History UsefulNotes / AmericanEnglish

* '''Fag''' in American English is an ''extremely'' derogatory and offensive term for a homosexual man. In fact, the use or misuse of the word "fag" has been ([[{{Pun}} ahem]]) the butt of many jokes about Brits over here. Stick with "cigarette", "cig", or "smoke" (i.e. a pack of smokes, bumming a smoke) when visiting the States. ("Fag" is recognized, especially if you have a strong accent, but the joke is ''irresistible''.)

** Related: '''hooking up''' refers to any romantic activity that's more intimate than kissing, up to and include sexual intercourse, and usually carries a connotation of being casual and without greater commitment, i.e. "We hooked up once at a party, but I wouldn't date her." Sometimes you can "hook up" with friends without there being any sexual meaning to the phrase; it just means meeting up. The term is intentionally vague so that you can tell your buddies "I hooked up with Jenna" so they will overestimate what was done when in actuality all that happened was some heavy petting and then out for ice cream.

* '''Cookies''' refer to what people in England call "biscuits" (i.e. those flat round things that make your belts longer and/or tighter); A '''biscuit''' in America is a softer, unsweetened bread made with baking powder instead of yeast, somewhat similar to a British "scone" (but see below). They taste quite delicious with butter, jam, and/or honey, and are usually served as a side with meals. They can be found all over the U.S., but especially in the South (where biscuits are often served with white gravy), up to the point where there are entire restaurant franchises dedicated to them and serving things on them. Other breads served as a side with meals are often called "rolls." Oddly, dog biscuits are still called 'dog biscuits' stateside, even though they're more similar to cookies than American biscuits - but you ''do'' hear Americans asking their dogs if they'd like a cookie as often as if they'd like a biscuit or a treat; the three words are interchangeable in that context ''only''.[[note]]Although "dog treat" technically covers a wider range of products and also includes things like jerky intended for dogs.[[/note]]

* People of African racial descent are typically called '''black''' (or '''Black''') without insult. '''African-American''' is a very common and politically correct term for American blacks, to the point that Americans will occasionally slip up and use the term to refer to any black person, regardless of where they live (Creator/FreemaAgyeman, [[Series/BeingHumanUK Lenora Crichlow]] and Creator/LewisHamilton have been referred to as African-American, despite the obvious problems with that). The term is generally used only in a racial sense, and it's therefore incorrect to use it for non-black people who immigrated from Africa to America (in fact, many late-night jokes about Creator/CharlizeTheron being African-American seems to have caused the use of term to fade slightly, since it made people feel like political correctness had gotten a little out of hand ''and'' made them realize that not all Africans are black[[note]]and likewise that not all black people are African: many black Americans trace their ancestry to the Caribbean [[/note]]). The terms '''colored''', '''negro''', '''mulatto''',[[note]]usually used to refer to a mixed-race person who has both black and white ancestry[[/note]] and '''Afro-American''' are all dated and all but "Afro-American" are usually considered insensitive ("Afro-American" is usually just considered hopelessly '60s-'70s), although actual Black organizations that use those terms can [[GrandfatherClause get a pass if they're old enough]] (see, e.g., "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People", one of the older civil rights organizations, and the "United Negro College Fund", which is also old and also more or less exactly what it says on the tin). On another note, despite hearing some blacks refer to each other as "'''nigger'''" without a second thought, it is considered either [[NWordPrivileges extremely offensive or just plain rude for anyone else to use the word]], due to its history as a rather derogatory racial slur. In [[UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents African-American vernacular English]] and rap and hip-hop music, the word will typically be spelled and pronounced with an "a" replacing the final "er", somewhat disassociating the term from its origins. But that DOES NOT mean white people get to say it so long as they pronounce it right.

** ''Tiercel'' is an obscure term not used outside of falconry or ornithology.

* '''Hockey'''. 99% of the time, this refers to UsefulNotes/IceHockey. Field hockey is not really a thing, very rarely mentioned or played.