Differences: vocabulary, part I.

America and Britain, without a doubt, share quite a turbulent chunk of history. The name of our blog even directly alludes to it quite directly in a hackneyed attempt at being witty.

Cultural appropriation level: white girls at Coachella.

Over two hundred years have passed since The Declaration of Independence, and, whether we like it or not, Britain's rebellious, freedom-obsessed, gun-toting baby has grown into a Global Superpower. Americans are known for many things...

Umm... yeah, stereotypes are a material for a rather lengthy blog post of its own.

... honing their own unique sense of identity being one among many other qualities. To achieve it, writers, artists and politicians spent hundreds of years trying to create something purely American. And they succeeded! American patriotism is legendary at this point.

American pride: a rather cringe-worthy example.

Nowadays, it's easier to pinpoint what distinguishes the two countries from each other than to determine what they have in common. However, there's one rather conspicuous similarity America and Britain share: the language. No room for mistakes there. 

Americans of the 18th century made it clear: they wanted to separate themselves as much as possible from their tax-leeching tyrant and create their own, American identity.

And what's the best way to show the Brits we are our own kind of people than to confuse them with new vocabulary? 

Yup, that's the point of this unnecessarily long-winded post: to showcase differences between American and British English. And boy, if there aren't thousands of those.

Let's focus on the spelling first, shall we?

Ouch. #shotsfired

These spelling differences are usually more cosmetic than anything else, but it's quite an interesting topic anyway. A keen eye will easily discern whether the text is written in American or British English.

Apart from the aforementioned "getting rid of u" in words such as "favourite", "labour", "favour", "behaviour", "neighbour", American English also tends to relegate "r" to the end in case of certain words ending with "re" in British English:

centre - center

theatre - theater

centre - center

litre - liter 

metre - meter

(however, these two, liter and meter, are rarely used in America, considering they still prefer the imperial units to the metric system. Shame on you, Americans.)

What is more, Americans spell certain words, which in British end with "ce", with "se" instead:

defence - defense

licence - license

pretence - pretense

offence - offense

Whereas certain verbs ending with "se" in British, are spelled with "ze" in American English:

apologise - apologize

organise - organize

recognise - recognize


American English also has a tendency to simplify overly "confusing" spelling of certain words of foreign etymology:

leukaemia - leukemia

manoeuvre - maneuver

oestrogen - estrogen

paediatric - pediatric

paedophile - pedophile

Simplifying "difficult" words is not helping your cause, 'Murica.

Alright, now that we got the spelling nuances out of the way, it's time to dig into the real meat of the post: the actual differences in vocabulary.


Feeling hungry for some biscuits? It might be hard to find any in America. They only have cookies. (The chocolate chip ones are the best!)

Looking for a flat? No luck for you in America, then. They only have apartments. However, apartments can also be found in blocks, just like flats.

Asking for chips will send a bag of Lay's your way. The potato delicacy in America is referred to as French fries. Fun fact: French fries are actually Belgian! Isn't the world a confusing place?

Feeling hungover? Need some aspirin to alleviate the throbbing headache? You won't find a chemist's in America. They have drugstores instead. However, try not to refer to the person behind the counter as a drug dealer. They might get offended. Or ask in a low voice "how did you know?!".

Need to pin something to the board with a drawing pin? Americans call those thumbtacks. 

In case you need to get rid of rubbish, what you call a dustbin in Britain, Americans refer to as a garbage can. 

Thanks, Oscar. I needed that.

Is your baby screeching like an angry banshee? Sorry, I meant... is your baby crying? What Brits call a dummy, in America is referred to as a... pacifier. Wow. I knew America had a thing for violence, but pacifying babies is where I draw the line. And I don't even like babies.

You want to cross the street in America? If you ask an American for the closest zebra crossing, you might get a look, but they'll probably guess you meant crosswalk.

The front glass pane in the car, which is called windscreen in Britain, in America is referred to as windshield. 

Just moved to America and you're in need of a wardrobe? In America people keep their clothes in a closet. 

Got invited to a fancy party? While shopping for a waistcoat in America, you will have to ask for a vest.

The fancy American party turned out to be a flop and you need some booze to finish the evening on a high note? Don't look for an off-licence. What you need is a liquor store.

Sigh. Some memes just hit too close to home.

Your boyfriend dumped you and you need to freshen up your look? If you ask an American hairdresser for a fringe, they might get confused. In America it's called bangs.

You need to turn a bolt? If you ask for a spanner in American Home Depot, the shop assistant might misunderstand you. In America they call such a tool a wrench.

And to think it all started with taxes...

The thing is, what I mention in this post is just a tip of an iceberg. Also, what we need to remember is that in the age of rapid globalization, the differences between American and British English are more likely to blur than become more conspicuous. 

I'm sure in most cases a British English speaker and an American English speaker will understand each other just fine.

The only really confusing thing I stumbled upon when it comes to vocabulary differences is the thing with the floors: what Brits (and, I guess, most Europeans in their mother tongues) refer to as the ground floor, in America is called the first floor. American second floor is our first floor. I'm sure this difference has spawned quite a lot of misunderstandings!

Alright, that's enough for today! I'm not done with the topic yet, though. Today I touched upon some random, more general differences, however, next time I'll try to explore the world of food-related vocabulary. 

Stay tuned for more!