I shall start with a couple of words which were new to me, which I saw in the newspaper this week. Then I shall give you a list of some common words in the USA and British equivalents.
USA
grifter - con artist, swindler, petty crook, USA (not to be confused with drifter, a low-life person who drifts from place to place, as the British police and newspapers would say, of no fixed abode
UK
bothy - mountainside overnight shelter open for the public, UK, especially Scotland - mountain refuge
AMERICAN - BRITISH ENGLISH
1 a quarter after - a quarter past
2 bell hop - porter (in a hotel)
3 closet - wardrobe (or walk-in wardrobe)
4 condo - large apartment block or complex of several blocks with communal leisure facilities such as a gym and swimming pool, maybe a shop - apartment complex with leisure facilities
5 cookie - biscuit
6 diaper - nappy
7 faucet - tap
8 hacks - tips and tricks
9 make a right - turn right
10 momentarily - briefly, for just a moment
11 over-easy - cooked both sides (usually to describe fried egg, occasionally meat)
12 pants - trousers
13 pie a la mode - pie with ice cream
14 private school - fee paying school
15 public school - private school
16 regular - standard size
17 rest room - toilet/bathroom
18 underpants - pants
19 truck - lorry
20 trucker - lorry driver
BRITISH ENGLISH - AMERICAN
1 a quarter past - a quarter after
2 biscuit - cookie
3 council housing - public housing
4 council school - state school
5 fried egg cooked both sides (rarely served, usually just fried egg) - egg over-easy
6 lorry - truck
7 momentarily - soon, shortly, not for long
8 nappy - diaper
9 pants - underpants
10 pie with ice cream - pie a la mode
11 porter (in a hotel) - bell-hop
12 public school - private school, usually historic with high fees
13 toilet - rest room
14 standard size - regular, normal, medium size
15 tap - faucet
16 tips and tricks - hacks
17 trousers - pants
18 turn right - make a right
19 wardrobe - closet
20 condo
Quiz
1 What is a grifter?
2 What is a bothy?
3 What is the British English for diaper?
4 What is the American word for lorry?
5 What do the Americans call trousers?
6 What is the British for truck?
7 How do the Americans say turn right?
8 What is a quarter after?
9 What is the British English for faucet?
10 What is the American for toilet?
Answers above
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, has lived in the UK, the USA and Singapore.
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