Americanisms and British...isms?

[Camembert]

Oh, another one... in the US, lieutenant is pronounced 'lootenant', whereas in the UK the correct pronunciation is 'leftenant'.

This one really bugs me. Where the hell did we get the "lef" from? Lieu is pronounced "loo", not "lef"!

It is very, very odd, isn't it? I quite like it though, it's rather quaint in my opinion.

 

[MNRA]

Someone has yet to mention Solicitor = Lawyer

 

[twistedmic]

British = I couldn't care less (right context - you really could not care less)
American = I could care less (wrong context - you could care less, so you care to some degree)

This nonsense really pisses me off. I have never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER heard ANYONE say "I could care less."

I've heard "I could care less" far to often (I'm American by the way) both in real life and on t.v. ,but I think it's more people being ignorant of how to actually use that phrase, much like how a lot of people use "You can't have your cake and eat it to." (which you can) when they mean "You can't eat your cake and have it to." (which is impossible to do.)

 

[Camembert]

Someone has yet to mention Solicitor = Lawyer

Are you sure...? I thought they were two different things. Hm, you're probably right.

I've heard "I could care less" far to often (I'm American by the way) both in real life and on t.v. ,but I think it's more people being ignorant of how to actually use that phrase, much like how a lot of people use "You can't have your cake and eat it to." (which you can) when they mean "You can't eat your cake and have it to." (which is impossible to do.)

Um... just because the words are in a different order, doesn't mean the meaning is changed. "You can't have your cake and eat it to(o)" means the same thing as "You can't eat your cake and have it to(o)".

Edit: I agree with the first half of your sentence, though.

 

[JWAN]

Well, having recently had a guy from Colorado stay with me, I can reel off some, English first:

Chips - Fries
Crisps - Chips
Lift - Elevator
Toilet - Bathroom
Trousers - Pants
Jam - Jelly
Tap - Faucet
Garden - Yard
Pound - 1.52 Dollars


There were a few others but I can't think of them right now. There was a group of us and we discussed this stuff a lot.

jam and jelly are 2 different things. jelly is jam without all of that fruit pulp shit in it.

 

[JWAN]

Oh, another one... in the US, lieutenant is pronounced 'lootenant', whereas in the UK the correct pronunciation is 'leftenant'.

That's from way back during the revolutionary war days when we were separating ourselves from the red coats.

 

[Flames66]

Well, having recently had a guy from Colorado stay with me, I can reel off some, English first:

Chips - Fries
Crisps - Chips
Lift - Elevator
Toilet - Bathroom
Trousers - Pants
Jam - Jelly
Tap - Faucet
Garden - Yard
Pound - 1.52 Dollars


There were a few others but I can't think of them right now. There was a group of us and we discussed this stuff a lot.

jam and jelly are 2 different things. jelly is jam without all of that fruit pulp shit in it.

Not here. Jam is jam either with or without the fruit pulp.

 

[Tharwen]

OT: So yeah, "pussy" is another word with different connotations. In the US, it's calling someone a very weak man, as well as crude slang for a vagina. While, I believe, in England it means someone who is sweet, like a pussy cat.

I've never heard that. It might be one of those words that has seeped back into UK English and overridden the new meaning.

 

[Luke5515]

I was about to start going off about pop and soda, buggies and carts and things like that, but I remembered that's only a Pittsburgh thing. Mostly.

 

[Camembert]

I was about to start going off about pop and soda, buggies and carts and things like that, but I remembered that's only a Pittsburgh thing. Mostly.

Pop and soda... no one really uses either of those words in the UK. For us it's just plain old 'fizzy drinks'.

Buggies and prams in UK are two different things... a buggy is a pram for older children who can sit up, and a pram is a lie-down type. Push-chair, I guess, is another one. Cart... never. Sounds like a US exclusive to me.

 

[Flames66]

I was about to start going off about pop and soda, buggies and carts and things like that, but I remembered that's only a Pittsburgh thing. Mostly.

Pop and soda... no one really uses either of those words in the UK. For us it's just plain old 'fizzy drinks'.

Buggies and prams in UK are two different things... a buggy is a pram for older children who can sit up, and a pram is a lie-down type. Push-chair, I guess, is another one. Cart... never. Sounds like a US exclusive to me.

But what of the classic Go-Cart? That's a good question actually, what are Go-Carts called in the US?

 

[Camembert]

I was about to start going off about pop and soda, buggies and carts and things like that, but I remembered that's only a Pittsburgh thing. Mostly.

Pop and soda... no one really uses either of those words in the UK. For us it's just plain old 'fizzy drinks'.

Buggies and prams in UK are two different things... a buggy is a pram for older children who can sit up, and a pram is a lie-down type. Push-chair, I guess, is another one. Cart... never. Sounds like a US exclusive to me.

But what of the classic Go-Cart? That's a good question actually, what are Go-Carts called in the US?

What the Hell is a go-cart? Like a quad-bike?

Oh, thought of another one... Shopping trolley = shopping cart.

And as a Brit I often use 'cart' as a verb, but not really for anything else that I can think of right now.

 

[Red Bomb]

UK - Mobile phones
US - Cell phones

UK - Yoghurt (Yog-hurt)
US - Yoghurt (Yo-ghurrt)

UK - Horse riding
US - Horseback riding

There are others but I cant think of them right now.

 

[Camembert]

Also:

Pudding (US) - a milk-based, gel-like dessert popular as both a pie filling and on it's own
Pudding (UK) - I haven't a fucking clue. All I know is it's supposed to be good.

In the UK a pudding is any dessert, used mainly to describe hot, stodgy types in particular. It is usually served after dinner, or in the case of those up North, 'tea' (dinner means lunch for Northerners, I think, and tea means dinner).

Winning a war (UK) - striving for years to defeat an enemy who threatens your homeland and way of life with their constant expansion.
Winning a war (US) - popping in during the last few years and dropping some big effing bombs, then making movies, video games, novels, comic books and museums about it for the next sixty years.

The lack of bollocks in this thread astounds me.

Look bollocks up on Wikipedia. It makes for very entertaining reading indeed.

And given how much I love the word I'm surprised I didn't think to mention bollocks myself.

UK - Yoghurt (Yog-hurt)
US - Yoghurt (Yo-ghurrt)

I think in the US 'yoghurt' is spelt without the 'h'.

 

[Remleiz]

American: Liberate
English: Invade


sorry had to be done haha
cookie for the reference

 

[Camembert]

Mom - Mum

I really detest the word 'mom'. I'm not sure why, it just irritates me. A lot.

 

[TheReactorSings]

I remember that these guys had to pull out of a US tour a few years ago over misunderstandings relating to their name.

http://www.blackdykeband.co.uk/