English and American Words

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In my part of the US, and everywhere I've been, its usually referred to as a "toll road" rather than a "tollway". And I always thought that the "free" in freeway was as in "free of traffic signals" rather than "free of charge" or as opposed to tollway.

We say bathroom when we mean bathroom, but I don't really here it as a euphemism for toilet. "Toilet" itself is used more often than "bog" or "bathroom".


I don't think the word poof is condoned over here. If anything, it is dying out in favour of fag, thanks to the internet (specifically YouTube and online gaming).


We will happily use both. I don't know if that is a recent development.


When (Brit) Neil Gaiman wrote American Gods, he carefully researched Midwestern dialects, and got a lot of letters from people on the coast accusing him of using British terms.

My contribution:
- The word "cracker" has vastly different meanings
- Brits tend to refer to weed or just cannabis, whereas Americans prefer marijuana.
- When discussing politics, Americans seem to fixate on liberals v conservatives. Brits, if such a topic arises, will generally talk about left v right instead.
- Americans "drop" records. Brits "release" them.
- Regardless of what meat they are made of, Americans will request a hamburger when Brits would use the generic "burger"
- "Fringe" versus "bangs" (hair)
- Often v "oftentimes" (only archaic use over here)
- Maths v Math
- Teach v learn ("that'll learn you")
- Similarly, Americans can care less. British people can't.
- Series v season

Down south, Coke is a generic term for softdrink.

Also, I've been to many of the locations in Gaiman's book and I'm very familiar with the region. He did alright.

Coke is generic for pop? Very interesting.

Does anyone know what the term "All American Boy" mean? What kind of boy does it describe? Is the term a cliche?

^^^ Short answer: Steve Rogers.

revise/study

I watched an entire season of Inbetweeners before I finally realized that in England, when students "revise", they are reviewing academic material in preparation for a test. In U.S schools., this is called "studying" and "revising" means you are changing things in preliminary drafts of a term paper in order to create the final version. For Americans, "revise" means "change something to make it better". Through many episodes of the show I wondered why the students were constantly re-writing term papers but seemingly never studying for tests.

It is probably my over-reliance on shows like Inbetweeners, Fools and Horses and The Young Ones that made me think that slang terms for things (e.g. "bog") were the actual terms. I have only been to England twice which is not enough time to learn the language (or rather to learn the place where the same words in the shared language mean completely different things). The balance of my knowledge comes from TV shows, movies and novels. Oftentimes I couldn't differentiate between when a word was slang and when it was a formal yet different term such as boot/trunk.

Bog is very informal in the UK. You can only say it to people you know well if ever.

We usually say toilet to mean bathroom. Or the very posh English might say Lavatory.

Oft times, we Americans call the bathroom the head, or the sh*ter.

So Steve Rogers is all American because he's Captain America?

I take it the term means someone (male) who is patriotic and stands for freedom?

Or is it a term that is tongue in cheek? I don't know if we have a British equivalent term.

Yeah we say Sh*ter too. One Stephen King character made me laugh in Christine when he says to Arnie Cunningham that just because he can rummage through the junk in his yard doesn't mean he's got the gold key to the crapper!

No, it's actually more like he's Captain America because he's all American.

If you saw the movie: Steve Rogers was a little guy with the heart of a lion. He was willing to stand-up for what was right even if it meant he'd take a beating for it. He was also smart (remember the flag pole scene), and willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good (the grenade scene).

In a more real-world sense, an all american kid would be the guy who lettered in football, made the honor roll, dated the cheerleader, volunteered at the homeless shelter, and then when he grew-up and became successful he'd buy his mother a brand-new house and car.

It's really less about being patriotic in a nationalistic sense and more about upholding the ideals that define the mythical American. He's brave, honest, hardworking, generous (without being a bleeding heart), and successful in every sense.

Blimey ! ! Most any term relating to an automobile or to driving is different. I still get confused (for a moment at least) when they talk about 'what's under the hood.' Well, do you mean the seats? The upholstery? The driving compartment? NO ! !! They're talking about the motor/engine under the bonnet. It is fun to see them get puzzled when I refer to a car as a left hooker.

In Canada, almost everything we say is a mish-mash of UK English and so-called American English. I read that in the UK "jelly" is "Jello" and fruit preserves are always called "jam". In Canada we have Jello but fruit preserves are nearly always called jam, although I've seen grape and apple jelly as a spread sold in jars and it's different from jam. We spell color and flavor with a "u" but we spell it "tires" not "tyres". One fun way we confuse people outside of Canada is to call sweet, non-alcoholic, fizzy beverages "pop". In the states they call it soda. I read they call it pop in some parts of the states but I have really never heard it not called soda by Americans on TV. Little kids in Canada will sometimes refer to cola drinks as "black pop". I read that in the UK french fries are called chips if they are the thick-cut variety, but they call the skinny variety fries.

We also sometimes call the bathroom the "washroom". It makes more sense if it's a public bathroom that has sinks and toilets but not bathtubs.

I actually know what crumpets are because I've bought them at the nearby grocery store. They're quite good toasted because when you spread butter and jam over them they melt into all the little holes. Mmmm.

Trolley UK
Cart US

Tram UK
trolley car or streetcar USA

There is no real US equivilent to "Take the piss out"

New wave music UK
Music made by Punk rockers who intentionally scrapped thier punk ethos to sell records or arty/pop punk rock. In the UK New Wave is not generally used to describe any music past 1980

New wave Music US
Most Pop/rock/ synth music made in the 1980's insipired by punk and made by mostly British androgynous groups, mostly using synths influenced by glam and disco. More and more this music is called "Classic Alternative" now.

Synthpop in the UK and USA has mostly the same meaning now. In the USA in the ' 80's it was mostly called techno pop. In the UK it is considered a seperate genre of music in the USA the main sub genre of New Wave.

Since Bowie just died glam rock has the same meaning now in both places but in the '70's the preferred American term was "Glitter Rock"

Exactly. We NEVER use the word "hire" for nonliving things (tools, houses, properties). You can only "hire" a person.

If you say "hire a car" here in the US folks will scratch their heads and then figure "they must mean hire a limo or cab driver" (ie pay for a vehicle with a driver included).