Despite speaking English as their first language, people from different countries may misunderstand each other when they use the same word.
Words used for different things in different places
- African: In most of the world, anyone of African ancestry. In the United States and Canada, specifically someone who migrated from Sub-Saharan Africa. North America has significant populations of people descended from slaves brought from Africa to the Americas by colonial powers. In the US they're referred to as "African Americans," while Canada lumps together all people of African ancestry—whether they've been there for generations or migrated from Africa or the Caribbean—as "Black Canadians". But even then, "African" is still only used for recent immigrants. Their children or grandchildren, on the other hand, are likely to identify as African American or Black Canadian if they're fully socialized within the country. In all situations, though, it refers specifically to Black Africans, not Arabs or Whites, so many Egyptians are not "Africans" by this definition, nor are White South Africans. Anglophone Black Africans tend to refer to "the African continent" if they want to be clear that they're referring to the geographic entity.
- Among United Kingdom speakers, African mostly refers to the Black community from Sub-Saharan African ethnicities (British Nigerians, Ghanaians, Somalis, etc), whilst South Africans of European ancestry, North African Arabs and East African Indians in the UK are not typically included as African unless used in a cultural or regionally-specified way. British Black Caribbeans, whilst obviously aware of their African ancestry, do not tend to identify as African due to Caribbean countries having developed their own distinct cultures. In the UK, it is not uncommon for members of the Black community to ask each other "African? Or Caribbean?" in regard to ethnicity.
- Asian: In the US, refers most often to East and Southeast Asians (Japan, China, Thailand, the Philippines, etc). In the UK, refers most often to South Asians (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc.) and West Asians (Middle Easterners, excluding North Africans). This occasionally causes confusion. Both Americans and Brits know that "Asian" encompasses all of the above, but Americans will specify "Middle Eastern" for West Asians or "Desi/Indian" for all South Asians and Brits will specify "Far Eastern/East Asian" (or perhaps use the more archaic and out-of-touch term "Oriental", though that term is seen as the same using Middle Eastern or Desi).
- Barbecue: As a verb, everyone uses it to mean "to grill". But as a noun, the UK uses it exclusively to mean the process or the appliance, whereas the US could also use it to refer to the meat it produces or the get-together in someone's backyard where the cooking happens. In the Deep South and parts of the Midwest, "barbecue" is distinct from "grilling"; grilling is done on an open flame, while barbecue is done at a lower temperature for several hours (it may or may not include "smoking" as well), leading to a distinct taste that's Serious Business in those parts of the country. In Britain, any form of outdoor cooking is a "barbecue", even grilling; a "grill" in the UK is exclusively an indoor appliance, which in the US is known as a broiler. Australians are also famously adept at barbecuing and might call the device a barbie, as in the famous "shrimp on the barbie" line — except any self-respecting Aussie will tell you that shrimp are too small to be properly barbecued, and you'd better use prawns.note
- As more expat Saffas arrive in Britain, the South African word braai is gaining more currency as an alternative word for "barbecue".
- Bender: In the US, it's an extended drinking spree. In the UK, it can be an extended drinking spree, but more often it's a derogatory term for a gay man. This is why Avatar: The Last Airbender got the British Market-Based Title Avatar: The Legend of Aang (and the film, just called The Last Airbender, didn't get the name change and was seen as full of Narm in part for that reason). On the other hand, the Futurama character Bender (so named in America because he's a robot who runs on alcohol) got even funnier.
- Bike: Short for "bicycle", but could mean all sorts of things. In the US, it's just as often used to refer to a motorbike as to a pedal bike; the UK uses it more often to refer to a pedal bike. "Bike" has an additional slang meaning in the UK to mean a young, shameless, promiscuous woman (because everybody rides her, get it?).
- In Indian English, a bike is often thought of as a motorcycle (short for motorbike), while pedal bikes are called "cycles".
- Biscuit: In the UK, it's a dry cookie that the US would call a cracker or cookie, often served with tea. In the US, a biscuit is a specific kind of savory quickbread with a rich, soft interior and a flaky, slightly crispy exterior, usually served for breakfast but sometimes as a side for dinner. Sometimes it is also used in the British sense, but specifically for dogs. A few parts of the US also have their own unique kinds of "biscuits" (e.g., the Southern "beaten biscuit", the New England "sea biscuit", or various places' "pilot biscuit"). In Australia, all of these can be biscuits, although there (and in Britain) "cookie" is seeing increasing use for American-style chocolate chip cookies. In the end, both "biscuit" and "cookie" are loanwords from different languages: "biscuit" from French, and "cookie" from Dutch.
- Bloody: In the US, it's used literally to refer to things that are covered in or otherwise involve lots of blood. In the UK and other Commonwealth countries, it's a very strong expletive. Americans consider "Bloody hell" to be the quintessential British curse, especially courtesy of Ron Weasley.
- Bogan/Bogon: Usually an obscure term
for an address in an unassigned or reserved IP space, in Canada it's a racist slur for Arabs (possibly derived from the French slur bougnoul or bougnole, specific to North Africans), and in Australia it's their unique variety of what the UK would call a "chav" or the US would call "redneck". This word is not used in the United States except by devoted Star Wars fans referring to the Dark Side of the Force. - Brew: Colloquially, in the US either coffee or beer depending on the context, whereas in the UK it's a spot of tea.
- Bum: In the UK, it refers to one's backside. In the US and Canada, it could be a term for the backside, but it's considered a "cute" and "G-rated" variant of "butt" (it could even be used in kids' shows in Canada). More often, though, it's a derogatory term for a homeless person. The verb form to bum is used in most places to mean to borrow (or more accurately to mooch), but when used without an object in Britain, it can also be a slightly immature term for anal sex, usually of the male homosexual variety.
- Buzzard: In the US a vulture, everywhere else a hawk (genus Buteo). An archaic term everywhere, but given that "buzzards" have their own trope with a distinct Old West vibe, the American definition tends to be more cemented.
- Chai: In India, "chai tea" screams Department of Redundancy Department since "chai" already means "tea." But in North America, it specifically refers to tea with milk, whether it's steeped in milk or steeped in water with milk added, as that is not the common way tea is consumed in the Americas.
- Chili/Chilli: In the UK, spelled with two L's and refers to the fruit of the capsicum plant, known in the US as a "chili pepper" or just a "pepper". In the US, "chili" by itself usually refers to the dish chili con carne. The Australians use "chilli" to refer to the dried ground fruit of the piper plant, which the Americans call "black pepper". Britain uses "pepper" to refer either to the latter or to what Americans call "bell peppers". The Americans have an advantage on chili in some sense, as it's a loanword from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec Empire.
- Chips: In the UK, they're what the US would call "French fries" (or just fries). In the US, they're what the UK would call "crisps". The UK and Ireland also use the term "fries", but specifically to refer to the thin-cut style like you'd get at a fast-food restaurant, as opposed to the thick-cut style you'd get at a fish-and-chip shop; in the US, "fries" refers to both styles. Some American places might call thick-cut fries "steak fries" or "potato wedges", but this has a connotation of being needlessly fancy. The only time the Americans use "crisps" is on Pringles packaging, for legal reasons;note most Americans call them "chips" in conversation. Confusingly, in Australia and South Africa, both varieties, fries and crisps, are called "chips"; Australia also calls fries "hot chips", and South Africa calls them "slap chips" ("slap" being Afrikaans for "soft, floppy").
- Cider: In the US, it refers generally to unfiltered and spiced apple juice (as distinct from "apple juice", which is heavily filtered and not spiced). In the UK, it refers specifically to the alcoholic variety, which Americans call "hard cider"; other cider is just "apple juice". (Fun fact: the American distinction comes from Prohibition, which banned "hard cider" and led people with a taste for it to get as close to the "original" as they could get.) Also in Britain, the definition has in recent decades expanded to include fruits other than apples; fermented anything is a cider, except grapes (that's "wine"). As Americans get deeper into craft brewing and picking up on traditional British cidermaking techniques, "cider" specifically meaning alcohol is becoming more widespread in the US, but "apple cider" still generally means all varieties, and more often than not means non-alcoholic.
- Some clothing items have it particularly embarrassing:
- Pants: in the US, they're what the UK would call trousers. In the UK, they're what the US would call underwear. This also has the effect of the UK using "pants" as a slang term for "a bit crap" (e.g.: "I went to the circus, but it was pants"), which confuses Americans further. Underwear also has some terminology distinctions; for female underwear, what the US would call panties (perhaps derived from the British usage of "pants"), the UK would call knickers, which leaves "pants" mostly used for male underwear.
- Suspenders: in the US, they're what the UK would call braces. In the UK, they're what the US would call a garter. The UK also uses the term garter, but specifically for the fancy, lacy, frilly, lingerie-style version, so you wouldn't really hear the word in polite society in the UK. Huge difference; under the Stock Costume Traits, one end is hopelessly nerdy, the other quite a bit sexier.
- Thong: In Australian Slang, it's what Americans would call flip-flops. That is, sandals with a strap between the big and second toes (though "flip-flops" in the US can also refer to "slides," where there's just a simple broad strap across the toe region). In both the UK and US, "thong" refers to a revealing type of underwear that goes between the buttcheeks. Both uses are derived from the original definition of a "thong" being a strap of leather or cloth; the difference lies in what they're holding together. In the UK, the term "thong sandal" might be used for a "fancier" kind of footwear more designed for a night out than a day at the beach (not that it's that common in typical British Weather, at least compared to sunny Australia or California). An Australian sailor once compared sailing around Cape Horn to "climbing Mount Everest in thongs", which makes for an interesting debate as to whether it's dumber to climb a mountain in your underwear or in flip-flops.
- Vest: In the US, it's what the UK would call a waistcoat, which in the US is a "fancier" word for the same thing. In the UK, it's what the US would call an undershirt, and more specifically for any kind of sleeveless top, so would a tank top (called a singlet in the UK) or a sweater vest (confusingly, called a tank top in the UK — now we're going in circles).
- Jumper: In the UK, it's what the US would call a sweater. In the US, it's what the UK would call a Pinafore dress (sometimes shortened to just "pinafore"), a sleeveless dress worn over a shirt or another dress (usually associated with little girls but sometimes worn by adult women). In the US, a pinafore is a dress with an apron-like bib above the waist in front and only straps in the back, which is also called a "pinafore" in the UK (and yes, it does lead to confusion).
- College: Obscenely complicated:
- In the US, usually used interchangeably with "university". Sometimes a university will be divided into different study programs known as colleges (e.g., "the California University College of Tropeology"), but whole institutions that call themselves "colleges" are functionally identical to those that call themselves "universities". But there are distinctions: For instance, a community college is not considered a university but instead offers two-year associate degrees or technical certifications.note "College" is usually limited to an undergraduate degree and does not describe post-graduate degree programs; for instance, a law student would not describe themselves as "in college" but rather "in law school". The service academies are also not "colleges"; someone at the Military Academy would say they're "at West Point", or in the Naval Academy would say they're "at Annapolis".
- In the UK, "college" refers to Sixth Form and is what Americans would call the last two years of high school, and any other post-16 non-university institution, which may or may not take place at an institution that also offers post-secondary education for adults. Generally, you go to college because you're failed your A-levels, and still want to try to pass them so you can get into university. "College" is also the term used for the semi-independent establishments that make up the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham. In Scotland, "college" can refer to particularly old high schools, or to what Americans would call a "community college".
- In Canada, there's a strict distinction between "colleges" and "universities" — only universities can grant degrees, whereas colleges can only grant diplomas and certificates. However, some Canadian universities (like the University of Toronto) contain "colleges" as a holdover from the British system. Unlike an American, a Canadian university student would not describe themselves as "in college" (although due to Eagleland Osmosis the term will be understood that way in Canada). For added fun, in some provinces English-language high schools are called "collegiates" and French-language high schools are called "collèges".
- In the Republic of Ireland, "college" is the vernacular shorthand for all post-secondary education, including post-graduate studies. This usage stems from the unique history of higher education in the Republic, as before 1989 no Irish university could actually directly provide academic instruction and had to delegate that duty to a constituent college.
- In Australia, "college" refers to private high schools, although in some jurisdictions the term is limited to senior high schools. Universities are called "universities", but sometimes their residential houses are called "colleges". In neither case is "college" really an educational level; an Aussie describing where they went to high school would just say, "I went to school at St. John's College", and an Aussie living at a college at a university would just say, "when I was at Sydney University I lived at St. John's College". (And yes, it's not unheard of for these places to have similar names.) Making matters even more confusing is how the Australian Capital Territory locally uses it to refer to a separate institution for 11th & 12th grade.
- In New Zealand, "college" refers to secondary school, what most other places call "high school". New Zealand has "high schools", too, though, but the difference varies from place to place; single-sex vs coed, Years 9 to 13 vs Years 7 to 13, private vs public, or state vs state-integrated (which is also state-run but used to be a private school and gets to keep its character).
- Corn: What people in the US and Canada refer to as "corn" is known in the UK as "maize" (ironically, a Native American word). This is because "corn" by its original English definition is an umbrella term for all cereal grains. But since maize is the most widely-grown grain in North America, the generic "corn" came to refer to that crop in particular. But in the UK, where it's not nearly as widespread, "maize" is preferred for being specific to that one plant. The rest of Western Europe (and a few other languages) have followed suit by calling it some variation of "maize".
- Cow: colloquially can be a slang for a certain time of woman, but in the US said woman is fat or stupid (or both), and in the UK and Canada it's a mild word for "bitch". To an American, "skinny cow" could be taken as a contradiction.
- Craic: a loanword from Irish that means "fun, amusement", is pronounced like "crack", which can lead to confusion when used in places unfamiliar with it (essentially everywhere that's not Ireland or certain parts of the UK), thinking it refers to "crack" as slang for smokeable cocaine. An Irish doctor could tell an American patient to "have some craic" on vacation and be misunderstood to be prescribing some... very unorthodox medicine. "How's the craic?" is a more common phrase used in Ireland roughly meaning "What's up?"
- Colored/Coloured: In the US, an outdated (formerly polite, now usually seen as racist) term for all darker-skinned racial minorities, particularly blacks. It's still used in a few archaic contexts (e.g., the NAACP, for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). In many other Anglophone countries, it's seen as more "outdated" than "racist". But in South Africa, "Coloured" has a very specific meaning, deriving from The Apartheid Era, referring to people of mixed race — they had fewer rights than whites, but more than blacks, and they ended up developing their own ethnic identity which survived Apartheid. The term is neutral in South Africa and can be used fairly casually. For instance, Die Antwoord's song "She Makes Me a Killer" mentions a groupie who "looked just like a Coloured Angelina Jolie". An American would call the girl "mixed" and might be taken aback by the use of "Coloured" if they're not familiar with South African culture.note
- To come of age: In most English-speaking countries, is a general term for transition into adulthood (e.g.: Coming of Age Story). But in the Indian subcontinent, it is used exclusively to describe a girl who's gotten her first period. It leads to some raised eyebrows in unexpected situations in South Asia.
- Cunt: In the entire Anglosphere, it is a term referring to female genitalia and not generally a nice word, but it's much more offensive in the US and Canada than in the rest of the Anglosphere, to the point that use of the word alone is considered sexual harassment there. In the UK, it's slowly becoming less acceptable and seen more as sexist, but it's not quite the "c-bomb" it is in North America, where people are afraid to even string the syllables together. In Australia, it doesn't even have to refer to a woman; anyone can be a cunt. In some parts of Ireland, it's used quite freely; in Connacht, "cuntish" is regularly used to describe something as bad or undesirable.
- Cute: In most of the English-speaking world, it means "pretty", often with the connotation of youth, innocence, and general adorableness. The US has an additional occasional twist of it meaning pretty without substance; "Don't get cute on me!" might be yelled at someone who's trying something Awesome, but Impractical, or someone who's trying to blackmail someone by invoking a Cuteness Overload. In Ireland, it can mean that, but it can also mean "sly", and a "cute hoor" is a very Irish phrase for an especially sly and often untrustworthy person, regardless of how nice they are to look at.
- Deadly: Aside from its usual meaning, in Ireland and among Aboriginal Australians, it's also a slang term for "cool". This causes confusion in the rest of the English-speaking world. In Australia, the term has become synonymous with Aboriginal culture (e.g., the national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts-sports-media award show is called the "Deadly Awards").
- Dink: In the UK, it's a small dent, like in a car bumper, what the Americans would call a ding. In parts of Australia, it means to give someone a lift on your bike. In Western Canada, it's a particularly rude bit of schoolyard slang for "penis" (cf. American "dinky", heard in Who Framed Roger Rabbit). In the US, it's another term for a "flake", or it can refer to a childless married couple as an acronym for "double income, no kids".
- Dummy: In the US, a stupid person, or perhaps a mannequin of a person used to stand in for someone like a crash test dummy. In the UK, a small rubber device for babies to suck on that the US would call a pacifier.
- Fag: In the UK, a cigarette or cigarette butt. In the US, a nasty slur for a gay man (or really any LGBT person, but this one is usually specific to men), to the point that it's now bleeped on television. Both terms are short for faggot and come from the old definition of "faggot" being a bundle of sticks held together with string (usually spelled "fagot" in the US) — in the US case, the journey was pretty convoluted but may have derived from depraved practices at British boarding schools.note In Britain a "faggot" could also be a type of meatball, although the term is mostly in disuse now. Indeed, many Britons are becoming more aware of American disgust at the term (e.g.: Colin Baker, at a Doctor Who panel at Comic-Con, referred to a "fag break" but then quickly apologized to the American audience and clarified that he meant "cigarette break").
- Fancy: In the US, mostly used as an adjective meaning "elegant" or "stylish". In the UK, mostly used as a verb indicating desire, often used in a sexual or romantic context, e.g., "Fancy a shag?" To "fancy" a person in this context is like having a crush on them, or really liking them without actually saying you really like them; outside the UK, "fancy" can be used as a verb to refer to people, but it just means that you like them, not "like them" like them. This can lead to confusion in a rather... delicate situation. "Fancy" is also used in Britain to distinguish domesticated pet rabbits, mice, and rats from wild or laboratory breeds, a usage known only among serious aficionados in the US.
- Fancy dress: In the UK, what the US would call a costume party. In the US, what the UK would call just a formal dress party or a black tie event. Relatedly, "costume" in the US refers to cosplay and stuff like that, while the UK uses it simply to refer to the way you dress, what an American would call an "outfit" or "uniform".
- Fanny: In the US, slang for "butt", and kind of silly and old-fashioned at that, similar to "heinie" or "rear" — the kind of thing that would pass for Toilet Humor in a kid's show. In the UK, it's a much ruder word for female genitalia, similar to "snatch" or "pussy" in the US. The American term fanny pack is what's known in the UK as a bum bag, evoking the image of the rear rather than the front (but still worn across the front).note
- Fit: In the US and Australia, it means someone who is physically fit. In the UK, while it also means this, it adds the pleasant frisson of "highly sexually desirable".
- Football: In the UK, it refers to Association Football. In the US, it refers to American Football. In Australia, it can refer to any one of association football, Australian Rules Football, or Rugby League, depending on the location and context. Association football is often called "soccer" for disambiguation, particularly in the US, Canada, and Australia, but it can be used elsewhere as well (the term coming from the "association" in association football). Canadian Football is similar to American football but has slightly different rules; sometimes the two are referred to collectively as "gridiron football", after the "gridiron" pattern of the field markings; the term has the added benefit of being more inclusive to other countries (something Americans are notoriously bad at). In Ireland, it can refer to association football or Gaelic football. Many places will use "footy" as short for their preferred form of football, but not the US and Canada, where it carries the connotation of association football (a distinction we occasionally make on This Very Wiki, e.g., Footy Rules and Footy Leagues). All of these "footballs" are all codes of football, so no one usage is wrong.
- Garden: In the US, it's a small plot of land where one grows flowers and some small vegetables. In the UK, it's the land adjoining one's house, what the US would call a lawn or yard. Meanwhile, a British "yard" can also refer to an enclosed portion of land on your property, but with less of an implication that there are plants there.
- Geezer: In the UK, an informal but otherwise neutral word for a man. In the US, a ruder term specifically for a Grumpy Old Man, generally out of touch and yelling at the kids to get off his lawn. In the UK, it can also be mistaken for the word "geyser", which is pronounced "guy-zer" in the US (leading to references to geysers being mistaken for geezers).note
- To get off with someone: In the UK, it means to kiss or make out. In the US, it means to bring the other party to sexual climax. The British also have the term snog for making out, which Americans might know but usually see as an Inherently Funny Word. Meanwhile, the American term "to hook up" can mean either of these meanings.
- Grub: In the US, it's a slang term for food. In the UK, it's insect larvae (and can be used this way in the US as well). In Australia, it's an insult meaning "degenerate".
- Gypsy: In the UK, a slur for the Roma people. In the US, a more generic, neutral term for a carnival fortune teller who may or may not wear traditional Eastern European garb, completely divorced from the word's origins. Only recently have Americans cottoned on to its status as a slur.
- Hockey: In most of the English-speaking world, it refers to field hockey, played outdoors on a football-style field with eleven players a side. In the US and Canada, it refers to Ice Hockey, played indoors on an enclosed sheet of ice with six players a side.note Internationally, "hockey" usually refers to field hockey and "ice hockey" is its own thing (cf., the International Hockey Federation for field hockey and the International Ice Hockey Federation for ice hockey). This is the only usage in which North Americans will accept "ice hockey"; Canadians are very proud of their form of hockey and don't like to use the "ice hockey" disambiguation.
- Hooker: In the US, common slang for a prostitute. In Ireland, a term (pronounced with a long o like "hookah") refers to a traditional fishing boat used in Galway Bay, sometimes repurposed for racing. "Hooker" is also a rugby position and can be used in that context in rugby-playing countries (of which the US is not one).
- Jap: In the UK, a British shorthand for "Japanese"; in the US, the same thing but a very offensive slur, originally used during World War II. It was only in more recent years that Brits even grasped that it was offensive in the US. While there was no shortage of racism against East Asians in Britain during the war, they tended to use much stronger slurs. See also Paki, a slur going in the opposite direction.
- Kiwi: Used frequently in reference to New Zealand, but with some differences within New Zealand and outside it. Around the world, a "kiwi" refers to the weird flightless bird that's the country's national symbol, and also refers generally to anyone or anything from New Zealand. Outside New Zealand, it also refers to the fruit that looks vaguely like the bird; but in New Zealand, the fruit is always called the "kiwifruit" (and since the bird is endangered, you probably shouldn't joke about eating it).note A New Zealander may also refer to the New Zealand dollar as the "kiwi", something that foreigners might take a while to pick up on.
- Knocked up: In the UK, it used to mean to be woken up, often abruptly — originally, it meant someone literally knocking at your door to wake you.note In Australia, at least around World War II, it meant to be too exhausted to continue. In the US, it means to impregnate, often unplanned and out of wedlock. For the most part, the American usage has taken over everywhere else.
- Lemonade: In the US, refers to a drink made from lemon, sugar, and water, which is not carbonated. In Australia and New Zealand, refers to any lemon-flavoured carbonated drink, like Sprite. In the UK, it usually means a carbonated drink but not always; ordering one there can get you anything from a Sprite to an American-style lemonade with carbonation. You can also get "still lemonade" for the exact American style, and in America you can get "sparkling lemonade" for the British style. ("Raspberry lemonade" and things like it are considered very American.)
- Mental: In the UK, it's a playground insult for "crazy", an added sense that's generally lacking in the US (except among fans of Harry Potter). Accordingly, a mentalist in the UK would be an insane person, whereas in the US it typically refers to a type of Phony Psychic who uses physical cues and code words from a confederate to pretend to read minds (not to be confused with the TV show The Mentalist whose protagonist used to run one of these scams, but now uses those talents to help law enforcement).
- Napkin: In the US, it's what the UK would call a serviette. And in Japan, which uses the English loanword, it's what the US and UK would call a sanitary napkin (more colloquially a "pad"). Ask for a "napkin" in a restaurant, and you might get a strange reply. Canada sometimes uses "napkin" and sometimes "serviette" (in some parts of Canada "napkin" might be interpreted the Japanese way); some places in the US close to the border may understand "serviette", but in other parts of the US it may refer to a wet wipe, often with disinfectant, usually given to customers to clean their hands after eating messy food like buffalo wings.
- Nappy: In African American Vernacular English, "nappy" refers to frizzy, curled hair typical of Black people. In the Commonwealth, the word refers to a diaper (shortened from "napkin"). The words are not related, as "nappy" (hair) is derived from Germanic languages, while "nappy" (diaper) is derived from the word "napkin", itself from the French word "nappe" (cloth).
- Native: Within the United States, this term can have various meanings depending on who you're referring to. "Native American" or just plain "Native" obviously refers to indigenous peoples. But if you were born and raised in a specific state, like Ohio, then you'd be an "Ohio native" regardless of your race. Except Alaska and Hawaii. For various reasons, the indigenous people in those states are considered separate from the Native Americans in the Lower 48, and "Alaska/Hawaii Native" is only used to refer to those groups and not people who were simply born there. In general, people that are from Alaska or Hawaii without being ethnically indigenous are referred to as Alaska/Hawaii-born (though other localized terms exist as well).
- Outhouse: In the UK, it can refer to any number of subsidiary buildings on a property, such as a barn, guest house, or shed. In the US, it's used exclusively for an enclosed outdoor toilet; the broader category is an "out-building". What Americans call an outhouse is a privy in the UK, a dunny in Australia, or a long-drop in New Zealand and South Africa.
- Overseas: In the US and Canada, off-continent; in the UK, anywhere outside the country. An American in Canada or Mexico (perhaps even Brazil) wouldn't consider themselves "overseas", whereas a Brit in France or even Ireland (but perhaps not Northern Ireland) would consider themselves "overseas".
- Paki: In the US, used very occasionally to refer to a Pakistani, not generally offensive. Sounds similar to other uncommon slang terms (like "packie", New England slang for a liquor store, or "Pachy", short for a Pachycephalosaurus) — not a big issue. In the UK, it's a very offensive slur for Pakistanis (and sometimes for South Asians in general), particularly associated with hate groups in the '70s and '80s. Americans are only slowly catching on. Meanwhile, in New Zealand, it happens to be the regnal name for the current King of the Māori. See also Jap, a slur going in the opposite direction.
- Pasty: As a noun (sounding like "past", not "paste"), in the UK and Australia is a kind of meat-and-vegetable pie, sometimes called a "Cornish pasty" after the region that made it famous. It's relatively unknown in the States,note where a pasty is the sticker that strippers wear over their nipples to keep them technically within state decency laws.
- Pecker: In the UK, it literally means "nose" but can be used for "spirits" or "nerve", hence the expression "keep your pecker up". In the US, it means "penis"; the expression has a different meaning there.
- Pie: In the UK and Australia, generally refers to all sorts of pastries, sweet and savoury. In the US, it refers primarily to a pastry stuffed with fruit, sweetened vegetables, custard, and/or cream-derivatives, often as a dessert. Meat pies are not unheard of in the States but are not what people usually think of; they're often called "pot pies" (except in parts of Pennsylvania, where the term refers to a kind of noodle soup). "Pie" might also be a shorthand for a pizza in some parts of America. Louisiana has the "Natchitoches [pronounced "nack-a-tish"] meat pie", which is known in the Southwest but called an empanada. See also pasty, which is a pie in some parts of the Anglosphere.
- Pissed: In the US, it means to be angry, usually through the intervention of someone else. In the UK (and most of the rest of the Anglophone world), it means to be drunk. Confusingly, "pissed off" means "angry" in most of the Anglophone world; in the US, the difference with "pissed" is just a matter of degree. In the commentary for Shaun of the Dead, it's stated that the only thing they consciously did to avoid confusing Americans was to say Mary the zombie was "so drunk" instead of "so pissed", because they were aware of this.
- Pot plant: In the UK, it refers to what the US calls a potted plant. In the US, "pot" is slang for "cannabis". Not that they'll complain. Same in Canada, where it's legal nationwide.
- Public school: In the US, Scotland, and Australia, it refers to a state-run school. In the US, it has added connotations of being a Sucky School; because Americans famously hate paying taxes, public schools there are chronically underfunded. "State school" is sometimes used in these places as well, but in the US, it refers specifically to a public post-secondary institution. But in England, a "public school" is a private school that happens to be open to the public (as opposed to restricted to members of a certain group or a private tutoring arrangement). And English public schools are very expensive and prestigious, analogous to what the US would call a prep school or collegiate academy — the upper echelon of private schools.
- Pudding: In the UK, it's a solid cake that's usually steamed or boiled; it can be sweet, savoury, meat-based, all kinds of thing. In the US, it refers specifically to a dairy dessert consisting of flavored milk thickened by corn starch and served cold, what the British might call custard. In the US, custard is similar but thickened with eggs. The only British-style pudding to catch on in the States is bread pudding, while the meat varieties are unheard of and bizarre for an American to picture given what they're used to. "Pudding" is also used as a general term in the UK for what Americans would call "dessert", the sweet treat at the end of a meal.
- Pull: somewhat uncertain slang. In the US, it doesn't mean anything. In some parts of Canada, it means "to masturbate". In the UK, it can mean "to attract a girl", or it can mean "to tongue kiss".
- Purse: In the US, what the UK would call a handbag ("handbag" in the US generally denotes something bigger). In the UK, what the US would call a wallet but for women (the US might also refer to it as a "clutch" or "coin purse").
- Randy: In the UK, it just means "horny". In the US, it means "horny" with the implication that the man in question (because of course it's a man) is also young, inexperienced, wildly exuberant, and not terribly threatening. A colt is randy; a stallion is horny. This element of "cuteness" might be how "Randy" came to become an acceptable nickname in the US but not in the UK.
- Reckon: Means the same in both Britain and America (to think, guess, suppose), but it has an added stigma in the US for being not only archaic but the kind of language a Half-Witted Hillbilly would use. It's used more widely in the UK and okay for intelligent people, although in some places it might also be a sign of backwardness, like the stereotypical Somerset yokel who precedes every sentence with a slow "Oi reckon..."
- Retard: In the UK, it's a childish insult for someone who's a little slow on the uptake. In the US, it's a very offensive slur for someone with an intellectual disability. In the UK, you can use the term "retard" on The BBC without an issue; in the US, you can lose your job if you use it and anyone hears you. Bizarrely, "retard" used to be a technical term which was itself designed to replace an earlier technical term "moron" that had become a slur, only to start a euphemism treadmill. See also spaz, a slur going the opposite direction.
- To root: As a verb, in the US it means to cheer someone on, often a sports team. In the UK and Ireland, it can mean that, or it can mean to go looking for something, generally with the implication that it's buried somewhere in an untidy heap ("root around" has a similar meaning in the US, and it's analogous to "rooting out" as in "to root out corruption"). In Australia, it means "to have sex with" — the sports context is "to barrack".
- Rubber: In the UK, it's what the US would call an eraser. In the US, it's what the UK would call a condom. Mistaking these could lead to the wrong impression. More confusingly, the UK also has an archaic definition referring to what are commonly known as "Wellington boots" (called "gum boots" in Australia and shortened to "wellies" in the UK).
- Screwed up: In the UK, it means "rolled up". In the US, it means "messed up" (what the British might call "bollocksed up") or "disturbing", and in Australia it means "broken". The American version has since filtered into British and Australian usage.
- Shag: In the US, it often refers to a type of fuzzy carpet popular in the '60s and '70s, and occasionally a hairstyle reminiscent of the carpet. Along the coast of the Carolinas, it refers to a slow Lindy Hop dance popular since the '40s. In the old days in Britain, it referred to coarse-cut tobacco (Sherlock Holmes occasionally had some). Nowadays in Britain, it's a verb meaning "to have sex". Thankfully, Americans are pretty well aware of this usage thanks to Austin Powers.
- Shit: In all places it has a scatological meaning, but in the US, Canada, and Australia can also be a synonym for "stuff". This means that in those places, "shit" is not always negative, depending on the context; if you open a fridge there and comment, "you've got a lot of shit [or, sometimes, "shitload"] in here", it wouldn't be received poorly. In Britain, on the other hand, it probably would; if you describe random stuff as "shit", it carries the implication that it's not very good. (Unless you are a World War II RAF pilot who speaks like a 2010s teenager.) In the US, it's been observed that there's a significant difference between something that's "shit" and something that's "the shit"; the former is bad, the latter is good. In Britain, the term "bollocks" (meaning "testicles" and not "faeces") can be used positively (e.g.: "the dog's bollocks") the same way "shit" is in the States (where the term "bollocks" is not used at all and seen as very British).
- Slag: In the US, the by-product of metalworking, most typically the liquid leftovers of ore refining. As such, it can also be used as a verb for turning something into slag, and from there it became slang for totally destroying something, particularly if it involves melting it down (sometimes associated with the Transformers, who being robots will often threaten to slag each other, as well as one of the Dinobots being named that). In the UK, it's a synonym for "slut" (which is why Transformers media stopped using the term after a while).
- Solicitor: In the US, a salesman who shows up when you don't want them to, like a door-to-door salesman or telemarketer; homes and businesses will occasionally have signs reading "No Solicitors", and this is what they mean. In the UK, it's a lawyer (and a few special non-lawyers) whose entire job is to write legal briefs and who cannot engage in oral advocacy in the courtroom, which is a barrister's job. The US doesn't even have the solicitor-barrister distinction (someone who specializes in oral advocacy might be a "trial lawyer", but any lawyer can do any lawyer job, for the most part).
- Spinster: Nowadays the term refers to an unmarried woman, but the tone of how it's applied varies by region.note In most of the Western Anglosphere, it's a derogatory term for an unmarried middle-aged woman along the lines of "old maid". But in Africa and the Caribbean, it's a completely neutral term that's the female version of "bachelor," to the point that "Bachelor" and "Spinster" are listed on marriage certificates.
- Spunk: In the US, it refers to a little toughness, fighting spirit, forcefulness or "moxie"; it's commonly used to refer to women who are a little tougher than one might expect, but in a good way, hence the term "You got spunk". In the UK, it refers to sperm or ejaculate. Therefore, in Britain, implying that a woman has "a lot of spunk" would imply that she's just slept with a large number of men. This caused much embarrassment for Coca-Cola when they advertised Dasani bottled water with the slogan "Can't live without spunk." Confusingly, the American sense was also used in Britain as late as the 1930s, and the British sense is now starting to migrate to the States.
- Stuffed: In the US and Canada, it means being full after overeating. In Australia, it means "broken", usually beyond all repair. In Britain, it has a sexual meaning. (In all four places, "get stuffed" is not a nice thing to say to someone, although for different reasons.) Relatedly, a stuffed animal in the US is a plush toy shaped like an animal, but in the UK is a real animal that's been stuffed for whatever reason, often as a trophy.
- To table: In the UK, it means to propose; in the US, to delay or postpone, essentially meaning the opposite in terms of how quickly you want something done. As you can imagine, this has caused confusion in political and military talks between the US and UK in the past. The US does have the term "to bring something to the table", which is roughly equivalent to the British sense.
- Tea:
- Refers universally to the drink, but in the UK also refers to a light meal eaten in the afternoon, usually involving tea and also cakes, scones, and biscuits. It may or may not be called "afternoon tea", as some Brits use "tea" for the meal Americans (and many Brits) call "dinner". Either way, if a Brit invites you over for "tea", expect more than just the drink.
- In the US, "tea" is also a slang term for gossip. This originated in the black LGBTQ community as early as the 1980s, originally just "T" as in "truth", and drink references like "spilling T" were puns. From there it spread to the broader queer community where it became "tea". Its use on social media and RuPaul's Drag Race caused it to spread to the general public.
- Theater/Theatre: In the US, it's where you watch a movie. In the UK, it's where you watch a play; you watch a movie in the cinema. Note also the different spellings, which are another feature of the linguistic divide. Americans might sometimes use the "theatre" spelling if they want to be fancy, and Americans who perform or watch stage acting might use "theater" for the physical building and "theatre" for the art form. Something else that varies is whether the word is pronounced with two syllables or three, and in the second case, whether or not it rhymes with "creator."
- Torch: In the UK, what the US would call a flashlight. In the US, it refers exclusively to a flame at the end of a stick, which is also called a torch in the UK (it's context-dependent there). Interestingly, a number of smartphones — whether set to British or American English — will refer to the device's flashlight function as a "torch". In the UK a device refered to as a flashlight would be exactly that — a light that flashes.
- Torrid: In a sports context, used totally differently. An English Premier League team that's off to a "torrid start" is at the bottom of the table and in danger of relegation. A Major League Soccer team that's off to a "torrid start" is on top of the standingsnote and likely well on the way to booking its playoff spot.note
- Tramp: In the UK, it refers to a homeless person. In the US, it can mean either that or a woman who Really Gets Around. Compare Lady and the Tramp to Frank Sinatra's "The Lady Is a Tramp".
- Wardrobe: In the UK, a tall external or flush-fitted cabinet used for hanging clothes and is a regular part of the bedroom furniture set (and might also be a gateway to a magical land). But in the US, one's wardrobe is the clothes themselves, as the term refers to a person's entire collection of clothing, possibly divided by season/occasion like winter wardrobe, school wardrobe, etc. The clothes are hung in a closet, an alcove built into the walls of the home for this purpose (and might also be a metaphorical hiding spot for a queer person keeping their sexuality/gender identity a secret). While British-style wardrobe cabinets are not unheard of in the US, they're rarely a necessity since closets are the norm in American homes.
- Wog: In the UK, a very offensive slur towards Africans. In the US, virtually unknown as a term. In Australia, it refers instead to people from southeastern Europe (usually Italy, Greece, and the former Yugoslavia), and it's much less offensive because like much of Australian Slang, it's an Appropriated Appellation.
Things using different words in different places
- What the UK calls a queue, the US calls a line. And in most of the US, you wait in line, but in New York City and environs, you wait on line. In Canada, sometimes it's a line and sometimes a line-up. "Queue" is catching on in America, though, as it avoids confusion with other uses of "line"; for instance, you see "printer queue" or "Netflix queue". But some Americans use "queue line", perhaps out of fear that "queue" is too obscure a word.
- What the UK calls a by-election, the US calls a special election. Both terms refer to an off-cycle election to fill an unplanned vacancy in a leadership office, like a political office or a corporate board. And only the British call such a vacancy a casual vacancy (leading to confused Americans trying to get into J. K. Rowling's book The Casual Vacancy and not understanding what it meant). Also, in the UK one stands for election, in the US one uncouthly runs for election.
- Almost all automotive terms are different: in the US "gasoline", in the UK "petrol"; in the US "trunk", in the UK "boot"; in the US "parking lot", in the UK "car park"; in the US "hood", in the UK "bonnet"; in the US "stick-shift", in the UK "manual". Jeremy Clarkson once surmised that this was one reason it took Top Gear so long to catch on in the US.
- What the US calls counter-clockwise, the UK calls anti-clockwise.
- What the US calls an apartment, the UK calls a flat. Similarly, what the US would call a roommate, the UK would call a flatmate or housemate (unless they're literally sharing a room as opposed to just the living space).
- What the US calls canned food, the UK calls tinned food. The proverbial tin that describes its products exactly would be a "can" in colloquial American English. Oddly, once opened and emptied this vessel becomes a tin can. Meanwhile the term "tin", sans can, is often used in the US for metal containers with lids, such as what mints or fancy Christmas pastries might come in. The US also uses "canning" to refer to preserving food in vacuum-sealed glass jars, which the UK would call "bottling". Bottling in the US exclusively refers to beverages - one would can fruit preserves and bottle liquor using the same process.
- What the US calls a liquor store, the UK calls an off-licence (or "offie" for short)note and Australia calls a bottle shop (or "bottle-o" for short). The term "off-license" is also used in the US, but because every state regulates alcohol differently, it encompasses a dizzying variety of establishments who may or may not be allowed to sell certain kinds of alcohol at certain times. Each state also has its own terms for different kinds of stores (e.g.: "ABC Store", often used in the South and referring to "Alcoholic Beverage Control", because those states have a state monopoly on some subset of alcohol sales; or "state store", used in Pennsylvania because, um, that state has a state monopoly on a subset of alcohol sales; or "party store", a specific variety in Michigan for stores that sell both booze and other "party" items like snacks and disposable plates/cups/cutlery). Even the seemingly universal "liquor store" changes meaning subtly across state lines — in Pennsylvania, at a "liquor store" you can buy wine and spirits but not beer,note but in New Jersey, a "liquor store" seems to sell mainly or only beer (this causes significant confusion because these states neighbor each other), and in Southern California it can refer to basically any convenience store whether or not it sells alcohol at all.
- In TV show parlance, what the US calls a season, the UK calls a series. Meanwhile, the US uses "series" to refer to a show as a whole. This can lead to confusion, even here on TV Tropes. For the most part, we use "season" for American shows and "series" for British shows,note although the UK can use "series" and "season" almost interchangeably. One possible distinction is that the US tends to be stricter about releasing episodes on a yearly schedule, making "season" a more appropriate term.
- In the US, a building's entrance is on the "first floor", and the levels keep going up from there. In the UK, a building's entrance is on the "ground floor", the level above it is the "first floor", and the levels keep going up from there (which is the convention in all of Europe). While the entrance floor might be called the "ground floor" in the US, the next one will be the "second floor" and not the first. And the device that transports you between floors is an elevator in the US and a lift in the UK; "lift" can be used in the US but is more for industrial purposes or wheelchairs.
- What the US calls pantyhose, the UK calls tights. Some Americans also use "tights", sometimes interchangeably with "pantyhose", but more often referring to what both sides call "leggings" — thicker, opaque, and acceptable as outerwear.
- What the US calls the mail, the UK calls the post. And when you send things through that system, in the US they're mailed and in the UK they're posted. And the guy who delivers them is the mailman in the US and the postman in the UK. But the entities that oversee the system are the United States Postal Service in the US and the Royal Mail in the UK. What a language! In the US, "posted" usually refers to something stuck on a wall (or a Message Board), but the term "postman" is sometimes used (e.g., the novel The Postman and its film adaptation; perhaps they realized that calling an epic drama The Mailman would sound sillynote ), as is "postmarked" to refer to the date that something was mailed.
- On both sides of The Pond, phone numbers were originally rendered in a combination of letters and numbers. The change to numbers only was called "all-number calling" in the US and Canada and "all-figure dialling" in the UK.
- Several odd food examples:
- What the UK calls an aubergine, the US calls an eggplant, and Asia and Africa call a brinjal.
- What the UK calls marrow, the US calls squash.
- What the UK calls courgette, the US and Australia call zucchini.
- What the UK calls coriander, the US calls cilantro, borrowing from Spanish. The plant's seeds are called coriander in both places.
- What the UK calls sweet pepper, the US calls bell pepper, and Australia calls capsicum.
- Carbonated drinks are all over the place. In the UK, they're often called "fizzy drinks" or given an "-ade" suffix (see Lemonade), whereas in the US "-ade" implies that it's not carbonated (e.g., Gatorade). In Scotland, they're sometimes called "juice" (everywhere else, "juice" refers to... well, juice). In Ireland, they're traditionally called "minerals". In the US, it varies tremendously by region; while parts of the country are divided between "pop" and "soda", and most will accept "soft drinks", in some parts of the South Coca-Cola is so dominant that "Coke" is a generic term for all soft drinks, even those that are not brown or made by the Coca-Cola Company.
- What the UK and Ireland call sweets, the US calls candy, and Australia and New Zealand call lollies. "Candy" in America also includes chocolate, and even some pastries and cakes depending on context. "Lolly" is also used in the UK specifically to refer to what in the US is a lollipop, and the UK variant "ice lolly" is what the US (and this wiki) calls a popsicle.
- What the UK calls trainers, the US calls sneakers or tennis shoes, and Australia and Ireland call runners or joggers. "Trainers" is slowly catching on in the US, particularly among running enthusiasts looking for specialized shoes, but most Americans associate the term with children's underwear or training bras.
- Toilets are funny, and while a "toilet" refers to that porcelain bowl in every country, there are a ton of euphemisms for referring to the room in which it sits:
- The UK will call it a toilet or a loo. "Toilet" is considered the technical term and is often used to denote public facilities; it's considered the polite term in the UK, whereas "loo" is more casual. WC (short for "water closet") is seen occasionally; it's an international standard common throughout Europe, so it's particularly likely in public places. A cloakroom refers to a room with a toilet and sink, and a bathroom (unlike in the American usage) must be fully equipped with everything you may need, including a bath, shower, and sometimes even a bidet.
- The US will call it a bathroom if it's in someone's house, or a restroom if it's a public facility. "Toilet" is occasional slang but is seen as crude (along the lines of "john" or "crapper"). "Bathroom" is considered the more neutral term but is seen as a little childish, while "restroom" is considered more "official". A room with only a toilet and sink is sometimes called a powder room or half-bath (most often in context where specificity is needed, e.g., real-estate listings). Lavatory is heard in settings where they may be trickier to use or more restricted, like on an airplane. Latrine is considered military slang and can refer to anything from an entire building full of toilets and sinks to a hole you dug in the woods (the local Drill Sergeant Nasty is more likely to make you use the latter).
- Australians will use all sorts of terms; loo, toilet, bathroom, lavvie, or the local slang term dunny.
- Canadians use bathroom the way Americans do, if it's in someone's house; for public toilets, they prefer to use washroom. They also use powder room for a bathroom with only a sink and toilet (specifically a guest bathroom in someone's house), and a bathroom only accessible from a large bedroom is sometimes called an en suite.
- Filipino English has the unique term comfort room, sometimes abbreviated C.R.
- Finally, one that cuts across dialect lines: English-speaking mariners and those who associate with them (e.g., United States Marines) are liable to call a toilet — especially a ship's toilet — a "head", to the frequent confusion of landlubbers.
- What the US calls kindergarten, when children begin their formal education, doesn't really exist in the UK, but to the extent that it does, it can be called nursery, pre-school, reception, Year 1, all kinds of things. This reflects the strong German influence on American education reformers in the 19th century (indeed "kindergarten" is a German loanword), where the concept caught on more quickly than it did in Britain. There is a concept of "nursery school" or "preschool" in the US, but it refers to before kindergarten (which it might in the UK as well). The word "playschool" is normally used in Ireland.
- What the US, Canada, and this wiki call Tic-Tac-Toe, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand calls Noughts and Crosses, and Ireland calls 'X's and 'O's.
- What the US calls a bus, the UK may call a bus if it's for public transport (like the famous London double-deckers), but a coach if it's for long distances or tour groups. British pubs used to have signs saying "No football coaches allowed", which confused Americans might interpret as banning their local offensive coordinator but which really bans busloads of Football Hooligans.
- What the US calls bumper cars, the UK calls dodgems. They're not exactly the same, though; in dodgems, you're supposed to avoid the other cars, whereas in bumper cars, you're supposed to hit the other cars (Americans like violence, who knew?). The locale where you'd find such a ride is an amusement park in the US and a funfair in the UK, but again, they're not exactly the same; a funfair suggests that it's a travelling event (what might be called a carnival in the US), whereas an amusement park stays put.
- What the US calls sports, the UK calls sport. But what the US calls math, the UK calls maths. So simple, yet so complicated.
- In the US, all sports players are athletes. In the UK, athletics is track-and-field. Running, jumping, throwing, and stuff. Footballers and tennis players are not athletes, they're footballers and tennis players. The closest UK term to the US sense of "athlete" is "sportsperson".
- What the US calls "asking for a ride", the UK calls "asking for a lift". The terms are both understood in both places — but in Ireland, be sure to ask for a lift, because a "ride" is also a euphemism for sex.
- What the UK and Australia would call overalls, the US and Canada would call coveralls. In the US, "overalls" refer to "dungarees" — denim trousers with shoulder straps.
- What's usually referred to as a spanner in Britain would be called a "wrench" in North America. Specific types of spanners/wrenches have their own terms, and are sometimes called wrenches in Britain as well (for example, a box-end wrench is called a ring spanner, while a pipe wrench is called a Stillson wrench; The Other Wiki has an extensive list of different types and their American and British/Commonwealth names).
- Spaz: In the US it's a rather mild and childish insult for a klutz. In the UK, it's a highly offensive slur for a disabled person, originally derived from the term "spastic" to refer to muscle spasms (used the same way in the US), which might accompany such disabilities as cerebral palsy. See also Retard, a slur going the opposite direction.
- What the UK calls an arse, the US calls an ass. "Ass" in the UK is used to refer to donkeys, which it can (but usually doesn't) in the US. In some cases, the technical term for a certain donkey is "ass", which makes it difficult to discuss in the States, even if the context is clear that the person is talking about a donkey (African Wild Ass, anyone?). What the US calls an asshole, the UK just also calls an arse, although both countries use "dumbass".
- What the US calls Scotch tape, the UK calls Sellotape or sticky tape. Both countries suffered a Brand Name Takeover.
- What the US calls a moose (defined biologically as Alces alces), the UK calls an elk. "Elk" is the older term, with cognates in other Germanic languages, referring to the big, unmovable, none-too-bright deer; although they still exist in Europe, they were extirpated in Britain in ancient times. This may be why confused British colonists in the Americas misidentified Cervus canadensis, a species similar to their red deer (Cervus elaphus), as "elk",note because they didn't see any real "elk" — and when they turned up later once the colonists made it to Canada (but of course), they called it a "moose".
- What the US calls a Christmas Special, the UK calls a Christmas Episode. (And they're both tropes!) They're not exactly synonymous; while both have a Christmas theme and often air around Christmastime, a Christmas Special is a unique one-off program (like A Charlie Brown Christmas), whereas the Christmas Episode is part of the continuity of an ongoing series.
- Both Brits and Americans will call a large and luxurious private watercraft a yacht, regardless of its propulsion. However, the British/Commonwealth use of “yacht” for recreational sailboats that can be much smaller and humbler, can lead to confusion among Americans, who may joke that “a yacht has a minibar and a jacuzzi”. Terms like “yachting” and “yachtsman/woman” or “yachter” rather than “sailing” and “sailor” are somewhat more common in referring to the sport of sailing in the Commonwealth than the US, where they can be seen as carrying a “snooty” or “stuffy” connotation.
- What the US calls fair use, everywhere else calls fair dealing. Both are exceptions to copyright law where it is permissible to re-use copyrighted property without securing permission or rights to use it. The specifics are slightly different from country to country, though.
- Most English-speaking countries use the term quisling to describe a person in a position of national authority who becomes a traitor to that country (from Vidkun Quisling, who assisted Nazi Germany in its occupation of Norway during World War II). The US has its own term—Benedict Arnold, a hero of its war of independence who turned to the British side, offering to hand over the critical American fort of West Point (now the site of the US Military Academy) to the British before his plot was uncovered, leading him to flee to Britain.
- Members of the songbird family Hirundinidae are the swallows and allies. In Europe "swallow" almost always refers to Hirundo rustica, the barn swallow (which, to be fair, is the most widespread bird not only in its family but in the whole passerine order!). Going beyond Europe, species in Asia and Africa are most often called swallows if they have forked tails and martins if they have relatively square ones. And in the Americas, only Hirundinidae in the genus Progne are called martins. For this reason, Riparia riparia, another cosmopolitan member of this family, is called sand martin in Eurasia and bank swallow in the Americas.
Spelling distinctions
Spelling can be different between the US and the rest of the Anglophone world — not different enough to really cause confusion, but enough to make it obvious where you're from. People are so used to their own spelling conventions that the other variety just looks "wrong". (That's why TV Tropes has a policy that you shouldn't edit them when you see them.) Even when writing about something distinctively British or American, English speakers used to a different spelling standard will use their own standard (e.g., British references to "Pearl Harbour" or the "U.S. Department of Defence").Historically, there were many variant spellings in English, and there was no single defined way to do that. The first real "standardized" (or "standardised") English spelling came from Samuel Johnson's famous dictionary, and even he wasn't seeking to codify spelling so much as identify the most commonly used spellings at the time. This helped solidify some of the particular trends of spelling of the era, such as a tendency to emulate French spelling wherever possible, even in words with non-Latin origins or borrowed directly from Latin as opposed to through Old French. The American variants were largely the work of Noah Webster, who was interested in wide-ranging English spelling reform but decided to start small — which is why a few of his changes were adopted in America (changing the entire orthography can be intimidating, to say the least). Many of Webster's suggested changes were designed to undo some of the French-influenced spellings. But for the most part, the reforms only caught on in the US and to a small extent in Canada; the rest of the English-speaking world didn't bother, and Canada got stuck somewhere in between American and Commonwealth spellings.
Now, let's get into some specific examples:
- Where most places have a word that ends in -re, the US may use -er (e.g., "centre" vs. "center", "theatre" vs. "theater"). This is designed to reflect where English words were borrowed directly from Latin; where words are borrowed from French, in the US they keep the -re ending (e.g., "genre"). The spelling reverts to the -re form when forming adjectives, e.g., central not centeral, theatrical not theaterical.
- Where most places have a word that ends in -our, the US may use -or (e.g., "colour" vs. "color", "favour" vs. "favor"). This one was a popular one, because it helped bring those words in line with more typical pronunciations (as opposed to words like "hour" or "tour"). It also keeps it consistent with variant forms which don't use -our anywhere (e.g., "humour", but "humorous"; "honour", but "honorary" and "honorific"). This change also has an interesting artifact (or "artefact") in Australia, where one of the two major political parties is called the Labor Party, even as the word is spelled "labour" in pretty much every other application in Australia.note There are also a few odd exceptions in America, such as "glamour" (which may originally be Scottish) and "saviour" (also often spelled "savior", but occasionally given the -our ending, especially in religious contexts). Canada seems to be even more enthusiastic about -our than even Britain; "honourary" will fly there.
- Where most places have a word that ends in -ise, the US may use -ize (e.g., "criticise" vs. "criticize", "realise" vs. "realize"). This is to keep it consistent with the Greek root -izein, which uses the letter zeta. Even the Oxford English Dictionary, which usually uses British spelling, says the -ize is technically correct.
- The US sometimes uses -se where the UK uses -ce, or vice versa (e.g., "practice" vs. "practise", "licence" vs. "license"). In the UK, though, both variants are often used, but one for the noun and one for the verb; for example, a doctor will practise medicine but have a medical practice.
- The UK may repeat letters when inflecting certain words where the US does not (e.g., "focuses" vs. "focusses", "traveler" vs. "traveller", "canceled" vs. "cancelled", "marvelous" vs. "marvellous"). Confusingly, British English does sometimes accept the single-letter variant. On the American side, this was an incomplete adoption of Webster's suggestion to eliminate double letters as much as possible; had he had his way, we would have spellings like "bailif", whereas it's always "bailiff". But confusingly, the British — but not the Americans — may drop the extra letter in derivatives of those words, leading to distinctions like "fulfil" (UK) vs. "fulfill" (US), "wilful" (UK) vs. "willful" (US) and "instalment" (UK) vs. "installment" (US).
- A handful of words that end in -ward in the US end in -wards in the UK (e.g., "toward" vs. "towards", "afterward" vs. "afterwards"). But usage can vary; many Americans will use the -wards variant, but it's seen as colloquial, whereas it's more accepted in British English.
- Some technical and scientific words are spelled closer to the original Latin in the US and with a French or Greek twist in the UK (e.g., "fetus" in the US, "foetus" in the UK; "sulfur" in the US, "sulphur" in the UK). Strictly speaking, the US versions are the more technically correct versions (e.g., IUPAC has it as "sulfur", and the British Royal Society of Chemistry also has "sulfur" for that reason even though the British standard is "sulphur"), but it's difficult to let go sometimes. For the most part, the only British texts to spell it the American standard are formal scientific writings.
- And some words are just weird and different on opposite sides of the pond. Compare US "tire" to UK "tyre"; US "curb" to UK "kerb";note US "yogurt" to UK "yoghurt"; US "program" to UK "programme"; and US "aluminum" to UK "aluminium".
Other grammatical and orthographical quibbles
- Date marking conventions differ between Britain and the US. In America, dates are usually written mm-dd-yy or mm-dd-yyyy. In the UK (and Australia, and New Zealand, and indeed most of the world), they're written dd-mm-yy or dd-mm-yyyy. This is reflected in the way they speak; if you're talking about Christmas, the British would call it "25th of December" while the Americans would say "December 25th". You also see this reflected in dates that are particularly associated with a particular country; Guy Fawkes Day is the "5th of November" even for Americans (when they're aware of it, at any rate), and the infamous terrorist attacks happened on "September 11th" or "9/11" even for Brits. Canadians use the American order (but when speaking French use the British order, because all Francophones do). In some cases, this is starting to change, especially where business is being done internationally; American companies are starting to use international notation, although in some cases both sides might use yyyy-mm-dd because it's easier for computers to sort (incidentally, this is how the Japanese typically write dates).
- The word "meant" has an additional usage in the UK where the US would use "supposed". For instance, if you ask, "Who am I meant to be?", an American would almost always think you're contemplating your own existence, whereas depending on the context (e.g., a case of mistaken identity) a Brit could interpret this as "Who am I supposed to be?" If you say, "It was meant to be a Red Stapler", an American would think specifically that some higher power intended it to be a red stapler.
- Where the UK would use "different to", the US prefers "different from" or "different than". The Oxford English Dictionary considers all three forms correct.
- In most dialects of English, collective nouns are generally interpreted as referring to a group's members, so it becomes a plural noun. In American English, though, they are always interpreted as referring to the group itself as a single entity, so it becomes a singular noun. So in Britain, you'd say, "Liverpool are doing better than the owners expected", whereas in the States, you'd say, "Boston is doing better than the owners expected", but "the Red Sox are doing better than the owners expected."note
- Time notation is different in the US and UK. In the UK, 10:30 would be called "half ten", whereas in the US it's "half past ten". And in other European languages, they'd refer to it as "half eleven", even when they're speaking English. However, 10:45 is usually "a quarter to eleven" — except in some parts of the US, where it's "a quarter of eleven". This may be a slurring of "a quarter off eleven", which is a form used in some languages.
- The US and UK have different ways to parse certain instances of Ambiguous Syntax. For instance, if you said, "Alice insisted that Bob left", is it that Bob left the place and Alice is insisting that he has gone, or that Bob has not left yet and Alice is insisting that he go? Americans would generally accept the former,note Brits the latter.
Gestures
- In the US, there is a certain rude gesture made by holding up your hand toward someone, palm facing you, and extending only the middle finger. This is known as "flipping [someone] off" or "flipping/giving [someone] the bird/the finger". In the UK, the equivalent gesture, known as "the two-fingered salute", is formed with your hand in the same position, only with the pointer and middle fingers extended and separated to form a V.
Stories about what happens when things do wrong
- The British Newspaper the Observer caught a major scoop when it acquired a memorandum leaked from the highest levels of the US government. When they decided to publish it, they gave it to the most junior person at the foreign news desk for the simple task of copying it to their computer so they could print it. She copied it word-for-word and checked the spelling — but neglected to change the settings, causing the computer to change the American spellings to British spellings. And no one noticed until it was printed. So when people read a supposedly American memo written in British English, they immediately questioned its authenticity. Including the US government, who now had Plausible Deniability. So much for the scoop.
- British authors Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman both complained about how Good Omens, an example of very British humour, lost something in its American version just because the British English was changed to American English. Not only were the spellings different, but whole jokes were lost because Americans didn't understand the British nuances and subtext.
- The British Douglas Adams hated how the Americans adapted The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He was particularly annoyed with the editors trying to make things more "relatable" to Americans (at one point ranting about how changing "Rickmansworth" to "Newark" not only ruined the joke but implied that Americans were total morons who couldn't comprehend that anything even existed outside of America). He fought back on the adaptation of the comic book version using American English, particularly Arthur Dent's speech bubbles, because in many ways Arthur is a very British character with very British mannerisms (and accordingly a very British annoyance and nonchalance at the Earth's destruction and his now being part of adventures in space). It also leads to variant renderings of particularly famous passages from the books (for instance, the scene which named the trope Puff of Logic has "zebra crossing" in the original but "pedestrian crossing" in the American version).
- The Bob Marley song "No Woman, No Cry" is commonly thought to be about the joys of bachelorhood, as in, "No woman, no reason to cry". But if you understand Jamaican Patois, you'll know he's basically saying "No, woman, don't cry". And if you actually read the lyrics, the song is about consoling a female companion during a difficult time.
