So I know we've done a thread on pronunciations, but I was just watching a youtube video where a girl from the UK talked about going to the "chemist." Is she talking about a doctor of a pharmacist or what?
And then I also noticed that a gherkin (pronounced gur-kin?) is what we call a pickle here. And "rubbish" is what we usually call garbage or trash.

What other differences do we have in speech that anyone else is aware of? I'm intrigued, and want to be ignorant no more!

I hear you cannot say "napkin" at restaurants at certain countries...because napkin means a woman's pad, lol!

In Eastern Wisconsin instead of a water fountain, that you drink out of, they call it a bubbler.

Diapers in England are Nappies (my grandma used to say that all the time)

You know the soda/pop thing but in mexico they call all pop "coke"

Um, I am trying to think of more..

Oh in some places its called a "pot holder" but in other places its a "hot pad"

Aaah bubbler.
God I remember I had a teacher from Iowa in 9th grade, and when I asked to go to the bubbler, he looked at me like I was insane ;D

My dad lives in Manitowoc, near Green bay, and my step brother on vacation to new mexico asked a lady where the bubbler was in walmart, and she goes "I dont think we have one of those" so I had to explain to her what he was really talking about haha.

Haha, I call it a bubbler, and everyone looks at me like I'm on crack.

My friend calls a beanie (hat) a toboggin (sp?), a toboggin to me is a type of sled. I thought she was nuts.

lol! I've never heard of someone call it that either!

Texas is the same way, we call everything "coke".

when i was in mexico, i never heard anyone say coke. "coca", maybe. but yeah, i never heard coke.

My dad calls pot holders hot holders haha.

And the girl you are talking about is talking about a pharmacist.

You should have known I would come back with more.

I had a friend who called her planner her agenda.

Soccer/Football

My sister since moving to upstate new york calls Ham, Bacon.

I feel like a forum hog, but I just thought of another,

In many places the "club" you know where you go and dance like a fool is called a "disco"

I learned that in Spanish, and I feel very special to have used that knowledge on you Kay.

"Disco" is short for "discoteca" which means "club" :-)

Going to the chemist is the same as going to a pharmacy.

Rubbish isn't slang. It's just a word. And it was our language first. Not our fault if the Americans decided to change it to 'trash'. ;) Gherkin is pronounced just as it looks, ger-kin.

Other British --> American translations

Trousers = pants
Pants = underpants
Trainers = sneakers/running shoes
Jumper = sweater
Cardigan = sweater with buttons
Chips = fries
Crisps = chips
Sweets = candy
Public toilet = restroom

And on a seperate matter, it really confused me when I was in Australia when they all kept referring to their flip flops as thongs! Here, a thong is a G-string, not footwear!

haha that trips a lot of people up. we think calling them flip flops is weird ;D

I don't think anyone except the older generation calls them underpants now, most everyone in America calls them underwear. I just call them what they are panties, boxers, tighty whities, etc. I use the word cardigan instead of sweater with buttons too. All the older generation calls pants britches where I'm from, which is the southern US. I've never heard anyone call flip-flops thongs either. I would have thought of them as a G-string too.

I've also noticed most British use the word bum like we do for butt. Bum to Americans means someone who is living off someone else i.e. "bumming off someone"

Here are a few I found on the web.



American: Rubber=Condom
British: Rubber=Erase part on a pencil (which Americans just call an eraser)

American: Trunk= the back of the car where you usually store a spare tire, or put groceries
British: Trunk=Boot

British say "arse", Americans say "ass"

"Belt up" means the same as "Shut up" to Americans.

"Blow me" means they are very excited to British, and to Americans...well it means to give a guy oral..or a blowjob as we call it.

"Blowing people off" to Americans means you stood them up, cancelled plans, or won't answer their calls...to British it means you passed gas on them. This one had me rolling.

"Blunt" is the same to British as "dull" is to Americans.

"blunt" to Americans means to be straight-forward and up-front about things.

Americans say "pissed off" British say "brassed off"

"cheeky" to British is the same as "lippy" or "being a smart ass" to Americans

"fancy" is to "british" as "desire" is to "american"

If British tell you to "keep your pecker up" they mean to "keep your chin up" to Americans, but we Americans would be thinking they were telling us to keep an erection. hahaha

"knob" means a man's genitals to the British, but we Americans might be known to tell them to "turn the knob" because we use this word for a door handle.

Most of them totally aren't what they are used for in britain!

bum is also used for people bumming of the state or general lazyness

belt up doesn't mean shut up, it means put your seat belt on or get ready for a rough time ahead

blow me doesn't mean you are excited, it means you exasperated or shocked at something

blunt is not dull, blunt is to the point, like calling some a cunt

i've never my life heard someone say brassed off who wasn't taking the complete piss out of anyone, we say pissed off

cheeky isn't lippy or a smart arse, its normally used for a really little kid testing the boundaries of language, normally something funny

I have never ever heard anyone say keep your pecker up either

knob means door handle here as well or a knob to turn something on, like an appliance

'Blow me' to me means 'give me head'. Then again, my mind resides in the gutter ;D

Filthy!

I thought today as well, some people (maybe just me) pronounce things oddly. For example I don't say earrings, I say air rings, I also say I can't hair you instead of hear you, I say rarely for really as well.

Most of those are incorrect.

I've never heard anyone ever say "belt up" (but we say "shut up" too).
"Blowing people off" means the same thing here. It doesn't mean passing gas. Lol.
"Blunt" means the same here as it does there. It doesn't mean "dull"
I've never heard anyone ever say "brassed off" but we often say "pissed off".
I've never heard anyone ever say "keep your pecker up" either. But we say "keep your chin up too"
And we use "knob" for a door handle too (as well as for male genitals)

Stupid website is wrong. :P

perhaps they get confused because blunt actually DOES mean dull, as in an object. A lot of people seem to forget that many words cna have different meanings, and it doesn't necessarily mean it is due to cultural differences! :-D

If I heard someone say "belt up", I would imagine I'd be in a car and they were telling me to put my belt on! lol
I've never heard of "brassed off" or "keep your pecker up" either...
And I thought that American people say "I'm so pissed at so and so" - where as we would say "I'm so pissed off with so and so"

We had a bus driver when i was small and he had 'belt up' written on the sun shade thing and if we were being too loud he'd flip it down! so i knew it ment shut up! he was banned from doing it a couple of years later though.
xx

Haha male genitals....