I’m in the US and I say “wait on line.” Though like someone else posted, I’m in New York.
I use “meant” the same way as you do. But I see stuff like “aren’t you meant to be doing your homework right now?” in fanfiction fairly often, invariably by non-American writers. It sounds very strange to my ear.
UK: It’s on the second floor = where you get to after two flights of stairs
US: It’s on the second floor = where you get to after one flight of stairs
Ohio State is going to win.
The Buckeyes are going to win.
As has been pointed out, this runs into trouble when the nicknames are in the singular form, which has started popping up since the 1990s.
Miami is going to win.
The Heat are(?) going to win.
We don’t yet have a comfortable way of dealing with this.
Definitely “the government is” “the Senate is.”
It’s not just for solving problems. It’s for doing any damn thing. “I’ve got tea sorted.” “I’ve got the tickets sorted.” “You’d better get yourself sorted.” A very annoying usage.
Nope, again.
“Take a piss” in the UK means to urinate.
“Take *the *piss” means to mock.
‘Sorted’ is sometimes used just as an appreciative response by itself too- as in
Person A ‘I got tickets for the gig tonight!’
Person B ‘Sorted!’
Seems to be going out of fashion a bit lately, or maybe it’s just that my friends are growing up…
An additional ‘of’ inserted into various phrases:
Non-US: The cat jumped off the table
US: The cat jumped off of the table
Non-US: How big a mortgage can you afford?
US: How big of a mortgage can you afford?
Americans seem to only say “cheers” when toasting a drink. Brits use it to mean “take care” or “goodbye” i.e. something to say when someone is leaving or when you’re hanging up the phone or whatever.
Also used by pretentious-ass American college students when signing off an email.
As an American, “I’m meant to clean the house today” sounds like it’s my destiny to clean the house. Today.
I heard “knock up” used in the sense of getting someone’s attention by knocking on their door (or something like that) on an episode of “Two Fat Ladies” just the other day; of course it was probably taped 10 or 15 years ago, but still…
Roddy
I feel like Mrs. Weasley in one of the HP movies said something like, “I’ll knock you up some dinner” or something like that
How about “sit an exam”? Is that British, or more from the colonies? I’ve definitely heard that from my NZ and Oz friends, but I can’t recall what the Brits say.
US also has common usage with half past six.
On a side note, has anyone heard “noon thirty”? I said it as a joke once, and one of my friends claimed it was because I was from NH, and that some people used it there. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it used seriously though.
Oh, I thought of another one. People in the US and UK use the word “brilliant” in different (although overlapping) ways. Americans will use it to describe a particular person or idea (or something that’s literally very bright) as brilliant, but we don’t use it to mean something that’s really cool or awesome like British people do. You won’t hear an American (unless he or she is a pretentious Anglophile who needs a smack upside the head) describe, say, a beautiful dress as “brilliant”.
This, this.
I understand perfectly well when a Brit uses “in hospital”. But it’s still a jarring note to these American ears. I know, the hospital doesn’t make a lot of grammatical sense. But it’s still strange to me to hear the British construction.
“In line” vs “On line” varies in the US
As a midwesterner (born Madison, live near Chicago) “in line” is what sounds natural to me.
But I’ve heard “On line” in the southeast, ranging all the way up to southern Indiana.
Both uses are common in the US. For that matter, ‘shortly’ has the same problem - it can mean in a bit, or for a bit.
In both those cases, what you have labeled Non-US is what I’d use nine times out of ten. What you have labeled US seems a little less colloquial, but also much less common.
I’ve also heard it used to mean “thanks”–this usage seems very common in England, at least. Sometimes it can function as both “thanks” and “bye,” depending on the context.
Another expression that I’ve only heard in the UK is “How did you get on?” and variants. In the US, it seems more common to hear something like “How did things go?”
Americans use both usages for the cat example, but you’re probably right that most would say “of” in the morgage example.
Gestalt- you probably recollect correctly.
One can “knock up” something- meaning to hastily put it together.
“So sorry you missed dinner, but I’ll knock you up some egg and toast in a jiffy”.
“You need a bookshelf- no problem, I’ll knock one up for you on Saturday”.
“Oh, thanks for admiring the new coffee table- Jeremy knocked it up out of some old crates”.
The whole en route pronunciation thing, is one that I pick up in US shows, especially 24- where someone was always on the way to somewhere else.
UK: on root
US: in rowt
British people play hide and seek as children.
Americans play hide-and-go-seek.