The first time I went to London, I found myself standing at the front desk of my hotel in tears. “My pants! My favourite pants! They’re ruined, I spilled a drink on them! Can you dry-clean them?” The puzzled look on the concierge’s face should have been my first clue that I was making no sense, but it was only when a couple of other guests started to snicker and the concierge’s face turned a shade of red I’ve yet to see again that I realized I may have committed a language error in my native tongue. The British English versus the North American English (I’m Canadian) I speak can sometimes be as confusing as US to UK sizing.
We thought we’d put together some of the most common British & American words that just don’t translate, and had to of course share them with you. With more and more British brands popping up on the other side of the Atlantic – and vice versa more and more American brands winding up in the UK – we all need to know our court shoes from our pumps!
Good thing is the British don’t need a special dictionary or translator service to know what Americans mean in the most part. Being worldly rather than insular is a bonus the rest of the world has over Americans.
This rather a harsh comment to an article which was meant to be fun. Either I don’t get the core of your comment or I’m right thinking it is somewhat rude… :-/
Best anyway,
Sophie (from FRANCE)
I was also thinking : lift/elevator , highway/motorway … Courgette/Zucchini?
Well in fact, I’d love to get an American-English dictionnary… There are many more! 🙂
I absolutely loved this article Amanda! learnt quite a bit by leaving in both countries. I try to teach my French pupils both versions whenever I come across words that don’t translate. They really enjoy it… still I learnt quite a bit today so thank you ! (Sophie @lespiedsdanslesable ) xxx
I was in London for a couple months this summer, and even though I knew the pants/trousers thing, I kept slipping and correcting myself. I didn’t know until the last week I was there, though, that English people say “excuse me” to indicate that they’ve passed gas! Go ahead and guess how many times I said this in the seven weeks before that…