You say Po-TAY-toe and I say Po-TAH-toe........
I just realised that in the post for Sweet Potato Fries, that I called the fries 'chips' and the chips 'fries'. This may leave some people confused on both sides of the Atlantic. It's the Trans-Atlantic problem with speaking English.
'England and America are two countries divided by a common language.' George Bernard Shaw
It is calculated that there are over 400 words that have different meanings in American-English from the same words spoken in the Queen's English. No wonder we don't always communicate as well as we would like.
That doesn't take into account the difference in spellings! I bet some of you in the United States think I don't know how to spell properly. Well, I don't, but I know how to use spell check. If you type COLOR into a British document and do spell check it will change the spelling to COLOUR. It goes on and on....FAVORITE becomes FAVOURITE. And the use of Z or ZED, as the British call it, will have you ripping out chunks of hair!
For fun, let's make a short list of confusing words. I'll arrange them like the countries appear on a map, American words on the left ----British words on the right. Already I am confused!
COOKIE - BISCUIT
APARTMENT - FLAT
BANGS (as in hair on forehead) - FRINGE
MUG (as in mug of tea) - BEAKER
BISCUIT - SCONE
CRACKER - BISCUIT (has two meanings in the UK...AUGH!)
HOOD ( of a car) - BONNET
TRUNK (of a car) - BOOT
SUSPENDERS (for holding up pants) - BRACES
PANTS - TROUSERS
UNDERWEAR - PANTS
BABY BUGGY - PRAM
FRIES (french fries) - CHIPS
CHIPS - CRISPS
CHAPS (those things cowboys wear) - MEN OR BOYS (sort of like guys in the US)
Ok, that's enough! You get the idea. Then there are the Imperial measurements used in the US and the Metric Measurements used in the UK. But I can't cope with that at the moment. Right now, I need a beaker of tea and a lie down in a dark room until my head stops spinning!
'England and America are two countries divided by a common language.' George Bernard Shaw
It is calculated that there are over 400 words that have different meanings in American-English from the same words spoken in the Queen's English. No wonder we don't always communicate as well as we would like.
That doesn't take into account the difference in spellings! I bet some of you in the United States think I don't know how to spell properly. Well, I don't, but I know how to use spell check. If you type COLOR into a British document and do spell check it will change the spelling to COLOUR. It goes on and on....FAVORITE becomes FAVOURITE. And the use of Z or ZED, as the British call it, will have you ripping out chunks of hair!
For fun, let's make a short list of confusing words. I'll arrange them like the countries appear on a map, American words on the left ----British words on the right. Already I am confused!
COOKIE - BISCUIT
APARTMENT - FLAT
BANGS (as in hair on forehead) - FRINGE
MUG (as in mug of tea) - BEAKER
BISCUIT - SCONE
CRACKER - BISCUIT (has two meanings in the UK...AUGH!)
HOOD ( of a car) - BONNET
TRUNK (of a car) - BOOT
SUSPENDERS (for holding up pants) - BRACES
PANTS - TROUSERS
UNDERWEAR - PANTS
BABY BUGGY - PRAM
FRIES (french fries) - CHIPS
CHIPS - CRISPS
CHAPS (those things cowboys wear) - MEN OR BOYS (sort of like guys in the US)
Ok, that's enough! You get the idea. Then there are the Imperial measurements used in the US and the Metric Measurements used in the UK. But I can't cope with that at the moment. Right now, I need a beaker of tea and a lie down in a dark room until my head stops spinning!
Loved this post! For a minute I though you may have abandoned all American ways but I'm happy to hear we can blame spellcheck for the spelling differences! ha I can't wait to show this post to the girls to share with them the words we know compared to the words used in the UK!
ReplyDelete