Most of these "english" words are just slang terms for the "american words" and NEVER has an englishmen used the word silencer, i had to look it up! silencer should be changed to exhaust
If I remember correctly: An English cracker equals an American biscuit, an English biscuit equals an American cookie, an English cookie is chocolate-chip etc...
A Cracker (not the girl next door) is a square biscuit, not sweet, that can be used savoury (tomato & cheese) or sweet (jam etc) Biscuits in England are the Cookies of America. But these days so many of the same products are sold in England and USA that eventually they will loose the differences.
In America, biscuits are round, quickbread rolls usually made with flour, baking powder, salt, fat, and milk. We eat them hot, slathered with butter and/or jelly (jam), or honey or molasses, or covered in milk gravy, or as sandwich bread for breakfast topped with eggs, ham, bacon, sausage, or fried chicken. They are probably closest to your scones except they don't have sugar. Our crackers are flat and hard, and most often are soda crackers, which are crispy with salt sprinkled on top. We crumble them into chili and soup, or eat cheese or peanut butter on them. Our cookies are the same as your chocolate chip cookies, except we have all kinds of flavors - buttery sugar cookies, peanut butter sandwich cookies, Oreos, oatmeal raisin, etc. We call shortbread and lemon bars cookies, too.
On the contrary, a silencer isn't an exhaust, it's the box which comes right at the end of the exhaust to, er, silence the noise. I don't think many people use the word who aren't particularly interested in cars though, any more than they use the words "distributor" or, er, "dipstick"...
Silencer is definitely still used, though increasingly people might say 'big box'. Exhaust is not a synonym for silencer; the silencer is part of the exhaust
I've never heard of a "big box" but a silencer is part of the exhaust system.
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".
I'm english and I've never heard the word "ta" meaning thank you. I thought it was short for "ta-ta" as in the old word for goodbye. Must be a northern thing.
I've been a Californian my whole life and got 23. However, some of these crack me up and I'm going to start using them just for the reaction. Some of you from Britain should start using our "words" as well. Probably all get a decent laugh. I don't smoke, but if I did...
Technically it's a gas/vapour at the point of combustion in the engine. But yeah, I find it weird that they say gas when that could literally be any matter in gas form
Still cookies. We don't really have what you call digestive biscuits. And we wouldn't call them cookies for sure.
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.
Jam, jelly, preserves, and marmalade are all different things, in both Britain and America. Jelly is made from strained fruit juices and is much firmer than jam. Jam is made from chopped or pureed fruit. Preserves are made with whole fruit or pieces of whole fruit. Marmalade is basically preserves, but made with citrus fruit and including the rinds as well as the inner fruit and pulp. So yeah, no one on either side of the pond can just use the words interchangeably.
No, it isn't. It's a common mistake in America. Even in America, the podium is the thing you stand on, the lectern is the thing you stand behind. But a lot of people just get it wrong.
Hmm, barrister is not really equivalent to lawyer, it's equivalent to advocate. Barrister is not used in Scotland (under Scottish law there are advocates, not barristers). Barristers are peculiar to English and Welsh courts.
In the US, attorneys perform that service as part of their profession. We have do not have the separate divisions as in the UK, so lawyer or attorney is correct.
I have been taught that in the United Kingdom, attorneys are divided into two distinct roles: Solicitors are basically advocates who handle all pretrial matters, interviews, pre-trial discovery, all interrogatories and the solicitation of the trial attorney or Barrister. Again, I believe that this is peculiar to the United Kingdom.
Lawyers and solicitors are different things - lawyers are generally just people that study the law, such as a solicitor or barrister, and solicitors are more specifically people that deal with conveyancing and other legal matters such as wills.
Speaking as a Brit... lawyer is a general term for anyone having a qualification in law; barrister is a lawyer who represents you in a criminal court only; a solicitor is a more general lawyer who does non-court work (although nowadays there is some limited access for solicitors to lower level non-criminal courts). Given that the US does not have this division of labour, I always thought that the US word for all 3 British words was 'attorney'
And in the USA, anyone can be an attorney; lawyers go to law school. "Attorney-at-law" is the lawyer. "Attorney" is just a representative. So when my mom wanted me to handle her financial matters, she assigned "Power of Attorney" to me. If you're going to lunch and I ask you to bring me back a ham sandwich, you're my Attorney-at-Lunch.
Having a power of attorney for someone makes you an attorney-in-fact, not an attorney-at-law. You are not admitted to the bar and cannot practice law. Basically in the US, attorney and lawyer are the same thing.
In Malbaby's defense (not that she's ever come to mine), I think she was probably speaking to the many British/English people commenting here who claim to have not heard one word or another.
You are right. There is a lot of nonsense on this thread. Mind you the quiz itself is also a bit inconsistent. The English words in the quiz are sometimes used, by some people, in some areas of the UK, in some cases. They are not all universally understood or utilised British terms.
as a brit, i have never even heard the word 'zee'. we also call them bumpercarts not dodgems or at least anyone from Leicester does...
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...
The word 'Pissed' has multiple meanings, it can mean 'Drunk' but we use 'Hammered' more often for that, it also means 'Annoyed' and 'Pee', for example 'I just had a piss' or 'I just pissed' means 'I just had a wee'. Pissed is also a swear word here in the UK.
More often in the UK 'pissed off' rather than just 'pissed,' I would say. Maybe younger people just say 'pissed'. US cultural imperialism (i.e. films and TV) is to blame and that pisses me right off (not particularly, tbh). To piss and to piss off are two different verbs. Piss off is also used to mean get away or run away:
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
Yeah that's definitely the only thing they're called here in America. Never heard of "zebra crossing" until I took one of these quizzes but I think it's very cute :)
I only knew "dodgems" because that is what the bumper cars are called in Roller Coaster Tycoon. Looked it up, and the developer is actually Scottish. I had absolutely no idea.
The bumper cars in King's Island, north of Cincinnati, are called dodgems, at least they were when I was a kid. I assume other amusement park in the States call them dodgems sometimes as well.
I'm linguist, who has lived in the UK and US. Football is short for Association Football as opposed to Rugby Football. The word for somebody who play Rugby Football is a Rugger as opposed to an Association Football player who, in the late 19th century, was called a Soccer. That is how the word Soccer was created... in England.
You could add:
Take-Away = Take out/to-go
Aubergine = Eggplant
Cling film = Plastic wrap
Court card = Face card
Noughts and crosses = Tic-tac-toe
Pram = Baby carriage/Stroller
Recorded delivery = Certified mail
Sleeping partner = Silent partner
Stag night = Bachelor party
Ticket tout = scalper
Tights = Pantyhose
Timber = Lumber
Earth = Ground (electrical terms)
Hob = Stovetop
Hundreds and thousands = Sprinkles
Jumper = Sweater
Pinafore dress = Jumper
Vest = Undershirt (tank top style)
Verge = Shoulder (of a road)
So many more are available, however, as TV and Movies cross the each way our languages becomes more common.
'I'm linguist' ......... should read I am a linguist. Your knowledge of Football / Soccer is abysmal, and your usage of 'Rugger' and 'Soccer' is even worse. My advice is stick with your own language, whatever that may be .... cos your English aint up to it.
I grew up in the North East of England (a long time ago) and we never used the word trouser unless in relation to the celebrated Corby garment press. There were short pants, long pants and underpants, thus there was no room for confusion as to when and where they should be worn
Do you mean you are a linguist in the UK sense of someone who works with languages, a translator, perhaps, or in the US sense of an academic who studies phonetics and language development etc.?
No, they're different branches of the profession. They used to have very distinct roles but that has blurred in recent years. By and large a solicitor still works largely on either non contentious (wills, property, that sort of thing) or the preparation for trials. A barrister is more specialised and generally does the advocacy in court. I am a solicitor. I run each case and then instruct a barrister when it comes to court.
Perhaps a more simple comparison between the English and American legal systems could be that in the US, the work done by an English Solicitor is often done by a Paralegal, whereas the equivalent of a Barrister is an Attorney-at-Law, or more commonly, a lawyer.
Quite a few of them are wrong British people barely ever say chemist. All of the 'chemists' around Britain are called pharmacies. And we always say baked potato and bumper cars. only posh people call lines queues and we definitely do not say loo again only for posh people we quite often say truck and thanks and drunk we always say exit cigarette is quite often used and fag is mainly (now) another way of calling someone gay. so yeah. idk.
Woah!! Back the truck and all that! Only posh people say queue???! Hell no! And anyone calling a gay person a fag needs a lesson in how to behave in the 21st century!!
In my US kitchen we bake potatoes in the oven for baked potatoes, but if I boil unpeeled potatoes in a pan on the stove, they are called potatoes in their jackets.
I couldn't think of the word either, but honestly I think a baked potato is equally common either side of the Atlantic and I was trying to think of a specially American word. I think I'd use jacket potato or baked potato equally (and equally reluctantly as I don't much like 'em!)
I'm English and I certainly refer to them as chemists, not pharmacies. I don't know anybody who is actually English who would use "line" rather than "queue". There are lots of words for the toilet in England - loo is just one, but it is well known. The primary meaning of "fag" in England is still cigarette, though of course we know the American meaning. The quizmaster isn't saying that ALL English people use ONLY these words ALL the time. Some of these words are slang, and the "American" version is just the standard word, shared by both dialects, if there isn't an American slang equivalent.
We definitely still say chemist!!!! I live in the UK don't know anyone who says they'll get something at the pharmacy. Even my GP. Only in hospitals do you hear it.
A lot of people say druggist although most younger people think the word drug necessarily means illegal and high. Many idiots have ardently fallen for the old joint passing joke that was said with a grin, "It's not a drug, it's my medicine". That in itself makes no verbal sense, but...
@luke0 I couldn't agree less - only posh people say "pharmacy". I always say chemist. And at least around here people talk about jacket potatoes more than baked potatoes (although both are known, of course).
Yay for reading a lot of British literature, got 22/27 without trying too hard (And we still use a bit of British English in Canada. Barrister confused me because of that, it's got an entirely different meaning to "lawyer" here). Ooh, add jumper! That one confused the heck out of me when I was a kid reading Harry Potter for the first time...
I think there are many clothing examples. And i never kniw which is american and which british. Trousers/pants, panties/knickers, pantyhose/tights. Pantaloon. Spectacles/glasses. Btw i lovvve the word bloomers for underwear, or unmentionables :) sweater/hoodie. Jacket/coat (or is there a difference?) (Same for shawl and scarf, i think there is a difference there and not a uk/us thing) (and more items of which i am not allways sure what is meant in english, cause it is either a different word in uk/us, or it is the same word in my language but with a different meaning etc) vest, cardigan, pullover. And sometimes people from the same country cant even agree (like in the comments here..), like "no it is not called that, only when it has a zipper!"
Jacket and coat are different lengths. Shorter it is the more jacket it is and less coat.
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.
I'm surprised no one's brought up the whole erasers -> rubbers -> condoms quagmire. I remember some very EMBARRASSED British exchange students back in the day.
Not bad. Can I suggest editing "Flat" to "Flat (noun)"? I thought at first it was "Flat (adjective)" – as in "a flat tyre". (BTW, that's British for "a flat tire". ;-))
Many of these are just synonyms, Apartment, Bathroom, Lawyer, Complain, Thanks, Drunk, Cigarette, Exit and Bumper Cars are all regularly used and are not Americanisms, rather its simply that he other option is specifically English, and in England are completely interchangeable.
Accept the singulars for sneakers and bumper cars? Also pissed vs drunk and fag vs cigarette seem too different to be equated, even if their denotation is the same.
Quite a few of these are just slang words and the answers are still British words, just not slang. For example 'Ta' is a regional version of 'thanks', but most Brits still use 'thanks'. It's not an American word.
In America, cookies and biscuits are very different. Cookies are flat and very sweet - a dessert-type food. Biscuits are a buttery non-sweet pastry that is eaten with breakfast. I don't know what British people call American breakfast biscuits.
The closest we have in the UK for the American 'biscuit' (the buttery non-sweet pastry served with breakfast) is a scone, or perhaps a very thick muffin.
Here's a pic of what Americans & Brits call a biscuit...
I'm curious, in the US are 'cookies' always the things that are round, flat, and the texture deliciously chewy? Or are they sometimes other shapes – square, rectangular, triangular etc, and the texture sometimes hard and brittle?
Having just attended a cookie/dance party (yes, we really called it that), I can tell you that we here in America use cookie for pretty much any sweet, flat pastry that isn't a cake or pie. Biscuits to an American ear always denote something savory. I've caught myself making a face when British people in media I've seen refer to biscuits when talking about dessert, only to quickly remember that they're different over there.
In Britain we use these as often as you do - Baked Potato, exit, lawyer, complain (the real word for whinge) pharmacy, truck, cigarette (the real word for fag) apartment, bathroom and so on. Most of these are just slang words and should not be included in this list. The ones that should be in the list as they are not normally used with your meaning are: crisps, queue, petrol, zed, pissed, trainers, biscuit, bonnet, nappy, full stop, silencer, first floor. zebra crossing.
A lot of these words are just slang. I will point out as well that if the context is understood you can add 'ed' to the end of just about any word and people will know that you mean drunk, around where I am from for example you get 'blastered' on a night out.
In London, the word fag is used a lot less than cigarette, lawyer a lot more than barrister, exit as much as way out, and there's only one person I have ever heard say ta, who is Japanese, not English.
A Barrister is a form of lawyer that has the right to represent a client in certain types of court. US Lawyers are more like solicitors and when representing client in court Council.
Good quiz but as others have said, many of these are slang. Pissed for example means drunk but it is vulgar language and I would not use it in general company. Drunk is the British word too. Ta is the same - it is often said but it is slang and not every British person says it. However, we do all call biscuits biscuits and chips chips and crisps crisps.
chips and fries are different things, aren't they? chips are the thick proper ones and fries are the really skinny american ones like you get in macdonalds
Quite a lot of these are UK slang - drunk is drunk; pissed is a slang term used by some of us, but not all. Lawyer in UK is anyone who practices law - a barrister is just one kind of lawyer.
My only experience with hearing "high street" are English makeup youtubers talking about cheaper make-up, such as you would find in an American drugstore. So I thought it meant that...but drugstore (pharmacy) was the answer for something else.
Funny how being British means we use some of both, if your parents say chips for dinner, you don't think twice, you go to get fish and chips from the fish and chip shop. However nobody goes to McDonalds and says Chips please, they ask for fries. We also say Bathroom (more than we say Loo, though I assume it depends where in the UK you come from) Lorry and truck are both used as much as each other and most don't really have one they always use. Whinge is more of a moan, complain can be used in the same place but not really. Some people say gas but nobody says gas station. We say Ta and Thanks a lot. Polite people say Drunk, not the other. Same with cigarette, no polite person says 'fag'. Some brands are cookies and some are biscuits, nobody says Digestive Cookie. We say pharmacy as well. And to be honest I think most people say Bumper Cars not Dodgems.
In conclusion, you Americans are all wrong! But I love you none the less!
Fries and chips aren't the same thing. Chip shop style chips are big fat things. Fries are thin things from Belgium, as in french fries, or steak-frites. Same with lorry and truck I'd say. Lorries are the huge things that do 60mph in the middle lane on motorways. If someone said truck I'd assume they mean a pickup truck or similar. And I'd say toilet or loo is used way more than bathroom. I've never heard someone in a pub ask where the bathroom is, or say they're going to the bathroom. Maybe that's the company I keep though :)
Ehm, if it is thin it is Definitely NOT from belgium. Belgian fries (chips, whatever) are the biggest you'll ever see,.
(We have normal "fries" which we call patat (or in some dialects friet) the french fries are half as thin and only at mcdonalds and some places sell flamish fries which are atleast twice as big as regular ones.
Interesting, I stand corrected :) The ones I had in Belgium were much thinner than the ones in British fish and chips and it always comes up in quizzes that french fries come from Belgium so I assumed that's what they were. I guess I was eating patat/friet though. I never saw the large ones you mention. Where do french fries come from then? They definitely serve them in France, but it's always disputed as the country of origin.
It is called french fries not directly after the country, but the way they are cut. A la julliene or french cut. The same way some vegetables like carrots are cut for salads. I researched this a while ago, was curious about the origin. At that point they were just describing how to prepare the patato, the concept "fries" as its own distinct thing didnt excist yet.
I'm too lazy to describe the origin everytime is see this discussion come up, because it comes up way too often haha (not quite as much as cyprus, but near whether north and south america is one or two continents, and what is included in central america) but there you have it :)
When did the spelling of cooky become cookie? I still have my Betty Crocker Cooky Cook Book. The early spelling should also be accepted. Also, as a child in Miami in the early 50s, "Funland" had a "Dodgems" ride. Wasn't until I was an adult I heard them referred to as bumper cars.
I thought perhaps it was meant as in silly/crazy so I looked it up but that is spelled kooky. And you are right, it is cooky book (as in cookie, the cover is covered with it, so not meant as cook-y either) the book is from 1963 so not like an antique, but published in the lifetime of people still around.
But then again, is a correction really necessary? Surely you are aware of the modern spelling?
In Britain fries and chips are two different things. Chips are proper bits (chips) of potato, deep fried to crispy wholesome loveliness, then smothered in vinegar and eaten with fish, or if you're feeling flush - steak. However fries are those horrible thin over salted things that you get in McDonalds, and always feel a little bit worse about yourself after you've eaten them.
Only when they are police officers informing you that you did not come to a full stop at a stop sign (of which are way too many). Meaning wheels have to stop for some absurd amount of time before moving on, regardless of clear visibility and lack of other traffic. Police do lurk ...
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.
Terrible quiz. Many supposedly "American" words, like "exit", "thanks", "cookie", "cigarette" etc. are used here in Britain, some even more commonly than the supposed "British" words of this quiz. Many of these "American" words also are of British origin and are not exclusively "American".
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.
In my experience a Jacket Potato is a whole potato that is baked in its skin i.e. its jacket. A Baked potato is a peeled potato cut into portions and then baked in a shallow pool of oil .
Which version is the American "baked potato" referring to?
The jacket potato; in the U.S. a baked potato will always be baked in its skin or foil and usually elevated by slitting it open, with the addition of any of butter, salt, pepper, sour cream, green onions and maybe more.
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".
You're talking about roast potatoes being what you cut up and roast with your Sunday dinner. Baked and jacket are both the whole thing baked in its skin then stuffed with cheese or chilli... And then stuffed down your gullet
Surely this should be called the "American words" quiz... I got all but "muffler". I've vaguely heard of it, I think, but didn't really know what it was...
But signs often say "Way Out", which they never do in the U.S. (building code almost universally demands a sign saying "EXIT" in particular lettering--it's extremely consistent, whereas in my brief stays in the UK the "Way Out" sign often appeared any old way).
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.
The funny part for me is that I knew all the words (except for barrister, really) and their meaning, but not all the US alternatives.
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'd swap out 'ta' for something like 'pram' because even our cousins across the pond aren't unanimous on 'ta' but a pram - no disputes on a term like that.
As an Australian, many of these are used both ways here. The exception was crosswalk which (thankfully) has not taken on here at all. Hood and bumper cars are very rare here, but probably have been spoken on American TV shows broadcast here and so I knew them even if I've never used them.
In Australia, we have plenty of cars (including a lot of our taxis) that run on "gas" but are using liquefied petroleum gas (LFG). How would an American describe this without mixing it up with gas(oline)?
I’m American and never heard of cars running on LFG until I looked it up after reading your comment. All the gas stations I know carry gas(oline) and diesel (which Wikipedia says is called distillate in Australia).
We Americans don't even all agree on what to call a lorry, which I'm only assuming is the really large vehicle that pulls an enclosed trailer. Some of us say tractor-trailer, some say eighteen-wheeler, some say big rig, some say semi-truck (or semi for short), and a few (like me) say transfer truck. It really depends on which region you're from.
"Dodgems" is a funny one cause literally no one calls them that, they're bumper cars. But theme parks and funfairs still insist on putting "dodgems" on their signs lol
I call them dodgems. And sometimes I call them bumper cars. I guess the fairground carnies don’t want people ramming their cars into each other at high speed
I use ta all the time and im in the south. I thought they meant pissed as in annoyed lol also, a barrister? I thought that was someone who works in a bar?
As a Brit, I have to point out that most of these are interchangeable - that is, we use/understand both forms, with the exception of Zee, Crosswalk, Diaper, Period, Hood and Gas. I mean, let’s name a liquid after a completely different physical state!
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.
YES I SAID JAM not jelly...
Lawyers and solicitors are different things - lawyers are generally just people that study the law, such as a solicitor or barrister, and solicitors are more specifically people that deal with conveyancing and other legal matters such as wills.
Hope this helped! ^.^
The quiz master actually had to post that for fear of repercussion.
Well, I am an American and I don't say the American words 100% of the time!
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!
G'day mates :D
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
You could add:
Take-Away = Take out/to-go
Aubergine = Eggplant
Cling film = Plastic wrap
Court card = Face card
Noughts and crosses = Tic-tac-toe
Pram = Baby carriage/Stroller
Recorded delivery = Certified mail
Sleeping partner = Silent partner
Stag night = Bachelor party
Ticket tout = scalper
Tights = Pantyhose
Timber = Lumber
Earth = Ground (electrical terms)
Hob = Stovetop
Hundreds and thousands = Sprinkles
Jumper = Sweater
Pinafore dress = Jumper
Vest = Undershirt (tank top style)
Verge = Shoulder (of a road)
So many more are available, however, as TV and Movies cross the each way our languages becomes more common.
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 ;)
Loo is of course used everywhere constantly!
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.
Btw, translating 'fag' as cigarette isn't really correct, as fag is slang and not commonly used; I've ever said it in my life!
Also biscuits and cookies are different, we have cookies here as well as biscuits, but I get that Americans don't have that.
Great Quiz! ^.^
Here's a pic of what Americans & Brits call a biscuit...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscuit#/media/File:BiscuitsAmerican%26British.png
I'm curious, in the US are 'cookies' always the things that are round, flat, and the texture deliciously chewy? Or are they sometimes other shapes – square, rectangular, triangular etc, and the texture sometimes hard and brittle?
And a crosswalk is also known as a pedestrian crossing.
Other than that = fun.
But overall, great quiz.
copied this from JVIR
In conclusion, you Americans are all wrong! But I love you none the less!
(We have normal "fries" which we call patat (or in some dialects friet) the french fries are half as thin and only at mcdonalds and some places sell flamish fries which are atleast twice as big as regular ones.
I'm too lazy to describe the origin everytime is see this discussion come up, because it comes up way too often haha (not quite as much as cyprus, but near whether north and south america is one or two continents, and what is included in central america) but there you have it :)
Shrek
Sherk
Shkre
Srehk
I gave up now.
But then again, is a correction really necessary? Surely you are aware of the modern spelling?
pretty sure i did type baked potato but apparently wrote patato... which I often mistakenly do..
Somehow trolley made me type lorry, em sorry, otherway around. I thought it was a cart you could move like heavy stuff with..
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.
In my experience a Jacket Potato is a whole potato that is baked in its skin i.e. its jacket. A Baked potato is a peeled potato cut into portions and then baked in a shallow pool of oil .
Which version is the American "baked potato" referring to?
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...
I should know I get pissed most days!
Group of flats: Apartment
As for chips and football, well, enough said…