American vs. British English: brainstorm

In My Humble Opinion
1

I am an American teaching English in Hong Kong, where British English is the norm. I was familiar with many common differences, and some of them have made it into my vocabulary, like lift, flat, and mobile. But some of the things that are coming out in class are just mystifying me. I had no idea, for instance, that there was another pronunciation for “z” other than… well, “z.” And when I played a guessing game with students, the word I used was refrigerator… they couldn’t get it, and when I told them the word in Chinese they complained that “refrigerator” wasn’t the word they used, it was “freezer” or “icebox,” the former of which is something different to me, and the latter of which seems, to me, to have been appropriate say 90 YEARS AGO.

So, I would like to call on the international community here to come up with as many British/American differences as possible, so I can definitively tell what is legitimate British English and what is just crap their teachers taught them. Thanks…

2

Are you sure they weren’t trying to say “fridge”. In my (25 years) experience that is the most common word for a refridgerator in British English.

“Z” is pronounced “zed” as opposed to the US “zee” in British English.

3

A refrigerator is commonly called a fridge.
An icebox tends to be known as a freezer.
Honour, colour, etc
A fender (on a car) is a bumper.
A cell phone is a “mobile”.

I can’t think of any others, but I’ll direct the rest of the BritDopers to this thread, so they can chime in with anything…

4

Oh, and legalise, energise, you get the gist :wink:

5

American/British

appetizer/starter
backpack/rucksack
lobby/foyer
chips/crisps
antenna/aerial
2 weeks/a fortnight
bar/pub
suspenders/braces

From this site, scroll down

6

sidewalk = pavement

yard = garden

soccer = football

football = American football

chips = crisps

fries = chips

airplane, is prounced “air-plane” in the USA, where in the UK it’s prounced “aero-plane”.

7

sidewalk/path

and

pants/trousers

come to mind.

8

And in fact, spelt “aeroplane” as well :wink:

9

In British English, suspenders means an entirely different thing to what the word means in American English. I think British “suspenders” translates closest to American “garter”, although I could be wrong. If you ask a British man if he’s wearing suspenders, you’ll get some very funny looks indeed…

10

Here’s agood list of most of the common differences.

Hope this helps.

11

Your right Angua, that’s one of my own little quirks. Though I prounounce it as “aeroplane” I always spell it as “airplane”, I don’t know why.

12

A chippy is a loose woman in the States? :eek: The phrase “I fancy going to the chippy” takes on a whole new meaning…

13

I don’t think there’s an American word for ‘innit’.

14

Well, there’s not really a British word for “innit”, just if you’re a “wannabe rude-boy” :slight_smile:

15

Nappy - Diaper
Plait - Braid
Duvet - comforter (I think?)

And SO got some VERY peculiar looks when he asked where he could get some fags!

16

But “innit” has been part of South London speech long before Ali G was ever thought of, my Grandad uses it as in " Cor blimey! it’s a cold day today, innit?"

17

Aaah… OK… Not being a Londoner, I’d never really heard it. I think the closest the Americans get is “ain’t it”…

18

American/British
pants/trousers
underwear/pants
suspenders/braces
garter belt/suspender belt
fanny pack/bum bag
butt/bum
fanny/bum
female genitalia/fanny

So an American in London saying “Her pants were riding so low on her fanny that she should have worn suspenders to hold them up” Will get you a big :eek:

19

And for car/bike parts and motoring
American / British
trunk / boot
hood / bonnet
convertible top / hood
tire / tyre
gas / petrol
fender / wing
side mirror / wing mirror
windshield / windscreen
freeway (or interstate) / motorway
on ramp(off ramp) / slip road
motorcycle (or bicycle) fender / mud guard
bicycle / push bike

20

That might be obsolete slang. I don’t think most Americans would know it meant that…I’ve sure never heard it before. Sounds like something a Hollywood gangster would say in a 1940s film.