British vs American English: 9 Words that Mean Different Things

- Hello, this is Jack from tofluency.com.

And, today, I'm going to share nine words

that mean different things in British and American English.

Now, if you don't know who I am, I grew up in the UK,

but I've been living in America for a few years now.

So, I have been exposed

to the following words in both countries,

and I have made some mistakes along the way.

I've used the word in the wrong country,

by accident or just because it now feels natural to me.

So, I'm going to go through these nine words,

and I'm going to explain a little bit more

about which one feels natural to me now.

So, let's get into number one.

So, let's start with biscuit, biscuit.

Now this is a biscuit in the UK,

and this is a biscuit in the U.S.A.

So you can see there's quite a big difference

between these two things.

So, when I first came to the U.S., and somebody asked me

if I wanted to go for biscuits and gravy,

I was very confused.

Like why, why do you want to put gravy on biscuits?

So then I went to the restaurant, and I learned

that biscuits are very different, and I love them.

They're really good.

They're quite similar to the scon or scone

that we have in the UK.

I don't know which one of those two is correct.

And sometimes you can go to a restaurant here,

especially in the American South,

and they'll give you a free biscuit

before you even order a meal.

It's similar to when you get a free poppadom

in an Indian restaurant in the UK.

But, yeah, here they'll give you a free biscuit

that comes with butter and a little bit of jelly.

And then you can go to restaurants

and order biscuits with anything you want.

My favorite is biscuit with bacon and eggs.

Back to the British biscuit,

Americans will call these cookies.

So, they call a cookie the generic term for biscuit,

whereas this is a cookie in the UK,

a very specific type of biscuit.

Are you confused yet because I was at first, too.

But I love this type of biscuit too,

especially when you can dip them in a lovely cup of tea.

And one last thing about biscuits.

When I was teaching in Spain,

and I had a group of 11-year-olds in my class,

I asked them, "What do you eat for breakfast every day?"

And, without fail, everyone said, "Cola Cao and biscuits."

Number two, I'll keep this short, is cider.

So, if you ask for a cider in the UK,

this is going to be alcoholic.

It's going to have alcohol in this.

"Can I get a cider?"

You're going to get an alcoholic drink.

Whereas, in America, asking for a cider

means there is no alcohol in this drink.

It's more or less like regular apple juice

and, if you're in the U.S. and you want

to have an alcoholic cider, ask for this.

"Can I have a hard cider, please?"

"Can I have a hard cider, please?"

The next one is obvious and it's football, football.

So, football in the UK is this sport.

Football in America is this sport.

And a lot of the time it doesn't matter which word I say,

people always have something to say about this.

For example, when I'm in America and I call it "soccer",

they say, "Don't you call it football where you're from?"

And if I call it "football", people will say,

"We call it soccer here."

And if I say "soccer" to my friends in the UK, they say,

"It's not called soccer, it's called football."

And if I say "football" in the UK, they say,

"Don't you call it soccer now?"

So, we need to come up with an international term

for football and soccer.

The next one is a fun one, it's jock, to be a jock.

Now, in the UK, a jock means somebody from Scotland.

And I'm not sure if this is a derogatory term or not.

If you're from Scotland, please let me know.

But people from England

will call people from Scotland, jocks.

Whereas, in America, a jock is a stereotype

of somebody who is very sporting.

They love sports, they're obsessed with sports,

they're good at sports.

And they might not be as interested in other things.

So, I remember this term when I was growing up

watching American TV, and a jock was somebody at school

who didn't do well in academics,

but they were the best sportsmen in the school.

They wore one of those sports jackets

that, do people still wear those?

And, again, their only interest was sports.

The next one is pants.

So, right now, I'm not wearing pants, I'm wearing shorts.

And, in American English, this means trousers.

So I'm not wearing trousers today,

I'm not wearing any pants.

But, in the UK, this means underwear.

So, pants equals underpants.

Having said that, where I'm from, in the north of England,

people used to refer to pants as trousers.

So this one confuses me sometimes, as well.

But I would say that pants as trousers

makes more sense to me.

The next one is public school,

and this one is quite strange when you think about it.

In the U.S., public school means a school

funded by the local government or the taxpayer.

It's free for people to go to a public school.

Whereas in the UK, a public school is a private school

where you have to pay to attend this school.

And I think it refers to a high status private school.

And there is a reason for this.

I'll leave the link in the description,

so you can read more about it if you want to.

But it can be quite confusing to say public

because in most terms if something is public,

it means it's provided by the local or state

or federal government, and it's free for people to use.

A public school.

But, yeah, in the UK, this means a private school.

So a private school in America is a public school in the UK.

And a public school in America

is called a state school in the UK.

Th next one is squash.

And I love squash.

I grew up drinking a lot of squash.

My favorite is Vimto and here's a tip.

If you ever have Vimto, don't mix it with regular water.

Mix it with sparkling water, instead.

And if you're a bit confused about what squash

or cordial is, it's like a concentrated juice

which you mix with water to enjoy.

But a squash in America is a type of vegetable,

and I don't think we have this vegetable in the UK,

or at least I never had it growing up.

But it's really popular here.

My wife loves squash, but I'm not a big fan, to be honest.

And squash can also mean a specific type of sport.

I'll put that on your screen so you can see it,

and I think it's called racquetball in the U.S.

But that might just be a little bit of a different game.

So, after playing a hard game of squash,

there's nothing better than to have some squash.

The next one is chips.

Now you might already know this one, a lot of people do.

But, if you don't, these are chips in British English,

and these are chips in American English.

An easy way to remember this is fish and chips,

to get some fish and chips.

And I do get confused when I order fish and chips in America

because I never know if they're going to come

with what we call, or the Brits, call chips,

or what Americans call chips.

So be careful when you order fish and chips in the U.S.

Now what the Americans call chips, the Brits call crisps.

And I don't think that the selection

and quality of crisps in the UK can be beaten.

I think the UK has the best selection

and the best type of crisps in the whole world.

My top three are anything with salt and vinegar.

I'm a big salt and vinegar fan.

Number two is Monster Munch Pickled Onion, very good.

Number three is Walker's Cheese & Onion.

Now this might sound disgusting, but I used to make

banana and cheese & onion crisp sandwiches.

They were delicious.

And going back to chips or fries,

I much prefer the British style of chips.

They're just thicker, and for me a lot tastier.

Now the last one is a fun one,

and it's to go potty, go potty.

In America, this is used to talk about babies

who need to go to the toilet.

You'll say, "Come on, let's go potty."

"Let's go potty before we get in the car."

But to go potty in the UK means to go slightly crazy.

It's quite an informal and sometimes fun way

to talk about this.

For example, "When I told her, she just went potty."

"I'd go potty if I had to stay inside all day."

"She must have gone potty when you told her that."

Okay, so there is nine words that mean different things

in British and American English.

I hope you have enjoyed this video.

Before you go, remember to leave a comment below

telling me more words that are different

in these two types of English.

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Thanks again for being here.

Speak to you soon, bye bye.