# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/61 "2024-10-18T14:20:59Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > The entire rules of Cricket. Once I watched a cricket match on satellite TV, circa 2000. I didn’t understand any of the rules. The commentary was in Hindi so that was no help. I watched it for almost 8 hours and I still didn’t get it. Occasionally I would think I was figuring it out, but then sometimes the score would change after seemingly nothing happened. I still don’t get it. ---
**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 18, 2024, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/62 "2024-10-18T14:21:52Z")
I thought flan was made with sponge, whereas tart was made with pastry. Happy to be corrected! ---
**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 18, 2024, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/63 "2024-10-18T14:24:08Z")
Interesting…I’d always assumed a geezer was just a bloke. But geezer isn’t as commonly used as bloke across the country and tends to be used by Londoners. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/64 "2024-10-18T14:24:27Z")
What are you all rabbiting on about? (I don’t think Americans use the expression, but they should. There’s a song, too.) ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/65 "2024-10-18T14:25:59Z")
> [@pjd](#): > > British public school You needed to qualify that specifically with “British” because “public school” is another thing with two different meanings on either side of the pond. 🙂 Not exactly on point for the thread because there’s no confusion in what she meant, but literally 2 minutes before I started reading this thread, I was in a DM text conversation with a British friend: > [@](#): > > Her: RL being rubbishly busy - but can’t complain really > Me: I think “rubbishly busy” is one of the most british things I’ve ever heard you say 🙂 ---
**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 18, 2024, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/66 "2024-10-18T14:30:11Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > I thought British “punting” was like a pickup term, either prostitutes or, more innocuously, hitting on someone at a pub. “Punter” can be used in BrE to mean a customer, and is often used for s prostitute’s customers; it can be used for any actual or potential customer but it carries a slightly dismissive overtone, as of a casual who might well be ripped off. The US football “punting” sounds to me a bit like “kicking into touch” (put the ball off the field so that play can start again with the teams re-arranged on the pitch). But we do sometimes use “punting” to mean kicking a ball a bit wildly, hence the “taking a chance” meaning. ---
**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 18, 2024, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/67 "2024-10-18T14:32:50Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > What are you all rabbiting on about? > > (I don’t think Americans use the expression, but they should. There’s a song, too.) Ah, now, rhyming slang is yet another mystery (deliberately)… ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/68 "2024-10-18T14:36:05Z")
How about a BOMB? For theaters on Broadway, it’s a show that fails. In the theatres\* of London’s West End it’s a successful show. – \*(No, that’s not a typo. I wrote that to prove my wonderful open-mindedness, my belief in equality, my proud acceptance of diversity, my love of inclusiveness, indeed my tolerance, for people who don’t know how to spell.) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/69 "2024-10-18T14:38:26Z")
I remember hearing “Geezers Need Excitement” by _The Streets_ on college radio a few years ago. I got the impression they’re street punks, but I kept thinking of geriatrics throwing bottles through store front windows. > **[The Streets – Geezers Need Excitement](https://genius.com/The-streets-geezers-need-excitement-lyrics)** > > \[Chorus: Mike Skinner\] / Geezers need excitement / If their lives don't provide 'em this, they incite violence / Common sense, simple common sense / Geezers need excitement / If ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/70 "2024-10-18T14:38:27Z")
My understanding (subject to correction): - A biscuit is roughly equivalent to a US cookie. It’s a dough that’s been worked, chilled, cut up and baked. - A traybake is, well, anything that’s baked in a tray. In the context of _GBBO_, it would be on the order of brownies — something baked as a unit and then cut up. - Trifle is sponge cake soaked in a liquid (usually but not always alcoholic), then topped with jam / jelly / custard / whipped cream. - A fairy cake is a small cake baked individually. Think cupcake. In addition to the above definitions, I’ve come to understand “punter” to mean a customer who looks (or acts) something like a high roller — someone who can make the establishment a good profit. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/71 "2024-10-18T14:38:49Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > In the theatres\* of London’s West End it’s a successful show I’ve never heard that. I’m not a theatre-goer and it may just be that American culture has reached me more effectively than UK theatre culture, but a bomb to me is an unambiguous failure. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/72 "2024-10-18T14:44:17Z")
> [@OttoDaFe](#): > > - A bisciut… > - A traybake … > - Trifle … > - A fairy cake… Let’s not forget: the “sticky bun”. A term for which we Yanks have no equivalant. (And no desire to create one. ) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/73 "2024-10-18T14:46:21Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I’m pretty sure “cunt” means “vagina” on both sides of the pond. Maybe they technically do, but the “C word” in America is pretty much the most offensive gendered term you can use to refer to a woman. Orders of magnitude more offensive than “bitch.” My impression of British usage is that it’s much more relaxed. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/74 "2024-10-18T14:48:19Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > The pronunciation of “clerk” as “clark” is also weird to me. Not to mention pronouncing “derby” as if it were spelled “darby”. I was in London, watching a British version of an American quiz show, and the question was: “Not a race, it’s what an American calls a “darby”” I thought “I’m an American. I don’t call _anything_ a “darby””. The answer: “A bowler hat!” Bowler hat? Oh, he means a “derby”! ---
**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 18, 2024, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/75 "2024-10-18T14:49:07Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Let’s not forget: the “sticky bun”. > > A term for which we Yanks have no equivalant. (And no desire to create one. ) 🙂 Huh? I know nothing of UK sticky buns. But here in the US a “sticky bun” is a very standard baked good. Perhaps only regional, but they’re ubiquitous in the Midwest. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/76 "2024-10-18T14:52:58Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > ubiquitous in the Midwest. No,no,no…this cannot be! I’m partially Midwest raised, and I always called 'em pastries. Sticky buns are what we called 'em during my British school days. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/77 "2024-10-18T14:56:22Z")
Jelly in the UK is Jell-o or (usually flavored) gelatin in the US. Jelly in the US is, I guess, jam in the UK. In the US, jelly is a fruit spread made of fruit juice and jam is a fruit spread made of whole crushed fruit. Last week on the UK show _Taskmaster_ there was a bit with “powdered jelly” which is how most Americans know Jell-o to be. But I guess it kind of confused some of the British viewers because their jelly comes in cubes (what Americans might remember as Knox blocks) and not as often in powdered form. But I guess the _Taskmaster_ contestant who brought up the powdered jelly grew up in a vegetarian household and you can only get vegetarian jelly in powdered form in the UK (in the US, Jell-o is not vegetarian). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/78 "2024-10-18T14:59:13Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > The US football “punting” sounds to me a bit like “kicking into touch” (put the ball off the field so that play can start again with the teams re-arranged on the pitch). But we do sometimes use “punting” to mean kicking a ball a bit wildly, hence the “taking a chance” meaning. Wiktionary says that all sporting use of the word “punt” comes from rugby (and is possibly related to the word “bunt”). If anything punting in the American Football sense is more common in Rugby Union than it is in American Football. You often get quite long exchanges of kicks from one full back to the other until one team decides to run with the ball and recycle. However it’s rarely called “punting” now, this is just “kicking”, perhaps given a gloss with the adjective “tactical”. “Kicking for touch” is, as you say, another form of punting, requiring specialist skills if the kicker is outside the 22. Despite what Wiktionary thinks, “drop-kicking” is not the same as “punting” in either rugby or American Football. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/79 "2024-10-18T15:02:46Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Not to mention pronouncing “derby” as if it were spelled “darby”. I believe this was a change in pronunciation which occurred in Britain (probably just England originally) in the 18th century, and so after American English was already established. A similar change happened with the word “starve”, which used to be “sterve”, but that must have happened before American English split off. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/80 "2024-10-18T15:08:52Z")
Concur. It’s one of the stronger swear words in any place I have been. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941.md?page=5)