British versus American phrases, words, spellings

We use "dough" in the UK too (although it's a bit old now) and also commonly "grand" for a thousand (pounds).

We use both the words "settee" and "sofa" here (although not really "couch" often). The difference seems to be (although not set in stone) that "sofa" is a bit more middle-class whereas "settee" is more of a working-class word.

I think "for[e]night" is just a misspelling of "fortnight", because it wouldn't have the same meaning - since "fore" is a contraction of "before" and tends to mean the front/beginning of something, e.g. there is a word "forenoon" (meaning the late morning/before afternoon) which is not commonly used and only in writing.

We also have the expression "high-falutin" here.

Well, I guess it's just the spelling that's different then. :embarasse

Other American cash words are "bread" (although that's obsolete) dinero (derived from Spanish; limited to the Southwestern USA only) and smackers.

"Couch potato" is a term used for someone who is lazy and/or sits on the couch all the time (probably watching TV). Soon there will probably be something like "computer potato" (just my own made up term)!

A friend of mine had British relatives visit him in the states and he invited them to a family gathering. A child walked across the room and one of the Americans said "What a cute little bugger!" The British folks were appalled. They ran up to my friend and cried "WHAT did they just call him?!?" They were wide eyed and incredulous. My friend explained what "cute little bugger" means here. Funny, I haven't been able to use that phrase since hearing that story.

Referring to money, we also use "bucks." Where I live it's common to hear statements such as "Wow! Only ten bucks!" And, to get really bizarre, a person I used to know said "honda" or "bill" for "one hundred." Getting directions from him was a surreal experience: "Yeah. You take highway honda about for about a bill." Or talking about weather: "Whoa, it's a bill and one in the shade!" I never understood it, but his entire group of friends also talked this way.

That's funny! "Bugger" in the U.S. is kind of an affectionate term, but in England it's almost a swear word, I think, like "bloody" or "blooming": "I don't like those bloody uncomfortable chairs!"

We use "couch potato" here too ! I've yet to meet a couch carrot though - or couch celery.

"Bugger" here is indeed usually used more negatively - like you might call someone a moody bugger (usually accompanied with a look like this --> , lol) although it can sometimes be affectionate (i.e. "you daft bugger !").

EDIT : I've also read the following on the BBC news website:
"Jail and prison are not the same thing in the United States - it depends on the size and governing body of the facility".
I never knew that before. The words are used pretty much interchangeably in England.

We use them interchangeably here, too, even though a "jail" is probably smaller than a prison. The word "jail" conjures up images of someone behind bars in a one-room sheriff's office, whereas "prison" sounds like a bigger, more institutionalized setting. There's an old English word, "gaol", I think, meaning jail.

Cash means money in the usa...I didn't see anyone post it, if they did sorry!

Sarapva said:

Soon there will probably be something like "computer potato"

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The scientifically correct term is IMHO "mouse potato"

Sarapva said:

I've heard the word "davenport", but never used it.[snip]

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I suspect that the term "davenport" is now obsolete. I have read that the term came to be applied to a line of sofas made by the A. H. Davenport Company. A web search verified that such a company did exist.

On another subject, I have also read that the British term "punter" with the general meaning "customer" is largely confined to London and Essex. Can any of the British posters verify that, or is it not accurate?

It's weird but my family uses davenport. (or couch) A lot of people in this area use it to mean a large couch or sofa. I wonder if the Davenport company made larger size furniture. I am curious now!

I just looked Davenport up on wikipedia...it seems that the term davenport is common to the midwest, which makes sense because I live in that region. Thanks Anohito, for the info.

Goldiegirl said:

It's weird but my family uses davenport. (or couch) A lot of people in this area use it to mean a large couch or sofa. I wonder if the Davenport company made larger size furniture. I am curious now!

I just looked Davenport up on wikipedia...it seems that the term davenport is common to the midwest, which makes sense because I live in that region. Thanks Anohito, for the info.

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You're quite welcome. I haven't heard the term "davenport" for years now, which is why I suspected it may be obsolete (also, it may well not be as common as it used to be, even in the midwest).

I got the name of the company from Wikipedia, and verified its existence with a Google search.

Anohito said:

On another subject, I have also read that the British term "punter" with the general meaning "customer" is largely confined to London and Essex. Can any of the British posters verify that, or is it not accurate?

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It is used and I normally associate it with the South. Around where I live we use the word batch for a bun or bap, as in "a bacon and egg batch". I have some odds looks when I asked for a batch outside he area.
I find the US use of the word Hell odd. It seems that its is a much stronger swear word in the US than the UK. I will hear it regular on TV or radio and used in general conversation, yet anything I have heard, seen and used in the US the word Heck is preferable.

Love this thread, really interesting.
In the UK, regional accents sometimes have their own words for things. Theres certain stereotypes about them e.g Yorkshire where i live, the typical accent has dropped 'H's', mutilated vowels, and often shorten words probably due to laziness.
E.g "I have something in my eye" would be:
"Ah got summat in mah een"

Or 'I'm just going to the toilet'
'Ahm jus' gon' nip down t'bog'

'Go out and help'
'Go aht an' 'elp'


But having grown up in London, i think the greatest thing ever invented was cockney rhyming slang e.g

"Get us a beer china"
China Plate=mate

"i need some bee's and honey"
Money=bee's and honey

"He's gone Patrick"
patrick swayze=crazy

You'll find some of cockney slang is in Australian English. I heard one refering to an American as a Septic. Septic Tank=Yank

Mycernius said:

[snip]
I find the US use of the word Hell odd. It seems that its is a much stronger swear word in the US than the UK. I will hear it regular on TV or radio and used in general conversation, yet anything I have heard, seen and used in the US the word Heck is preferable.

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Extremely conservative Christians are allowed to have far more influence in the USA than they are (most likely) in Britain.

This may not have been correct, but I once read that the term "bloody" as a mild swear word used to be considered extremely strong because it was a contraction of "By our Lady," that is, the virgin Mary.

I think "hell" is used most commonly here in adult conversations, but other words like "heck" are used around children or in public places. I don't use either one of them (never got into the habit)!

Obeika said:

Question here...do you "Brits" call the 1st floor of a building the ground floor and then count the 2nd floor as being the 1st floor? I.E. a 10 story building in the US would be a 9 story building in England.

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Hah, that one still throws me and I've been living in England all my life . Like when I went into Waterstone's (a major bookstore in the UK) the other day it said second floor for foreign languages on the floor guide so I went up the stairs and all I could see were manga, science fiction and medical books. I walked around confused for a few moments before it finally dawned on me. Then again, there was a floor below gorund level so I guess I assumed that was 'ground floor'.

In the UK, regional accents sometimes have their own words for things. Theres certain stereotypes about them e.g Yorkshire where i live, the typical accent has dropped 'H's', mutilated vowels, and often shorten words probably due to laziness.

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Yeah, I'm from the North East (yup, I'm a Geordie) and it's like there is a whole other language up here. Apparantly Geordie has a light Norse influence so we have words that aren't heard anywhere else.
For example:
Hyem = Home
Gan/Gannin' = Go/Going
Deek = look
Aye = Yes/Sure
Why aye = Yes!/Of course
Giz = Give/Give me
Tekkin' = Taking
Divn't = Don't
Yee = You
Wor (pronounced 'war') = Our
Bairn (used in other parts of the UK, too) = Child
Nar/Nah = No
Us (more often than not pronounced 'is/iz') = Me
And so on and so forth.I'm (hopefully) moving to Yorkshire later this year, but it looks like they speak fairly similar and I don't use geordie slang (at least I try not to) other than 'aye' now and again. But I do use slang when I'm yelling at someone, maybe the part of me that conciously supresses the inner Geordie vanishes when I'm angry. A lot of people don't really use a Geordie dialect anymore and some words die out. Though a lot of people do seem to use as much Geordie as they can when they are angry. lol.

And this is an interesting discussion .

I think the main problem a lot of people have with the English language are tenses. My old Italian teacher used to tell us how English confused him when he was learning it because he couldn't understand why the past tense of work is 'worked' but the past tense of go is 'went' and not 'goed' (goad, which is pronounced the same, is a different word entirely).
And my Brazilian friend says that she has trouble with on/in. She often mixes the meanings up.

You'll find some of cockney slang is in Australian English. I heard one refering to an American as a Septic. Septic Tank=Yank

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Hah, that is a good illustration of the differences in English dialects. As soon as I read 'septic', I thought "they said the American was infected?".