American/english

[zigs]

Glad to help Claudine Don't buy Mock Duck from the health food shops over here then, its a vegetarian product but its made from braised gluten.

 

[Jed]

Good one Claudine.
If you said corn in the UK, folk would think you were talking about Wheat.

Never knew that one. Corns is sweet corn and maize is generally used for fodder also.
Wheat is wheat.

 

[claudine]

Wheat should be wheat, it would make things easier . Zigs, I don't plan to visit GB any time soon but my friend lives there now so maybe in the future I will and I'll definitely avoid Mock Duck . I even googled it and to be honest I must say it doesn't look too tasty

 

[zigs]

Oh it is tasty, if there's a tin in the house, the kids will fight you for it

 

[claudine]

Oh it is tasty, if there's a tin in the house, the kids will fight you for it

Well, looks can be deceiving I guess . I always think that tomatoes look quite disgusting from the inside because of this jelly and seeds - and yet, they're the most delicious

 

[Lilley1]

I lot of English stay at the hotel I work at on weekends. It has taken me a while to catch on to certain terms they use. For instance, we use 'luggage carts' for our suitcases (US) / trunk (Eng). So, when someone asked me for a 'trolley' I had a moment of puzzlement.

Its fascinating to learn about other cultures!

 

[ACSAPA]

US truck, UK lorry

US d--khead ,UK bellend

Sorry, you guys already said all the other ones I know. When my daughter and I heard a delinquent call someone a bellend on Misfits, we ran to look it up.
Maybe just younger people use that one.

 

[happyflowerlady]

Speaking of the thongs issue, I remember back in the fifties when they first started becoming popular in the United States, and back then, we did call them thongs, as well. They were just a cheap flat foam rubber sole, and a little thong that went between your toes to hold them in place. Then, they started being called flip-flops, since that is what they did on your feet.
Maybe that was also because the scanty underwear called a thong also came into popularity around that time.

 

[Gina145]

As a South African, I'm totally confused. We spell like the British, but I've always felt our culture was more American. But looking at these lists of words I see that we're drawing from both cultures equally with less taken from the Australians. But we've got one word that I understand is all our own - an item that we encounter every day.

SA - robot, US/UK - traffic light

 

[Jed]

Most odd. Is robot also used similarly as it is in the US/UK to mean the other?

 

[Gina145]

Yes, Jed, robot is used for its normal meaning as well. I'll never understand how it picked up the other meaning and I really have to be careful not to use that word when I'm writing online, but in everyday life it feels wrong to call it a traffic light.

 

[Amalia]

Call me-ring me, I learned English from Boomerang and Cartoon Network mostly and now I work for a British company. I find it interesting to discover the differences between the 2 languages.

 

[Jed]

Call me-ring me, I learned English from Boomerang and Cartoon Network mostly and now I work for a British company. I find it interesting to discover the differences between the 2 languages.

There are subtleties and also quite outright differences. Australians have words they use frequently that may shock many others. I grew up when the word bloody was considered a swear word and was often used as an expletive and an adjective or adverb. Though the word bugger was often used and thought okay at the time. Even my mother would say well bugger me or I'll be buggered while bloody was a no no.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bugger

 

[DonnaIReilly]

I don't like that all biscuits end up being called cookies in America. No, they are not all cookies, lol

 

[Amalia]

There are subtleties and also quite outright differences. Australians have words they use frequently that may shock many others. I grew up when the word bloody was considered a swear word and was often used as an expletive and an adjective or adverb. Though the word bugger was often used and thought okay at the time. Even my mother would say well bugger me or I'll be buggered while bloody was a no no.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bugger

Haha, this is so funny! So can I say bloody now? Or it would be considered a swear word due to the context? Well, I'll be buggered...