Americanisms - British Equivalent - A Quiz

American Flag

American - British English
antenna - aerial
apartment - flat
bangs - fringe (haircut)
cookie - biscuit
downtown - city centre
fall - autumn
my bad - my mistake/my fault/that
parking lot - car park
pump - court shoe
sidewalk - pavement
that sucks - that's bad
trailer - caravan
truck - lorry
good catch -


British - American
aerial - antenna
autumn - fall
biscuit - cookie
car park - parking lot
caravan - trailer
city centre - downtown
court shoe - pump
flat - apartment
fringe - bangs
lorry - truck
my fault - my bad
pavement - sidewalk
that's bad - that sucks

Quiz
American - British
Test yourself and give yourself a point for each instantly correct answer. Keep doing the quiz until you get the top score.


American - British English
antenna -
apartment -
bangs -
cookie -
downtown -
fall -
my bad -
parking lot -
pump -
sidewalk -
that sucks -
trailer -
truck -
good catch -


British - American
aerial -
autumn -
biscuit -
car park -
caravan -
city centre -
court shoe -
flat -
fringe -
lorry -
my fault -
pavement -
that's bad -

British - American
Make your own quiz. Send it to me and I can use it in a later blog, attributing it to you.

Useful Websites
https://context.reverso.net/translation/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/polygotcommunity
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.com
duolingo.com

Finding Chinese Symbols Matching English Station Names on the Singapore MRT map

Chineasy teaches you the symbols with pictures. See it on the internet. You can see king third along top row. Mountain or hill is far left of the lower row. Moon is below king.

Problem
What do the Chinese symbols on the Singapore stations mean?

NUMBERS 6 and 10
I learned the numbers first and identified six on the sign for Sixth Avenue station on the downtown line.
Later I found Ten Mile Junction station. then one-north.

Then I found the sign for mountain or hill in Hillview on the downtown line, station DT3.

The sign for king was in Downtown  station DT6, King Albert Park.

The sign for park or garden or enclosed space appears on the station signs and the MRT (mass transit) railway map.

The signs for sun and moon are not on the MRT map, but on signs about the dates and times of early closing of stations for maintenance work. The sun means day of the month, and the moon means month.



Next I was into the compass signs. One north.

I identified the sign for little in Little India.

Chinese was no longer something I shunned. I keenly scanned my map on every journey.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages

Why Change Lines At Botanical Gardens Railway station, or McPherson, Singapore

Singapore flag.

New mural
A colourful new mural enhances the walk or faster walk along the travellator in the linkway connecting the blue Downtown and yellow Circle lines. I don't know why the mural includes the words New York. 

Check Wikipedia and the railway's own website and you can find out.

If you are going to Expo near Changi airport and wish to shorten your travel time the mural seems to psychologically shorten the changeover time.

The change at McPherson is even quicker. Down the escalator and you are already on the other line platform.

Where is Latakia in Syria and What Can You See?

Latakia Lebanese restaurant in London, England. Notice the Roman arch from the Syrian city of Lattaki on the fascia. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problem
What or where is Latakia? Why should I care or be interested?

Answer
I visited Latakia restaurant in Hatch End, NW London, England, and afterwards started wondering, where is Latakia? I also wondered what is the distinctive large square arch on the front of the outside of the restaurant and on their business card.

L a t t a k i a Lebanese Restaurant business card. photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

The chef at Lattakia Lebanese restaurant is from Lebanon. The owner is Syrian and Latakia is his home town in Syria. Latakia and Lebanon are alliterative which is rather neat.

L a t t a k i a Lebanese restaurant take away menu. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 

I started researching on the internet. I found lots of answers in handy, wonderful Wikipedia.

Firstly, what is the correct spelling? That depends which language, among other things.

Syrian City
Latakia, which I had never heard of, turns out to be the fifth largest city in Syria. It is a port. An important port.

History of Everyone For Everyone
Just about every group well known in history and important at one time of another has been associated with the port. Romans and Jews. About one hundred and bit years from after the time of Jesus it was named after a Roman leader. Later, along came Byzantines, Crusaders, Muslims, and the French.

Whatever you think about who was good and bad or right and wrong in history, from the point of view of a restaurant owner, this is a grab at the imagination of every diner and drinker.

The Roman arch in Latakia in Syria. Photo from Wikipedia. Author of photo Allamlatakia.

1 The Roman Arch
Firstly, pictured in Wikipedia is that arch which features on the fascia and business card of Lattaki Lebanese restaurant in London, England. That arch is a solid, square, Roman arch, a victory arch. If you were to visit the port of Latakia in Syria, you would see the arch in what the Americans call downtown - what the British would call the city centre, although it is also described as being in the south, and the east, this fixed arch seems to be running about, I suggest you look at Google maps-.

2 Bacchus 

Another major and distinctive landmark in the Syrian port of Latakia is the Roman monument to Bacchus, with Corinthian columns. Dear Bacchus was the God of drinking. Another good association for a restaurant.

3 Castle of Saladin Side Trip
The Castle of Saladin is only about 16 miles away. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

As I write this in summer 2017, Syria is at war and refugees are leaving Syria for England. Unless you are in the army, you are not likely to be visiting Syria as a tourist. However, while we wait for peace, we can go walking around the world, letting our fingers do the walking, touring the internet.

Tourism
On second thoughts, I googled Syrian Tourist Board. Yes, Syria has a tourist board and is promoting tourism.

Anybody famous from Latakia? Yes, Assad. The city has a rainbow of groups, various kinds of Moslems and Christians.

The Beach
The city has a beach, water sports, several hotels, about eight, including a couple of five star hotels. As a relative of mine says: "Yes, I am sure lots of Arabs and Syrians are visiting Syria on business or pleasure, to see family or friends. Mustn't see the world only through our own eyes."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/middle-east/syria/articles/syrian-tourist-board-promotes-beach-holidays-as-the-civil-war-rages/

If you can't get to Syria for a trip, you can get a taste of Syrian food at Latakia restaurant in London, England. (See two previous posts on the restaurant's food.)

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. The previous post is about Lattakia Lebanese restaurant in NW London. Please share links to my posts.