On Demand
Word Maven Patricia T. O'Conner
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Word maven Patricia T. O'Conner takes your calls on the English language. On Wednesday, May 21, she focuses on the differences between English as it's spoken in the U.S. and in Britain.
Weigh in: Tell us your favorite examples of Americanisms vs. Britishisms.
Event:
Pat O'Conner will be talking about the myths and mysteries of English
on Wednesday, May 28th at 6:30 pm
at the Mid-Manhattan Branch of the NYPL
40th and Fifth Avenue
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On a recent trip to Spain, my British sister-in-law's driving directions made note of a "sleeping policeman". So, I was on the look out for state troopers hiding in the medians, while my 4-year old was looking for police sleeping on benches! It wasn't until I asked later that I learned a sleeping policeman was a simple speed bump!
While working in London, I was telling my English colleague about how good peanut butter & jelly sandwiches are, and how they're a staple meal during the American childhood. She came in a few days later telling me she made it at home, and it was awful & disgusting, & she couldn't believe Americans love it so much! After some questioning, it turns out she used JELLO to make her PB&J! In the UK, "jelly" refers to what we call "JELL-O."
Also, while in London, I worked in a clothing store, so there was confusion when I told a customer that her pants looked good on her. She thought I was commenting on her underwear! In the UK, pants are always underwear; what we call pants, they call trousers.
I was born in England, long ago transplanted to New York. I just sent an email to an English friend and closed it wiith "Best love, Pamela." I just realized, in the context of the announcement of your show earlier, that to an American friend a similar expression of affection would have been "Fondly."
They have so many good words to express terms in England that they don't have here. For instance:
Smart means to to be dressed nicely or professionally--as opposed to casual clothes.
To Pull means to take a girl/guy back to your place to make out. Similarly, to Be On the Pull means to be out on the town with the goal of finding someone to bring home to snog or shag
A favorite of mine is the near polar opposite meaning of the expression “table a motion.”
In American usage, it means to suspend consideration of a motion.
In British usage, it means to begin discussion of a motion.
As I remember, the British and American negotiating teams at an arms-reduction conference held, I believe, in Geneva, spent the better part of a morning arguing whether or not to table a motion.
American side: “Why would you want to table it? It expresses views we agree on.’
British side: “That’s precisely why we want to table it.”
Puzzled looks all around.
I'm from the UK living in NY for 5 years now. Whilst attending a course in the city I made the mistake of asking a fellow student in the class if I could borrow a 'rubber' , which I needed to erase some words I had written in pencil.... A rubber in the UK refers to an erasor. There are numerous words in the UK that refer to those other things made of rubber...
Could Ms. O'Connor address the fact that many American English words are actually older than their British counterparts because of the settlers in the 17th century that brought those words with them?
I think an example of this is "trash" or "garbage", one of which is actually older than the British "rubbish".
I'm an English teacher in Europe so I like to remind my British co-workers of this whenever they insist that what I speak isn't English but American. :)
Also, it seems as though the British use the present perfect more than Americans.
For example:
I've just eaten. (British)
I just ate. (American)
Am I just imagining a difference or is there really one?
Thanks!
I loved the way Americans and the English differ in the way they pronounce the word "methane" (the hydrocarbon gas).
Not sure if this is really a Britishism vs an Americanism, but what's happened (here) to the Flat A in words from many other languages? You are much more likely, in the UK, to hear "pasta" and not "p(ah)sta". I don't know how often I cringe at "L(ah) Boheme". And when did Viet Nam become Viet N(ah)m?
Is this just creeping laziness...i.e., it takes a tad more effort to make that Flat A than it does to say "ah"? Or is it creeping snootiness??
Que p(ah)s(ah)??
I prefer the American pronunciation of SCHEDULE ie. skedule, to the English pronunciation ie. shedule.
And there'a an American expression that still has awkwardness for me, and that's used when ordering a coffee at Starbucks for example: 'CAN I GET A....whatever it is..' sounds like one is asking to go fetch it oneself..! 'CAN I HAVE A...whatever..' would be preferable.
There are so many but my favorite was when I told an airport taxi wrangler how pissed I was that it was raining and there wasn't a taxi in sight. "Well, then it's bloody well convenient you can sober up in the fresh air." I found out later pissed meant 'drunk' in England.
One other that has no US counterpart, is 'dirty weekend,' a short holiday with a paramour presuming lots of illicit fun.
The British use of aluminium always makes me laugh.
Also, growing up in Chicago, buildings holding more than one apartment are called 2-flats, 3-flats, 6-flats, although we still call the individual units "apartments". When I moved to NYC people thought it was hilarious that I used a Britishism to describe these properties.
Fave Britishisms from an American:
1) "One-off": perfect and pithy; a great little phrase.
2) "Throwing a sickie" -- calling in sick to work when you're really not. It's such a light-hearted, funny way to put it, it takes all the guilt out of it.
3) On a recent trip to London, saw a road/traffic sign that said "Changed priorities ahead." Couldn't figure out what the heck it meant, but loved its wide-ranging philosophical implications! (For the record, the Londoner sitting next to me on the bus didn't have the slightest idea what it meant either.)
Ted I think it is a sign of respect for other languages (lacking in Britain) that we pronounce "pasta" and "nam" - that is how I was raised in a well educated family half a century ago. Maybe we as a nation of immigrants are closer to those "ah" sounds in words from other languages.
excuse me (US) vs. pardon (Eng)
we can damn (or something worse) vs. they say "blimy"...what is a blimy?
bathroom vs. loo (that's a particularly irritating one)
I am a british writer living in Brooklyn ( I have even written for WNYC!)
I use the word rubbish -- to mean not very good, all the time and am often stared at quizzically by Americans who don't understand the usage.
Also I am forever asking for a "bit" of cake, or a "bit" of bread, which is met with equal confusion.
Usage is one thing, but accent is quite another. When I first moved here seven years ago I couldn't get a glass of water in a restaurant because of my insistence on pronouncing the letter "t". Even now it pains me to have to say "wahdurh" in order to quench my thirst.
in answer to Steve S
Blimy (sic) is spelled blimey, and is derived the phrase "Cor Blimey", which is the literal transcription of the cockney pronunciation of the phrase "God Blind Me". A similar phrase in American English might be, "Blow me down".
while I'm "on about" it (talking about it)
English American
aluminium -- aluminum
nappy -- diaper
jam -- jelly
jelly -- jello
pavement -- sidewalk
tarmac -- blacktop
road -- street
Beer -- watery cold yellow liquid
I like how the Brits say "toilets" for public facilities vs. our prudish American "bathroom" or "restrooms".
I'm a brit but have lived in US for 24 years. My (Native New Yorker) wife and I have spent many happy hours teasing each other on this topic. Here are some of my favorites (in addition to those above)
Sod: US = Grass/turf; UK = vulgar word to describe someone you don't like (derived from sodomy). I love the sign "Keep off Sod"
Muffler: US = car exhaust part; UK = scarf worn around neck in winter. It took me months to figure out what Mineke was tyring to sell me.
Fag: US = derogatory term for gay; UK = cigarette. I once shoked a room full by saying "I'm going out for a quick fag"
Pudding: US = custard-like dessert; UK = any dessert in general - this has caused me some difficulty as i don't like the US version.
Well now i'm on a roll (but I can't think what the english equivalent of that phrase would be!)
Ketchup = Tomtatoe sauce
Whole wheat bread = Brown bread
Roll (bread) = Bun or Bap
Toilet tissue = Bog roll
Sausage = Banger
Zucchini = Courgette (is there no "English" word?
Egg plant = Aubergine
Liquor store = Off Licence (the "offy")
Hardware store = Ironmongers
Car's Hood = Bonnet
Car's Trunk = Boot
Windshield = Windscreen
License plate = Registration plate
Gas = Petrol
Subay = underground or tube
Cross-walk that passes under the street = Subway
Cross-walk = Pellican crossing (with light signals) or Zebra crossing (without lights)
Rotary/Traffic circle = Roundabout
Suspenders (alternative to belt) = Braces
Garters (pre-pantyhose) = Suspenders
Soccer = Football
Football = American Football
Racket ball = Squash
I love your show, keep up the good work
Tata (farewell)
There are many, but the multiple
(brit) waistcoat= (us) vest
yet (brit) vest = (us) tank top
yet (brit) tank top=(us) sweater vest ?
being an Englishman (in NYC for 15 years now) but from just north of London (suffolk) I change my TH at the end of words into F maybe lazy, but maybe olde as Suffolk and Norfolk were originally the south folk and north folk, and why do all Americans still think I'm Australian ?
I love the British expression cock-a-hoop. It just sounds so amusing and inspires visuals of people doing cartwheels and backflips. I've read it on occasion and heard my friend's dad use it once or twice.
I like queue. It seems so polite and civilized. Sure we queue in the bank, or post office, supermarket, etc. But, at bus stops, it's nuts! Everybody wants to be the first (and it's funny how the first person is the one who will hold everyone up while he/she fishes around for fare). Or, you'll be standing there waiting forever, and as soon as the bus pulls up, someone who just got there will try to be the first person on. So much discourtesy.
Martin, I don't know. Do you talk with your mouth closed? Do you use rising intonation?
PS, always liked the word "snog."
Being married to a Candian, I can say with confidence that British English still exists in Canada. Fading, but it's still there.
one discrepancy that always makes me think twice is the contrasting definitions of the word "nervy"
in american english it means full of nerve or chutzpah.
british friends seem to have used it as a synonym for anxious.
I always appreciated the different way the word 'controversy' is pronounced in the UK compared to the US. It almost becomes a different word.
?
My question is : Was the Britishism "flat" for apartment ever used to any great extent in the US.
I'm 66 and when young lived in a cold-water-flat in New Jersey. Everyone knew what it was and called it that.
The etymology (for origins)and quotations (for usage through history) sections of the OED are very helpful in answering questions on unsage. No need to buy all twenty volumes or subscribe online: it's probably available at your local free or university library.
I'd love it if Ms. O'Connor could address the following, which has become a great pet peeve of mine:
The practice of *American* English speakers using the British convention of pluralizing verbs referring to organizations and groups:
"IBM Corp. have released their new models this week."
I can understand the Brits doing it this way, but I thought it was actually correct in American English to use the singular, unless referring to the actual members of the group:
"The employees of IBM Corp. went on strike today."
The former has always struck me as people trying to sound trendy.
Dear Ms. O'Connor,
Is the proper spelling of the contraction for until "till" or "til?" The first spelling seems to be more frequently used, although it looks like a contraction for "untill," which would mean to reverse the cultivation of something. Thanks.
Frank
How about these:
SHED-YULE (schedule)
and
con TROV ersy (vs. CON troversy)
Some of my friends from the West Indies & Guyana pronounce vegetable vej-eh-tuh-bl, whereas Americans tend to pronounce it VEJ-tuh-bl.
The British retain French spellings, but why did they shift the pronunciation (i.e., herb, filet, etc.)? Yet the US has kept these pronunciation.
When I was a kid my teacher was English. I still say/write "I've got..." instead of "I've gotten..." - never get used it.
why do the british say "ah-loo-MIN-ee-um" when we americans say "a-LOO-min-um". do they also spell it differently?
What about "gray" vs. "grey"?
Please ask her about the word "Fotheringay".
Question and Comment
Q: What is the common source [if any] of the "FOR" in forlorn, Forsaken, etc.?
Comment:
I found in my library video collection the 1970's PBS series about "The History of English" with Robin McNeil, which had a very intersting analysis of how various U.S. speech pronounciation differences developed from original English and Irish regions.
We Brits say " Atishoo, atishoo we all fall down" Not tissue, tissue!
Re: "Ring around the rosy"
Yes, the Brits say something that sounds to us like "A tissue, a tissue, we all fall down."
But they spell it "Atishoo," and it is their equivalent of our "Achoo." It refers to sneezing.
FROM A COLORIST OR ARTIST'S POINT OF VIEW: PURPLE AND VIOLET ARE DIFFERENT COLORS, PURPLE HAVING MORE BLUE THAN RED AND VIOLET HAVING , WELL, MORE RED THAN BLUE
Re: Ring-O-Rosies: The word he's mis-saying is "Atishoo" as in a sneeze - the rhyme dates to the days of the bubonic plague - a sneeze was an unfortunate indication of the onset of this malady - also, the roses in the song are to ward off the stench of death - not such a pretty song when you get down to it!
http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/aluminium.htm
Lopate, let the lady talk! When people call in to ask about where the alu thing comes from, why would you be like "WHOAH WHOAH WHOAH I don't actually know anything about this but let me yammer on with my crackhead theory for a few minutes _while the expert is sitting right effing next to me_?"
Also, please tell the callers no one is "correct", British or English.
"Tissue, tissue, we all fall down" has nothing to do with Kleenex.
It is a word representing the sound of sneezing...because that nursery rhyme comes from the time of the plague in England, and the first symptoms of the plague were cold or flu-like symptoms that caused sneezing.
Note the treatment of certain collective nouns as de facto singular when it comes to verb number. Example: Americans say "the government is...." but Brits say "the government are...."
"Presently" vs. "Shortly"
When something new is going to happen soon, my British friends say "I shall be coming over presently," whereas Yanks say "I will be coming over shortly."
Larry, the "for" in "forlorn" and "forsaken" seems to me like it comes from the German "ver-."
regarding ring around the roses:
as a native new yorker who lived in england for 9 years i discovered this as well. the words they use in england are actually, "a-tissue a-tissue" which translates into American as "achoo achoo" for sneeze sounds. this is after all, a nursery rhyme about the plague. we all fall down means: we all fall down DEAD.
all true.
Purple and violet are TWO DIFFERENT COLORS. Purple is an additive mixture of red and blue, while violet is a pure color from the spectrum, the shortest visible wavelength before ultraviolet.
reynolds 9 or other types of aluminum wrap is known as "tin foil" in Britain.
Also " ring a ring of rosies, a pocket full of posies, a-tishoo, a-tishoo, we all fall down " is a rhyme about scarlet fever or some other illness - not sure which, getting sick, sneezing and dying, as far as I know.
Leonard and Pat,
The last name "St. John" is pronunced "Sin jin", why?
The times had an article on a british artist with the last name "St George" is that pronounced "Sin Geo" or not?
Leonard just asked what Brits call Reynolds wrap. In my family, we've always called it tin foil.
from wikipedia:
In the UK and other countries using British spelling, only aluminium is used. In the United States, the spelling aluminium is largely unknown, and the spelling aluminum predominates.[29][30] The Canadian Oxford Dictionary prefers aluminum, whereas the Australian Macquarie Dictionary prefers aluminium. The spelling in virtually all other languages is analogous to the -ium ending.
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) adopted aluminium as the standard international name for the element in 1990, but three years later recognized aluminum as an acceptable variant. Hence their periodic table includes both, but places aluminium first.[31] IUPAC officially prefers the use of aluminium in its internal publications, although several IUPAC publications use the spelling aluminum.[32
My understanding is that the ending of Ring around the Rosie in British English sounds like our 'tissue' but it represents the sound of sneezing. The nursery rhyme was telling about the plague and one symptom was sneezing...before the person fell over dead!
I'm Australian and we speak and spell British english.
We grew up saying "ah tissue! ah tissue!" like a sneeze. We were told it was about the black death (all fall down!)
I've been tempted to put an "e" on the end of Ax in my son's ABC book but we have started saying zee so that he can get through school without too much torment.
Thanks!
Why do the British use the term "fortnight" for a period of two weeks, and what is the derivation of this term?
"Ring Around the Rosey"dates from the London Plague during the 17C- "t'shoo"means the contagious sneeze from a plague victim
My favorite British expression, used to mean "wake you up" is "knock you up." At a B and B, the proprietor asked what time tomorrow he should "knock me up."
An American friend living in London heard the following on the morning news: "An articulated lorry has scissor-flipped on the motorway flyover. The fire brigade has been called out to suppress the blaze." American translation: "A tractor-trailer has jackknifed on the highway overpass. The fire department has been called to put out the fire."
A plug for Bill Bryson's terrific book, The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way.
It deals with a lot of these questions.
I think Sam spoke to this:
"And the crowd are going wild!!"
I always found this British usage so funny-sounding.
Fortnight is a contraction of 'fourteen nights'
Aluminum vs aluminium
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Etymology
Hi Leonard,
I love your show and it touches my life as a person from India living in CT. When I first came here to pursue my MAster's I had a tough time getting used to the difference between American & British english ...Now I work as a pharmacist , I come to find this no work like thrice in the American English Language ..it is worded as three times a day. ... diarrhoea is spelled diarrhea . I don't mind the differences now I am used to it now but I am still made fun of my English when I direct my customers to the BOTTOM MOST ROW of the aisle . I am told it is the British phrase is it true ?
Thanks for your time
Ash
1. A common ending for Ring Around a Rosie is "atishoo, atishoo, all fall down"
2. There's a very good book called "British English" by Norman W. Schur, out of print but available online from various places. It has about 5000 "Briticisms" and "Americanisms".
3. A fascinating (to me, anyway) British-English "reverse" is "windscreen" and "windshield". In the U.K., windscreen is the front window of your car (also known as the "front screen" in England) and windshield is a device that's placed over a microphone to reduce wind and breath noise. From the England to the US, the meanings of those two words are exactly reversed.
Could you please discuss the difference in the meaning of "quite"? I once got in a real mess at an art opening when I told a British friend that her work was "quite good."
The British substitution of "Wurster sauce" for Worcestershire sauce is just so much easier to say. Any clue from whence it came?
When I was growing up in Brooklyn (prior to
WWII), adults always referred to flats rather
than apartments. One could purchase signs to
place in windows which read "Flat to Let."
Also, platform signs on the BMT read Trains Stop in Centre of Platform (not Center).
Fortnight - I looked that up last month.
It means 2 weeks. (From 14 nights.)
Ring Around the Rosie, like many nursery rhymes, refers to historical events. This one dates from the Middle Ages and refers to the effects of the plague: The rosie is a marking (the pox) that appeared on one's skin, people carried posies of certains herbs or flowers to ward off the disease, (A)tishoo denotes sneezing fits and, alas, they all fell down (expired).
How about Britishizers who say during pledge drives, "WE CAN ONLY DO IT IF YOU'LL CONTRIBUTE" rather than, "We can do it only if you'll contribute"?
Don't even get started on slang. Why is "pants" an adjective?
I've heard that the closest thing extant to Elizabethan pronunciation can be found on some relatively secluded islands off North Carolina.
MUCH more authentic to Shakespeare (tougher, richer, fiercer--"Oh, for a muse of fire!") than the much more refined, almost effete modern Brit accent we accept today as proper Shakespeare.
Why don't Brits use 'the' for some phrases?
US - going to the hospital.
WE going to hospital.
People in Appalachia sing Old English songs because they are descended from the English.
We grew up saying "johnny in the sugarbowl, we all fall down"
A little background on a Ring Around the Rosie
http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/rosie.asp
Re: "Give it me" as a difference in use of prepositions.
This is actually a difference in word placement/sentence structure. We use the preposition in exactly the same way (ie, without the "to."
"Give the book to me"
or
"Give me the book."
Would LL please allow his guest to answer the questions? She's the expert. She's the reason we call in. We are glad he lived in Britan for a while--but he is not an expert in the English language and volunteering himself as such is getting annoying.
During the Falklands war, the first Gulf war and the 2nd, Americans heard BBC announcers or other British use expressions which were formerly seldom heard in American speech but afterwards became part of general conversation in the USA. "Tarmac" was used extensively in the coverage of the Falklands and now is used commonly instead of "runway", which we Americans used. When preparing for the current Iraq war we heard Tony Blair saying "at the end of the day" and "that being said," which no American would be heard saying, however, now it is common to hear these two expressions. At the moment, I can't recall what Britishism came into use during the first Gulf War.
Please let the listeners know that our "ashes, ashes" in London Bridges refers to the ashes of items that were burned dring the plageu in order to cleans them.
Can you comment on Kevin Costner's failure to use a British accent in Robin Hood: Prince of Theives?
I recently studied abroad in Italy, and in a conversation in a British Pub (still in Italy) with some visiting Londoners I tried to figure out their word when they are talking about a stick on fire. "Torch" in Britain is actually a "flashlight" in the US. They insisted that what I called "torch" they would call "a burning branch."
Must all Brits be so poetic when they want to say torch?
i'm pretty sure the plague explanation for ring around the rosie (not london bridge is falling down) is incorrect. i think i read it on snopes.
but regarding britishizing french pronunciation. one thing that is crazy about english, is anglicizing things instead of translating. like baltimore was bailte more, which meant big mountain in irish. but instead of english using big mountain, they just made the phrase sound english. american english has done this with native american terms. this is why other cultures, people know what their names 'mean', but in english there are names and there are words and we think they are generally separated.
How about the role of class divisions. When I lived in London just a few years ago class seemed to permeate social interactions. A public school there is what we call a private school. I worked at one and saw the upper class perpetuating itself. People immediately judge each others' class by their speech.
On aluminum vs aluminium
http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/aluminium.htm
Nothing to do with British/English differences as it were, but the word "soccer" is short for "Association Football" - I understand that the press first shortened the phrase to "assoc". Then as we often do in English (Rugby became Rugger, for instance), an "er" was added and the phrase was further contorted to become "soccer".
English here, never ever haerd anyone say "take a decision"!
I was raised outside of Syracuse, NY. Flat commonly referred to apartments there, but only if the apartment was an entire floor of a building, usually what had previously been a single-family multi-story dwelling that was now divided into one apartment one each foor. Occasionally, i hear this usage in NYC, where I've livedfor over 20 years.
French take a decision too
One meaning of "tissue" per Websters is "an interconnected series or mass: (as in)a tissue of falsehoods".
Man to Boston cabbie at Logan:
"Do you know where I might get scrod?"
Cabbie:
"Yes, but it's the first time I've ever heard it used in the pluperfect subjunctive."
What's the British usage rule with respect to "thence?"
This O'Connor calls herself a word maven (or at least WNYC does) and she isn't aware that Brits say "take a decision" instead of "make a decision"? I like O'Connor as a guest, but she needs to spend a little time watching Brit movies, TV, etc.
from http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/11/take-decision-please.html
: You are right. One makes a decision. The “take” version is seen a lot in the British Commonwealth, especially in India. But even British dictionaries seem to prefer “make a decision” over “take a decision.”
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