Differences between USA and UK English.

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The dictionary confirms that 'guy' does indeed come from the personal name,Guy Fawkes. It's funny that we tend to think of 'guy' as an Americanism when it is in fact originally from the infamous British villain,albeit the name itself is of Norman French origin.

To complicate matters,there are actually differences in vocabulary between English and 'Scottish English' - in Scotland we call them janitors as well,the same as you do in US.

Some other examples are

English / Scottish

carpenter/ joiner
valley / glen
outside (a boundary) / outwith
groceries/ messages
to collect (passengers etc) / to uplift
paper bag / poke
arson / fire-raising
manslaughter/ culpable homicide
barrister / advocate
rubbish(garbage) bin / bucket
blackberry / bramble

So Cornflake, if you don't mind my asking, what do you call your evening meal? And have you heard any other terms being used besides the one you use?

We may not have first hand experience with it but the class system is still very much alive in England. The House of Lords is a good example. It's a bunch of men who were born with a title to their name that get to choose which new laws made by our elected government are finalized. You only get this job if you were privileged at birth, we're not quite the democracy we like to think we are.

Then you have the royal family which I'm sure needs no explaining, class divide at its worst. The reining monarch is also head of the commonwealth, made up of 54 member countries. You don't have to be qualified for this job just born privileged. The mind boggles!

I have always found the grammar differences interesting.

Example : If England lose a football game (which we regularly do! ) we here in the UK would say 'England are rubbish' because we see England as a collection of people but in the U.S I believe they would say 'England is Rubbish' as they see England, in this context of a football team, as a single thing

At least you have a small advantage from that: So noone ever comes to my country to make photographs from our presidents house. ^^ At least all that queen and princess stuff, gets you a lot tourists.

Currently, I call it either "dinner" or (logically) "food".
As a child, dinner was always the midday meal and the light evening meal was tea, and occasionally, (by others) dinner.

ETA: my grandparents referred to the light evening meal as "supper".

Last edited by Cornflake on 29 Mar 2013, 11:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

Not quite true: after the House of Lords Act 1999 only 92 members are allowed to be hereditary.
It's also not true that they choose which laws are made: they act as an independent checks-and-balances mechanism to the excesses generated by House of Commons, and long may they continue to do so. They're able to tell the Commons that such-and-such legislation is poorly considered and needs re-thinking - but their influence and control of the Commons is severely restricted by parliamentary laws.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Lords
Also (more concise): http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/house_of_lords.htm
In any case, the Commons don't always consult the electorate before framing laws anyway.

That doesn't apply to the majority of the Lords, and no democracy is what it appears: the way Blair dragged the country into the whole Iraq mess, for example.

Not at all. It's a quaint throwback from an incredibly long and rich historical background and is considerably cheaper, generates a massive tourist income and is more worthwhile than many of the hare-brained schemes our "elected" representatives cook up - the NHS "spine" system, for sharing resources that no-one asked to be shared in the first place? It never worked properly from day one and everyone except the government knew it was doomed to failure and could show it. Billions were wasted on that little venture - which, incidentally, no-one directly voted for.

And have you checked to see the amount of work that's involved with being a pretty powerless 86 year-old figurehead? Or do you actually believe they all swan around in gold-plated palaces wearing crowns and speaking with silly accents?
I really hope not...

That IS a interesting thing Ive noticeed as well- differences are starting to go beyond vocabulary to grammar.

At a sporting event a british announcer will say "the crowd ARE going wild!" Or a newscaster will say the "the government ARE doing such and such". Both sound really strange to an american ear. We see 'the crowd', and 'the government', as one entitity- so you use the singular verb for what they do: "the crowd IS going wild"-and-"the government IS doing such and such".

And yes-"England are rubbish' does sound strange to these american ears ( England IS rubbish sounds right- not sayin that they are mind you- i mean- not sayin' it is!).

"the wine drinking, and brea eating crowd ARENT gonna like that." Or "..ISNT? gonna like that." Hmmmmm. Probably either way would be okay in the USA.

It means "cool".



A lot of NZers just have dinner, but I have seen that old fashioned tea/supper thing a few times - morning/afternoon tea is very common, especially at work. NZ is more like a mini England, or as my dad says, like England from the 70's. We don't have so many made up words like Aussie. A few things that were pointed out to me when I was overseas:

- heaps is a quantity in NZ. It means "a lot". eg. there are heaps of cows
- ages is a measure of time in NZ, meaning "a long time". eg. we had to wait for ages for you and we still have ages to go.
- "yeah, nah" is an undefinable term meaning yes or no (sometimes maybe or sometimes it just means "um") depending on the situation. You can't explain how to use it but every kiwi knows what it means.
- kiwi is a person/bird not a fruit. Kiwifruit!
- Ute. Pronounced "yoot" is a truck.
- We also call lorry's trucks and film's are movies like in America.

These are general things, but there are also local conventions and accents too which are largely influenced by who settled there.

Canada is always conjoined with USA




its like were not even a country

UK / Canada

telly / tv
bonnet/hood
boot/trunk
spanner/wrench
sweets/candy
notes/bills (money)
football/soccer
petrol station/gas station
fringe/bangs
motorway/highway
pavement/sidewalk
mobile/cell
aluminium/aluminum
loo or toilet/washroom (yep it's true!)
courgettes/zucchini
biscuits/cookies (though some things are called cookies in the UK, biscuits are something else altogether in Canada)
brew (tea)/brew (beer)
garden/yard
trainers/sneakers
crisps/chips
quavers/eighth notes etc (musical notations)
macaroni cheese/macaroni & cheese
lift/elevator
bin liner/garbage bag
cashpoint/bank machine
shop or supermarket/grocery store (some canadians say supermarket)
shopping centre/mall (as above)
tylenol/paracetamol
coach/bus

other random cultural differences i've noticed... people sometimes wear their shoes in the house in the UK, which is very rare in Canada.... people don't tip as often in the UK for the same services, and when they do the tips are lower.... you have to stick your arm out to flag down a bus in manchester, whereas in canada the bus driver will stop automatically unless you wave them on.... some kids in the UK drink squash/cordial but in Canada they have frozen drink concentrate or drink crystals like Kool-Aid or Tang instead...

I prefer the singular form for the reasons you give - there is ONE crowd and IT is going wild, but both "is" and "are" seem to be used freely and I don't know if either is supposed to be "correct".
It seems wrong to treat a singular noun as plural just because it's made of many components.

UK / Canada

lift/ride (an offer to take you home in a car, for example)
flat/apartment
terrace/townhouse
car park/parking lot
flyover/overpass
spots/pimples
hob/stove
torch/flashlight
chips/fries
trolley/cart

USA :::: UK
vacation :::: holiday (this confused me for years because in the US a holiday is a specific celebration observed by all)

whining :::::: whinging (it's a minor spelling difference but a major pronounciation difference)

in the hospital ::::: in hospital (the missing "the" always catches my attention)

flashlight ::::: torch (or is it lamp?)