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American English vs. United Kingdom English

Pauline Kenny

On the message board we had a contest to find common words that are different in US English and English English. These are the results.

July 24: The list is not yet complete; we are all still working on this. Join the thread.

"England and America are two countries divided by a common language."
- George Bernard Shaw, 1856 - 1950 -

United States United Kingdom Notes

Driving/Walking
gas petrol  
trunk boot  
hood bonnet  
traffic circle roundabout  
rent (a car) hire (a car)  
speed bump sleeping policeman  
underpass subway  
subway underground  

Food/Drink/Smoke
(potato) chips crisps  
french fries chips  
sausage bangers  
cigarette fag  
zucchini courgette  
eggplant aubergine  

Clothing
pants trousers  
underpants pants  
undershirt vest  
sweater jumper  
suspenders braces  
garters suspenders ladies' lingerie

Houses/Buildings/Furniture/Electronics
elevator lift  
apartment flat  
bathroom/restroom loo loo is slang but is usually used
toilet paper bog roll  
sidewalk pavement  
aluminum aluminium  
TV telly  
cell phone mobile  

Baby Things
pacifier dummy  
diaper nappy  

Verbs
call ring call you tomorrow
like fancy I fancy tea and scones
whine whinge complain

Expressions/Sayings
Bye! Cheerio!  
I'll knock on your door in the morning. I'll knock you up in the morning.  
work it out sort it out  
No problem Not to worry  
was supposed to do x was meant to do x there was some discussion of this one
dear chuck, love, pet, hinny, hen, my lover regional differences
Don't like/care for Not fussed  
Yikes! Crikey!  

Sexual
horny randy  

Street Names

PatrickLondon: Something that's struck me - not so much vocabulary as speech habit. In the UK, we would give a street its full name, where at least some Americans seem to drop the "Street", "Avenue" or whatever. In London, and probably most other towns and cities too, there could be confusion between a district and a street or square("Victoria", "Bloomsbury"); and often, posh Georgian and Victorian developments would have their associated Lane or Mews for service access, so you could easily have in the same district a Square, Avenue, Street, Lane and Mews all with the same name. And developers often lacked imagination too.

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