What do North Americans call those things that you use to fasten your shirt?

[Rick]

@Wendell_Wagner

You can make the same argument with respect to British English. Brits have two sense for the word “badge.” It can mean both the shiny metallic things used as insignia by policemen and such, but it can also mean the round metallic things with words on them used by other people.

In fact, this is true of a number of cases where British and American English differ. (Indeed, it’s true of a lot of cases where dialects of various languages differ.) There will be three meanings, which we will call A, B, and C. There will be two words, which we will call X and Y. British English will use word X for the meanings A and B and will use word Y for the meaning C. American English will use word X for the meaning A and will use word Y for the meaning B and C. It’s just as true in such cases that British English is using one word for two meanings as it is the American English is using one word for two meanings.

Auto repair almost needs a British to American Dictionary
British English:
Bonnet
Hood
Boot
The same items in American
Hood
Roof (or convertible) top
Trunk
You can only guess the hilarity that ensues when the repair manual which was computer translated from Swedish to British English says “Lower the hood” and the American techs look at the front of the car.
For the advanced class we will talk about gudgon pins, big ends, small ends, swarf, and plinths.

[SciFiSam]

@Xema

I question whether they are completely different - both are disk-like objects that (commonly) lie parallel to and just above an item of clothing.

The thing you push in an elevator to select your destination floor goes by the same name, but is often substantially different to these two.

Well, I’d still say they’re completely different items, but yep, button has various meanings in both countries. I just didn’t know how far that meaning extended in the US. So I asked.

@Wendell: very true. It’s interesting the way that happens - like the way there are differences with using generic names or brand names. But I wouldn’t assume that every US-UK difference falls into that multiple-meaning category, because many don’t.

@Lemur866

There are no stupid questions, only stupid people.

Now, what do Americans call “American Cheese”?

You’re calling me stupid for asking this question?

OK then, tell me what British people call ‘American cheese.’ It’s not ‘American cheese.’

This thread has turned kinda mean. It’s a thread about buttons, FFS!

[De_La_Rue]

@pravnik

The origin of the double usage stems from the Great Depression. Nobody could afford belts, and it was common for folks to use Herbert Hoover “A chicken in every pot” campaign buttons to hold their pants up during the Rope Shortages.

I had an onion tied to my button, as was the style at the time.

[SciFiSam]

@Waffle_Decider

On the topic of item of clothing: I understand that “pants” in British English can mean “female underwear”. Is it ever used in the UK to mean “trousers” in the North American sense, or is that its only meaning?

Usually pants only means men’s underwear in British English. Women’s underwear is knickers. I’ve heard pants used to refer to women’s underwear in a few specific circumstances, but it’s rare.

It would only be used to mean trousers by someone who’d watched too much American TV. There are plenty of those, however. I’ve also seen (but not heard) ‘jogging/tracksuit pants,’ but they’re usually ‘tracksuit/jogging bottoms.’

Just FYI, ‘pants’ also means ‘crap, useless’ as in ‘that film was pants.’ It has a few other slang usages, but that’s the most common one.

[SciFiSam]

@Rick

Auto repair almost needs a British to American Dictionary
British English:
Bonnet
Hood
Boot
The same items in American
Hood
Roof (or convertible) top
Trunk
You can only guess the hilarity that ensues when the repair manual which was computer translated from Swedish to British English says “Lower the hood” and the American techs look at the front of the car.
For the advanced class we will talk about gudgon pins, big ends, small ends, swarf, and plinths.

And then you need a spanner to turn the screws. No, not that spanner, that spanner.

I’d probably find the Grandpa Simpson stuff funnier if it weren’t taking the piss out of me. Silly me, for asking a question on the Straight Dope, really. I should know everything already.

[TBG]

Badges? We don’t need no stinking badges!

[Bryan_Ekers]

Dammit, two minutes late.

[Waffle_Decider]

@scifisam2009

Usually pants only means men’s underwear in British English. Women’s underwear is knickers. I’ve heard pants used to refer to women’s underwear in a few specific circumstances, but it’s rare.

It would only be used to mean trousers by someone who’d watched too much American TV. There are plenty of those, however. I’ve also seen (but not heard) ‘jogging/tracksuit pants,’ but they’re usually ‘tracksuit/jogging bottoms.’

Just FYI, ‘pants’ also means ‘crap, useless’ as in ‘that film was pants.’ It has a few other slang usages, but that’s the most common one.

Um, I heard them using pants to refer to women’s underwear on Coupling. The dialogue starts at around 1:45 of this clip. They were discussing how thongs spread into trampolines as a relationship evolves.

[PatriotGrrrl]

@Chronos

To be clear, by the way, in the US a “badge” can be either a cloth emblem sewn onto a garment (such as those worn by Boy Scouts), or the metal token that a police officer uses to identify himself as police.

The cloth things with symbols on them are really only called badges by the Boy Scouts. Most people call them patches.

Badges are metal or plastic things.

[kferr]

@scifisam2009

You’re calling me stupid for asking this question?

OK then, tell me what British people call ‘American cheese.’ It’s not ‘American cheese.’

This thread has turned kinda mean. It’s a thread about buttons, FFS!

I think you’ve been whooshed with a South Park quote.

[nd_n8]

I remember Buttons. He was a sweet little kitty; we used to take naps together with Buttons laying on my chest just a snorin’ away.

Too bad about that meteorite though.

Damn shame.

[Balthisar]

A badge in North American English, too, also can refer to the plastic card you use at work for ingress and egress of controlled doors, which also typically has one’s face and name upon it.

[Wendell_Wagner]

scifisam2009 writes:

> But I wouldn’t assume that every US-UK difference falls into that multiple-
> meaning category, because many don’t.

No, but I’m not claiming that all of the differences are like that.

> This thread has turned kinda mean.

I agree here. Even if it’s joking mean, it’s really tiresome. Frequently when someone asks about a British/American English difference, someone thinks it’s hilarious to make some insulting comment about the other country. Instead of treating it as an opportunity to learn something new, they treat it as a chance to make a snide comment about another country.

[Jonathan_Chance]

I agree.

And in the interests of spreading knowledge the term for those things with a message or a picture (say of a band) and a pin on the back is ‘pinbacks’. At least over here.

[CurtC]

@scifisam2009

I don’t think it’s a piss-take worthy question.

Now there’s a Britishism that I’ve never understood what it’s supposed to mean. All the times I’ve heard it have been like this, where the context doesn’t make it clear what someone was intending to say.

[Kal]

@CurtC

Now there’s a Britishism that I’ve never understood what it’s supposed to mean. All the times I’ve heard it have been like this, where the context doesn’t make it clear what someone was intending to say.

Taking the piss

To take the piss is a British slang expression meaning to mock, tease, ridicule or scoff.[1] Take the mickey (or variations) are euphemistic ways of conveying this expression where the word “piss” may be vulgar.

…

The term sometimes refers to a form of mockery or a piss take in which the mocker exaggerates the other person’s characteristics; pretending to take on his or her attitudes, etc., in order to make them look funny.

[ralph124c]

Why are men’s hoe sizes in the UK always 1 smaller than the USA?
Inquiring minds want to know!

[Acsenray]

Just to be clear, I don’t think an American would fail to understand a reference to an “Obama badge.” However, I think “Obama pin” would be slightly more common than “Obama button.”

“Badge” has a connotation of something official or authoritative in American English: Police officer’s badge, identification badge (which is usually a rectangular plastic card).

[Ximenean]

@ralph124c

Why are men’s hoe sizes in the UK always 1 smaller than the USA?

We have smaller gardens.

[Wendell_Wagner]

Here’s the Wikipedia entry on shoe sizes:

Shoe size

Why is it mysterious that the sizes for shoes (or for any other sort of clothes) should be different in different countries? Standarized clothing sizing is a relatively recent invention, I think. It’s not surprising that it should have developed differently in different countries.