# British Word Usage Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 28, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-word-usage-question/682525 "2014-02-28T17:10:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-word-usage-question/682525/21 "2014-03-02T11:07:45Z")
Here’s a list of differences between British and American English like the ones mentioned so far: > **[Comparison of American and British English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_American_and_British_English)** > > The English language was introduced to the Americas by British colonisation, beginning in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The language also spread to numerous other parts of the world as a result of British trade and colonisation and the spread of the former British Empire, which, by 1921, included 470–570 million people, about a quarter of the world's population. Written forms of British and American English as found in newspapers and textbooks vary little in their essential features, ... It’s really pretty hopeless to explain why any particular difference happens. There’s no general rule about how the differences work. There’s no overall explanation about why they happened in one country and not in another. Just learn them as you go along and don’t try to create big theories about why they exist. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-word-usage-question/682525/22 "2014-03-02T13:03:09Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > You mean don’t get you started about how _nobody says that_? I’m not even sure what it’s supposed to mean. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-word-usage-question/682525/23 "2014-03-02T14:18:49Z")
I have never thought of “in hospital” being in any way odd, as that’s how I’ve always said it, but now that I look at it more objectively, it is a strange phrasing! ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-word-usage-question/682525/24 "2014-03-02T14:32:51Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I have never thought of “in hospital” being in any way odd, as that’s how I’ve always said it, but now that I look at it more objectively, it is a strange phrasing! Nothing at all strange about it; he’s in court, she’s in college, I’m in hospital, you’re in prison, we’re in school. No particular court, college, hospital, prison or school is implied. He’s in _the_ court would mean a particular court already referred to, or alternatively would mean there was only one possible court that he could be in. And, to my ear, the same goes for “hospital”. I’m in _the_ hospital implies that I’m in a particular hospital, and furthermore that it’s somehow pertinent to the conversation that I’m in that hospital, and not another. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-word-usage-question/682525/25 "2014-03-02T16:16:56Z")
> [@PaulParkhead](#): > > I’m not even sure what it’s supposed to mean. There is a prevailing myth that whereas in the USA, people say “waiting in line”, in Britain it’s (supposedly) “waiting _ **on** _ line”. Except this is utterly and completely false. Nobody says it, but the myth won’t go away. In Britain, it’s “waiting in a queue” or “queueing”, or (rarely) “waiting in line”. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-word-usage-question/682525/26 "2014-03-02T21:02:52Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > There is a prevailing myth that whereas in the USA, people say “waiting in line”, in Britain it’s (supposedly) “waiting _ **on** _ line”. Except this is utterly and completely false. Nobody says it, but the myth won’t go away. > > In Britain, it’s “waiting in a queue” or “queueing”, or (rarely) “waiting in line”. Ah, I see. Didn’t even realise that was a myth - I’ve never in my life heard someone use “on line” in that way. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-word-usage-question/682525/27 "2014-03-02T21:20:56Z")
In another current thread on GQ, about “The? Ukraine”, it is mentioned that Russian, and other Slavonic languages, simply do not have the definite or indefinite article. Reading this present thread, one might suspect that those Slavs are perhaps on to something there – non-existence of the pestiferous “the”, could save a lot of annoyance and contention. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-word-usage-question/682525/28 "2014-03-02T21:54:40Z")
There’s nothing pesky about it. The presence or absence of ‘the’ indicates a difference in reason for being in the named place: In the hospital = in the hospital building for some reason In hospital = a patient In the prison = in the building - maybe working there as a guard or visiting an inmate In prison = an inmate At the university = On campus for some reason At university = a student And so on. Same for church, school, college, home and probably some others I’m forgetting. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-word-usage-question/682525/29 "2014-03-02T22:01:20Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > You mean don’t get you started about how _nobody says that_? :dubious: Uh, I say that, as does everyone else around here. It’s a New York City area thing. (So actually _a lot_ of people say it.) ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-word-usage-question/682525/30 "2014-03-02T22:27:36Z")
Slightly OT but I have always wondered about the American version of dates and numbers. Using British English I would say we are living in the year Two Thousand **and** Fourteen. It is one hundred **and** five days till my daughters birthday. American English expresses these as Two Thousand Fourteen (or even Twenty Fourteen) and one hundred five. This isn’t wrong, merely abrupt and kind of clunky to my ear. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-word-usage-question/682525/31 "2014-03-03T00:39:55Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > :dubious: Uh, I say that, as does everyone else around here. It’s a New York City area thing. (So actually _a lot_ of people say it.) Nobody in Britain. It’s a thread about British word usage. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-word-usage-question/682525.md?page=1)