British English & American English: 11 Vocabulary Differences

Hello. I'm Gill at engVid, and today we have a lesson on vocabulary and some of the differences

between American words and British words. Or... Well, it's confusing, isn't it? If I

say English words, they speak English in America as well, so I have to say "British" or "UK".

There are different names, but the differences in some of the vocabulary... I have some examples

here on the board. And just to clarify that I myself am in the UK, I'm British, I'm not

American, so if you wonder what my accent is, I have a British accent or a UK accent.

I don't have an American accent, okay, if you weren't sure. So, here are some typical

differences between the British/UK word for something and the American, and often Canadian

as well, word for the same thing, which I think, you know, people are aware of the differences.

People who are native English speakers mostly do know both words, but they also know which

their preferred one is based on where they're living. Okay. So, I suppose if a UK person

moved to America, they would gradually start using the different word that's used in America,

just... Just to fit in and just to be clear, to avoid confusion.

Okay, so let's have a look and see what we have here. So, "trousers" in the UK are usually

called "pants" in America. So, the trousers that people wear, women as well as men, wearing

trousers, which is... I'm wearing trousers. I'm wearing some denim jeans today, which

you probably can't see, but they are trousers. But in America, they would be called "pants".

And British/UK people think it's quite funny, really, that trousers are called "pants" in

America because we have a different meaning for the word "pants". And in the UK, "pants"

are actually an item of underwear, so it causes a bit of, you know, comedy sometimes to hear

trousers described as "pants" if you're a UK person. So, there we are, "trousers" in

the UK, "pants" in America.

Okay, so next one, we have a couple of things together, here. When we throw things away

in the UK, we throw them into the dustbin, which is a sort of usually a big plastic container

with wheels outside the house. And it's a strange word, really, because "dust" is just

sort of powder, dirt. So, we throw a lot more things into that container than dust, but

for some reason, going back many years, it's always been called a "dustbin". The "bin"

meaning a container, but we throw all sorts of things in the dustbin, and what we throw,

we call it "rubbish". But in America, they call it the "trash" or a "trash can" is the

container, the "trash" is the rubbish, but there's also the word "garbage" in America

as well. So, "rubbish" here in the UK, "garbage" in America, the "dustbin" in the UK, and the

"trash can" in America. Okay.

Right, so then these are very odd because a "boot" is usually what you wear on your

feet, you know, shoes or boots. And then a "trunk", you might think, oh, well, an elephant

has a trunk, but there's another meaning for "trunk" as well. But this pair of words is

actually to do with a part of a car. If you think of the back part of a car where you

lift it up, you open it up, and usually there's some space for storage. For example, if you're

putting some luggage, some suitcases in the back of your car, the storage at the back

if you're going away somewhere or you're taking something to somebody, it's a good place to

store things, and you can lock it with a key if you want to. But we call that the "boot",

which is a strange word to use, really, for the back part of a car. I don't know really

why it's called the "boot", but there we are. So, you put your luggage in the "boot", you

put your suitcases in the "boot", or you may have a spare car tyre in the "boot" just in

case you have a... If your tyre has a problem on a journey, you can change and put a new

tyre on. That might be stored in the "boot" as well. But in America, that part of the

car is called the "trunk". But there's also the meaning of a "trunk" can be a sort of

big container that you keep in the house with a lid that you lift and you store things in

a trunk, but here it's used as the back part of the car. So, the "boot" or the "trunk",

depending on where you are. Okay.

So, and then when you're writing and you come to the end of a sentence, in the UK you put

a full stop. Okay? A dot, but we call that a full stop. But in America, it's called a

period. Okay? So, that's another strange difference. We talk about the word "period", period of

time, a stretch of time, but in America it can also mean a dot at the end of the sentence,

a full stop. Okay.

And then a place where you live. If it's not a house, usually if it's on one level, it's

called a "flat", which is quite logical. It's just flat, no stairs up or down. You may have

to use stairs to get to it if you're on the first floor, second floor, third floor, flat.

You have to get there by stairs, but within the flat itself, it's flat, so there is a

logic to that word. But in America, it's called an "apartment". Okay? "Apartment", I suppose

because you're apart from other people, you're separate from other people. So, okay.

Next one, we... Sometimes these words aren't, you know, one thing in the UK and another

thing in America. Sometimes we use both words. We mostly use the word "holiday" in the UK

when you're not at work or you're not at school, you have a day's holiday, or you go on holiday

somewhere. In America, people tend to use the word "vacation", although I think also

they might use "holiday" or "holidays" in the plural with an "s" on the end, like the

Thanksgiving holidays. So, sometimes it varies a little bit, but generally, "holiday" in

the UK, "vacation" in America. Okay?

And then we eat biscuits in the UK. Sometimes we do call them "cookies", but cookies tend

to be a bit bigger and more sort of chunky, thick, and more expensive, too. I think usually

if they have an unusual name, they tend to be more expensive. It's a bit like if you

buy a "gâteau" rather than a "cake". "Gâteau" is the French word for "cake", and it will

probably cost more than something described as a cake because it sounds more special if

it's in French. So, the same with "biscuit" and "cookie". It may work in reverse in America.

If they buy biscuits, it might sound a bit more traditional English, a bit special. So...

But when we have "cookies" in the UK, they seem more special, so... Because it's the

more unusual word. But generally, "biscuits" in the UK, "cookies" in America.

Okay, so next one. We tend to go to the shop to buy all sorts of things, either food or

clothes, any kind of place where you go to buy something. Charity shop, food shop, clothing

shop, clothes shop. We do have something called a "department store", so we do use the word

"store", but that's usually when it's a big shop with lots of separate sections selling

different things. That's why it's a department store, because they have separate departments.

One for perfume, one for clothes, one for hats, one for furniture, and so on. But the

word "store" in America, I think, tends to be used for ordinary shops as well, although

I think it can vary a little bit according to what part of America you're in. So, you

may find the word "shop" is being used in certain parts of America, perhaps more than

others. But this is a kind of general difference. Mostly we call them "shops". Maybe in America

they mostly call them "stores". Right. And the same applies for "university" and "college".

We tend to call it "university" in this country, in the UK, if people are studying for a degree.

They've been to school, they've got to the age of 18, and then they want to do a degree

from the age of 18 to 21 is the usual kind of age that people will go to university as

an undergraduate and study maybe three years, maybe more, depending on what subject they're

studying. They call it "university". Also, they shorten it to "uni" sometimes. They just

call it "uni". I'm going to uni, but the full word is "university". But in America, perhaps

sometimes it's called "college" rather than "university", but it still involves a degree

course at that certain age of around 18 or 19 for about three years or more.

Okay, and then finally some more food, because we like food. What we call "chips" in the

UK, which is potatoes cut into, you know, sort of like finger shapes, potatoes chopped

up into shapes and fried. Very nice. Are called "chips". Quite a lot of different things are

called "chips", but that's one of them. You know, you can have electronic chips as well,

but that's a different thing. So, chips that you eat made from chopped up potatoes which

have been fried. But in America, they're called "fries", again because they're fried, so they

are "fries", but they're potatoes cut up and fried, called "fries". Okay.

So, there we are. I hope that's been a useful lesson for you to teach perhaps some new vocabulary,

as well as to maybe clarify the difference between UK and America, Canada. So, there

will be a quiz on this one, so if you'd like to test your knowledge, go to the website,

www.engvid.com, and find the quiz and see how you do. And leave a comment in there as

well if you'd like to. And so, see you again next time. Bye for now.