Two countries divided by the same language?

[Cyrano]

UK - Jam, US - Jelly

Always wondered what do they call jelly ?

Edit - just re-read this thread and realised Mandy that you had already answered this

 

[Dimplenose]

An American friend calls her purse a pocketbook

Libby

 

[alisonbestford]

Stroller = pushchair

 

[UKDEB]

For year's now, if I'm asked "How are you?", I respond with the American "Good", rather than the English "Fine". I use "I guess" a lot, rather than "I suppose", too. I also often find myself asking for the check in a restaurant here, instead of the bill.

Prawn =shrimp (whereas to us, shrimp are the tiddly ones);
Trainers = sneakers;
Main course = entree;
Grilled = broiled.

 

[tim june and sam]

If we are going onto phrases, I really notice that when I say thanks to someone, they say "you're welcome" whereas we would just grunt?!?

Oh for the US service down Sainsburys, Tesco, etc.

 

[Floridadreamlel]

Bumper = Fender

 

[catherine]

Always wondered what do they call jelly ?

Jelly = Jello.

 

[Danauk]

Biscuit = cookie

scone = biscuit

skip = dumpster

 

[jen_uk]

Football = Soccer

 

[arieliwish]

Tea isn't just Tea, it's Hot Tea or Iced Tea over there, very confusing!

 

[susieh]

UK handbag = US purse (what do they call their actual purses??)

They call their actual purses "wallets". How they differentiate between a man's wallet and a woman's wallet I have no idea.

 

[mark&sue]

Vacation instead of Holiday as Holiday is for the festive period.

Susan

 

[Miffy2003]

That's a good one Susan!

I love the way it is "Happy Holidays" in the US rather than Happy or Merry Christmas.

 

[jen_uk]

Nicking cars = Grand theft auto!!

 

[tim june and sam]

That's a good one Susan!

I love the way it is "Happy Holidays" in the US rather than Happy or Merry Christmas.

You know, thinking about it, "Happy Holidays" always makes me think of Disney! For me, no two words are more stateside than them - thanks Miffy, you bought a sigh to my heart!

 

[tim june and sam]

With all these comments abouts purses and wallets, et al, can anyone tell me exactly what a bill-fold is?

Often heard the Americans say it, but not sure in my own mind what they mean.....

 

[gilld]

UK waistcoat+US vest

 

[indigoxtreme]

With all these comments abouts purses and wallets, et al, can anyone tell me exactly what a bill-fold is?

Often heard the Americans say it, but not sure in my own mind what they mean.....

A billfold is the same as a wallet. The bills are placed in length in the wallet or bill fold and then it is folded in half or some men have a trifold wallet Billfold.

Both men and women call it a wallet or billfold.

We have many words that are used and can be somewhat confussing to someone visiting us, because even in our own country depending on where you live, there could be a different word to describe the same thing.

Ie: Tea we have hot tea or iced tea but in the south iced tea is called sweet tea.

 

[Queenie]

I just finished "Mother Tongue" by Bill Bryson which is a book all about English and it's development around the world. There's quite a bit of info on differences between British and American English, it's especially interesting as it's written by an American but he lived in the UK for about 20 years so he sees it all from both sides.

One example: in America, to table a motion means putting it aside; in the UK it means to bring it to the table for discussion. Caused many a problem in international business meetings!!

 

[basas]

<< The butter thing is funny whenever we ask for butter (pronouced with the t's) we always get blank looks but if you ask for it swapping the t's for d's they seem to understand >>

We here in NA rarely use "t's" when they're in the middle of words. It's actually hard to do and makes you sound British if you use it! For example...

Numbers: (Twenty= Tweny) (Seventy= Sevendy) (Forty: Fordy) (Fifty= Fifdy), etc.

Also think of words like "Fastpass" where people rarely pronounce the "t", making it "fasspass", and most other words with "T" like "community", "butter", or "property", etc.etc.

BTW- can anyone tell the difference between an American and Canadian accent? Even me being Canadian, i can't tell the difference most of the time....