# What Britishisms most baffle Americans? What Americanisms most baffle Brits? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 18, 2024, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941 "2024-10-18T08:53:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/281 "2024-10-19T21:25:25Z")
The steady use of “boffin” always throws me. It has a formal definition: > a scientific expert - especially one involved in technological research and a casual meaning: > a scientist who is considered to know a lot about science and not to be interested in other things: and a slang meaning: > British speakers also use “boffin” colloquially to refer to academics or intellectuals in general, often in a manner that is synonymous with “nerd” or “egghead.” You need to be a boffin to parse the shades of meaning in a sentence like this: > Neither boffin nor bard will get any quarrel from the powers that be at Hästens: an ultra-premium bedding company ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/282 "2024-10-19T21:26:10Z")
Taking of school their is the American habit of referring to where you went to university as “where you went to school”. When asked “where did you go to school?” Most Brits will answer where they went to secondary (aka high) school ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/283 "2024-10-19T21:37:36Z")
On this board someone mentioned eating “half a pint of frozen dessert”. I guess this must have a specific meaning in the US but I was (and remain) baffled. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/284 "2024-10-19T21:42:18Z")
Ice cream, and similar frozen desserts, is typically sold in the U.S., in grocery stores, using Imperial (liquid) measures (pints, quarts, gallons). A “half pint” would be 8 ounces (a size in which specialty and premium ice creams are often sold), and a fairly significant amount of ice cream to eat in one sitting. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/285 "2024-10-19T21:45:35Z")
It’s not the “half-pint” that baffled me, it’s the “frozen dessert”. It just seemed so totally underspecified, like saying “I went to the shop and bought a vegetable”, or “I have a pet animal”. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/286 "2024-10-19T21:48:12Z")
Speaking of shops, one minor difference is that we buy things in shops and store things in stores, where Americans buy things in stores and make or repair things in shops. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/287 "2024-10-19T21:49:44Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > It just seemed so totally underspecified, like saying “I went to the shop and bought a vegetable”, or “I have a pet animal”. Ahh, gotcha. It’s a term that most Americans would probably understand, but it’s more of an industry term, rather than something that most people would say in everyday speech. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/288 "2024-10-19T21:51:07Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > where Americans buy things in stores and make or repair things in shops Ehh, we buy things in shops, too. Generally, in that context, “shop” would connote a smaller business to us, more likely to be privately- or family-owned, rather than part of a big chain or franchise. ---
**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:** [October 19, 2024, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/289 "2024-10-19T21:57:28Z")
Most Americans would just say “ice cream” in that sentence. That could just be a quirk of that particular poster or a regionalism from their area. That said, I’d guess most Americans would read that to mean ice cream anyway as that’s really the only frozen dessert that is sold in pints. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/290 "2024-10-19T22:00:39Z")
The Food and Drug Administration essentially defines certain foods - for example, ice cream contains not less than 10 percent milkfat. There are definitions for ice cream, reduced or low-fat ice cream , sherbet and water ices. Anything else is going to be in a category of “frozen dairy dessert” (gelato or sorbet) or " frozen dessert" ( Dole Whip) but people don’t normally call it “frozen dessert” - they’ll say they ate a half-pint of sorbet or Dole Whip or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/291 "2024-10-19T22:00:55Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > [@hibernicus](#): > > > > It just seemed so totally underspecified, like saying “I went to the shop and bought a vegetable”, or “I have a pet animal”. > > Ahh, gotcha. It’s a term that most Americans would probably understand, but it’s more of an industry term, rather than something that most people would say in everyday speech. Yeah. Using “frozen dessert” sounds oddly technical or marketing-speak; I’m not sure which. Like maybe somebody who eats some weird gluten-free dairy-free frankenfood, but doesn’t want to explain that yet again, but is also scrupulous enough not to want to say “ice cream” when it isn’t. Especially not if the person they’re talking to knows they have a dairy allergy. I recall a skit on some comedy show, maybe SNL years ago, where the characters were conversing entirely in advertising slogans, product placements, and buzzterms like “frozen dessert”. I don’t recall whether the setting was a mixed-gender cocktail party at a house or a kaffee klatch of 2-4 ladies, but the comic conceit was these folks had absorbed _sooo_ much ad-speak they were using it unwittingly and not noticing anything odd about the others doing the same. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/292 "2024-10-19T22:03:51Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Yeah. Using “frozen dessert” sounds oddly technical or marketing-speak; I’m not sure which. Like maybe somebody who eats some weird gluten-free dairy-free frankenfood, but doesn’t want to explain that yet again, but is also scrupulous enough not to want to say “ice cream” when it isn’t. Especially not if the person they’re talking to knows they have a dairy allergy. Exactly. It’s not a term I’d expect to hear a typical American use in casual speech, unless they worked in the industry, or were very particular in their speech (i.e., it sounds like how Sheldon Cooper from _The Big Bang Theory_ would describe what he’d had to eat). ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/293 "2024-10-19T22:06:23Z")
Thanks all for the excellent explanations. I am now unbaffled. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/294 "2024-10-19T22:27:35Z")
Not every frozen dessert is ice cream, given the popularity of things like frozen yogurt, sorbet, homemade and commercial low calorie and high protein frankenfood, iced milks and vegan alternatives. I would have assumed one of those might be the case if someone mentioned pints of frozen dessert. Without the pint, things like various bars and sandwiches, Eskimo pies, various stuff on a stick, freebies, frozen fruit and a thousand other commercial products come into play. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2024, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/295 "2024-10-19T22:49:53Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > And there was Ontario, where I went to high school, and which had a Grade 13. While in Quebec, HS ends with grade 11. When we got here, graduates of 11th grade just went off to university. Then they introduced the so-called CEGEPs (think community colleges) and to attend a Quebec university you had to spend two years at a CEGEP but now university was only 3 years. My 3 kids all went from 11th grade to American universities. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2024, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/296 "2024-10-20T04:20:09Z")
When I was working in sales in Tokyo, I made friends with a British man in the same industry, and met his British wife many times as well. They had a baby and I went to the hospital and helped with the communication. When discussing business, I don’t remember many Britishisms at all, but when he was in his home environment, especially after his baby was born, everything was new. Nappies, prams, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2024, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/297 "2024-10-20T05:34:48Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Without the pint, things like various bars and sandwiches, Eskimo pies, various stuff on a stick, freebies, frozen fruit and a thousand other commercial products come into play. Also Totino’s Pizza Rolls, if you don’t have a sweet tooth and you’re too lazy to cook them first. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2024, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/298 "2024-10-20T07:37:56Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > ‘snipe hunts’ being a kind of prank or practical joke, where the victim is told to do ridiculous things that would never result in catching a snipe. Is that at all related to Lewis Carroll’s _[The Hunting of the Snark](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunting_of_the_Snark)_? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2024, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/299 "2024-10-20T12:35:50Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > Banana bag? I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be British or American. Actually, that is supposed to be a Gallicism, or at least that is mainly where I have heard it. However, it is descriptive and does neatly sidestep the issue of referring to any part of the wearer’s anatomy. > [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > As a medical professional, when I hear banana bag I think of a specific bag of IV fluids with supplements that is given to alcoholics under certain circumstances. I I am familiar with the term. Does not seem likely someone would mix up an I.V. bag and a sporran, so I think we are OK. ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2024, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/300 "2024-10-20T13:44:00Z")
As does Scandinavia [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941.md?page=16)