# "different to" vs. "different from" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 15, 2015, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-to-vs-different-from/731394 "2015-09-15T19:13:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-to-vs-different-from/731394/1 "2015-09-15T19:13:57Z")
I have been reading this great series of cyberpunk science fiction books. The author is very well-spoken and the books are utterly absorbing. There’s just one thing I don’t understand – whenever it comes to a place in the book where a comparison is made of the “different from” variety, the author always says “different\*\* to\*\*.” Is this a convention in some part of the world? I find it kind of jarring, every time, as I’ve never heard anyone else say it that way. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-to-vs-different-from/731394/2 "2015-09-15T19:16:44Z")
P.S. I don’t mean like in, “it looks different to me.” I mean like, “as different as it was to the way it was before” kind of things. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-to-vs-different-from/731394/3 "2015-09-15T19:24:00Z")
Oh. Never mind. I googled “different to” and found out more than I ever wanted to know. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-to-vs-different-from/731394/4 "2015-09-15T19:28:07Z")
Compare “compared to” with “compared with.” Or maybe I mean: Compare “compared to” to “compared with.” [end of unhelpful interjection] ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-to-vs-different-from/731394/5 "2015-09-15T20:00:42Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > Oh. Never mind. I googled “different to” and found out more than I ever wanted to know. It’s a Britishism, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-to-vs-different-from/731394/6 "2015-09-16T05:12:25Z")
Pretty much, yeah. Apparently, a little bit more common in UK spoken conversation than UK writing, but basically it’s one of those UK/US differences that I’ve just never run across before. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2015, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/different-to-vs-different-from/731394/7 "2015-09-16T06:18:55Z")
“Different than” is an American usage. “Different to” is British usage. “Different from” is used both in the U.S. and the U.K.