British words that mean something different in the US

Some of the ones I can think of off the top of my head

  • cotton
  • braces
  • cookie
  • fag
  • buns
  • fanny

This site has some more

britain_us_vest
Vest
britain_us_biscuit
Biscuit
britain_us_chips
Chips
britain_us_rubber
Rubber
britain_us_pants
pants

 

Author: Janet Carr

Fashion, beauty and animal loving language consultant from South Africa living in Stockholm, Sweden.

3 thoughts

  1. The eraser vs rubber reminds me of an incident at work many years ago when I was just starting out in an architecture firm in the USA after graduating.

    Was working on drafting a project for a woman project architect originally from Scotland.

    One day she stopped by my drafting table and asked me if I had a rubber. I was quite stunned by her asking me such a personal question that had nothing to do I thought with my job. After noticing my discomfort, she turned all red realizing what she’d said and turned away with an embarrassed look on her face and saying “never mind”……

    Someone later on explained the terminology difference…..was much relieved…..

    🙂

  2. Jumper vs sweater
    I still get a bit confused by American use of cookie/biscuit/scone
    In Australia, both forms of potato preparation are chips, however, the thin sliced dried type in packets are generally referred to as ‘Potato Chips’ whereas the hot form are just ‘Chips’.
    Thongs

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