11 British and American word differences

Super Agent Awesome is here today. He's back  for some more American and British words.  

What do you do if you cut yourself? Then I would get myself a Band-Aid.  

I would get myself a plaster. I think Band-Aid is another  

one of those trademark names. Oh yeah, like Coke and Scotch Tape.  

Yes, in this picture she's  got something on her chin.  

Yeah, it's um... We say two versions  of that. One is called a pimple and the  

other one is called a zit. We would call it a spot.  

OK, that's makes sense. Yeah. And if it's got sort of a yellow,  

pussy bit, it would be a spot. If it was just  a raised bump without the yellow pussy bit,  

we might call it a pimple. OK. Band-Aid  

Plaster Zit or pimple  

Spot So, what's this?  

Um, hmm. It looks like a camper van or an RV. OK. I would call that a caravan.  

Wait, a caravan? A caravan  is usually a line of cars.  

Oh, right. OK so different meaning. Yeah.  

In British English we'd call that convoy.  It's when there's a line of cars or vehicles  

that are travelling together.  What would you call that?  

I would call that a minivan. I could call that a minivan too.  

Or, I might call it a camper van. Hold on. Shouldn't the camper  

van be the last picture? Ahhh. Because it's an RV.  

There you go. Now, what's that? Now that is a camper van.  

Things are much bigger in America. We don't have  anything like that in the UK 'cause our roads  

wouldn't be that big. Oh, really?  

So, what does RV stand for? It stands for recreational vehicle.  

Camper van or RV Caravan  

Caravan Convoy  

Minivan Minivan or camper van  

RV or recreational vehicle RV Park  

Caravan park What would that baby call this woman?  

Mommy. And how do you spell that?  

M-O-M-M-Y I would spell it M-U-M-M-Y.  

You mean like mummies in Egypt? Yes. Do you usually shorten it?  

Mom. And how do you spell that?  

M-O-M. OK, as opposed to M-U-M for me.  

And there's another place where you use  this. You know there are small stores, yes,  

and they're like owned by a husband and wife. Yes, they're um, mom and pop stores.  

We would call it a family business. But  you could say that too, couldn't you?  

Yeah I could. Mom or mommy. Mum or mummy.  

Mom and pop store. Family business.  

What do you call all these  days in the United States?  

We call these public holidays. I would call them bank holidays. Right.  

When you go travelling, you could  go in your own car. Yes. Or you  

could go by bus, or train, or trolley. Yeah. Now, what do you call all those things together?  

We call those transportation. I would call it public transport.  

Where's the 'tation?' Some how that got lost.  

Oh wow. Do you also say mass transit?  

Yeah, uh we say that a lot in the states. And we don't.  

Public holidays. Bank holidays.  

Public transportation or mass transit. Public transport.  

Ok, there are two ways to buy clothes. All right.  

You could have them made for you. Oh yeah, it's custom made.  

Yes, or you could go to a shop where they've got  lots of clothes there. Yeah. And what would you  

call that? You would buy clothes... We would buy them off the rack.  

I, in England, would buy them  off the peg. What's this?  

That looks really comfortable  to wear. It's sweatpants.  

Yes. And normally we'd say  something like track suit bottoms.  

So you're saying these are  meant for running also?  

Yeah. Off the rack Off the peg.  

Sweatpants. Track suit bottoms.  

Here's somebody who's asleep. And what's  

covering her. A comforter.  

We'd say it's possibly a duvet.  A duvet is a large cloth bag  

that's filled with feathers or soft material,  foam. Yes. And you could cover it with something  

like a huge pillowcase. American comforters  don't have covers like duvets. What's that?  

Oh, that's a quilt. Uh huh, and we'd call that a quilt too.  

That's a comforter, isn't it? Yes, it is.  

See, that isn't a duvet. Comforter  

Duvet There might be some regional  

variations with a lot of these words so if you  see any differences, you can write and tell us.  

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