# 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:** 48
**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:** [December 26, 2024, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/941 "2024-12-26T22:03:27Z")
One thing that continually seems to cause confusion and mismatch of expectations is the identity and composition of: Crumpets and Muffins. I’ll get to the confusions in a moment, but first, descriptions: In England (at least, in the south of England, where I live): **Muffins** are like a flattish, dense-textured bread roll; they are most usually split (either by slicing them or by poking a fork into the edges all the way around and pulling them in half - which I think yields a far superior rough-ish surface for toasting and retention of butter and toppings) - the internal structure of one of these muffins is that of bread - somewhat similar in density of crumb to that of a bagel. There are also **muffins** that are basically a big, soft, sweet cupcake, which may have chocolate chips, fruit, or other things mixed into them before baking. There are also other things that are called **muffins** - for example oven-bottom muffins, which are like a large soft bread roll, often with a well-toasted top crust and with an internal texture that is soft, fluffy-yet-moist white bread. **Crumpets** are like a very thick pancake, made from a very bubbly, yeasted, unsweetened bread batter, cooked in a poachette ring or similar, on a hot surface, so that the bottom surface is smooth and well-toasted, and the bubbles that rise during cooking burst open on the top surface to form a dense pattern of open holes, into which butter and other toppings can be melted and spread after the crumpet is toasted. The texture is kind of rubbery before toasting, becoming softer once they are hot. Crumpets are toasted whole, without needing to be split. **Crumpets** in other parts of this land are, I understand, sometimes larger and flatter than the ones I typically see (the larger, flatter variety is sometimes sold here as ‘ **pikelets** ’) Here are some examples of the confused questions I have experienced from across the pond: _How do you cope with two completely different things being called muffins?_ Isn’t that terribly confusing? (no, it’s fine, in fact both of our dialects of English do that sort of thing all the time - you just tend to notice the weirdness of it more in a foreign dialect than a familiar one) _Muffins in England are the same as the thing called English Muffins in the USA_ (not exactly, as far as I can tell - as I understand it, ‘English muffins’ in the USA often have a more open and bubbly internal texture than ‘muffins’ in England do, but this might vary from brand to brand) _Crumpets in England are the same as English Muffins in the USA_ (not as far as I can tell. The open, bubbly texture might be similar, but crumpets are a thick, unsweetened, rubbery pancake that has holes in the top, and crumpets are never split in half - they are toasted as-is) _Muffins didn’t exist in England until after ‘English Muffins’ were invented in America, then the idea was adopted in England and sold as just ‘muffins’, sometime in the 20th century[some people assert the 1980s]_ (this **has** to be bogus. ‘Muffin’, historically, used to be a much more generic term than it is today, referring to any of a fairly wide range of single-portion bread-cake type things. There are recipes for ‘muffins’ that pre-date the 20th century, and it’s obvious from just reading these recipes without making them, that they’re talking about something fairly similar). ---
**Author:** ![MarkF2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5ac83/32.png) [@MarkF2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarkF2004)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2024, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/942 "2024-12-30T13:23:45Z")
In the drawer with the daggers of course… pfft ---
**Author:** ![MarkF2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5ac83/32.png) [@MarkF2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarkF2004)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2024, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/943 "2024-12-30T13:47:19Z")
When do you take the Mule into account? And, in that instance, does muffin become a verb? ---
**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:** [December 30, 2024, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/944 "2024-12-30T14:26:04Z")
Here’s a whole thread on one particular point of confusion: > [@Minced beef vs. ground beef](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minced-beef-vs-ground-beef/1012326): > > A yahoo on Yahoo is insisting ground beef and minced beef are different things. I can see his point; but in England, what we (USians) call ‘ground beef’ is called ‘minced beef’ there. So UK Dopers: Do you see a difference between ‘minced beef’ (or ‘mince’) and ‘ground beef’? ---
**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:** [December 30, 2024, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/945 "2024-12-30T16:25:49Z")
> [@MarkF2004](#): > > When do you take the Mule into account? And, in that instance, does muffin become a verb? Depends whether you’re Annette Mills or someone very much grubbier. (For the mystified: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/_fud_pQdIgg/maxresdefault.jpg "Muffin the Mule Intro") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fud_pQdIgg) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/946 "2025-01-18T04:02:54Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Where I come from, the people who nail shingles on are called “roofers,” but when they’re done, we can admire our new “rhuf.” Do people in your area also call a wolf a “woof”? And if so, how do you say the plural? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/947 "2025-01-18T04:07:51Z")
Oh pshaw! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/948 "2025-01-18T15:35:46Z")
No, pshakespeare! ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/949 "2025-01-18T16:53:49Z")
Sodding was not ! It was pwilde ! ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/950 "2025-01-18T17:36:53Z")
In this thread’s 950 posts, has the YouTube meme from a couple of years ago on Churchill’s muttering been cited? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Ua7nbHUL_Og/maxresdefault.jpg "Winston Churchill MEME COMPILATION") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua7nbHUL_Og) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2025, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/951 "2025-01-22T21:38:23Z")
AIUI in the UK “fancy dress” means “costume”, as in what Americans call a costume party. Is this still the case? It amuses me to think that misunderstanding this phrase could result in the wearing of firmal attire to an event where a barrel with suspenders might be more de rigeur. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/952 "2025-01-23T00:41:06Z")
Yes, that confused me when I was a kid reading books from the UK. I figured it out. But I think it’s a bit of an old-fashioned phrase now. ??? ---
**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:** [January 23, 2025, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/953 "2025-01-23T00:58:01Z")
No, “fancy dress” seems to still be in regular use. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/954 "2025-01-23T01:01:47Z")
Tx. Good to know! ---
**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:** [January 23, 2025, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/955 "2025-01-23T07:06:21Z")
I can confirm, it’s definitely still the name used. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/956 "2025-01-23T09:12:15Z")
It still crops up as a kids TV/sitcom plot when the writers are running dry: Social outsider is invited to party, hears that everyone will be wearing their fancy dress - the phrasing is ambiguous enough that both senses could apply. Outcast assumes costume - turns up as astronaut/caveman/Hildegard of Bingen etc. Shock - everyone is in black tie/cocktail dress attire, this shindig is a very high class affair. Initial embarrassment, hesitation. Nevertheless, throws self into party with gusto, is life and soul, gains social acceptance. Sometimes the contrived confusion is a genuine accident, often it is deliberately contrived by some agent of malice who of course ends up looking foolish themselves. ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/957 "2025-01-23T11:56:47Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > It amuses me to think that misunderstanding this phrase could result in the wearing of firmal attire to an event where a barrel with **suspenders** might be more de rigeur. That’s another one! The straps that go over your shoulders to hold up your trousers are braces in the UK. Suspenders are what hold up your stockings. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/958 "2025-01-23T12:44:34Z")
> [@kferr](#): > > The straps that go over your shoulders to hold up your trousers are braces in the UK. What do you call the dental fixtures used to straighten teeth? Americans call those “braces”. ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/959 "2025-01-23T12:55:44Z")
I’m pretty sure those are braces here as well. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2025, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/960 "2025-01-23T15:34:10Z")
I’m always bemused that “cocker” is apparently a perfectly acceptable word in Britain, to the point where hosts on kids TV shows can call children “cockers.” It’s not really a word in the US, but I’m pretty sure if someone called American children “cockers” it wouldn’t be taken well. [Example.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjPO1k0Y-xA&t=18s) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941.md?page=47) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941.md?page=49)