The English of the English: Part 2

Let’s sift through some English English usage and the American equivalents.  In categories!

 

What Americans Already Know Before They Go To England

cheers = thanks

dodgy = questionable or scary

holiday = vacation

fancy = like

chips = fries

flat = apartment

mate = friend

biscuit = cookie

lift = elevator

 

What You Can Figure Out The First Time You Hear It

ring = call (as in “ring me up later tonight”)

telly = television

give it a think = think it over (I kinda like this one)

torch = flashlight (makes the flashlight much more dramatic)

tutor = professor

fresher = freshman

revising = studying

read = studied (as in “I read economics in college”)

daft = crazy

tick = check (a verb, to tick a box on a form)

posh = wealthy, upper class

induction = orientation

top up = top off (as in “can I top up your coffee?”)

interval = intermission

let = rent (verb)

potato jacket = potato skin

note = bill

Notes and bills refer to paper money.  I was actually scolded by a cashier when I said “bill”, to which I should have replied:  “Honey, I’m American.  Which of our countries has more money circulating the world right now?  Why don’t you let me call the shots.”

Weird And Wild Ones You Can’t Help But Like

choc a bloc = crowded, loaded, full

gobsmacked = surprised

Gobsmacked literally it means “spit hit my face,” which is usually a rather surprising thing, so it makes sense.

Ones I’d Never Heard Before

good nick = good shape

knackered = tired, exhausted

go for a slash = urinate

swotted = crammed (for an exam)

naff = kitsch, camp, naïve bad taste

Two Funny Ones Because They’re Inadvertently Sexual

cock up = screw up (fill in your own joke)

rubber = eraser

And yes, an American colleague has heard a British teacher say to her students “please take out your rubbers” and “we’ve got rubbers in the back if you need them.”  To which no British teenager laughed at all (though my colleague did).