Not specific to UK/US I think but I tend to hear Brits and Canadians say “on line” rather than “in line” as in “waiting on line at the supermarket” vs “waiting in line at the supermarket.”
Thisis surely a joke at this point in the thread?
Nope, I also use that turn of phrase (Lancastrian).
You know, I hear a rumour that Brits use the phrase “on line” instead of “in line”, when talking about queuing, unlike Americans.
(Never, ever heard it actually used myself. But there’s this persistent rumour…)
UK: Are you having a laugh?
US: Are you making fun of me? (African Amer.: Are you talking about me?)
UK: I’m going to have a poo.
US: I’m going to take a dump/crap/poop/shit/whatever.
US: [He attends a school where his parents pay the tuition] He attends private school.
UK [He attends a school where his parents pay the tuition] He attends public school.
US: [He attends a school that is funded by the state with tax money] He attends public school.
UK: [He attends a school that is funded by the state with tax money] He attends state school.
US: [She lives in a building built with tax money for the purpose of providing housing for low-income individuals] She lives in a housing project.
UK: [She lives in a building built with tax money for the purpose of providing housing for low-income individuals] She lives in a council estate.
Another difference is that in the UK the term is “tuition fees”. Tuition = teaching.
My favorite is -
US: ‘How are you?’
UK: ‘Alright?’
Any Brits can correct me if I’m wrong with the translation, but this phrase that was hardest for me to get used to while studying abroad in London. I would walk into a pub, and someone would say, ‘Alright?’, to which I would respond ‘…yes?’ After some time and observation I realized that they were asking how I was, not literally asking if I was ok. Someone came into the store I work in in LA and said it the other day and I was quite chuffed. =)
Not to pick too many nits, but the public/private school thing is always a little overstated IMO. For instance, I went to private school, as in my parents paid the school fees. However, it would never be described as a ‘public school’ - that feels wrong. I’m not sure of the distinction, it’s one of those ‘you’d know it if you came across it’ situations, but to me ‘public’ schools are the big, establishment, olde worlde ones like Eton, Winchester and the like. My school was a couple of hundred years old and like all of its ilk, determinedly upper and upper-middle class, but would never have been called a public school
You don’t come across ‘attends’ school so much here, either - it’s more ‘goes to’, but I guess ‘attends’ is the formal version.
The ‘alright?’ as a greeting also seems to be a regional/age thing, although I’d agree it’s fairly widespread these days. I think of it as a Southern English thing (I hear it in an Estuary English/South London accent when I read it).
US - Fender
UK - Wing
US - Side mirrors
UK - Wing mirrors
From the days when the mirrors weren’t mounted on the doors but further forward on the wing/fender.
This one took me a while to get used to when moving out here from Australia a couple of years ago. I’ve heard it as any variation of “Are you alright?” (“alright?”, “you alright?”). I kept thinking that I must have looked upset somehow, I also kept going “umm…yeah, I’m fine…”
Well if one’s school isn’t state-supported, but it isn’t an olde worlde one like Eton, then what kind of school is it?
And I know this isn’t a GQ thread, but if I can piggyback a GQ onto this thread: Percentage-wise, about how many UK kids attend state schools vs. [del]public[/del] [del]private[/del] parents-pay-tuition-fees schools?
US: I’ll call you.
UK: I’ll phone you.
The UK version always makes me laugh inside. It just sounds dirty.
Apparently the term is Independent School, and 7% of UK kids go to them.
UK: To knock a girl up = to visit her at home
US: To knock a girl up = to impregnate her
While someone might conceivably say “I will knock you up in the morning”, meaning to knock on the door to wake you up, the phrase you quote above means exactly the same in the UK as the US. UK slang cite
The correct response is “alright?”. Think of it more like a grunt you’re expected to repeat back; don’t focus too much on the actual words.
In the US, a person is is “bent” is slightly off.
In the UK, a guy who is “bent” is homosexual (“not staright”).
Or a crook.