# 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:** 7
**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, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/121 "2024-10-18T16:14:10Z")
That’s not a point of confusion. It means exactly the same thing here. ---
**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:** [October 18, 2024, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/122 "2024-10-18T16:15:19Z")
Who knew? I’ve never in my life seen a British waffle, either in media or in my travels. Belgian, yes. British, no. ---
**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, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/123 "2024-10-18T16:15:32Z")
I call it a garden but some other Brits (more likely Midlands or Northern areas I think) may call it a yard. ---
**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, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/124 "2024-10-18T16:16:04Z")
I suppose it just demostrates the fact that I’m happy to say “fuck” in any place where it was ok to say “shit”, but I’d be careful who heard me saying “cunt”. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/125 "2024-10-18T16:16:11Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > my Grade 1 phonics teacher drilled it into my head that “au” sounds like “aw” and gh is often silent, Therefore you always pronounce _laugh_ as “law”, correct? ---
**Author:** ![Oswald\_Bastable](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oswald_bastable/32/214_2.png) [@Oswald\_Bastable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oswald_Bastable)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/126 "2024-10-18T16:16:51Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Who knew? I’ve never in my life seen a British waffle, either in media or in my travels. Belgian, yes. British, no. We are, however, slightly closer to Belgium than the US. Even after Brexit! ☺ OB ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/127 "2024-10-18T16:19:18Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Eh, just call it a banana bag. Or a sporran… Banana bag? I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be British or American. 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. It’s called that due to the distinctive yellow color of the fluid. ---
**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 18, 2024, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/128 "2024-10-18T16:22:19Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > > > The entree isn’t the main meal, it’s the main course within a meal, as opposed to a side dish. > > I think the weirdness is that brits, unfamiliar with the usage, are just trying to understand it as a French word, where it means ‘entrance’, and that sounds like it might mean the first, starter course. Yep. In the US, “entree” means the main dish. If you’re hungry, you start with an appetizer, and then the entree follows. Or you just get the entree. But in the original French, it refers to the appetizer, so the American usage is indeed quite odd. In my experience, on British menus, I have _occasionally_ seen “entree” used where an American menu would say “appetizer” (the first example that popped up for me on a search is a **[British pub](https://www.headsuplaunceston.com/listings/cock-n-bull-pub-launceston/)** in Australia, which suggests it’s a bit of an old-fashioned usage). However, as far as what I’ve seen on my trips to the UK, it’s been much more common to see “starters” or “to start” (like **[here](https://mountstrestaurant.com/menus/)**) followed by “Mains” where an American menu would say “Entrees.” Or the really cool and classy joints don’t put a label at all — they just have groups of dishes, and you can tell by the prices and descriptions which are the starters and which are the mains (cf. **[St John](https://stjohnrestaurant.com/a/menus/4)**). All of which is to say, it’s a little strange to claim this separates US from UK usage, when in my experience “entree” hardly has any currency on UK menus at all. ---
**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:** [October 18, 2024, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/129 "2024-10-18T16:22:31Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > Banana bag? I initially thought this was an alternate term for “banana hammock.” What the Brits might refer to as a “budgie smuggler.” ---
**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, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/130 "2024-10-18T16:24:37Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I’ve never in my life seen a British waffle, either in media or in my travels [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Je3UGI1jMP8/hqdefault.jpg "Birdseye Potato Waffles- Waffely Versatile!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je3UGI1jMP8) ---
**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, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/131 "2024-10-18T16:24:48Z")
Did ‘budgie smugglers’ come from an old Fosters beer advert or did it predate that? I’d never heard the term prior to that. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/132 "2024-10-18T16:25:08Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > UK: > **Sketchy** : Vague, poorly-defined, inexact (figuratively: as though roughly sketched, rather than clearly drawn). … > > USA: > **Sketchy** : Unsafe, dishonest, untrustworthy. In the early-'80s a high school friend who acted in community theatre would sometimes say he was feeling sketchy in the UK sense. i.e., he was feeling vague, flighty, etc. I never heard anyone use ‘sketchy’ in the USA sense. So in my mind, ‘sketchy’ can mean feeling ‘vague’, or it can mean unsafe or untrustworthy, depending on the context. A person describing himself is describing a disconnected feeling. A person describing another person (or place) is saying the other person or place is to be regarded with suspicion. ---
**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:** [October 18, 2024, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/133 "2024-10-18T16:26:06Z")
Consider me enlightened. Or enwaffled. ---
**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, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/134 "2024-10-18T16:44:29Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > **Sketchy** : Unsafe, dishonest, untrustworthy. In British slang we use “dodgy” for this (Mangetout knows this, I’m addressing the Americans here). I once tried to explain to an American what “dodgy” meant and they found it surprisingly difficult to understand. I didn’t know that “sketchy” would be used in this way. ---
**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:** [October 18, 2024, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/135 "2024-10-18T16:46:42Z")
> [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](#): > > I once tried to explain to an American what “dodgy” meant and they found it surprisingly difficult to understand. Huh. Most of my friends would have no trouble at all, since we use the term all the time the same way you do. I wonder if it’s a regionalism this side of the pond? ---
**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, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/136 "2024-10-18T16:49:14Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Huh. Most of my friends would have no trouble at all, since we use the term all the time the same way you do. Really? I stand corrected. In that case I’m misremembering - it must have been someone from Germany or somewhere who couldn’t understand “dodgy”. ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/137 "2024-10-18T16:51:09Z")
In demographic terms, “Asian” in UK English usually means South Asian, but in US English, it means East Asian. ---
**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, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/138 "2024-10-18T16:53:59Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > I asked where the subway was, not realizing the Brits called it “The Tube.” That’s in London - in Glasgow the small Underground railway is colloquially referred to as “the subway”. ---
**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, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/139 "2024-10-18T17:05:06Z")
Yep, in the UK the subway is the tunnel you walk through under a road to get to the other side. Not very common but they are sometime used in cities and towns. ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2024, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/140 "2024-10-18T17:12:48Z")
In the 90s, I lived in Ireland, in a seaside village north of Dublin. I hadn’t been there long when I went to the park just behind the house to play socc-- uh, footie with the neighborhood kids. One girl went to kick the ball, but the grass was wet, her shoe went flying straight up in the air, and she hit the dirt. “Oh, down goes Orla on her fanny,” I announced. It ws like a stun-grenade went off. The kids froze and, as one, turned to stare at me. Orla’s little brother stormed over, as angry as an 8-year-old could be. Got right in my face–well, midriff–poked his finger at me, and said, “Don’t you ever talk like that abou’ my sister, righ’?” I was shocked. “Barry, what’d I say?” He rolled his eyes. “Eejit! You said–” and he mouthed the word ‘fanny.’ “What’s that mean over here?” He rolled his eyes again, and pointed down. Needless to say, I was shocked and apologized to Orla, who actually thought it was pretty funny (she was 11). “Sooooooo … what do you call fanny packs?” All the kids laughed. “Bum bags!” And so we spent the next half hour, just sitting in the damp grass, me and the kids, trading words. It was a fun learning expereince. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941.md?page=8)