American English - British English
On my first visit to America from England we went to Disney. On the monorail we heard the announcement 'we will be landing momentarily'. We heard the same from the pilot on an airplane. To us that implied, we will be landing for only a moment, so don't remove your seatbelt nor get out nor off.However, all the other passengers jumped up. For a moment, we thought they were Spanish speaking people who had not understood the instructions in English. Then we realised that the people who had not understood were us. We would be carried on to the next stop if we didn't follow.
a quarter after - a quarter past
at this moment in time - now
bassinet - cradle
casket - coffin
cop - police
elementary school - junior school
grade - incline
guys (could be mixed sex or even all girls) - folks, people; guys is male as in boys, fellows, lads
high school - secondary school
make a left - turn left
make a right - turn right
momentarily - shortly, soon, in a moment
Hershey (brand name of dark chocolate)- Cadbury's (brand name of chocolate)
junior (after a name) - son of
private school (paid for privately - public school (grand, traditional fee paying school, often in historic building with a boarding house, now open to the fee paying public not just run by monks and attached to the Church of England as in previous centuries)
senior (after a name) - father of
seniors / retirees - pensioners (O A P short ford age pensioner is increasingly being seen as derogatory or not politically correct
Tannoy (brand name) - public address system, loudspeakers
Pronunciation
'erbs' - herbs
'rout' - route (as in root, toot, hoot)
'yawl' (Southern drawl contraction) - you all
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and English teacher.
On my first visit to America from England we went to Disney. On the monorail we heard the announcement 'we will be landing momentarily'. We heard the same from the pilot on an airplane. To us that implied, we will be landing for only a moment, so don't remove your seatbelt nor get out nor off.However, all the other passengers jumped up. For a moment, we thought they were Spanish speaking people who had not understood the instructions in English. Then we realised that the people who had not understood were us. We would be carried on to the next stop if we didn't follow.
a quarter after - a quarter past
at this moment in time - now
bassinet - cradle
casket - coffin
cop - police
elementary school - junior school
grade - incline
guys (could be mixed sex or even all girls) - folks, people; guys is male as in boys, fellows, lads
high school - secondary school
make a left - turn left
make a right - turn right
momentarily - shortly, soon, in a moment
Hershey (brand name of dark chocolate)- Cadbury's (brand name of chocolate)
junior (after a name) - son of
private school (paid for privately - public school (grand, traditional fee paying school, often in historic building with a boarding house, now open to the fee paying public not just run by monks and attached to the Church of England as in previous centuries)
senior (after a name) - father of
seniors / retirees - pensioners (O A P short ford age pensioner is increasingly being seen as derogatory or not politically correct
Tannoy (brand name) - public address system, loudspeakers
Pronunciation
'erbs' - herbs
'rout' - route (as in root, toot, hoot)
'yawl' (Southern drawl contraction) - you all
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and English teacher.
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