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A Siamese/tabby mix cat is called a Lynx point in America. In Britain it is, appropriately, called a Tabby point. By any other name, it is a beautiful cat.

Yes, nearly everything I write here gets misinterpreted by Americans. It's really annoying. I feel like I have to explain myself, or americanize words to make my posts clear. Because USA posters are the majority here, UK and Australian posters are more likely to understand americanized posts than American posters understanding non-Americans.

It's hard to talk about school here because the USA has a completely different school system than the UK. Also kids have school uniform in the UK, whereas most USA schools don't.
I sometimes get uncomfortable watching films of kids at schools in the USA because kids not wearing uniform makes it seem less school-y than when watching British films where all kids are wearing uniforms.

I once attended a show here in the US that featured an American comedian who quipped, "the British invented the English language, the Americans "screwed-it up!"

If any of you Brits find yourself here strolling the streets of the USA, and you suddenly get an urge for a cigarette don't EVER ask the locals "where can I find a fag?".

By the same token I read in a magazine when I was a kid decades ago that an American couple living in Britain shocked their guests when they announced that the "dessert is peach cobbler". Supposedly "cobbler" is Brit slang for the male organ. But I will let you Brits confirm that.

^ "Cobbler" is fine to say over here. Like lamb cobbler for instance.

“Fag” or “fa***t” is roughly the homophobe equivalent to “n****r” in America.

Thanx Smudge

That was some odd little anecdote I read once in Reader's Digest in like 1969. Have never heard that said about the word 'cobbler' since. So I am not totally surprised to learn that its not necessarily accurate. Lol!

Message deleted! - I didn't sense I'd receive feedback on topic of US/Canadian language differences.

If interested in perspectives of comparing US/Canada language uses. Private message (PM) request.

Thank-you

Last edited by Here on 06 Oct 2017, 2:53 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Exactly.

In England fag/fa***t means a "cigarette".

Originally a "fa***t" was the bundle you made of the sticks you gathered for kindling to start your fire.
Its easy to see how that evolved into meaning cigarette since cigarettes are burning sticks.

How the American usage to mean "a homosexual male" originated is not so obvious to me.

But in the 19th Century private all male schools in England younger boys worked as servants for older boys. And the servants were called "fags". So you have an all male school, horny teen guys, and no girls around to date, and some kids have power over other kids to force them to do stuff, and if you let your imagination go you can imagine how that usage of the word "fag" could have evolved. Or that was my theory once. But the trouble with my theory is that that was in England (where they don't use the word for homosexual), and not in the US (where we do use it to mean that). So its still a mystery.

Basic English whenever you speak with someone, if i speak with a Britt, i can say "Sarney" instead of "Sandwich", but everyone isn't from the area where those localized words are, i.e. "Soda" can be called "pop", "lemonade" or even "cooling drink" depending on where you are in the states, Australia have different words as well. So when you go somewhere, go with basic English and "feel your way around" by listening to people and adapt.

Ok, I don't know if this was a joke or you didn't understand my meaning. I meant pram as in perambulator. What do you push a baby in in the US? I got some answers from google, but I don't know what people actually use in everyday conversation.

Baby carriage, or sometimes "baby buggy". Thought the later is now heard mostly only in the tongue twister "rubber baby buggy bumpers".

Thanks! When I start wondering about something like that, I never stop wondering.....

Americans usually call pushchairs a "stroller".

Your "lifts" are our "elevators."

You pick up your luggage in "baggage reclaim." We pick up our luggage in "baggage claim."

When you're in the WC, the sign says it's "engaged." When we're in the bathroom, the sign says it's "occupied."

Your "railway" is our "railroad," though "railway" is sometimes used here.

Your "launderette" is our "laundromat."

Your "surgery" is our "doctor's office." Surgery is only used in the US to mean the process of an "operation." "Undergoing surgery."

In the UK a "strop" is another word for a temper or bad mood. I've used that word on WP before and Americans thought I was talking about a belt buckle or something.