So I've been musing over the differences between American and British English again. This time it was prompted by reading a blog post about someone who received a package of biscuits in the mail from a friend.
My first thought was... "My, that's an odd gift! Aren't you supposed to eat them hot from the oven? And wouldn't they get all smooshed in the mail?" Then I remembered that she's Australian, so she probably meant cookies.
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| British Biscuits |
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| American Biscuits |
Well, at least she didn't call them "digestives" - that one always leaves me feeling a bit queasy in the stomach!
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| British Digestive |
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| American Digestive?? |
Anyhow, it all reminded me of a little revelation that I had over the holidays while watching an old version of
A Christmas Carol. It suddenly dawned on me that "plum pudding" is actually cake, and not some sort of disgusting fruit custard as I had always imagined! Well, that's a relief!
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| British Pudding |
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| American Pudding |
I also get confused when British people talk about eating "chips".
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| British Chips |
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| American Chips |
And I can't help but blush when the British talk about using a "rubber" in school, because here in America, a "rubber" is... well... not something one would expect to see in the classroom!
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| British Rubbers |
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| American Rubbers |
And, of course, my image of camping in Britain got much less... um... exciting, when I finally figured out that a "torch" was a flashlight. I had pictured the British out in the woods, reliving some sort of pagan Celtic ritual... but no.
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| British Torch |
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| American Torch |
Oh yes, and I have finally figured out that when British people say they're going to visit the chemist's they're not talking about a mad scientist.
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| Visiting the British Chemist |
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| Visiting the American Chemist |
And just the other day I stumbled upon something about "candyfloss" that had me entirely mystified until I looked it up!
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| British Candyfloss |
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| American Candyfloss??? |
Then, of course there are jumpers...
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| British Jumper |
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| American Jumper |
And bonnets...
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| British Bonnet |
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| American Bonnet |
And boots...
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| British Boot |
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| American Boot |
And we won't even talk about the whole "fanny" thing...
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| American Fanny |
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| British Fanny |
And in researching this post I just discovered that if a British person is giving their child a "dummy" it's not because they want them to become a ventriloquist!
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| British Dummy |
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| American Dummy |
Who knew?
So tell me, do you ever get confused when chatting with someone across the pond?
Yes! In fact, I made it one of my goals when in London to get a British English dictionary.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, another American meaning for the word "boot" is a thing you stick on a car's wheel to prevent it from driving off until the owner has paid a fine to remove the boot. That one confused me when I was reading a novel!
I'd finally learned all the ones on your list except candyfloss, jumper (though I knew it was some other kind of clothing) and fanny (I knew it was something else).
Ha! I hadn't thought of that meaning of the word "boot." I could see that one tripping me up if the context didn't made it really clear.
DeleteCandyfloss was a new one for me too. I actually stumbled upon it on Facebook with a video of a raccoon who had stumbled upon some in the garbage. The poor little fellow tried to "wash" it in a stream and it instantly dissolved, leaving the little guy both confused and unhappy!
Thanks for clarifying "candy floss." I also saw the raccoon video and was mystified.
DeleteI know, right? The poor little guy looked quite distressed when it just disappeared!
DeleteTo make British English extra confusing, boot and bonnet mean both of the things in the pictures... :D
ReplyDeleteI love the language differences...does 'pavement' (which would be 'sidewalk' in the US) mean anything interesting in the US?!
Hmmm... well, here a "sidewalk" is specifically the paved walkway that runs along the side of a street (as the name would imply!) "Pavement" is a much more general term referring to any surface covered with either asphalt or concrete/cement. So the street is covered with pavement, as is the sidewalk, as are the parking lots etc. Does "pavement" just refer to the walkway in the UK and not all the other stuff too?
DeleteYup, pavement is just the walkway next to the road. (Although I suspect in techincal planning language etc they would be called a 'footway' or similar).
DeleteThe only other use I can think of is 'limestone pavement' which I think is a geological formation that I must have seen on a TV programme!
We would usually refer to road surfaces as 'Tarmac' which I think is not always actually accurate as they might be made of something else!
Parking lot in the US would be car park in the UK...though that one is at least fairly obvious unlike some of the biscuit related things in your post!
(Speaking of which, I think for me a 'cookie' refers specifically to an Anerican style biscuit usually with chocolate chips in...)
Ha! OK... so the only time I've ever heard the word "tarmac" used was in reference to an airport. I think it means the runway. I had no idea the word referred to some sort of surfacing!
DeleteVery interesting!
HAHAHA!!! Rubbers cracked me up. Also, I had NO IDEA that plum pudding was cake!!! I always pictured vanilla pudding with chunks of plums in it. I guess it must be more of a dried plum (aka prune) cake? Prune pudding doesn't sound any better to me though. ;)
ReplyDeleteAh... so I'm not the only person with plum pudding confusion. I'll bet that the "figgy pudding" in the song "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" is cake too. It sorta makes me feel a bit less skeptical about English cuisine in general, because honestly, the whole idea of vanilla pudding with plums or figs in it sounds really disgusting to me. I'm not a big pudding fan to begin with though! :-)
DeletePudding is much more like cake than the vanilla thingy you thought it was...but it's not a baked in the oven cake- they are usually really dense and full of fruit, and put in a bowl/pudding basin and steamed.
DeleteI also use 'pudding' to mean 'dessert', even when I am not planning to eat and actual pudding..
My oh my... the confusion deepens! So a "pudding" is technically a specific kind of cake that's steamed rather than baked? I've never actually heard of steaming a cake before... or I guess that would be steaming a pudding. And then you have to confuse the poor Americans further by using the term generically! OY! :-)
DeleteYes- pudding definitely refers to dessert in general, as expressed in "what's for pudding?"
DeleteBut puddings like plum pudding refer to the cooking method (stamping in a bowl) and can be savoury or sweet. One of the best examples of this was a pudding episode of the great British bake off, where the welsh contestant made a savoury version.
There are a number of flavours for puddings, including berries and lemons and also a currant and sultana version called spotted dick.
They are usually quite spongy.
Don't forget Yorkshire pudding, which is something else again! It's savoury, made from pancake batter (which in Britain, doesn't usually have raising agent in it), and cooked in hot fat in the oven, which makes it fluff up.
DeleteI didn't know that 'biscuit' meant anything in American. Your photo looks like scones (the pronunciation of which is contentious).
OK... let me get this straight. Pudding technically refers to the cooking method, which involves steaming in a bowl... except for Yorkshire pudding which isn't a pudding at all... but the word is used generically to refer to dessert... except that pudding isn't always a dessert dish - sometimes it's savory... Yup. Clear as mud!
DeleteI'm not even gonna touch "spotted dick" because honestly, that sounds like some sort of a venereal disease!
And since I've never had a scone, I'm not sure if American biscuits are similar or not. They're a quick bread made with flour, butter (or shortening) milk and baking soda (with a pinch of salt usually). They're not at all sweet, and are often served smothered in a sausage gravy, or they're used as a substitute for a dinner roll with a soup or stew.
Scones in England are similar in appearance and texture to our biscuits (although I think they are a little more tender if they are well made), but usually are a little sweeter (unless you have a savory variety ... ) and are served with yummy things like clotted cream and lemon curd.
DeleteUm yes, if you're in Britain and 'pudding' is offered, best check exactly what it is before accepting. As for scones, as Kris says, they are either sweeter than your biscuits, with a little sugar (though not very much), or more savoury, preferably with cheese. My most disappointing scone experience involved cheese scones that were actually sweet scones with cheese on top. That is not what I expected at all!
DeleteYes, American biscuits are a little fluffier than scones and have no sugar at all but otherwise very similar. They are generally eaten hot with butter and maybe jam or honey. Sometimes they are flavored, and the flavors can be savory (like jalapeno cheddar biscuits).
DeleteWhere I grew up, Coke was a specific drink but also a generic term for soda and we often use brand names to describe generic items (Kleenex), so using a cooking style to also mean a couple of different foods and a generic category of food is not a big surprise.
Alrighty then! If I'm ever in a British speaking land, I'll be very careful to sort out my sweet vs savory when ordering either pudding or scones! :-)
DeleteI am reading John Cleese's autobiography now and am having a bit of a problem sometimes knowing what he's talking about. I just keep reading hoping it will become evident, but a British/American dictionary would be helpful.
ReplyDeleteHa! Now there's a business opportunity! When CatMan and I read Spanish, my job is to look up the words and phrases that we don't know. I have a great unabridged dictionary that has tons of idioms and phrases in it, but it's in British English not American, so there are times when we'll find the phrase in the dictionary, but it won't actually help us understand what it means, because the British phrase is utter nonsense to us too!
DeleteHehe- I feel that I could set up a business translating ;)
DeleteOr just do an occasional blog post with all the phrases that have you stumped and I'll write a huge comment translating them all :D
DeleteYou may live to regret that offer! :-)
DeleteHehe!
DeleteInteresting- I have spent my life balancing between the two cultures and so understand both- so it is a surprise to realise it isn't common knowledge.
ReplyDeleteOnes that can trip people up- lemonade in the UK and Australia refers to lemon flavoured fizzy drinks like Sprite. American style lemonade is not common. This was quite confusing to my husband when we visited the US - he would order lemonade, wanting Sprite, and end up with real lemonade.
The other problem word is not about food and is very Australian. The verb "to root" has a very different meaning in Australia and the phrase "root for the home team"is not something that should be said. That one occasionally gets me in trouble.
I've never heard of that meaning of lemonade before - that would trip me up for sure! And I also wasn't aware there was a vulgar meaning for "to root!" My, oh my!
DeleteThe other one that trips me up is "bugger" because for years I thought it was just a reference to small insects. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the true meaning of that word!
I spent time in USA during my PhD and kept everyone amused with my language. The most frustrating was what I call 'diluting juice' or squash (i.e. concentrated juice you dilute with water to taste). I eventually got pointed towards powdered juice (?) which I didn't know existed but Walmart man insisted had to be the equivalent. Add in Scottish accent and a few more Scottish words 'wee' means small, 'beastie' is an insect, 'pissed' is drunk, and you really extend the confusion.
ReplyDeleteI thought a beastie was a small animal, like a dog or a cat. "Pissed" is used the same way in Ireland, too, isn't it?
DeleteOK... I've never heard "beastie" before either - and like Kris, I would assume it was similar to the American word "varmint". I'm now thinking that I've probably left confusion in my wake across the web, because I didn't realize that "pissed" could mean drunk, I always use that word to mean "angry" - hmmm... I'll have to be careful about using that one out of context!
DeleteAnd when I was in Norway they had a concentrated juice drink similar to what you describe - they called it "saft". I really never found a decent equivalent here - powdered juice mixes are mostly sugar... I think that frozen juice concentrates are probably the closest, though they're not nearly so convenient to use.
I've read the Hamish Macbeth mystery novels--he is a Scottish constable with a wild cat and a dog--I thought he referred to them as "beasties" which is why I thought it referred to animals--maybe it's a regional thing?
DeleteThanks for the laughs.
DeleteIn Australia
pissed off = angry
pissed (as a fart) = drunk
A Ha! Important clarification on the pissed vs. pissed off, because I tend to use both phrases interchangeably to mean angry. Hmmm...
DeleteI loved your post AND the comments. I've just finished a book about England in 1900 - and some of the terms you've used I now understand more about. Thanks!! I didn't realize exactly what a 'jumper' was, knew it was clothing. I follow the blog 'meanqueen' (Life after Money) and now I'll understand more clearly. Rather reminds me of when I moved from South Carolina to Ohio and finding the different meanings of same words.
ReplyDeleteOh, the first time I heard people talking about knitting jumpers I was mightily confused. I think in the blog I was reading she was talking about knitting one for her boyfriend and my mind was reeling trying to picture this - all I could think was that it was some sort of a kilt or something!
DeleteAnd I know nothing about either Ohio or South Carolina - I'd love to hear what the vocabulary differences are!
I love the Rubbers, if fact I use it a lot to wind the folk up, always good for a laugh.
ReplyDeleteSoon after I came here I was looking for a kirby grip, of course I couldn't find one as you use bobby pins over here.
I've lived here almost 49 years so my language has changed but I find the older I get the more I lapse into my "old tongue"
Marieann
Oh my... I've never heard of a "kirby grip" is it the same thing as a bobby pin?
DeleteThe rubbers thing... when I was living in Norway, all of my friends had been taught British English. I got pretty good at Norwegian after a while, but in the beginning I knew nothing, so my friends would speak to me in English. I think I nearly fell on the floor the first time a friend leaned over in class and asked if I had a rubber she could use!
Black pudding was definetely a shock. First time I saw it on a book I imagined some rich dark chocolate dessert; did NOT expect blood sausage.
ReplyDeleteHa! That reminds me of the first week I was in Norway. My host mother told me we were having fish pudding for dinner, and I think I must have looked at her like she was from Mars! I was quite relieved to be served something that I would have called a "fish loaf" rather than vanilla pudding with fish in it!
DeleteHey Cat, sorry I haven't been around much lately, but I have been thinking of you with your kitty woes. I just wanted to say that I applaud your decision to let someone else take care of some of the kitties. It's not easy to say, "I can't care for them all," but sometimes it is the right thing to say. I was so pleased to hear that Jasper is OK.
ReplyDeleteNow, to the question of language...
I think it's a bit easier for Brits because we have so much more exposure to American via TV, which is helpfully illustrated, so usually fairly clear. I do have trouble with the car terms, though. 'Trunk' is either a part of an elephant or a very large suitcase. Come to think of it, the second meaning is much closer to the space in the back of your car than, 'boot' - why on Earth do we say that? Also, we do not put gas in the car, unless it's a fancy, experimental, hydrogen-fueled car. The fuel is either petrol or diesel (and it's important to remember which your car takes, or it's an embarrassing call to the AA, which is the Automobile Association, not Alcoholics Anonymous). A stick-shift car is just a car, otherwise you should specify that it's an automatic.
Awww... thanks so much for your supportive words on the cats. I know I did the right thing, but honestly, I still do miss them. And every time I go outside I get a little pang because there are no furry faces greeting me. But I'm REALLY glad that they're all safe and warm, because the weather has been bitter cold so far this winter.
DeleteThe shelter can't tell me what becomes of them, but I keep looking at their adoption page online in hopes that I will see them go by. It's actually probably still too soon as it's only been a month, and I think they'd wait at least 6 weeks to be sure they're healthy before putting them up for adoption. It is quite nice though, to only have Jasper & Smoky to worry about.
I wonder if the word "trunk" comes from a time when people literally strapped a trunk to the back of their automobiles to carry stuff. Hmmm...
And in my day the "stick-shift" was the default car, so you wouldn't generally specify unless it was an automatic. But apparently in this country at least, most new cars have automatic transmissions now, and manual ones are hard to come by. This is what I hear at least, I'm still driving my 1990 Honda so I wouldn't know! :-)
Ah, there we are then. I was under the impression that almost all American cars were automatic, going back at least twenty years. I consider myself educated.
DeleteI was chatting about your blog post with some friends at dinner last night, and they reminded me of an obvious one - how could we forget our pants?
Pants? You've lost me. Are you referring to the trousers vs. pants thing? That one doesn't confuse me because both terms are used here. Trousers is usually used to mean more formal wear, whereas pants are used for more casual stuff like jeans.
DeleteBut maybe you meant something entirely different?
I think pants are undies (and trousers are pants).
DeleteHmm... what about knickers? If I used that word, I would mean a 3/4 length pant or tights - but I think it means underwear in some places
DeleteOh gosh, I thought that one was widely known. We never say pants for trousers, not even casual ones. Pants are strictly undies here. We also say knickers, but that's generally reserved for women's underwear. Pants are men's or women's, though sometimes underpants is used for men's.
DeleteMy friend thought it was hilarious that when she visited America she could say, "Does my fanny look big in these pants?" without being at all improper.
Are you saying that knickers aren't underwear to you? So what word do you use for undergarments that aren't bras or socks? Are they just undies?
And of course, here in the UK, we also use the word "pants" for something that's not very good as in "this rainy weather is pants".
DeleteOh my! Well that's all good information! I'm sure that could make for confusion.
DeleteOK... so in my world "Knickers" are generally a 3/4 length pant like these:
[img]http://site.aerotechdesigns.com/shorts/ATD_Womens_PedalPushers_Main.jpg[/img]
The only sense in which knickers are underwear would be in the historical sense, like this:
[img]https://jeremybutterfield.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/knickers.jpg[/img]
And while socks & bras are technically "underwear" I generally use that word only to refer to "bottoms". So women's underwear are "panties":
[img]http://images.herroom.com/items/only-hearts-ohrt01-50848-gsz.jpg[/img]
And men's underwear are "boxers" or "boxer shorts":
[img]https://static.freshpair.com/fp_content/redesign/itempics/Fruit-of-the-Loom/3P722/66495.jpg[/img]
or "briefs"
[img]http://www.uroanswers.com/Images/products/Carolina/CPLM100%20Mens%20BriefsMED.jpg[/img]
And I would have been totally lost if someone said that something was "pants". Holy Moly! :-)
Oh my, so many pictures of pants! I'd never heard of knickers being anything other than underwear, so that's useful. We don't really have a word for that garment. They'd be shorts, but longer than normal shorts, so 'long shorts' for maximum confusion. I'd question your definition as 3/4 length, though, unless your knees are a lot closer to the ground than mine! That historical garment I think I'd call 'bloomers'. There were 'knickerbockers' though, which I guess were the ?17th century... no, I just looked that up and I was two centuries out! Here's a nice little blog on the history of knickers: What's in a name? What I was going to say was that the historical knickerbocker, being relatively practical, is quite close to your modern American knickers (which is perhaps not surprising, given that they originated in America, though as Brit, I'm loathe to admit that America has made any positive contribution to the language!)
DeleteHa! Well, that particular photo was of rather short knickers. Usually they come about half way down the calf.
DeleteAnd that blog post was quite enlightening. I had no idea that "knickerbocker" was a person. The only place I've ever heard that word was in reference to baseball. There's a team called the New York Knicks, which I think is short for knickerbockers. So maybe it refers to the baseball uniforms? oh wait... the Knicks are actually a basketball team, not baseball. Well hmm...
OK... here it is. More information than one could possibly want about the history of the word "knickerbocker" in American sports! :-)
This is a fun read and I love the comments. I was in Great Britain once, about 20 years ago, and we ran into some of the language confusion that you are talking about. Back then, you weren't a dork if you had a fanny pack--all the tourists did--and we were warned not to use that term around the Brits!
ReplyDeleteI ran into Persnickety's lemonade versus soda issue my first day in London--I ordered lemonade and got something like Sprite and was instantly clued in that my version of the English language is very specific to the American midwest.
My mom has a close friend who was a British WWII war bride. When she came to America, she was talking with someone who was depressed about a problem and she told them to "keep your pecker up", which has a VERY different connotation here than it did for her at home. Her husband told her to never use that phrase again ...
Are you watching Downton Abbey to keep up on your Brit-speak?
OK... I'm really, REALLY glad that I didn't have a mouthful of coffee when I got to the "keep your pecker up" part, because I would have either choked or spit it all over my brand new fancy schmancy monitor!
DeleteIt reminds me of something I once read about a Japanese company that was trying to market a toy woodpecker here in America. They had come up with a bunch of advertising slogans that had me in stitches... things like "Touch Woody!" and "Pet the Pecker!"
OK... I have to stop now, I'm laughing so hard that tears are rolling down my cheeks.
I watched the first season of Downton Abbey and found it to be a bit "meh". Actually it really reminded me of the Mexican telenovelas... the same themes of aristocracy vs. serving class. So I decided that if I was gonna get myself addicted to another one of those shows, I'd go for another telenovela because at least that way it would have the redeeming quality of helping me to better my Spanish skills! :-)
The comedy is free. ;)
DeleteI think it's hard to jump in on Downton if you haven't grown to know the characters. I watch very little TV and Downton is my winter escape.
What colorful rubbers you found.:-) Normally I don't find British words to be a problem but you did stump with with a couple, candy floss and fanny (I had to look that one up).
ReplyDeleteI love to read but American publishers are pretty lax about editing, or the editors are lacking necessary skills, not sure which. Anyway I found out British writers and editors are much better at their jobs and began to read a lot of British books just to enjoy a well edited story. My son asked for better books by the time he was in 4th grade as well so our house had stacks of books published in the UK and our vocabulary grew.
I do have a funny story about words you might get a kick out of. When my kids were young Avon sold a book all about popular phrases and word usage from other countries. My kids found an Australian word and usage hilarious. According to the book an Aussie will say they are pregnant when they have eaten too much. So a couple years after purchasing the book we take a vacation to a working farm that welcomes unschoolers (which we were) and there is a family there from Australia. My son decides to show how smart he is an announces he is pregnant after a meal, everyone looks at him as if he's gone crazy. He explains about the book and the family cracks up and says they never heard of that one before. When we returned home my sons decided it was time to find the book a new home. :-)
Well, when I was a kid I played in a youth orchestra, and at one point we went on "concert tour" in New Zealand. It was really just an excuse to go to New Zealand since we weren't very good. Anyhow, the thing was all organized through the Rotary Club and we were staying with Rotary families.
DeleteOK... so my point was (there WAS a point) that they warned us not to say "I'm stuffed" after eating a big meal, because in NZ that was apparently the equivalent of saying "I'm knocked up". I wonder if that's the phrase that the book on Australian English was somehow referring to?
Now that would make more sense but no the book had it wrong but it did start a conversation about the differences in our language.
DeleteApparently whoever wrote the book totally missed the boat! :-)
DeleteLove this!
ReplyDeleteI live to serve...
Delete