Here’s a list of differences between British and American English like the ones mentioned so far:
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.
I’m not even sure what it’s supposed to mean.
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.
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.
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.
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.
: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.)
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.
Nobody in Britain. It’s a thread about British word usage.