Thursday, July 2, 2020

What Americanism and Britishisms mean

US flag

American - British English
Band-aid - elastoplast/sticking plaster
chit-chat - natter
clothes pin - clothes peg
diaper - nappy
eraser - rubber
good catch - (well done?)
funeral parlor - motuary, morque
Kleenex - paper hanky/tissue
mail - post
napkin -sanitary towel
Onesie - Babygrow
pacifier - dummy
pavement - road surface
period - full stop
plimsol - sneaker
pudding - blancmange
rubber - contraceptive/Durex

British English - American
Babygrow - Onesie
blancmange - pudding
clothes peg - clothes pin
dummy - pacifier
Durex - rubber
Elastoplast /sticking plaster - Band-Aid
full stop - period
jelly - Jello
nappy - diaper
natter - chitchat
paper hankie - Kleenex
post - mail
road surface - pavement
rubber - eraser
sneaker - plimsol

Quiz
Test yourself
British English - American
Babygrow -
blancmange -
clothes peg -
dummy -
Durex -
Elastoplast /sticking plaster -
full stop -
jelly -
nappy -
natter -
paper hankie -
post -
road surface -
rubber -
sneaker -

Useful websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_having_different_meanings_in_American_and_British_English
https://context.reverso.net/translation/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/polyglotcommunity
https://translate.google.com/

About the author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.



  • I and my family have lived in the UK, Spain, the USA and Singapore. I am a travel writer and photographer and teacher of English A level and English as a foreign language.

    Please come to a Toastmasters International Club where the English clubs have a language evaluator or grammarian.  We also have French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and other language clubs based in Singapore and many more online around the world which because of Covid-19 are now meeting online.

    I am Immediate Past President of Braddell Heights Advanced, meeting on Zoom the first Wednesday of the month but  the third Saturday afternoon and occasionally on other Wednesdays our workshops are on app learncool.sg 
  • Incoming president Faith from July 1st 2020 could change dates and platforms so please contact the club.

  • learncool.sg

  • Or quicker to type and easier to remember: 

  •  tinyurl.com/BHACOOL

    For language lovers:
    Useful Websites
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_reduplicated_place_names

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_reduplicated_Australian_place_names

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_reduplicated_New_Zealand_place_names

  • https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogs
    https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/04/how-to-say-thank-you-in-several.html
    https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/05/introducing-yourself-in-english-spanish.html
    https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/01/second-set-of-portuguese-words.html Please share links to your favourite posts
    https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
    translate.google.c
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