Just stumbled across this website. It does a marvelous job of explaining the different terminology that may confuse all of us on both sides of the Atlantic.

http://www.english2american.com/index.html#index

Why use this website when one only has to ask a question on terminology here? There are so many Americans and Brits on Fodor's who could explain terminology better than any online dictionary.

Mrs. Malaprop

On Eurostar trains i've heard the announcement in French (translated) "The snack-bar is now open" and then the English equivalent "The buffet ("buf-fey&quot car is now open - the French using snackbard and English buffet. Figure that one out!

many of these dictionary things do not represent the real world very well, i find. they tend to be a blend of regional and outdated words (along with the true differences) and they greatly exaggerate the gap between the two "languages".

PalQ, I wonder how many other examples there are like that (where English uses a French term and vice versa). One I can think of is that English uses "Art Nouveau" where French uses "Modern Style."

Pal Q

How else would you pronounce buffet?

And it's not just British vs American.

There are a lot of differences in pronunciation in the US - esp for place names.

A lot of place names in New England are similar to British and pronounced the same way by locals - but not by people from other parts of the county.

A prime example is Greenwich CT - or Village in NYC. A lot of tourists pronounce it Green-witch. Or - if they've heard it - but never seen it written - think it's spelled Grenitch.
Worcester (pronounced Wooster in the Northeast) Mass is another example.

As a female Aussie working with a female American in the Middle East many years ago, I had a need to ask her for a rubber.

You would not believe how the next ten minutes of conversation went until she finally asked me what I was going to do with the rubber to which I replied I needed to rub out an error I had made in pencil.

She promptly advised that I need to ask for an eraser and to be very careful about asking an American for a rubber

There were so many differences between us, despite both speaking English, that I had to purchase an English/American dictionary. We did have a lot of fun with it though.

nytraveler,

We as Brits are laughed at when we say Woburn (woe_burn not woo_ burn) and Dover (dove_r not Duver) here in MA.

If we try to explain to our friends from Polish/Italian/German descent that these are 'English' names - the shrug their sholders and say that's how we pronounce it

I wonder what the Duke of Bedford who owns Woburn Abbey(Woe_burn) with a family history of over 400yrs feels about that

My husband asked for a rubber in a college lecture he was giving in an American college!!!
Carolena

I think we Brits make them up just to seem snobby (and that's amongst our own nation). Take Magdalen College, Oxford. It is pronounced "mauldlin". Why?

Anyway, the translation thing reminded me of when I had a training course in Montplellier, and the helful trainer translated the menu for us during a coffee break. When he showed it to us we had "Cake of egg". I asked what this was and he said it was a French dish called Quiche!
Another time I was in a restaurant in Barcelona which proudly boasted that "there would be exposure every night in the middle of the restaurant". What they meant to say was that there would be a display of fresh fish in the middle of the restaurant so that you could choose what you wanted. I think the other meaning sounds more fun.

I also asked an American guest a few weeks ago about London and whether he's seen the Gherkin. He was dumfounded (although I always thought it was called gherkin in the US as well?) and only realised what I was talking about when I told him you get them at McDonalds. "Oh, pickle" he replied.
I'm like to watch the telly for a fortninght but it is in the boot of my hatchback along with my mobile, and cashpoint card. It'll probably be minging by now as it's knobbling out.

Sorry - that should, of course, be Maudlin.

The word "maudlin" is derived from Magdalene/Magdalen.

Or rather, from the way the Norman conquerors pronounced her: Madeleine. The pronunciation lingers on throughout Oxford and at Magdalene, Cambridge.

There's an academic at Oxford or who's had this idea for a novel about why the pronunication survives, and how it's code to illuminati about the true story of Mary Magdalen.

But he can't bring himself to believe anyone would buy such tosh.

I wonder if there is one that translates deep Southern vocabulary into more mainstream English. I have been spending a ton of time with my old nanny, and ah say they ain't nothin' lahk ma nanny tuh confoos everthin all 'bout cuz she jess so suthun.

Direct quote: "Oh, miss Claire, yous a lookin so perty in thuh dress thet the mens gone be all 'bout lahk flies. An you jess ledum buzz, honey."

The "Why" was rhetorical.

Stormbird, have you by any chance ever tried to buy thongs in the UK...?!

Well it was pretty lousy rhetoric

US / Australian
cookies / biscuits
biscuits / scones
jello / jelly
jelly / jam
eraser / rubber (although people have started using the term eraser more)
ketchup / sauce
fanny / bum (fanny is another part of the female anatomy)

Don't ask for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in Australia or you'll get a strange look. Mind you, you'll also get a strange look if you ask for a peanut butter and jam sandwich.

New York subway: " &%$@#$()*&%$ " (unintelligible conductor garble telling you that the doors are closing)

London underground: "Mind the gap." First time I heard that I had NO IDEA what they were talking about!

>>>>>
London underground: "Mind the gap." First time I heard that I had NO IDEA what they were talking about!
>>>>>

that's probably why this warning has gone the way of the routemaster...preserved only on a tiny scale in order to avoid completely eliminating a london icon.