In the UK, if you table a motion, you’re bringing it up for debate. In the US, you’re postponing debated.
In most of the US, a “creek” is a stream of fresh water. In the UK, it’s a saltwater inlet.
In French, the verb form “Je suis désolé” is often mistranslated to be “I am desolated.” It actually means, “I am sorry.”
“Mean Mr. Mustard” by the Beatles actually means “Cheapskate Mr. Mustard.” US audiences sometimes don’t get that, despite the lyrics talking about how cheap he is.
The Bonzo Dog Band album The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse is mysterious to US audiences, but in the UK, “Granny’s Greenhouse” was a euphemism for an outhouse. A doughnut was a device used to ease the pain of hemorrhoids.
The story goes that the moisture content - especially during the straitened times during the war - meant that sausages would explode during cooking unless pricked with a fork beforehand (a practice my Ma continued until well into the 80s). Hence “bangers”.
Cumberland sausages are good and peppery, Lincolnshire sausages are more aromatically herbal; there’s quite a renaissance in sausages, with a fairly remarkable number of varieties. My local butcher does a marmalade and ginger sausage in fact, which is rather delightful.
Spotted dick is a steamed suet based cake dotted with raisins (hence the spotted, I cannot explain the dick). Served hot, almost always with custard. Syruppy drizzle on top optional.
Not only that, but US pancakes are fairly different from many other parts of the world. Thick fluffy things here but essentially crepes elsewhere. Or so foreigners on message boards have claimed in the past.
Pudding in the UK is um…way different (I’m not going to try to explain it because seven people will correct me). It’s also a word for the post-dinner sweet dish call “dessert” in the US.
So in the UK you could have ice cream for pudding. But their pudding is not like ice cream
Personally, I like mine dense and moist. Not as thin as crepes, but not big and fluffy either. Depends on how you make your batter. Folding in beaten egg whites will give you pancakes that are very light and fluffy. I stir some corn oil into mine instead.
I learned last year that elephant ears mean something different outside the northeast of the US. Here an elephant ear is a baked puff pastry, coated with cinnamon and sugar, eaten cold at breakfast. In the south and other places it’s what we call fried dough.
When I was 19 my girlfriend and I took a trip to England together. I remember the scandalized, disapproving looks we got on the train when she mentioned putting the tickets in her fanny pack. We found out much later what was going on.
