always call it a bathroom even without a tub. And my boyfriend uses the word washroom.
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isn't toilet simple enough? rest room is stupid, I don't go to sleep there
In North America, a "toilet" is a fixture. In Europe it is a room. On a tour bus years ago, the guide (giving a talk on the safety of consuming water) appeared mystified by the North Americans gagging at her instruction to generally avoid drinking water from the toilet . . .
We (Brits) call it many things. But yes, The loo is probably the most popular, but it's also called the Bog, the Lav (Lavatory) and the toilet.
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Genuinely no official word for toilet or rest room in the UK - pointless fact there :)
I live in Ontario, Canada and I mostly hear "Washroom" for the public stuff.
I hate this one. "I need to go for a rest as I've been sitting at this table for so long..."
I had a nun in fist grade at my catholic school in Minnesota that called it a lavatory. I thought she was going to a laboratory. 😂
I think the point is what it says on the door of a public facility rather than what people call it. Any yank needing to take p**s will be wandering around ages looking for the rest room but they'll be easily directed to a public toilet.
Are you saying that Americans would be confused by that wording? If you're calling it a toilet, I think roughly any English-speaking person will understand it, since the word toilet is pretty consistently, if not the facilities, at least the machine that's inside them.
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A wardrobe is a stand alone piece of furniture and closets are built in. At least where I'm from.
WAIT YOU GUYS SAY ANTI-CLOCKWISE I hate to be that American but wow I never knew that
But Jello is a trademarked name. Oddly enough, so are Band-Aid and Kleenex
UK overalls would be work clothes covering the body including the arm. Hence 'over all'.
Tube or Underground in the UK and really only the London one is called the tube.
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.
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.
In Philippines we use Flyover for vehicles and Overpass as another term for footbridge
As an American, whenever I hear about a car's bonnet, I think of a VW donning a frilly nursery hat.
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.
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
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.
I'd say (in the UK) tin of beans, but would throw away the empty can. Cans of beer though.
Generally railway refers to a company and the railroad refers to the actual tracks...or so we use it in Canada.
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.
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.
Geez, hope they're not going to list all the spelling differences separately in this way. We could be here all night....
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).
So like, I'm from Canada and i was reading through these going, "yup, more like like Britain here", and then "yup, more like America here". Were there any Australians doing this too?
Yes, I'm from Australia and our English is more closely related to English as its spoken in England but being in a global world, there are some American English creeping into our vernacular than there used to be.
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Seems like it's missing a bunch of common words, including jumper vs. sweater
THIS is just the TIP of the proverbial iceberg! There are parts of England where even Brits cant understand what they are saying! LOL!
58 is wrong, Whisky is from Scotland and Whiskey from Ireland. I believe it is just called whisky in the US or scotch? We do know our liquor in the UK.
I'm an Aussie (with English parents) married to an American. Even though we live in the USA I've not got him saying Petrol instead of gas & he calls it a Servo (Aussie slang) instead of a gas station among many other things. He says he spends half his time at work having to translate back into American. Strangely I've slipped into calling it candy instead of lollies but still can't bring myself to call jam jelly. The other day neither of us could remember of which was the american boot or hood as we'd both got so used to using both.
Number 11? In England we also have bars, not just pubs. We'd call a bar.... a bar.
The total fact Brits have almost no basis any longer to feel akin to Americans should render the list obvious. Their favorite second "home" continues to give a f**k less about them. No one cares about the differences except the Brits that exploit the us and whore themselves to it because their own market is a small and sad grey place.
In Britain, whisky = scotch specifically. In the US, there are legal (FDA) differences in whiskey and whisky.
I am also from Canada, and I use a lot of the words interchangeably, but use the UK spellings regardless. I was hoping to see Chesterfield and Couch on the list.
I'm American but I'm proud to say I've learned most of these from watching Doctor Who!!! 💙
If I'm not wrong, Americans do also refer to their property as CONDO when they have an Apartment right guys ? #47
An apartment is only able to be rented/leased by the tenant. The property management company owns the interior, exterior and common areas. A condo is real property and each unit is purchased and owned by the tenant. The property management company is generally responsible for the building exterior and common areas.
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I would never call the original speakers of a language incorrect. That would be rude.
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English is a constantly evolving language and really difficult to learn as a second language. In Japan, there are a lot of Australians teaching English in school. Now there's an accent to conjure with!
I'm in the U.S, and I can testify to some of the briticisms being used here...
That's not a valid term for the language as it implies one's version of a language but it is the language of the British so you can Americanisms but not the other way.
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Most of these are bull, film/movie for America whereas Brits only say film? Don't opress me, I can say movie if I want xD
Biscuit and cookie is wrong they are two different things. Cookie uses either one or two types of sugar generally granulated which produces the chewy texture and cookie uses castor sugar that does not caramelise like granulated sugar when in a mix as the grains are finer
A cookie is a treat/dessert, sometimes with filling or icing on top, almost always sweet-flavored. A biscuit is flour, baking powder, milk, etc. It is usually served for breakfast with butter & jam, and as a base for gravy. It is not sweet. I have always wondered what Brits call our 'biscuit'.
Load More Replies... So like, I'm from Canada and i was reading through these going, "yup, more like like Britain here", and then "yup, more like America here". Were there any Australians doing this too?
Yes, I'm from Australia and our English is more closely related to English as its spoken in England but being in a global world, there are some American English creeping into our vernacular than there used to be.
Load More Replies... Seems like it's missing a bunch of common words, including jumper vs. sweater
THIS is just the TIP of the proverbial iceberg! There are parts of England where even Brits cant understand what they are saying! LOL!
58 is wrong, Whisky is from Scotland and Whiskey from Ireland. I believe it is just called whisky in the US or scotch? We do know our liquor in the UK.
I'm an Aussie (with English parents) married to an American. Even though we live in the USA I've not got him saying Petrol instead of gas & he calls it a Servo (Aussie slang) instead of a gas station among many other things. He says he spends half his time at work having to translate back into American. Strangely I've slipped into calling it candy instead of lollies but still can't bring myself to call jam jelly. The other day neither of us could remember of which was the american boot or hood as we'd both got so used to using both.
Number 11? In England we also have bars, not just pubs. We'd call a bar.... a bar.
The total fact Brits have almost no basis any longer to feel akin to Americans should render the list obvious. Their favorite second "home" continues to give a f**k less about them. No one cares about the differences except the Brits that exploit the us and whore themselves to it because their own market is a small and sad grey place.
In Britain, whisky = scotch specifically. In the US, there are legal (FDA) differences in whiskey and whisky.
I am also from Canada, and I use a lot of the words interchangeably, but use the UK spellings regardless. I was hoping to see Chesterfield and Couch on the list.
I'm American but I'm proud to say I've learned most of these from watching Doctor Who!!! 💙
If I'm not wrong, Americans do also refer to their property as CONDO when they have an Apartment right guys ? #47
An apartment is only able to be rented/leased by the tenant. The property management company owns the interior, exterior and common areas. A condo is real property and each unit is purchased and owned by the tenant. The property management company is generally responsible for the building exterior and common areas.
Load More Replies... I would never call the original speakers of a language incorrect. That would be rude.
Load More Replies... English is a constantly evolving language and really difficult to learn as a second language. In Japan, there are a lot of Australians teaching English in school. Now there's an accent to conjure with!
I'm in the U.S, and I can testify to some of the briticisms being used here...
That's not a valid term for the language as it implies one's version of a language but it is the language of the British so you can Americanisms but not the other way.
Load More Replies... Most of these are bull, film/movie for America whereas Brits only say film? Don't opress me, I can say movie if I want xD
Biscuit and cookie is wrong they are two different things. Cookie uses either one or two types of sugar generally granulated which produces the chewy texture and cookie uses castor sugar that does not caramelise like granulated sugar when in a mix as the grains are finer
A cookie is a treat/dessert, sometimes with filling or icing on top, almost always sweet-flavored. A biscuit is flour, baking powder, milk, etc. It is usually served for breakfast with butter & jam, and as a base for gravy. It is not sweet. I have always wondered what Brits call our 'biscuit'.
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