# What Britishisms most baffle Americans? What Americanisms most baffle Brits?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941>\
**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")\
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**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:** [October 23, 2024, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/464 "2024-10-23T21:56:54Z")

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I’m currently reading _Israel Rank_ – the book _Kind Hearts and Coronets_ was based on. Since it was published in 1907, there are a _lot_ of words and phrases I’m unfamiliar with. I’m reading an annotated edition which has footnoted a lot of things the editors thought needed explanation. Most are helpful, but does Scotland Yard really need to be footnoted?

But one word – **not** footnoted was pinchbeck, and it was used more than once. I had to google. Turns out it was the name of a particular gold blend used for jewelry and invented by a jeweler named Pinchbeck. Anyone ever heard this word? My edition was published in the 80s, so was that recent enough that the average reader would know what pinchbeck was?

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