When we considered leaving the UK and taking a position that gave us scope for adventure, ensuring we went to an English speaking country was top of my list. I’ve since realized that there are many subtle differences between the English I speak, and the English Americans speak.
Here is my translation:
Crisps – these are potato chips here.
Chips – what my US friends call french fries. Ironically there is a brand of crisps in the UK called french fries, which look like little skinny chips. Delicious!
Scone – now this is called a biscuit here, which leads me onto…
Biscuit – a cookie! It’s getting confusing, isn’t it?! The only biscuit I call a cookie is a kind with chocolate chips in it.
Fizzy drink/pop – soda. To me, soda is just a name for fizzy water.
Pudding – this is a general word for dessert where I come from. But here it is a thick set custard (if you are ever in the UK, get some angel delight – it’s heavenly pudding!)
Jam – jelly. But what I call jelly is known as jello here. So if you hear a Brit say their kids had a bowl of jelly for pudding, they actually gave them a bowl of jello for dessert!
Jumper – it’s just a sweater people; I’m not going anywhere!
Rubber – I asked someone if she had a spare rubber at a workshop I did once. She just laughed. I should have asked for the eraser. Oops!
Pants – I wear these under my clothes. I’m still not 100% sure of the word I should be using!
Trolley – it’s called a shopping cart here.
Tights – here they are called pantyhose. I think tights are what I call leggings – I’ve confused people in shops with this one!
Fanny – I won’t go into detail on this one, but let’s just say that where yours is, and where mine is, is exactly opposite one another. I chuckle to myself every time I hear it!
I have more, but they are a little on the rude side and, well, my Mum and Mother in law read these posts so I’ll keep those to myself!
I LOVE it! That we can all be speaking the same language, but still have our own words which mean different things. In the UK there are at least 15 (that I have found) different names for a bread roll, including (but not limited to) breadcake, barm, bap, cob… the list goes on!
