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Hints and Things does not use any 1st Party cookies - more information. LANGUAGE DIFFERENCES Malcolm Bale has sent in the following interesting information on the use of verbs. "Auxiliary verbs are used differently in the UK and in USA. Americans would answer the question 'Have you got a pen? with 'Yes, I do'; Britishers say 'Yes, I have' (unless, of course, the question is worded 'Do you have a pen?' !) There are also differences with the past tenses of the verb 'to wake'. Americans say 'waked' and sometimes 'had woked'; in the UK the preferred equivalents are 'woke' and 'woken'." Amy adds - I don't know where that Malcom Bale person is from, but "waked" and "had woked" are most certainly NOT the preferred past tense of "to wake". "Waked" and "had woked" would generally only be heard from rural dialects, small children still learning grammar, Black/African-American dialects, and maybe Hispanics. "Woke" and "woken" are still the preferred words in the US.
and Alex comments - I have never heard anyone in the US say "had woked" -- are you sure about that? I've heard "waked," but I think "woke" and "woken" are more common over here too. In commonwealth countries- Get down; in US- always get out In India- We say Happy Independence Day; in US- Happy 4th of July Ajay Linda Weber saw my phrase "now it's down to you" on the CD Rom page and pointed out that in America they say "now it's up to you", this started me thinking as we also say "it's up to you". Why then did I put "it's down to you"? I tried to work out when we use each expression. As I couldn't come up with an answer I looked them up in the dictionary -
I still don't know the answer - it would appear both fit the bill. Jeff Walkington writes as follows:- I spent 6 weeks living in the UK for work this past summer and got a hell of a kick out of the difference in lingo. I brought back some of it to share with my fellow Americans, my favorite being the use of "cheers" for everything from "thank you" to "good bye". I use it all the time and it drives my friends nuts, when we are out, because the wait staff usually have no clue why I would be saying "cheers" to them. Cheers in the States is used only in drinking situations, similar to a toast or a prost. Tony Smith, who was born in Leamington Spa which is approximately 10 miles south of Coventry in the U.K. has kindly sent in the following observations:- "As a child I only ever heard "I guess" (as in "I guess he was angry") in American films/TV programmes and I assumed it was an "Americanism". However, as I grew up and found work in Coventry I heard the phrase more and more and began to realise that it was probably of British origin (albeit localised). Some of the people using the phrase were of an older generation and not at all keen on the influences that our American cousins seemed to be having on the language. Another one I believe may have originated here is "swell", meaning "good" - although I have nothing to support this at all.* For the sake of fairness I should add that I am aware of the very large contribution made from the U.S. to the English language (re. Bill Bryson et al) and one of my favourites is "gotten" which I think should be used more. Some of my colleagues would recoil in horror!" * Marion Funnell comments as follows:-
There are also differences in language within countries, here are some contributions from Canada (courtesy of Mrs. R. Lehman) The metal pieces put on the bottom of shoes to prevent them wearing out are called BLAKEYS in British Columbia, CLICKERS in Alberta and Saskatchewan and TAPS in Manitoba and Newfoundland. Doughnuts - In British Columbia a jam filled doughnut is called a JELLY or JELLIED DOUGHNUT; in Alberta and Saskatchewan BISMARKS; and in Manitoba - JAM BUSTER. Baby's pacifier (or dummy) is called a SUCKEE in British Columbia and Saskatchewan but in Newfoundland it is known as a DUMB TIT (I won't tell you what this would mean in the UK!) Nik Shearer advises this is known as a "dummy tit" in Scotland. GARBAGE in Canada is know as TRASH in the U.S.A. and RUBBISH in the U.K. In India they use the word SHIFT when moving from one apartment to another, whereas in the U.K. and America the term used would be MOVE. Thanks to Alpesh Khushalchand Shukia for this one. Nik Shearer informs me that the term "flitting" is used when moving house - as in "I'm flitting". I am sure in the South of England this would be confused with the term "moonlight flit" which means leaving without paying your bills.!!! In the U.S. a 'fag' is a gay man and I heard a story once of an English bloke in the US politely asking a burly bloke at a bar if he "had any fags"*** - he very nearly got punched! ***Nik shearer rightly points out that, in order to explain the above sentence, I should have mentioned that, in the U.K. the word "fag" is also the slang word for a cigarette!! Another great phrase is "keep your pecker up", very British and more or less means "be positive/keep your head up". In the US it is down right rude as 'pecker' refers to the male anatomy. I recall a story of a British Edition of a particular newspaper forwarding a telegram to a journalist through its US Edition with those words on it - it was rejected on the grounds that the telegram was obscene ( a long while ago but it highlights the difference!). Date - British is day/month/year whereas in the USA it is month/day/year. This can be particularly annoying on websites when you come across a download site that has files dated 10/01/01 and you don't know if it's the 10th of January or the 1st of October and can't tell if it's a recent file or not. There are also many spelling differences e.g. optimise, customise, analyse etc. American English replaces the "s" with a "z". Flavour, colour, humour, armour etc. have the "U" dropped in American English and Tyres are Tires in the US. (This has created a lot of problems for me on this site - I am British so spell words one way whilst a number of my contributors are American so they spell it another. Hence the mix of spellings throughout the site.) A cheque is 'check' in US which makes it confusing if you want to check a check for mistakes. A car tyre is spelt "tire" so you could quite easily 'tire of fixing the tire". My thanks to Nik Shearer for taking the time and trouble to send in all the above.- An American asking for "Sprouts" would probably mean "Bean sprouts" whereas in the U.K. this would mean "Brussel sprouts" (which is a small green leaved vegetable). Thank you Richard Hamilton. Durex in the U.K. is a make of "condom", whereas, I believe in Australia this is a self adhesive tape - NOW THAT COULD GET YOU INTO TROUBLE!!!! Lisa advises - "Durex is not adhesive tape in Australia, its a condom brand (probably the best known one) same as in the UK!" Again I stand corrected as it would appear Durex adhesive tape is no longer available in Australia. In the U.S. if something is "Mickey Mouse" it is flimsy, not good quality or just hurriedly put together. In Australia if someone says they will "Mickey Mouse" it for you they mean they will make it perfect. American businessmen tend to use the term "bird" as an airplane. As in 'I just got off the bird this morning'. In Britain "bird" means a girl - another one to get you into trouble! "Knocked up" in the U.S. means pregnant whereas in the U.K. this means to wake someone up by knocking on the door. (We do now use this term to mean 'pregnant'). XXXX in Australia is a brand of beer in the U.S. it is a brand of condom - whoops that slippery slope again. Thanks to Karen for sending in these examples! and to Cassie for the correction. John Conolley reckons that comparative philology should include the study of rude terms and has sent in a few to get the ball rolling. In the U.S., "fanny" means a girl's backside. I gather it means something rather different in England. (as this is a family site I would rather not elaborate on this one!) The word "bollocks" is not used in the U.S. It's merely "balls." "Git" is not used, except far up in the hills, where dog breeders might use it to refer to a dog. (In the UK this term is used to refer to someone considered to be stupid - rightly or wrongly!) "Pillock," which I've heard on British TV shows isn't used in the U.S., and I don't even know what it means (here again its a term used meaning "idiot" or "fool") "Knickers" is rare in the U.S., and would mean the old-fashioned boy's trousers (excuse me, I almost typed "pants") that are cut off and tied (buttoned?)halfway between the ankles and the knees. (In the U.K. this is a word for ladies undergarments more modernly known as pants.) "Bloody" is sometimes used in the U.S. by accretion from the British, but no American knows what it really means, or why the British consider it a dirty word. (more information on the history of swear words can be found at http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mbloody.html I'm aware that the word "kaks" is used in some parts of England for trousers, but few Americans have ever heard it. (As far as I am aware not widely used in the U.K. either, not in the South East anyway!)
And the best one of all, of course, is "arse," which lost its "r" by being filtered through New England English, to become "ass," which evidently strikes the British as odd. ( An "ass" in the U.K. is a sort of Donkey although in some British dialects it could have a different meaning!)The next contribution is a little risque but no offence intended. In Australia the phrase "I have the s****" means "I'm annoyed, angry/mad/cross", however, in the U.K. this would mean "I have diarrhoea!". Thanks to Effie Makris for this one It has been pointed out by J. Bunce that the term "gas" used in American English for fuel is, in fact, an abbreviation of the word "gasoline". I remember once when talking to an American colleague I mentioned my boss was "abroad" and could not understand the laughter at the other end of the phone line. After a little thought I realised he had thought I was referring to my male superior as "a broad!!!". This subject has created a great deal of interest and input from visitors. For ease of use these have been split into several different pages including:- Differences between Australian, British and American English. a chart listing some of the differences between the more commonly used British/American words and phrases, Differences between some of the more common British and American words and phrases. Then there are all the suggestions of language differences (2, 3 and 4 ) which have been sent in by visitors which are shown on three more pages.
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