The words which caught me out in the USA were:
1 When I for jelly and was offered jam,
2 and when asked for a rubber, meaning stationery, and was directed to a drug store.
American English- British English
1 crazy questions - daft questions, silly questions
2 donut - doughnut
3 drug store - chemist, pharmacy
4 Mom - Mum (Mom and Pop store - family business)
5 Pop - Dad
6 Preserve - good quality jam with whole fruit or large pieces
7 it's a steal - it's a bargain, cost peanuts, cheap as chips, got it for a song and a dance
8 it sucks - it stinks; it's no good; it's really bad
I suck - I am a failure; I suck at - I'm no good at / I can't do .../ I am useless at
he sucks at it - he's hopeless / he couldn't organize a piss-up in a brewery / it's not his forte / it's not his strong point (irony, British understatement)
9 thrift store - cut price shop
10 tic-tac-toe - noughts and crosses
11 yard - garden
yard sale - car boot sale, house clearance
12 vacation - holiday
1 diaper - nappy
2 elementary school - primary school
3 eraser - rubber
4 hack - tip
5 High school - secondary school
6 Jello (brand name) - jelly
7 jelly - jam
8 He's Randy, a male named Randy, short for Randolph - he is randy, sexually excited, hunting for a sex partner, watch out, a bit of a sex predator
8 regular - standard size
9 rubber - Durex (brand name)/sheath/contraceptive/condom (from the French town)
10 truck/truck driver - lorry/lorry driver
11 Holiday - vacation
12 math - maths
British English - American English
1 Bargain (it's a) - steal (it's a); Bargain basement / charity shop - thrift store
2 chemist - drug store+pharmacy
3 Dad - pop
4 daft questions, silly questions - crazy questions
5 doughnut - donut
6 Garden - yard
7 Mum - Mom
8 rubber - eraser
9 it's a steal - it's a bargain
10 it sucks - it stinks; it's no good; it's really bad
I suck - I am a failure; I suck at - I'm no good at / I can't do .../ I am useless at
he sucks at it - he's hopeless / he couldn't organize a piss-up in a brewery / it's not his forte / it's not his strong point (irony, British understatement)
11 thrift store/pre-loved - cut price shop/second hand shop, nearly new
12 tic-tac-toe - noughts and crosses
13 yard - garden; yard sale - car boot sale; house clearance; jumble sale (fund-raiser usually at a church and includes torn and broken items) (rough equivalents);charity shop is a shop which takes only sale-able nearly new items.
14 maths - math
Useful Websites
google translate
https://www.facebook.com/groups/polygotcommunity/?multi_permalinks=2424564744428950¬if_id=1573005658987014¬if_t=group_highlights
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/11/beware-of-british-and-american.html
About The Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teachers business English and other languages.
I have several more posts on American English and other languages. Please share links to your favourite posts.
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