British and American English: Difference between revisions
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imported>Hayford Peirce (snooty or would-be snoots might say drapes or draperies, but I think curtains are still just as common) |
imported>Hayford Peirce (apartment/flat -- trust me on this, at least for S.F. I once *owned* an apartment, but later I rented a "flat") |
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| Line 25: | Line 25: | ||
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|flat | |flat | ||
|apartment<ref>Increasingly heard in British English</ref> | |apartment<ref>Increasingly heard in British English; in San Francisco, at least, a city of small, shared buildings, both "flat" and "apartment" are used, mostly interchangeably. Purists, however, distinguish between the two: an "apartment" is in a building with a shared main entrance; a "flat" has its own outside entrance door.</ref> | ||
|- | |- | ||
|(Association) football | |(Association) football | ||
Revision as of 18:48, 19 March 2008
This article examines the differences between British and American English in the areas of vocabulary, spelling and phonology.
Vocabulary
Lexical differences are:
| British | American |
|---|---|
| autumn | autumn/fall |
| car-park | parking lot |
| chips | (French or french) fries [1] |
| crisps | potato chips |
| curtains | drapes/draperies/curtains |
| film | movie [2] |
| flat | apartment[3] |
| (Association) football | soccer |
| lift | elevator |
| lorry/truck[4] | truck |
| nappy | diaper |
| off-licence | liquor-store |
| pavement | sidewalk |
| petrol | gasoline/gas |
| road | pavement |
| petrol | gasoline/gas |
| rubber | eraser |
| condom | rubber |
| sweets | candy |
| sweetshop | candy-store |
| pants | underwear |
| trousers | pants |
Notes
- ↑ Though strictly, these are two different shapes, chips being broader than fries
- ↑ ‘Movie’ is nowadays normal in BrE when talking Hollywood
- ↑ Increasingly heard in British English; in San Francisco, at least, a city of small, shared buildings, both "flat" and "apartment" are used, mostly interchangeably. Purists, however, distinguish between the two: an "apartment" is in a building with a shared main entrance; a "flat" has its own outside entrance door.
- ↑ British trucks are traditionally small, and pulled, typically on rails