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I've realised they don't use the term 'fortnight', generally use the word 'rude' only in the sense of lacking manners, say 'half hour', 'a couple of times' (instead of half an hour, a couple of times), use plenty of acronyms for everything (SO, DH, PDA), have this phrase to 'call someone out', don't use the word 'cheeky' nearly as much as us.
Have other non-Americans learnt/noticed anything? I'm talking things you've personally noticed, not the well known differences (lorry/truck, hood/bonnett, color/colour, well known regional slang).
Oh and learnt/learned, spoilt/spoiled tends to be an American/British thing.
This is just get the impression I got but Americans tend to say 'will not', 'cannot' alot more than us. I never use the word 'cannot'.
Any Americans noticed anything other 'strange' usages from non-Yanks?
My American friend comments on phrases he hasn't heard/finds strange. Oh another one, he said in American you would say, 'I went to the hospital' instead of 'I went to hospital' a small one but one he picked up on.
Either way, I think it's quite obvious there are far more Britishisms/Aussieisms that Americans are ignorant of than the other way round.
Interesting post! I didn't realize people in the UK wouldn't say "cannot". My friend's husband is a Brit, and he says he is feeling "peckish" when he is hungry. That's not a word usually used in the US. One that I adopted is "everything is tickety-boo" because I like the way it sounds.
"I went to hospital" is something I noticed a long time ago. I think I read the phrase in a book when I was young and thought it was an error.
"Learnt" and "spoilt" and similar forms are still used regionally in the US.
One fairly recent discovery for me was that, in Ireland (or at least in Tralee), what Americans call the "Emergency Room" or "Trauma Center" is called "Casualty."
I have heard (and used) 'peckish' for hungry but never 'kip' for a nap.
Americans sort things out but rarely get themselves sorted.
I have heard the past tense pronounced as in 'spilt' or 'dreamt', especially in NY and the northeast in general, but never spelt (spelled) that way (in American publications).
I regularly misspell 'axe', 'flavour', and 'armour' but never 'programme' or 'aluminium'.
A lot of Americans have taken to the British usage of 'brilliant' to mean something other than the glare of the sun or Einstein's mind.
You might hear an American say 'b*llocks' but it still comes off as an affectation. 'Sh*te' works for some people, but not for others. 'Bloody', while not mainstream, is in the American vocabulary.
It is far more acceptable for an American (among Americans) to use Britishisms than it is to affect British pronunciations, even with a decent accent, unless for comedic effect.
One fairly recent discovery for me was that, in Ireland (or at least in Tralee), what Americans call the "Emergency Room" or "Trauma Center" is called "Casualty."
They do good work in Casualty, btw...
Would you mind if we borrow it for use over here? We have a lot of wars on abstractions going on, and it could be more convenient from that point of view.
American public school = a free of charge, community school, supported by local "property taxes" and used by the majority of people
American private school = a school that charges a tuition fee, for people who think it's better than a "public school". They are often religious-affiliated, but not always, and sometimes require commuting to a more distant neighborhood
In USA a "Billion" means a thousand million. In UK, I think "Million" means a million million. The use of Decimals and commas in numbers, is reversed from their use in UK. "Mr" and Mrs" are spelled with a period.
"Interstate" = a motorway, either in a rural or an urban area, and which crosses State lines (except for the one in Hawaii)
Sometimes "Freeway" or "Expressway" is used to mean a motorway in a city or urban area.
"Turnpike" means a motorway built prior to 1960, financed with State funding rather than US Federal funding, and on which "Toll" payments are collected on every trip. Often they are named after the State they're in, and are also given "Interstate" route numbers. Although to make things confusing, occasionally you will find ordinary, slow suburban avenues named "Pikes" or "Turnpikes" simply because far back in the 1800s they had charged tolls.
Sometimes Americans will use the word "regular" rather than "proper" to mean an actual object, rather than an improvised or makeshift object.
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Last edited by slowlane2; 01-22-2011 at 05:50 PM..
"fancy" in America is an adjective, meaning luxurious, showy, ornate, decorated, or costly
"fancy" in UK is a verb (or noun), meaning to personally "Like" something or find it appealing.
"block of flats" in UK = "apartment house" in America
"give it a go" in UK - "give it a shot" or "give it a try" in America
"dear" in UK (in various European languages "caro" or "chere") can either mean costly, or a term of endearment for a loved person. But in America "dear" only has the latter meaning.
Americans would say "expensive" or "Costly" to refer to price.
"Railway" in UK = "Railroad" in US. "Goods" in UK = "Freight" in US.
"Holiday" in UK can mean an overnight trip away from one's home. In America this is called a "vacation"
"Holiday" in America refers to an official comemmorative day, when employees are excused from working. Many people just stay home on designated "holidays"
Sometimes American written and spoken terms differ. For example "pants" (spoken term) but "trousers" (written term). "Bus" (spoken) but "coach" (written) meaning a long-distance excursion vehicle.
Last edited by slowlane2; 01-22-2011 at 06:01 PM..
I noticed Americans say 'I could care less' when logically they mean 'I couldn't care less', which is what we say. By the way, number/decimal usage in the UK is the same as the US. A million is a thousand thousand, a billion a thousand million etc. In continental Europe they would write eg 5 1/2 as 5,5 instead of 5.5, but not us.
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