English Word Differences (British vs American)

[Rockblossom]

1 hour ago, Undecided2 said:

white stripes painted on the tarmac

Just to further confuse things:

Tarmacadam  was the word used by its Scottish inventor John McAdam, and was shortened to macadam or tarmac in the UK.  In the USA, it is usually called asphalt  if it is on a road or highway, but  tarmac  when it is on an airfield runway or aircraft parking area.   Just for the confusion factor, concrete roads in some parts of the USA are called macadam  even though they don't contain any tar.  But for the most part, when "Muricans hear "white stripes on the tarmac" we think "lines to guide landing aircraft" not pedestrian crossings.  Those things are crosswalks because they are where you are allowed to walk across a road.  A road that is probably "asphalt" but is really tarmacadam.   Crosswalks sometimes have the diagonal stripes (zebra stripes) and sometimes they have two parallel white lines showing the "sides" of the crossing area, like the white lines on the airport runway (tarmac) that designate the "sides" of the landing strip.

 

Here's some Tylenol (that would be paracetamol) for your headache.  💊

[Undecided2]

8 hours ago, Rockblossom said:

  Those things are crosswalks because they are where you are allowed to walk across a road.  ...

Here's some Tylenol (that would be paracetamol) for your headache.  💊

In the UK we just call them crossings, or say something like 'cross at the lights' if there are traffic lights. Interesting point about 'allowed to walk' because in the UK we don't have jaywalking and lots of people just cross the roads wherever they see fit; obviously officially designated crossings are usually best.

 

On the Tylenol front, that is just a brand name though? I imagine it might be used more widely for paracetamol (like how in the UK we often call vacuum cleaning hoovering even if we are not using the product made by Hoover). In the UK i know some people who say they want some nurofen but mean generic ibuprofen not necessarily the branded nurofen

[Rockblossom]

3 hours ago, Undecided2 said:

 

On the Tylenol front, that is just a brand name though?

Yes, it's a brand name for acetaminophen, which is called paracetamol in the UK.  If you ask for paracetamol here, you will just get a blank look.  I had to look it up on the internet when I heard it being prescribed by Dr.  Ellingham on Doc Martin.  Thankfully, ibuprofen seems to be used in both places, although here it is commonly called by the brand name Motrin.  

[Ceebs]

On 12/10/2020 at 2:51 PM, Ennis said:

On 12/10/2020 at 11:33 AM, daveb said:

I think in the US we refer to asphalt or blacktop, while the UK refers to macadam?

tarmac

I always heard 'tarmac' when I was growing up here in Ontario (heard it at school a lot, to refer to the paved area round the building), but I certainly know what 'asphalt' is -- although I think of it as the substance from which the surface is made, not what you call the surface itself. 'Pavement' works here too. 'Blacktop'... heard the word probably from American media, but I don't personally know anyone who uses it.

 

On 12/8/2020 at 6:21 PM, Torrence Kieran said:

Tele=Television

Spelt 'telly' though.

 

On 12/9/2020 at 12:39 PM, DuskFire said:

Haven't seen the term "shag" mentioned yet. 

In America shag or shagging is a type of dance but apparently in the UK it's slang for sex. 

I love telling british people this by first telling them my grandma goes to shag contests on the beach lol

Wow ok, I've never heard of a dance called the shag, or shagging or whatever, in Canada. To me it's the sex thing lol, or the type of carpeting.

 

On 12/9/2020 at 1:58 PM, Perspektiv said:

"Tesco" is a Walmart. Or is it Asda?

Asda is owned by Walmart.

 

On 12/9/2020 at 2:16 PM, Still said:

"Lieutenant" is spelled the same in UK English, but it's pronounced "leftenant" (learned this one from Doctor Who).

It's pronounced 'leftenant' in Canada too. At least, that's what I learnt as a kid. I'll bet lots of people here say it the American way, though.

[Ceebs]

(Sorry, I know those are all replies to posts from four months ago. 🙃)

[Guest]

1 hour ago, CBC said:

Asda is owned by Walmart.

That's what it was. 

 

I shocked my friends in England when I walked in one, and my first words were:

 

"OMG, this is a Walmart ripoff" (not realizing they were the same company. 

 

"Only difference, is there is no old person at the entrance, and you have multiple alcohol aisles.... Oh and the best part. Your trolleys have 4 spinning wheels."

 

They told me I was crazy. 

 

I later found out that it was true. I am still crazy, but at least a tad less with the confirmation. 

[GingerRose]

On 4/16/2021 at 1:08 AM, Comrade Tal said:

zebra crossings

I call them Madagascar penguin roll overs.

 

[banana monkey]

On 4/16/2021 at 7:08 AM, Comrade Tal said:

Does anyone else call these zebra crossings?

Sorry I should have elborated and said : "What the heck is a crosswalk!...do you mean a zebra crossing? (there are lots of those)

[banana monkey]

12 hours ago, Undecided2 said:

I imagine it might be used more widely for paracetamol (like how in the UK we often call vacuum cleaning hoovering even if we are not using the product made by Hoover). In the UK i know some people who say they want some nurofen but mean generic ibuprofen not necessarily the branded nurofen

Really? Never heard of that in the uk before - usually if I ask for nurofen the branded one is what I am assumed to be asking for, same with panadol (the most common brand of paracetamol in the uk (so the equivelent of tylenol I presume)

[banana monkey]

8 hours ago, CBC said:

I

 

It's pronounced 'leftenant' in Canada too. At least, that's what I learnt as a kid. I'll bet lots of people here say it the American way, though.

Hmm, I live in the uk and didnt know that was how we said it! I pronounce it loo-ten-ant. I thought most other british people did too, as that is how I hear it on tv mostly but maybe i'm wrong. 

[Ashmedai]

8 hours ago, banana monkey said:

Really? Never heard of that in the uk before - usually if I ask for nurofen the branded one is what I am assumed to be asking for, same with panadol (the most common brand of paracetamol in the uk (so the equivelent of tylenol I presume)

Panadol's the major brand here as well, so it quite often gets called.

[Undecided2]

8 hours ago, banana monkey said:

Really? Never heard of that in the uk before - usually if I ask for nurofen the branded one is what I am assumed to be asking for, same with panadol (the most common brand of paracetamol in the uk (so the equivelent of tylenol I presume)

I suppose it varies somewhat by area. 

8 hours ago, banana monkey said:

Hmm, I live in the uk and didnt know that was how we said it! I pronounce it loo-ten-ant. I thought most other british people did too, as that is how I hear it on tv mostly but maybe i'm wrong. 

Yeah in UK I've heard it pronounced both ways. 

[Guest]

9 hours ago, banana monkey said:

Hmm, I live in the uk and didnt know that was how we said it! I pronounce it loo-ten-ant. I thought most other british people did too, as that is how I hear it on tv mostly but maybe i'm wrong. 

Lef-tenant is the correct British pronunciation, but loo-tentant is how most of the 'public' pronounce it now because of the prevalence of American media.

[Tyke]

I gather that

 

"I could care less" (US) means "I couldn't care less" (British).

 

But they literally mean the exact opposite. Is that right? Apologies if the thread has covered this already.

[Undecided2]

12 minutes ago, Midland Tyke said:

I gather that

 

"I could care less" (US) means "I couldn't care less" (British).

 

But they literally mean the exact opposite. Is that right? Apologies if the thread has covered this already.

This bothers me so much

[daveb]

8 hours ago, theV0ID said:

Lef-tenant

I never understood how lieu gets pronounced lef (then again, col gets pronounced ker  ).  

(seriously though, I know there are linguistic reasons)

 

6 hours ago, Midland Tyke said:

I gather that

 

"I could care less" (US) means "I couldn't care less" (British).

 

But they literally mean the exact opposite. Is that right? Apologies if the thread has covered this already.

I don't know if that's an American vs British difference though. But I couldn't care less. (I've always preferred that version; the other makes less sense to me; so you could care less? OK (maybe the implication is "but not by much"?))