British Words Quiz #1

Doing the test backwards was definitely a bit odd. I assume that to an american a silencer was part of a gun.

A lawyer does not = a barrister. A Barrister is a lawyer, but so is a Solicitor and other things. Increasingly "lawyer" means somebody that is doing legal work without having much in the way of a qualification. You have to have qualifications to be a Solicitor, Barrister or Licensed Conveyancer etc, but none to call yourself a "lawyer".

We have big fat ones. Mmmm.

I have wondered whether Americans have a specific word for what we call cookies though, anyone know?

Actually, now I'm thinking about it, we do have Belvita and Biscoff. I think we refer to both as the brand-name with crackers - Belvita crackers? 🤔 Or maybe it is Belvita breakfast biscuits, but it definitely wouldn't be biscuits by itself, as that would refer to a flakey breakfast bread, like a cross between a dinner roll and a scone.

Anyway, cookies are always very sweet.

i don't think the creator of this quiz knows EXACTLY what they're talking about. though we could start the war of what the proper name for a 'cob' is too...

I was so pissed (drunk) that I pissed (urinated) myself and the doorman was so pissed off (angry) that I thought I'd better piss off out of there (run away).

There is also pissing it, which is to win easily. It's a tremendously versatile word

Giz a fag (can i please have a cigarette?)

Am off tut chemists (I am going to the chemist's shop)

Wheres bog? (Where is the toilet?)

do us a jacket taitee (Please cook me a jacket potato)

Ger in't queue (Join the queue)

Just a few examples for you ;)

A scarf is what a USAmerican often calls a muffler. Long rectangular (knitted in a long strip sort of shape) wrapped around the neck.

A headscarf is what the queen might wear when out watching horses training or at a picnic, or a film star wears in an open top car. (A silky square usually) Hermes is a luxury producer of those.

A shawl is a much larger square that is wrapped all around you. They are garments that have been used for many centuries and can be very substantial coverings against the cold to wispy nothings of decoration.

Signs are always to the "Way out".

Exit usually denotes fire exit, for emergency use, often only for that.

Shrek

Sherk

Shkre

Srehk

I gave up now.

I got one speeding ticket (not even close to 70mph on the 'freeway') in the 18 years or so I lived in California but I got several for not coming to a proper full stop.Grrr.

I had been taught in Britain where you learn the technique of not having to stop if you don't need to (gear down while looking around, gearing up to move on if clear) so it was obviously rather galling.

Thus:

The American equivalent of Fag is probably smoke or stogie

The American equivalent of whinge is gripe or moan

and the American equivalent of pissed is blasted or juiced.

Furthermore, many of the "British" words are particular slang words used only by particular groups of people who are a small minority of the population, e.g. only some cockney people will call a cigarette a "fag", also only a few upper class old fashioned people will say "ta" instead of "thanks". I've in fact never even heard anyone actually say "ta" in all my life in Britain.

The absurdity of this quiz is equivalent to saying that only British people call their father a "father", while Americans say "my old man", or that only British say "alligator" while Americans say "gator".

Better words to have used would have been "lift"/"elevator", "shopping centre"/"mall", "pavement"/"sidewalk" etc.

I don't know if we have a name for baking cut potatoes "in a shallow pool of oil" but it doesn't sound great, as you describe it. We do have scalloped potatoes, which are thinly sliced and baked in a cream sauce similar to a gratin, cut potatoes baked usually with herbs which we'd probably call "roast potatoes".

I don't think the "American equivalent" column is supposed to include American-exclusive terms, it's just what an American would call the "British" term, which obviously is often going to be a synonym Brits also use.

I'm not mother tongue English and I lived in the UK, but most of the time I've been exposed to American English, through education, internet and films.

I typed Z and Zero...

Group of flats: Apartment