Americanisms and British...isms?

[Red Bomb]

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

GODAMMIT America!! *facepalms*

 

[ParkourMcGhee]

Actually, English people say some of those things:

In American a Rubber is not the thing on the end of a pencil you use to erase mistakes.

Cookies = Biscuits - English cookies are kind of softer biscuits.
Apartment = Flat - Mostly right
Trunk = Boot - Correct
Hood = Bonnet - Correct
Faucet = Tap - Correct
Friends = Mates - We say both in equal proportions, mates is more informal
Can = Tin - A can is what you drink 'soda' (which brits never say) out of. A tin is what you eat baked beans out of.
Make out = Snog - A snog is more like a type of kiss, making out is doing it repeatedly.
Aluminum (pronounced 'ah-loo-min-num') = Aluminium (pronounced 'ah-loo-min-ee-yum) - Correct
Z (pronounced zee) = Z (pronounced zed) - Correct
George Palmer = Drop Dead Sexy - Nah, not in any country [footnote]We love you really![/footnote]

That just reminded me of one

Coke/Soda - Pop XD

I really can't think of any, had one on the tip of my tongue when I started reading :/


Edit: also if we get into spellings... don't even get me started

colour - color (every single *$&£ing time I hate Americanized computers)
spellt - spelled
grey - gray

Also I know in the military they have a whole load of different things XD.
Leftenant - Luhtenant (both spellt lieutenant though)

 

[Camembert]

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

GODAMMIT America!! *facepalms*

That's one of those words I just can't fucking figure out how to spell. It happens to me a lot. I couldn't use the word necessary online until I was 20 for fear of looking like an idiot. Then I realized it couldn't be helped and went ahead and used it anyway.

Also

House (US) - Hugh Laurie (UK)

Ooooh, have you seen the Fry/Laurie swearing video? Someone posted it on the Escapist a while back and I've watched it over and over since then. It's hilarious. I'll put it up in case you haven't:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_osQvkeNRM

That's the first time I've ever tried embedding, so if I've cocked it up please forgive me.

Oh, and it took me a while to figure out 'necessary' as well

Edit: Turns out I'm too useless to embed, so that'll have to do.

 

[ZeLunarian]

Yessss... Late to the party but these misconception-between-isms do my head right in.
I just hope I dont let anything slip like 'I love smoking fags', in front of the wrong people.

 

[ZeLunarian]

Yessss... Late to the party but thise misconception-between-isms do my head right in.
I just hope I dont let anything slip like 'I love smoking fags', in front of the wrong people.

There's a good chance they'd know what you were talking about if you said "smoking," but they might be taken aback. However, "I love blowing fags" or "sucking on a fag" or the like would either get you beat up, hit on or "whatever"ed.

Ok lets just say that the said events were to take place in Utah state... It'd be best I skip the county aye? xD

 

[TheReactorSings]

Yessss... Late to the party but thise misconception-between-isms do my head right in.
I just hope I dont let anything slip like 'I love smoking fags', in front of the wrong people.

There's a good chance they'd know what you were talking about if you said "smoking," but they might be taken aback. However, "I love blowing fags" or "sucking on a fag" or the like would either get you beat up, hit on or "whatever"ed.

Ok lets just say that the said events were to take place in Utah state... It'd be best I skip the county aye? xD

Might they not infer that you were a homophobe with homicidal tendencies?

 

[PAGEToap44]

Someone has yet to mention Solicitor = Lawyer

Not true, soliciting is a term that refers to any part of law that isn't involved with court proceedings. Yet at the same time they are still called lawyers. Although I suspect they just don't call them solicitors in America.

 

[ZeLunarian]

Ok lets just say that the said events were to take place in Utah state... It'd be best I skip the county aye? xD

Might they not infer that you were a homophobe with homicidal tendencies?

I was thinking more along the lines of homosexual with suicidal tendencies... But to be honest even if it was misunderstood and even frowned like what my imagination mustered, I doubt I'll get much more than an extended awkward silence.

 

[Crimson_Dragoon]

Of course I make it more confusing by pointing out that different parts of America call the same thing by different names, too. For example, in some parts its "soda," in other parts is "pop." I imagine there's a few things like that in England, as well.

 

[CrystalShadow]

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.

Um, no, it doesn't. It's close, but it doesn't mean the same because of timing issues.

You can't have your cake and eat it too - Implies: You can't have your cake then eat it. (A logically false statement, since you can, in fact get a cake, then proceed to eat it.)

Meanwhile,

You can't eat your cake and have it too - Implies that once you've eaten it, you can't still have it. Which actually makes sense.


Meanwhile, as an Australian, now living in England, here's one I've had a lot of fun with:
(It also works great with Americans on forums. ;p)

I need a new pair of thongs...

Australia: Thong = open footwear with a thin piece of (usually) rubber between your big toe, and across your foot.

England / America : Thong = Underwear with a thin piece of fabric that goes between the cheeks...

Incedentally, if you actually want a thong in the sense of underwear, in Australia, what you're looking for is a G-string.

 

[CrashBang]

Jell-O! Or is that a brand name?

Yeah our Jam to them is called Jelly and our Jelly to them is called Jello
But on 'Friends' Monica goes through that Jam phase and it looks just like British Jam which made no sense to me cos surely she should have called it Jelly... could any Americans out there clear this up for me? It's bugging me now

 

[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.

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?

When I say buggie, I'm refering to shopping carts.
It's odd here in Pittsburgh. Also thorn bushes are called jagger bushes.