Wednesday, March 18, 2009

One people, divided by a common language

Grandmere Mimi is going to have to learn a new dialect: British. The number of women who have come to grief over the definition of a rubber! Here 's some help:

AMERICAN BRITISH
Airplane Aeroplane
Aluminum Aluminium
Apartment Flat
Band-Aid Elastoplast
Entree, Starter
Eraser Rubber
Expensive Dear
Call (on the phone) Ring
Checkers Draughts
Hamburger Bun Bap
Jail Gaol
Jello Jelly
Jelly Jam
Napkin Serviette
Nudist Naturist
Sneakers Trainers, Plimsolls,Pumps
Soccer Football
Stroller Pram, Pushchair
Suspenders Braces
Sweater Pullover, Jumper

10 comments:

motheramelia said...

how about "trunk" and "boot"
Thank you for doing this BTW.

PseudoPiskie said...

Not to mention "fags" or cigarettes which most of us have abandoned for health's sake.

Erp said...

First Floor - Second Floor
cookie - biscuit
candy - sweets
supper - high tea
french fry - chip
chip - crisp

Will MP or Doorman Priest knock up Grandmere Mimi?

Counterlight said...

Taking a "drag off a fag" has a sharply different meaning in this country.

susankay said...

I remember how concerned I was as a child to read of Pooh admiring Christopher Robin's "braces". I thought it must mean that he had had polio.

Erp said...

I always found the kids carrying torches fascinating though I half knew what they really were.

Erika Baker said...

But you guys use candy to mean chocolate too, don't you?

And jelly is jam? Jelly is jelly, what you get when you strain your boiled fruit and sugar through a piece of muslin.
Jam is what you get when you pot the content of your preserving pan without straining the fruit out of it.

Don't you Americans distinguish that?

Rev. Richard Thornburgh said...

How about

US - - UK
bum - tramp
bum - arse
sidewalk - pavement
elevator - lift
thunderclap - fart

Revd. Neal Terry said...

She's staying in Leeds! None of this matters as she won't comprehend a word anyway. The Hamburger bun/bap is just as likely to be reffered to as a barm cake.

Doorman-Priest said...

Just to defent Yorkshirespeak...
Oh, maybe not.

But then I'm from the south originally.