# 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:** 61
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2025, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1201 "2025-06-02T11:08:54Z")
Lally column maybe? ---
**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:** [June 2, 2025, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1202 "2025-06-02T15:44:43Z")
Somehow I find it hard to imagine traditional Polari users being that familiar with the construction industry, wishful thinking apart. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2025, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1203 "2025-06-03T02:56:59Z")
don’t forget the term also refers to certain suicides ---
**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:** [June 4, 2025, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1204 "2025-06-04T18:17:04Z")
I read a lot of American crime books, and when the cops are tailing a suspect and the suspect spots them, they say that the suspect “made” them. Where does that come from ? It always sounds very odd to me. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2025, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1205 "2025-06-04T18:33:09Z")
Interesting question. Maybe it’s from “to make out”? ---
**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:** [June 4, 2025, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1206 "2025-06-04T18:36:49Z")
That’s right. ‘I could just about make him out in the darkness’ could be shortened to ‘I made him’. ---
**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:** [June 4, 2025, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1207 "2025-06-04T19:29:49Z")
Or “made the connection”; the mental connection that that car is following me, not just driving the same route as I am by coincidence. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2025, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1208 "2025-06-05T05:46:43Z")
I’ve noticed recently that a lot of (presumably American) people on SDMB seem to use the word ‘obligated’. I use the SDMB as an example because it’s probably the place I see written American English the most, being a Brit. Is this a recent thing or has it always been so? I would use the word ‘obliged’. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2025, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1209 "2025-06-05T05:48:58Z")
To me, “obligated” is stronger than obliged. I was obliged to = I had to I was obligated to = I couldn’t not ---
**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:** [June 5, 2025, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1210 "2025-06-05T05:51:46Z")
I’m sure I’ve heard ‘obligated’ in BrE too. The OED has it from the 1700d [obligated, adj. meanings, etymology and more | Oxford English Dictionary](https://www.oed.com/dictionary/obligated_adj?tl=true#:~:text=Where%20does%20the%20adjective%20obligated,Samuel%20Richardson%2C%20printer%20and%20author). . ---
**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:** [June 5, 2025, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1211 "2025-06-05T05:53:09Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > To me, “obligated” is stronger than obliged. > > I was obliged to = I had to > I was obligated to = I couldn’t not Those mean exactly the same thing to me though. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2025, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1212 "2025-06-05T05:54:14Z")
It’s probably one of those (seemingly common) examples where the old word has come from British English and then abandoned on that side of the Pond but kept on the other. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2025, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1213 "2025-06-05T06:15:59Z")
I guess for me “obliged” has the sense that you have social pressure to do something, while “obligated” means that pressure with constraint. I was obliged to go to work Monday through Friday; I was obligated to attend training. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2025, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1214 "2025-06-05T06:52:33Z")
Yes, it’s in that area of difference - the old usage “I would be much obliged if you would..” (i e , I will owe you a favour in return), as opposed to some legal/contractual constraint (perhaps also implying that’s it’s unwelcome). ---
**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:** [June 5, 2025, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1215 "2025-06-05T12:37:57Z")
Yeah. My take on US usage: Obliged = social pressure to do [whatever]. Obligated = legal, financial, or practical pressure to do [whatever]. ---
**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:** [June 5, 2025, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1216 "2025-06-05T17:21:17Z")
That does make sense to be fair. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1217 "2025-06-05T21:44:55Z")
I follow a few U.K.ers on Twitter. Today one of them referred to someone she evidently dislikes as a “whelkfucker”, which I found picturesque. I may have to add it to my lexicon along with the Australian “cooker”, to refer to conspiracy loonies. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1218 "2025-06-05T21:50:11Z")
Nope, can’t help you there. But I’ll agree with picturesque. j ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2025, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1219 "2025-06-05T22:40:36Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Also you can go _to town_, but you must go to **the** city, or just _go downtown_ This one is slightly different in US dialects (IME) - you don’t go _to_ town, you go _into_ town. We also say “go to town,” but only as a metaphor for doing something very enthusiastically and thoroughly - “I really went to town on that rack of ribs!” And a more hyper-regional one: the California Bay Area, there are several cities. But if you’re going to _the_ city, you’re going to San Francisco. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2025, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/1220 "2025-06-06T02:42:01Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Also you can go _to town_, but you must go to **the** city, or just _go downtown_. > > Otherwise it just sounds weird. > > When you’re alone, and life is making you lonely > You can always go > _to the_ Downtown Do people living in outer sections of London refer to “going into the city” when they travel to central London? When I was growing up (and probably still), residents of the outer boroughs would say they’re “going into the city” when traveling to Manhattan, even though the other 4 boroughs are part of New York City. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941.md?page=60) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941.md?page=62)