# 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:** 33
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/641 "2024-10-30T17:13:58Z")
Another related Britishism to learn: “the estate” - in the sense of “housing estate”, but more specifically used to mean “council estate” (as opposed to private housing estates or even posher manorial estates). Used similar to, but not exactly the same as, the Americanism “the projects” ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/642 "2024-10-30T17:29:48Z")
This caused some confusion for me in regard to the Kinks song “Come Dancing.” In the last verse, there’s the line “my sister’s married and she lives on an estate.” I always assumed it meant that his sister had married a rich guy and was living in a big, palatial country house somewhere. I only found out relatively recently that it more likely meant that she lived in more modest public housing of some kind. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/643 "2024-10-30T17:32:52Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Another related Britishism to learn: “the estate” - in the sense of “housing estate”, but more specifically used to mean “council estate” (as opposed to private housing estates or even posher manorial estates). Used similar to, but not exactly the same as, the Americanism “the projects” I’ve also heard “scheme”, as in “housing scheme”, the residents of which are called “schemies”. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/644 "2024-10-30T17:37:54Z")
‘Estate’ is one of those strange words whose meaning has diverged into many things over the years. It also in the UK, amongst other meanings, can be a car with an elongated rear end (sorry not sure how else to put it!), a bit like a hatchback but with a longer boot. I’ve no idea what they are called in the US. They might even have the same name. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/645 "2024-10-30T17:42:53Z")
Station Wagon. > **[Station wagon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Station_wagon)** > > A station wagon (US, also wagon) or estate car (UK, also estate) is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door (the liftgate, or tailgate), instead of a trunk/boot lid. The body style transforms a standard three-box design into a two-box design—to include an A, B, and C-pillar, as well as a D-pillar. Station wagons can flexibly reconfigure their interior volume via fold-down ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/646 "2024-10-30T18:04:14Z")
Ah yes I did know that, but forgot. Cheers ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/647 "2024-10-30T18:44:14Z")
Oddly, while South African English usually sticks close to British in both vocab and spelling. for that one, we call them station wagons too, not estates. I grew up with a succession of Borgward Isabella station wagons as our family car. ---
**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 30, 2024, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/648 "2024-10-30T18:47:16Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > I’ve also heard “scheme”, as in “housing scheme”, the residents of which are called “schemies”. That’s in Scotland. No idea why the difference. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/649 "2024-10-30T18:53:23Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I grew up with a succession of Borgward Isabella station wagons as our family car. The Borgward Isabella was a cool car, I had a late friend who was an enthusiast and repaired and refurbished old models as a hobby. I didn’t know they also came as station wagons. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/650 "2024-10-30T19:39:43Z")
I believe they, themselves, called it a “combi”. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/651 "2024-10-30T19:41:16Z")
Yes, that’s correct, Combi or Kombi ist still the common name for that type of car. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/652 "2024-10-30T19:55:32Z")
Round here, only VW vans are called a Kombi. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/653 "2024-10-30T19:57:20Z")
Those are called Bulli here (especially the first two editions). It’s an affectionate nickname, not an official name used by VW, like Käfer (beetle). ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/654 "2024-10-30T20:32:21Z")
The same thing with the Cleveland newspaper, the _Plain Dealer_. You can tell a native Clevelander because we stress the first syllable _Plain_, leaving _Dealer_ completely unstressed, as though it’s all one word. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2024, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/655 "2024-10-30T20:38:26Z")
“Unmade road” is intuitive enough for an American to understand. Like so much else in BE, I learned it from Genesis lyrics, to quote _The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway_\* again, “Suspension cracks on unmade road And the trucker’s eyes read ‘Overload’” But what’s completely unintuitive is “unmetalled road.” Imagine the puzzled reaction. “You put metal on the roads over there?” \*Even though _TLLDOB_ was meant to be their Americanized album, it’s full of Britishisms like “notes and coins” (instead of “bills and change” as Americans would say), or “windscreen wiper.” However, they got the Americanism right with “Fly on a Windshield.” ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2024, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/656 "2024-10-31T01:52:01Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Yes, that’s correct, Combi or Kombi ist still the common name for that type of car. A source of great confusion to Gen Xers like myself, listening to “Down Under” in high school and wondering what the hell a “fried-out combi” was, and how one traveled in it. (Not to mention the mysterious foodstuff known as a “Vegemite sandwich”.) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2024, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/657 "2024-10-31T06:14:21Z")
It is interesting the _products_ that are unknown on one side or the other. A recent Facebook video offered to me showed two British guys trying bologna for the first time, and if they weren’t hamming things up, they had never ever _heard_ of it before. It suprised me, bologna is such a common and ordinary food in the US it never occurred to me that it would be unknown in a place as closely allied as the UK. (And has so many cultural references–there are tons of common UK foods that I’ve never tried or even seen in the US but definitely know about from UK media.) ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2024, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/658 "2024-10-31T06:28:57Z")
I’ve heard of it but had to google it just now to find out what it was. Looks like it’s similar to what we in the UK would call luncheon meat. ---
**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 31, 2024, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/659 "2024-10-31T06:35:33Z")
> [@iamatractorboy](#): > > Looks like it’s similar to what we in the UK would call luncheon meat. The Wikipedia article on bologna notes that it is likely derived from the Italian sausage mortadella. It also notes that in the UK (and some other countries), there is a similar sausage called “polony,” but I have no idea if that’s a common product there. And, in the U.S., bologna would definitely be one variety of “lunch meat,” along with sliced ham, sliced turkey, sliced salami, etc. > **[Bologna sausage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_sausage)** > > Bologna sausage, informally baloney (/bəˈloʊni/ bə-LOH-nee), is an American cooked sausage which is an imitation of genuine Italian mortadella Bologna PGI, a variety of mortadella, a large salume. Its seasonings include black pepper, nutmeg, allspice, celery seed, coriander, and myrtle berries. > Similar imitations of mortadella Bologna include parizer (Parisian sausage) in Hungary, Romania, and the countries of the former Yugoslavia; polony in Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa and Western Austra... ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2024, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/660 "2024-10-31T07:20:51Z")
I’ve never heard of polony, so I’m not sure. I’ve had luncheon meat many times and visually it is similar. It is a bit like reconstituted ham, quite soft, with a bit of spice to it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941.md?page=32) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941.md?page=34)