Talk:List of words having different meanings in American and British English (A–L)

I don't think it's necessary—or even useful—to have a parenthetical note in each individual case where the other meaning has "bled over" and become a secondary meaning. Mkweise 03:26 25 May 2003 (UTC)

If indeed they have bled over. Within living memory, "flat" meant "apartment" in the UK and in the US which suggests common origin rather than bleeding. Its meaning is also very dependent on context, hence the "flat tyre" comment. Likewise "spunk" originally meant "semen" in both countries but it has always been used with the bravery, cheekiness meaning, in the same way as "balls", "guts", "cojones". Seems like that has now come to the fore in the US but it has by no means disappeared from the UK. If I, as a Briton, refer to someone as being spunky, I'm certainly not referring to the size of their ejaculation! Over-simplification is a bad thing. That's why I think it's useful -- and even necessary -- to have parenthetical notes. Derek Ross 03:37 25 May 2003 (UTC)

You do make a good argment, but OTOH the way we now present the case of flat:

an apartment, (or a deflated tire) | a deflated tyre (or an apartment in some places)

it isn't strictly speaking a words having different meanings in British and American English. I, for one, have never heard it used in A.E. in the British sense. Mkweise 04:11 25 May 2003 (UTC)

I understand that to be the case for many Americans. However one (older) American contributed to Talk:American_and_British_English_Differences in March with some info which may well be of interest to you. Take a look at the flat/apartment discussion.

I'm also bit leery about some of the differences in this list. As you say, "it isn't strictly speaking a words having different meanings in British and American English". Well, I agree with you. Someone's been a bit over-zealous in looking for differences and the result is that some of them are pretty subtle. Most of them are okay, but remember that there isn't really any such thing as British English, just a bunch of dialects most of which are much more different from "British English" (by which I mean the English used by the BBC) than "American English" is. For instance I would never use the suggested British pronunciation of Beta in the American_and_British_English_Differences and I'm British born and bred. The pronunciation I would use is marked as American. There's something not right there. -- Derek Ross 04:27 25 May 2003 (UTC)

After a decade or so programming in the US I don't recall a US person using the beata pronunciation of beta. Always encountered baita. In SW Britain and London I found that beata dominated but wasn't as exclusive. If you're accustomed to baita it may be a regional difference.JamesDay 02:19, 15 Sep 2003 (UTC)

As you all know, beta is a letter in the Greek alphabet, so there is a modern Greek pronounciation (beata), so this pronounciation may also arise from the influence of modern Greek speakers, or students.

If it's worth anything, I appreciate the parenthetical notes. -- Dwheeler 03:59 25 May 2003 (UTC)

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The Great Garage Debate

I was going to add this, but wanted to make sure I had it right, first.

Word	British meaning	American meaning
garage	car repair establishment (accented first syllable)	covered automobile parking facility (accented second syllable)

Hephaestos 17:53 21 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Yeah, but the US meaning also applies in Britain, house with garage etc. -- Jim Regan 16:08 22 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I agree with the pronunciation difference, but at least here in Louisiana "garage" has both meanings. The "place you park your car" definition has predominance, but if someone says "I had to take my car into the garage" it's unambiguously referring to a repair place. Phil Bordelon 02:24 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Maybe we need a page of pronunciation difference between AE and BE. But the only other I can think of is "tomayto" vs. "tomahto" -- Jim Regan 19:27 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Supposedly 'poh-tay-to' versus 'poh-tah-to' as well . . . at least, that's what the song says. I'm not convinced by its argument, though. Phil Bordelon 19:46 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Screw this, let's call the whole thing off. --Dante Alighieri 19:51 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

W'pedia was lagging too much for me to respond to myself with that line, which only occurred to me after I had replied to Jim. Thanks, Dante. You brightened my day. :) Phil Bordelon 20:49 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Nah, it's po-tay-to. Which is inconsistant, but who am I to question it? "He lied to us through song. I hate when people do that!" (Homer Simpson, from "Homer and Apu") -- Jim Regan 22:44 23 Jun 2003 (UTC)

...Months later, this has appeared

garage parking lot mechanic shop
parking space at home

Removed it again, because all the meanigs seem to be both British and American. Andy G 18:47, 23 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Let's set this straight.

Here in Britain, there are about four meanings:

• an outbuilding or attachment to a house where a car is parked
• a car repair shop
• a petrol station (typically as "Shell garage", etc.)
• some style of music or other that I know little about

It is most certainly never used over here to mean a car park (or parking lot as you Americans say). -- Smjg 12:38, 27 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Okay, I'm a Midwestern American. Sense 1 in your list is commonly used, though often referred to as a "parking garage" unless the context is clear (e.g., a co-worker asks you, "did you park in the lot or the garage today?"). Sense 2 is also used ("my car is in the garage -- the timing belt snapped"). "My car is in the shop" is also used, and is not ambiguous in U.S. English. Sense 3 is never used. "Gas station" is the term used almost exclusively. "Filling station" is very occasionally heard (and is less misleading, as you can often get diesel and kerosene, not just gasoline). I've never heard sense 4 used -- not as the word "garage" all by itself. The term "garage band" I guess is closest thing, but it imnplies something about the (lack of) professional status of the musicians, not about the style of music played. Still, rock is probably implicit, as I've never heard of a garage orchestra.  :) I hope this helps. Branden 06:26, 29 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Er, sorry, I should make one more clarification. Parking garage is never used in the U.S. to refer to the sort of small garage that is attached to a residence. Branden 06:30, 29 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Oblong

Can someone confirm the American side of this for me? Matthew Woodcraft

• Oblong
• British: Rectangular
• American: Oval

In my (Midwestern and Southern U.S.) experience, the term "oblong" is fairly rare in conversational speech, and is used more broadly than you describe. It basically means any plane figure (or a plane aspect of a solid object) whose orthogonal axes are unequal. So one could say in U.S. English that an ellipse and a rectangle are both oblong, but squares and circles or not. You'd use the term identically when referring to, e.g., a table whose surface is asymmetric in the same way.

From WordNet (r) 1.7.1 (July 2002) [wn]:

  oblong
       adj 1: of a leaf shape; having a somewhat elongated form with
              approximately parallel sides
       2: deviating from a square or circle or sphere by being
          elongated in one direction
       n : a plane figure that deviates from a square or circle due to
           elongation

Branden 21:42, 10 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Fancy Dress + Costume

I'm no big expert on this, so if I'm wrong please forgive me, but what about "fancy dress party" as opposed to "costume party"?

What about them? I'm from the U.S. and have never heard fancy dress party spoken without a British accent.  :) Branden 06:32, 29 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Flashlight

Does "flashlight" mean "strobe light" in british english? Greenmountainboy 03:08, 11 Dec 2003 (UTC)

ObAaron: No. --Phil 08:52, Jan 29, 2004 (UTC)

Various

I've just made the following changes: Bird a slang term for a woman is much less common than the other use of that word. Fag can also be a young public school boy who acts as a servant for older pupils. Geezer can mean a man aswell as a gangster. Mad has both meanings in UK aswell as USA, but insane is more common in UK than angry. Period can also be a section of time in the UK aswell. Rubber can also mean mean condom in UK.

Ringing

Does this sound like complete nonsence to you or is it just me?:

(to) ring to call (someone) by telephone to make a bell-like sound; you cannot ring people unless they are wearing a bell. (Note: "To give someone a ring" is to call someone in British English, while in American English it's to give an ornamental band to someone). Also understood as "to call on the telephone" when said as "here's my number, give me a ring when you can" or similarly.

Saul Taylor 08:52, 24 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Definitions

Why on earth would you use a purely American term to define the "British" meaning of a particular word? For example, to the British Bum means Butt. To be of any use, this article must be completely comprehensible to all English speakers. I would suggest the use of culturally-neutral English in all definitions. 195.238.50.252 05:05, 31 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Yes, I like this idea. Greenmountainboy 15:03, 31 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Skillet

I think skillet means the same thing in British English as it does in American English. Can someone verify this? Greenmountainboy 15:03, 31 Dec 2003 (UTC)

I've never heard of that word before. I'm British, btw. Saul Taylor 01:44, 1 Jan 2004 (UTC)

I knew someone from Manchester who always called a frying pan a skillet

Tyke

Regards "tyke": Both terms are used in British English. The word is described as "chiefly Scots and Northern English" in the Chambers dictionary. I'd also suggest that it's use for "Yorkshireman" is no more insulting than Scouse or Geordie. In Australian English it's an insulting word for a Catholic, but as far as America and Britain are concerned, I think both sides of the Atlantic use tyke to mean "little rascall", but Britain also uses it to mean dog and Yorkshireman. -Nommo 14:28, 12 Jan 2004 (UTC)

I'd also suggest that it's use for "Yorkshireman" is no more insulting than Scouse or Geordie. - possibly true, though it is also can mean "a crude uncouth ill-bred person lacking culture or refinement [1]. Certainly when my US wife referred to a (Yorkshire) friend's children as "Little Tykes" there was an embarrasing silence. -- Chris Q 14:39, 12 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Tailgater

"Tailgater" also has the supposed British meaning in the US. Meaning is derived from context. RickK 02:10, 18 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Garage again

Removed garage again - see higher up this page. Andy G 18:47, 23 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Sherbet/sherbert

I've just looked this up - the page here states that the British meaning is spelled "sherbet" and the American and Australian meanings are "sherbert". But the text of the American definition has mixed the two spellings, and various online dictionaries seem to give either both spellings or only "sherbet".

Further to the inconsistency, our article states that sherbert is slightly different from sorbet, and others indicate that they're the same thing. Or is "sorbet" another word with different meanings that are being mixed up in the various sources?

And some sources are hopelessly out of date. AHD's second definition:

Chiefly British. A beverage made of sweetened diluted fruit juice.

No mention at all of the only meaning that tends to be used over here anymore, which as whoever just edited quite rightly says, is sweet fizzy powder.

What I'd do is:

• Tidy up the sherbet page a little
• On the list, change the left column to just say "sherbet", the only spelling that exists over here, and put "(also spelled sherbert)" in the American column.

Smjg 15:16, 2 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Hello, I'm the user who added sherbet/sherbert and I also added the British section on sherbet. So... do you think that Americans spell it sherbet or sherbert... you're right that the British spelling is nowadays always sherbet. Actually that would make sense, when I did a google image search for sherbet, I got lots of pics of the frozen dessert.

Re: sorbet/sherbert, I'm pretty sure they're different things. The OED only says that it's a kind of water-ice (19th C), and that sorbet is a synonym of sherbet (the drink), and then says sorbet can also be a water-ice. You're right that a lot of sources are hopelessly out of date!

I just did an informal survey of sherbet and sorbet recipies online. None of the sorbet recipes had dairy (milk etc) in them. And most of the the sherbet ones did. I think it's safe to assume that the modern meaning of sherbet/sorbet is that they are different things (as per the FDA stuff quoted in sherbet), but if we stick with the description of sherbet as a type of frozen dessert, we wont be wrong. By the way, you're obviously right about the fact Americans also spell it sherbet, I'll sort out the main article. Cheers, fabiform | talk 19:13, 2 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Cots/Cribs...Cradles?

Between Meadow's law and SIDS saw that Brits call it "cot death" and Merricans call it "crib death." Does that suggest a broader split over cot and crib. For USians, a crib is a small bed with high headboards and slatted sides. A cot is usually made of canvas stretched over four low legs. And a cradle is much smaller than a crib, and usually/often rocks like a rocking chair. Is it different in British English? Am I making any sense? jengod 19:08, Feb 4, 2004 (UTC)

Looks like US crib = Brit cot; US (adult-sized) cot = Brit camp-bed; cradle the same for both. Andy G 21:21, 4 Feb 2004 (UTC)

As a Brit, I don't agree with "geezer" meaning gangster. It is mostly used (at least in London) in the same way as the word "bloke" e.g. "I met this geezer down the pub....", "old geezer"=="old bloke" "fat geezer"=="fat bloke" etc.. However it has started to be used differently in recent years, as per this Guardian article [2]