Talk:Comparison of American and British English

How about dust bin vs. trash can vs. round file? TV vs. Tele? eye glasses vs. spectacles.

I know that in New Zealand English, "telly" = US "TV". I don't recall ever hearing anyone there use "TV", though they're familiar with the term from American television shows (ironic, isn't it, in a way? *grin*). I didn't add it in because I don't know whether "telly" is common parlance in the UK. pgdudda

Can someone confirm the followings:
muffin vs. English muffin? taxi vs. cab? police vs. cop? garage vs. auto shop? parking vs. garage? canteen vs. cafeteria? merry go round vs. carousel? xerox vs photocopier? wheels vs. rims or links? turn signals vs. blinkers? drug vs. medicine?

Off the cuff Brit opinion: Brits mainly call taxis taxis, except the London 'Black Cabs'; for Cop compare British Copper (a bit old fashioned); UK garage = US auto shop or US garage; UK Car Park = US Parking Lot; Brits use both Merry Go Round and Carousel; US xerox = UK photocopier; not heard of rims, links??; US turn signals = UK indicators (v. rarely blinkers); Brits use Drug and Medicine but Medicine more common. Enchanter

Rims and links are two different names for the metal parts of the wheel, excluding the rubber tire. How do the Brits call them?

This is such a fun entry. -- Devotchka

I once had a coworker from Korea and not only couldn't she tell the difference between USA-English and British English, she had trouble telling the difference between different European languages. (Kind of keeps things in perspective, eh?) :-)

Not suprising. While I can easily tell the difference between French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, etc., put me in a room with a Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and a Thai speaker and I probably couldn't tell the difference. (If I saw it written I'd probably have somewhat more luck though.) -- SJK

Vietnamese has more syllable-final consonants than Japanese, I think you can tell them apart that way, maybe. Is this right? - Juuitchan

Someone suggested: "Heath Robinson" and ";Rube Goldberg" as a vocabulary difference. It's certainly an interesting parallel, but I don't think it really belongs here. They were both artists with their own style, and both are known on both sides of the pond although their use as descriptive adjectives is split as suggested. At any rate, they can't quite be considered translations, because as an adjective, "Rube Goldberg" is more specific, describing an overly complex mechanical device or a complex series of interdependent actions; Heath Robinson, in contrast, is more surrealistic or fantasy-oriented. --LDC

As an American, I would like to say that to me a bum is a homeless person as much as the butt, a flat is an apartment, and rubbish certainly is trash. Granted, I agree that a fag is not a cigarette, and underground is not a subway. I may do some actual research, and come back and fiddle with that list. - Eean.

I think Americans certainly understand the use of "bum" for "butt", "rubbish" for "trash", and (to a lesser degree) "flat" for "apartment". But we don't use those terms much. Point to a container for discarded things, and an American will say "that's a trash can"; a Brit will say "that's a rubbish bin". Americans are more likely to use "rubbish" in the sense of "bullshit". --LDC

I deleted the following pair: "limited (Ltd)" and "incorporated", since they actually mean different things. "Incorporated" means a corporation; "limited" means a limited liability corporation (you can also have unlimited liability corporations, and no liability corporations). British (and Australian also) Ltd is roughly equivalent to American LLC. -- SJK

I would say 'torch' was much more common than 'pocket lamp' which sounds quite old-fashioned. 'Flashlight' would be more easily recognised than the latter.

Yes, I'd call it a "torch", and it would probably be labeled as a "flashlight" in its manufacturer's packaging. IMO, 'torch' is colloquial British English -- The Anome

Oh, so "flashlight" is correct British usage? (My dictionary said [Am.] and the Oxford English Dictionary carried "flashlight" only in the meaning of photography.) Then I'll remove the entry again. --AxelBoldt

No, I disagree, it's only a "torch" in BrE. The term "flashlight" if it occurs is still a striking Americanism, even if a manufacturer calls it that. - Gritchka

Would anyone be terribly put out if I table-ized the lists? I realize that rendering the various vocabulary lists in HTML tables makes life more difficult for those who don't know how to create such code, so I'll understand if people prefer to leave things "as-is". (But I think I detect a feature request in the making here... quick'n'easy WikiTables, anyone?) -- pgdudda, 2002.03.09

2002.03.22: Having noted no objections, I've rendered the vocabulary lists into HTML tables. Thanks! pgdudda

[fanny (UK) = penis (US)? am I right?]

UK "fanny" means "vagina" (as is noted in the UK-to-US section). US "fanny" means "buttocks" (UK "bum"). On top of that, you put that into the US-to-UK section by mistake... ;)

and while we're on those lines... "fanny pack" (US) -> "bumper pack" (UK) is one I've not heard of. "Bum bag" is the nearest UK term for these things that I've ever heard of.... But then I live way out in a rural area away from the Big City Malcolm Farmer

You quite possibly may be right. I was simply going on the story of an American exchange student who had spent a year in the UK, and had caused herself extreme embarrassment the first time she referred to the small satchel strapped around her waist as her "fanny pack" (meaning "pack that rides on my butt"). She was told to refer to it as a "bumper pack". Needless to say, she never repeated that mistake again! *grin* pgdudda

Reading the "American" example of "fitted" --Isn't Michael Crichton British? J Hofmann Kemp

No, he is one of yours! Deb

"Tap" isn't restricted to beer; the things in my bathroom are taps. Not that giving the world at large the impression that wikipedians are closet alcoholics is necessarily a bad thing... ;-) -- Tarquin

According to Merriam-Webster OnLine, "stroller" means a pushchair (not a pram, as the article claims). Can someone confirm this? --Zundark, Thursday, June 13, 2002

"Pushchair" seems appropriate. It seems to me that the more usual translation for "pram" (or "perambulator") is "baby buggy" or "baby buggy" or often just simply "buggy". What distinguishes a "stroller" from these is that it is a much lighter object that is used after a child has mastered sitting-up, and has begun to develop his walking skills. A stroller can be collapsed into a carryable object to be brought out when it's time for a nap, or as a threat to a wandering two-year-old's mobility. IMOH there is a trend away from bulky expensive baby-buggies for the pre-ambulatory, and a preference for back-pack and similar arrangements.

According to the New Oxford the word "stroller" takes on yet another meaning in South Africa, where it can refer to a young urban vagrant or street child. Eclecticology

On pronunciation, I am puzzled by the claim that AmE collapses the vowels of "all" and "awl", since I don't know of an accent that distinguishes these. They're both [O:l] in BrE and similar accents (such as Australian). - Gritchka

A couple of points:

The "a" of father is used in many British words, especially common ones, in two phonetic situations. Firstly, before three of the four voiceless fricatives, as in path, laugh, chaff, pass, past, though not before sh. Secondly, before some instances of n and another consonant, as in aunt, plant, dance. (Australian does not follow British in this second case.) But by no means all words follow this pattern, e.g. ant is the same as in American.

This is far from universal in England, though it is the "received pronunciation". All Northern English accents use the flat "a", as in America.

Secondly, should this page be called "American and English English Differences". The Scottish British is Substantially different, though Welsh English is no more different than regional English usages.

I have described the british meaning of ass as donkey, burro. My wife (from Texas ) uses burro, but I don't know if this is regional usage or standard AE

Chris Q 09:02 Sep 12, 2002 (UTC)

Burro is Spanish for donkey. There are a lot of Spanish speakers in Texas so Spanish words are more commonly used by English speakers in Texas than in, say Indiana. Derek

"Ass", "donkey", and "burro" are all standard American English, and should be understood anywhere. Americans generally only use "ass" for its other meanings, and "burro" is more commonly used in Spanish-influenced areas like Texas and California, but they're still all quite common. (As a totally irellevant aside, "burro" is also slang for "buttocks" in Spanish--I'm sure there's an interesting reason for that, but I have no idea what it is.) --LDC

I would like to add the British/American use of "rubbish" and/or "trash" as a verb, if they have different meanings. In Britain they have two different meanings.

(UK) To rubbish something, is to talk badly about it. He rubbished Fred's house... he said it was useless, run down, untidy etc.

(UK) To trash something is to physically destroy it. He trashed Fred's house... he smashed all the windows, broke the furniture etc.

I am not sure of the US meanings, are they the same?

we use "trash" for both. "Rubbish" we (some of us) understand as a noun, but we never use it as a verb. Trash a hotel room, trash a reputation.... This usage does of course call for the occasional clarification. "You mean physically, or he just talked bad about it?" --KQ

Chris Q - thanks for fixing the comment on RP - I was just going back to do it - honest!

A comment about the singular "they" - surely this is not solely an aspect of British English - I've heard it used just about everywhere (US, Oz, NZ, that is) as a less cumbersome version of he/she (ditto "their" instead of "his/her"). There's an etymological justice to this: "you" was originally plural only, the singular was "thou", but "thou" died out and got replaced by it's plural. - Manning

The statement as it appears in the article is confusing, but I think it's trying to say that the use of singular they is somewhat more acceptable in writen usage in Britain than in the US. I have no idea if this is true. --Brion

How about "Oriental" traditionally in British English it refers to the middle-east, but in US English and in modern British English it refers to the east asia area ?

I think we (British) use "Oriental" to refer to the far east, Orientals are what Americans would call Asians. In the US refering to someone as Oriental is non-PC.

During the Victorian period "Oriental" often meant the Middle-East. By the time of World War II the term meant the Far East. The "East" was often linked with the Silk Route to China and the countries associated with it. The area around Malaysia, Thailand, etc. were referred to as the "South Sea". I think it is just one of those terms that changed its meaning during the Imperial period.

Though most English accents pronounce the T's in words as a distinctive T it is common, particularly in Estuary English? to replace the T with a glottal stop.

Does anyone know the rules for this, for example "I stopped at the pottery on Saturday" would be pronounced as "I stopped at the po'ery on Sa'urday". Why is the T in stopped pronounced?

I would assume only intervocalic T's are realized as glottal stops. In 'stopped' it's part of a consonant cluster rather than sitting between nice comfy vowels where it can sink into the cushions of the mouth and stop in the glottis. --Brion

This is where the idea of "British" English breaks down. Different dialects handle this differently. Some use glottal stops commonly whereas others use them only rarely. -- Derek Ross

If anyone can devise a culturally neutral name for picking out the Standard British dialect, I shall be eternally grateful. Essentially the main dialects are Southern British, Northern British, Scottish, American, and Caribbean. The Southern British dialect covers a host of different accents, RP and Estuary and Welsh and Australasian and South African. 'Standard British' is okay to cover RP and Estuary, but we want a term that includes the southern hemisphere accents and is opposed as a whole to American (as a vocabulary source) or to Standard American (rhotic accents only). Any takers? ;-)

And while they're about it, they can devise a Standard British dialect to go with the culturally neutral name. :) Derek Ross

On the specific point of glottalling, traditional RP has none and London Cockney (not a form of Standard British) probably only keeps [t] initially and after [s], as in tar, star, dust, dusty, and I'm not even sure about dust. Elsewhere it's [?], as in [wEn?] went, [wIn?a] winter etc. The modern form of RP and full-blown Estuary English are intermediate. An RP speaker these days will probably use [?] before a consonant, in casual speech: [nQ? ri:li] not really. The change to Estuary includes more glottalling, intervocalic and final: [nQ? @ lQ?] not a lot. Estuary seems to be replacing RP as de facto standard, so this tendency will count as, if it does not yet, part of Standard British. Gritchka

User:Kwertii I've never heard the word Binky for pacifier. The British word is Dummy so I'll change it.

A question for US speakers: In the UK we call the floor at ground level the ground floor and the floor above that the first floor whilst in th US these are known as the first floor and the second floor respectively. Does the ground floor have any meaning in the US? i.e. is it a synonym for the first floor or is it unknown. I wish to know which list to put these phrases in.

The ground floor is a synonym for the first floor. Tokerboy

Thanks Tokerboy! Mintguy 01:23 Dec 4, 2002 (UTC)

I've lived in America my entire life and I have never seen "amoeba" or "aesthetic" spelled "ameba" or "esthetic". Am I weird? Tokerboy 01:55 Dec 4, 2002 (UTC)

No I think there are a few inaccuracies in this article, caused by the very differences it discusses. "Binky" and "Bumper Bag" (should be Bum Bag) were two items listed as British that I'd never heard of. Mintguy

The British expression "I couldn't care less" is rendered as "I could care less" in the US. To a British English speaker this appears to mean the opposite.

I'm a native American English speaker, and I think both of these expressions are synonyms meaning "I do not care at all." Any other American types agree? And what is the British meaning of these two?

--Ryguasu 02:00 Dec 4, 2002 (UTC)

"I could care less" is never used in the UK and if you said it to a Brit he would probably think you mis-said it and might even try to correct you. Mintguy 02:07 Dec 4, 2002 (UTC)

But "I couldn't care less" still means that you don't care, right? --Ryguasu

It means "I couldn't care less". i.e. I care so little that there is no room for me to care less.

Entree is a weird one. entree is French and means first course or what you call the appetizer. How the hell did this one get so mixed up. what is it for Canadians? Mintguy 02:17 Dec 4, 2002 (UTC)