Weird British Words That Mean Something TOTALLY DIFFERENT in America
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- Опубліковано 14 тра 2024
- Americans and Brits both speak English, but sometimes it seems like they are speaking two different langauges. Here we go through some of the funny vocabulary that changes depending on which country you are in.
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Please know that many of these words are used in both spots. So it is not the end all be all "never said in the other country" just other vocabulary words you may hear. I have heard all of these myself and I have heard each other used in the other country. Just want to help expand all our vocabulary.
Scotland do the private vs state/public school thing the same as America.
(in Scotland it's either private or public/state. England and Wales will say its either public or state)
Please say english (uk) and american english, as its our language and its the og one.
In Britain, "pissed"= "drunk", "pissed off"= annoyed.
"ketchup" is used and understood by everybody in Britain, there won't be any confusion.
Bruv
Just the British serve, please bring me the Heinz.
to be fair we'd probably confuse the Americans more asking for "Tommy-K" and other such variations. 😆
I refuse to use the word "ketchup". Far too American. I always say 'tomato sauce'.
@@dobythedog The word "ketchup" has a fascinating history that spans various cultures. The term is believed to have originated from the Chinese word "kôe-chiap" or "kê-chiap," which referred to a sauce made from fermented fish brine. This sauce made its way to Malaysia, where it became "kechap" or "ketjap." Dutch traders encountered it in the 17th century and brought it back to Europe.
In the 18th century, the sauce reached England, and it underwent further modifications. Tomatoes, which were not present in the original Chinese version, were added. The term "ketchup" started to be associated with a tomato-based sauce. The first known published tomato ketchup recipe appeared in a cookbook called "The Compleat Housewife" by Eliza Smith in 1727.
The popularity of tomato ketchup continued to grow, and it eventually made it's way to the American colonies.
Don't worry about using most of these American words in the UK. Most of our TV shows are from the US. We will know what you mean.
The clrcle I move in mostly know most of these British terms. Either by visiting or by watching BBC. But my siblings who watch neither British TV nor have been outside the country have no idea except for lift or chips.
conversely we watch enough british shows and british youtube sensations, that we know what the british words mean, so if you want to take the pizza, (as introduced by a brit on an all ages chat board) feel free to let fly with the more colourful slang.
VampiraVonGhoulscout... best name I've seen in a long time.
The main channels in the UK have a policy of not showing shows from the US in primetime, in general.
@@peterd788 Do people still watch the "main channels"? I haven't had an aerial plugged in to my TV for over 10 years now.
A British coworker told me the slang for pregnant is “up the duff”
It is but it's not necessarily polite. 😆
@@ballroomdiva6856 lol 😂
Yup or got a bun in the oven
@@no_soy_rubiomatt👋🏻
@@Chasworth 😁
"High Tea" is actual tea with tasty treats, not dinner
yeah! Completely different thing to tea and also using the word tea for dinner is a very northern thing, like meat pie!
Yes, and it's not only a Northern thing, but quite related to class as well. I have some friends calling dinner "tea" and others calling it "supper." But "High Tea" is definitely not "supper."
I'm Scottish so say Breakfast , dinner and tea.
I say breakfast, lunch and dinner.
My husband says breakfast, dinner and tea.
yep. Tea is what i would call my evening meal because i'm from the north. Dinner what an american would call lunch, and come to think of it maybe most londoners these days would call it lunch and dinner instead of dinner and tea
To confuse things further, pudding doesn't always mean dessert. There are savoury puddings, such as steak and kidney pudding, black pudding and Yorkshire pudding.
And sweet is also another word for dessert.
Indeed. There is absolutely nothing "pudding" about Yorkshire pudding.
@@josepherhardt164 Except it's exactly the same recipe to make pancakes!
I just learned the other day that "black pudding" is blood chorizo (or morcilla).
@@PhilipMarcYT I think the Germans have Blutwurst, which may be similar.
When I was doing my internship in Arkansas, I asked the nurses for a torch, she corrected me and said you probably do fine if we get you a flash light 😂
When you storm a castle, do bring a torch too?
"Flash light" is so funny, because usually it doesn't even flash. A flash is something you use when taking a photo in a dark room.
A flash light? Nah-It doesn't have to be flash. Just an ordinary one will do ;)
If I hear a person with a British accent say torch I know they mean a flashlight, but if I read a British person's writing and see torch as read in my US English in my head narrator voice I'm picturing a flaming stick like Frankenstein villager torch.
@@HolgerJakobs It could be because the early flashlights had a red flash button that could be pushed and the flashlight would flash instead of the light staying on. I know the flashlights from the 1960s and 1970s had this feature. Probably before that, too, but this would've been before my time.
If you have two drinks in your hands in the UK/Australia you are “Double Parked”. DO NOT say the American version “Double Fisting”. You’ll be escorted off the premises.
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Sounds painful!!!
I’ve always said “2 handed”. Cause you have one in each hand. Back in the 80s when we went out they had 2 for 1. One for each hand! 😁 ✌🏻
Edited: 🇺🇸 😊
I've never heard that situation called anything ther than perhaps 'one in each hand' or 'both hands full'.
Depends what they're into
One thing important to correct in this video: in the UK, we don't use the word "casualty" to refer to the ER. Instead, we call it "A&E" (pronounced "A and E", stands for Accident and Emergency). Really important to be aware of, in case you hurt yourself or have a health scare, and you're told to go to A&E!!
Yes, a good point. Whilst going to casualty used to be the common phrase, it has almost completed been replaced in usage over the past 30 years or so. Not that most adults wouldn't immediately understand what you wanted if you said, "I need to get to casualty!"
I thought A&E is a TV channel 😂
That's a great one to know I did not know, thanks!
Also the word whilst: while understood by most Americans it's a good giveaway that you're not American. No problem most Americans will love hearing that and think it's cute.
And for the non Americans A&E is a cable TV channel Arts and Entertainment.
Yeah,you're wrong. There was a whole TV prog called "casualty".
@@Trebor74 Show us a UK hospital that actually has a 'Casualty' department, please. The word fell out of use in the 1960s.
If you go to a pub or restaurant if you see chips on the menu you're getting the thick ones.
If you see fries on the menu you are getting the skinny ones.
However Brits will still, informally, often call fries chips, as we consider fries to be a type of chip.
@ennythinn So what's the etymology behind your "chip"? That it's chopped up perhaps?
@@herrbonk3635chips was initially called fried chipped potatoes, you can get a metal utensil like a grater that grates potatoes to chip size
@@hesky10 So chipped = chopped, or is there a difference (in nuance) somehow?
@@herrbonk3635 You can 'chip' a tooth. The tooth would then be referred to as 'chipped', and the bit that came off would be a 'chip of the tooth'. Wood chips are left over scraps of wood that might come off when you're doing carpentry. It's pretty close to something that is 'chopped', but that doesn't quite convey it. Perhaps a 'shard' of something would be better. Shard would typically be used in place of chip to refer to glass or a crystal or something like that, and would probably denote that a larger part of the glass was missing, where a chip would be a very small amount that has come away from the whole.
@@HaggisOfDeath Ok, I see. (That's something like flis or flisa in my closely related language.)
In the UK, French Fries are thin chips (fried potato). When people ask for fish and chips in the UK, the expectation is that the chips will be "fat" (not thin French Fries, but bigger cuts of fried potato)
The closest thing Americans have to chips are "steak fries"
We call toilet a loo or lavatory but not the bathroom. The bathroom has to contain a bath.
The restroom is funny too (at least for me as a swede).
@@herrbonk3635 yes I agree. Call a spade a spade I say.
"Lavatory" was itself a euphemism originally, as what it's from the Latin for washroom
people call it a restrooms here since that word its used for other places.
bathrooms...do contain baths but that word is used more for homes and apartments. Im not sure the reason for your comment
@@AndreiTupolev Euphemisms and other loans from languages incomprehensible to the lay man are common. But not really comparable to literally misleading words, like bathroom or restroom meaning toilet.
'Casualty' has generally been replaced by 'Accident and Emergency'. And the term 'casualty' more often means that someone has been injured badly enough that they've been taken to A&E, not that they're toes up.
We still have a long-running TV series called Casualty, set in a fictional emergency department.
@@berniethekiwidragon4382 No, it's set in a fictional A&E department. It was called Casualty because when the show started, A&E was called Casualty.
Also the way things are said. An American in London for the first time phoned and told me told me that he was at "Gloucester and Brompton". I asked if that was a shop. He repeated it so I asked him what he meant. After more confusion I finally got to understood that he was standing at the corner of Gloucester Road and Brompton Road in West London. We don't describe street locations like that here in the UK.
As he pronounced Gloucester as 'Gloaw - sester' rather than 'gloster', I have to say another common issue is mispronunciation of British place names by Americans, sometimes unrecognisably so, so that didn't help either.
Leicester Square is another one. It's simply "Lester."
@@k.e.becquer4681 Well, Lester Square to be really correct. So it's not confused with Leicester Avenue in Mitcham, Leicester Close in Worcester [Wooster] Park, Leicester Court near Leicester Square tube station, Leicester Gardens in Ilford, Leicester Mews off Leicester Road in East Finchley, Leicester Place off Leicester Square.... All these are in London; you get the picture?
I think he gets that. He nots going to write how to pronounce square now is he? 😂😂
We say loo roll mainly,
Bog roll is a bit crude lol 😂
So I guess arse wipe is way too much 😂😂
Yeh don't ask for bog roll, you may hear it but unlikely when you're a tourist / out sightseeing
We make tea by using a kettle not the microwave.
my american friend doesnt get that its different
THIS American does!! Never have I ever. 🙂
Ketchup is definitely an extremely widely used word in the UK, but you'll also hear it referred to as "red sauce" espcially in relation to being on a bacon or sausage sarnie/buttie (sandwich or roll). Brown sauce refers to HP Sauce or Daddies sauce which is also used on those items and is brown coloured tomato based sauce flavoured with tamarind, molasses, spices, and dates and the taste is a little reminiscent of worcestershire sauce.
“Bobby” is a slang term that refers to Sir Robert Peel, who organized the London Metropolitan Police in the early 19th century and is widely regarded as the “father of modern policing”.
You mention English and Scottish friends but please don’t forget your Welsh friends. We love your videos too (from a Cardiff girl). 💖😊
He mentioned Wales within the first 30 seconds of the video ...
...and us from Northern Ireland 😂😂
😂@@ruairi_d
You seem like a top bloke, glad you highlight the north of England, it’s the best bit of the country and people always miss it.
I knew a family that traveled to the UK and said the same about North England, just a true gem of old world beauty and wonder.
@@Arthurian. I am lucky enough to live in Lancashire and while there’s obviously shit bits, we have the Lake District, morecambe bay, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Yorkshire dales, some nice bits of Yorkshire (I’ll begrudgingly admit), Cheshire, and easy access to Scotland all in the north of the country. Couldn’t be better.
@@fishfootball5301 Lucky to live in Lancashire?! only having a laugh lol up the North
@@yorkshirej2219 Lancashire > Yorkshire 😂 as you say, up the north, much better up here
@@fishfootball5301 I will go to war for this lol
In Britain, the Casualty Department of a hospital is now normally called 'Accident and Emergency' or 'A and E'.
In the UK, Band Aid is a charity musical group
A bit niche but there was a lot of confusion back in WWII when a proposal came up and the British said "Yes, let's table that proposal". The US said "So you're not going with it?" and the British replied, "No, we want to discuss it." In the UK, to table something means to place it on the agenda for future discussion - in Parliament, Bills used to be placed on the table in the middle of the room while waiting for debate. In the USA, to table something is to take it off the agenda and not discuss it any more.
To table a discussion means the same thing. The Americans probably though the Brits were just trying to politely drop the issue without saying no.
Knife and fork are utensils/cutlery, silverware is the nice upmarket, expensive cutlery and plates for dinner service, often displayed in cabinets.
One slipped past there.
When you're mad in the US, it means annoyed or angry. When you're mad in the UK, you're insane.
[Edit] .. After I got to the end.
That was an excellent summary. You really covered a lot of the differences.
I'm in the UK and we say mad (meaning annoyed) all the time. "He's mad at her for what she did".
@@david-stewart Yeah, and whilst mad can mean insane, we often say mental to mean insane/crazy.
There is a routine by Rowan Atkinson called Fatal Beating that plays on both meanings. In one line the parent asks the school master: are you mad? And he goes, I'm furious! It's pretty hilarious dark humor / humour, if you've not heard it; I highly recommend looking it up.
It can also mean (particularly if you're a Mancunian) being very enthusiastic about something. "Mad for iiiiitt!!!"
@david-stewart
Somehow, American English has breached the English borders. It makes me so mad!
You’ll also hear "telly" used frequently in the UK when referring to the TV.
Homely is one of my favorites, but it totally tripped me up when I would read Jane Austen as a kid and wonder why everyone was in love with an ugly or homely person.
This is a great last! There were a few I didn't know. Here are some of my other favorites:
Trolley: shopping/luggage cart or cable car?
Take away: food to go or "what are you taking away from me?!" Or "take away what?"
Buzzing: super excited and happy or drunk/high/buzzed? Or just pretending to be a bee?
And drumroll for when I totally confused a bunch of Brits and Aussies: in reference to a party, we were going to make ours better so I said we would top ourselves, meaning "outdo ourselves" whereas they laughed and said it meant to terminate your own life where they were from. Whoops.
This video is great! Native Brit here with some additions for you all.
On the topic of "Soliciters", in the UK, people who knock on your door to ask for money or sell you stuff are known as "Cold Callers".
Regarding "Football"/"Soccer", while we'll know what you mean if you say "Soccer", save yourself getting laughed at, just say "Football".
The actual closest thing to "ER" would be "A&E" (Accident and Emergency)
Pudding in the UK also refers to what you can get in fish and chip shops (chippies). Pudding can also refer to a steak pudding (a sort of pie), eaten as a main
Puddings can be both a sweet dessert such as a 'jam' or 'syrup roly-poly' - which can be cooked by steaming or baking and served usually hot with custard...
Or savoury, cooked and served the same way - but with _gravy_, instead of custard, obviously!! Savoury puddings include - as mentioned elsewhere - braised steak, or steak & kidney pudding, or perhaps chicken & mushroom* pies / puddings etc...
(_I_ _don't_ eat kidneys* or mushrooms* in _any_ kind of meal, _yuk_😥!!) 😊
@@brigidsingleton1596 It's also important to mention black puddings which are a breakfast item (less commonly, white or red puddings) - a kind of thick sausage, sliced and fried or grilled.
@@robertfoulkes1832black pudding is pigs blood that is then fried, white pudding is the fat, but they're not considered sausage as sausage has a distinct definition
@@hesky10 Indeed so, I was describing the shape for the benefit of those unfamiliar with bps.
The name "pudding" is taken from the French "boudin" which is a similar product.
Bury, Lancashire and Stornoway, in the Western Isles of Scotland are particularly known for their local black puddings.
I’ve heard ‘fish supper’ said to mean ‘fish and chips’ in Northern England and Scotland, or even said by Northerners and Scots here in the Midlands on occasion, but not ‘fish pudding’.
A favorite of mine has to be from Evan Edinger who quickly learned from his friends when he claimed a seat on the Tube and suggested somebody could "toss him off" if it's a problem that the phrase has two VERY different meanings in the US and UK 🤣. In the US it means to be thrown out or removed from somewhere. In the UK...it's a male activity that would be inappropriate for a train (and will likely mean you would get American 'tossed off' the train by the police if caught).
Since moving to the US, I have noticed Ground floors do exist sometimes - usually where the building is on a slope and they have another floor (or half floor) below floor 1 at the bottom of the slope. So interestingly that means it's possible for both definitions to be correct - Ground is at street level on one side (and possibly down steps on the other) while the 1st floor is on the other side.
This made for a very funny joke in the movie Crocodile Dundee that resulted in my being the only on in the theater who burst out laughing!
The ground level is probably where a side entrance is so they placed 1st floor at the entrance where most traffic would be expected.
That's my presumption for the logic
In some large buildings in the USA, the terms Ground Floor & Lobby are used in lieu of First Floor - all of which are at Ground Level (the next level up being called the Second Floor).
Always amused when American women refer to purses ‐ whT we reger to as handbags. I was always confused reading about women putting a book or gun into their purse! Our purses are small items we put coins, ccredit cards and note money in!
The UK is very, very regional in the use of much of our terminology, especially between the North & South. Even we Brits will vehemently disagree about the names of things. This is a decent starter guide. Although it isn't perfect it does touch on most of the main things. Plus, usually context is more than enough to dispel confusion in a conversation anyway. Combine this with the prevalence of American entertainment and social media, especially among younger generations, and any communication breakdowns are very minimal.
just dont mention turnips and swedes lol
Britain - "Garden" means your yard or lawn
Very helpful list - definitely need a part 2! Thanks!
"very helpful list" 99% of this shit nobody says n the information was pretty much entirely wrong
@@corneliusdoug troll
@@shanesweeney1377 no..just completely correct theres a difference
Having spent many years in the UK, tea versus dinner is regional. Where we live, near York, you have tea in the evening and dinner midday. In the south you have dinner in the evening.
I was going to say the same. The North is Breakfast, dinner then tea. I'm Scottish so being more Northern still, we say the same as the North of England.
Southerner here, and we also had breakfast, dinner and tea. We had school dinners and took our dinner money.
General rule of thumb for the South-west is, breakfast = first meal of the day, lunch = either a packed lunch or a picnic or noon's meal, tea = a general dinner or at times a picnic with cold cooked food or a light meal in the afternoon -> evening, dinner = something like a sunday roast or a general dinner later at night. Most people will understand that if you go "right, time for tea/dinner/lunch/breakfast" that it's one of the main meals you'll be having that day.
Yep, it's totally regional.
Here in the South East, I have lunch and dinner. When I was a child it was lunch and tea ('tea' denoting a slightly earlier evening meal). If you're really posh, you might call the evening meal 'supper'.
That said, the term 'school dinners' is also common - dinner being used there to refer to the midday meal. But funnily enough, I would have taken 'lunch money' to pay for it, haha.
@@Feanarisimilar for me in South Wales. We had "dinner ladies" in school, but it was lunch break on the timetable and we took lunch money to pay for it. When I got home from school, I'd have tea, which was usually a sandwich to keep me going until later in the evening when we had dinner, which was the full cooked meal. Later in the evening, I'd often have supper, which would be cereal or toast, before going to bed.
I watched one of your videos and then looked for another, found them to be very comprehensive and interesting, straight to the point, no waffling! Thank you 😊😊
The rubber thing happened to me in that exact way. I'm not a native speaker but I'm from Switzerland where British English is taught at schools (and generally considered "the only correct English"). As a teenager, I went on an exchange year to the US. During one of my first weeks at my American school, I was sitting in a History class when I asked the girl next to me for a rubber. Since it had been very quiet before (we were writing some sort of quiz), literally everyone in the classroom heard me. The girl stared at me as though she had seen a ghost and asked: "a what???" So, not thinking much of it, I politely repeated my request. Next thing I knew, 30 people were laughing really loudly at me. The teacher almost fell off his chair because he was laughing so hard. I still remember that moment because of course I felt embarrassed but above all, I felt extremely confused. I think I even said something like: "I don't understand, what's so funny about a rubber??" which made people laugh even harder.
One of my American friends went to London by train with her British boyfriend. Apparently it wasn't a very smooth ride. While standing in the queue for the theatre she said quite loudly "My fanny still hurts from all that banging on the train" Apparently bystanders found it hysterical. (yes "banging" ALSO has a different meaning in the UK)
@@KenFullman that’s one crazy statement
As a British person, I've never heard "knock up" in anything other than the US sense.
But who knocked up the knocker-upper?
"No soliciting" on a sign in the public place in the UK used to mean that prostitutes were not welcome in that area.
or on your gate to deter salespeople from knocking and 'soliciting' their services.
@@noughtypixymore commonly we say no cold callers
@@mancmanomomyst Ive never heard that term before, is this a southern or midlands thing?
@@Semtexican76 Essentially means that people who don't know the residents of the house aren't welcome, it's common here in the SW.
Oh remember discovering your channel in 2019 when preparing for a trip to Finland and watching your related videos. It was my last trip and I haven’t gone anywhere in the last 4 years…saddens me greatly but I hope I will feel that joy and thrill of travelling some time soon.
Great vid Marc pal as always. Made me laugh it did 🤣👍 some of my favourite sayings in here
😊 Mark, that was your _best_ video yet!! Fun _and_ informative. Thanks.😊
Best in 15 years and 2400 vids? You're kidding I hope.
@@sonnylatchstring
(I don't usually like his videos.)
Hi,
Nice.
Just a small point 7:14, you have the US/UK labels wrong Should be US Public school = UK State school, US Private school = UK Public school
The Dinner/Tea, in England its is different if you are in North or South of England, I think its also different in Scotland:
US Lunch = South England =Lunch or dinner, North England = Dinner (I don't know Scotland) ,
US Dinner = South England = Dinner or Tea (sort of depends on whether they would have called midday meal as lunch), North England = Tea, Scotland can be Supper (which can also mean with chips/French fries).
Note Meal names also depend on age and social class.
Schools have a Dinner break at midday, whilst offices stop for Lunch.
A formal meal in the evening is normally Dinner, where as you may go home for your Tea.
Age/class/region is definitely a thing on this entire discussion tbh.
As a kid we had 'lunch break' at school and I would go home for 'tea' at the end of the day. Now, my evening meal is 'dinner'. A more formal/upper class term in the south of England would be 'supper'. I also have northern friends who call their evening meal 'tea' as adults.
Nevertheless we all know what we're talking about, which is the best bit about it all haha.
US Private school = English Public school, or Scottish private school
Chippy is also a slang term for a carpenter
Knackered also means when something is broken
Plaster also means plaster as in the building material
Informative & hilarious 😊
I refuse to believe that there are 'British' places in America that serve potato chips with fish.
I've had that served in Philippines once too.
Happened to me. I was gutted!
You should have mentioned the UK slang for cigarette. That could cause some issues.
😂😂😂
So could the full word. Which can be found in supermarket freezers. Made by Mr. Brains since 1923.
How can a video be so much fun and so informative at the same time? Thank you!
Bollocks is a very confusing one. It can be used to mean 'Bullshit' -Like 'You're talking bollocks' or it can be used like a mild swear such as 'damn'. It can also mean something is good 'That car is the bollocks!' (which is a shortened version of 'The dog's bollocks' which is a good thing for some reason?). It is also sland for testicles btw 'I just got kicked in the bollocks!'.
"the dogs bollocks" comes from the fact that a dog will be quite proud of that part of their body - or at least makes no attempt to hide them.
So if its the dogs bollocks, you're saying that its something to be proud of
In my family we used "dinner" for the main meal of the evening when you get home from work/school. The exception is Sunday dinner or Sunday Roast which is eaten at midday and may involve roast beef/pork/lamb with roast potatoes, vegetables, and gravy. Tea was something more fancy, usually reserved for later on Sunday evening - crumpets, cake, and a cup of tea.
"Knocked up" comes from the Victorian days before the invention of alarm clocks. If you needed to be up early for work, you would pay a "knocker upper" to come down your street and tap on your bedroom window with a long stick to wake you.
If you're accused of a crime or need to go to court, a solicitor is the first person you would speak to. They will be able to advise you but, when you get to court (if it's a Crown Court), you will be represented by a barrister. They're the ones who have the black robes and the wigs. Lesser offences might be dealt with by a Magistrates Cout where the case will be heard by volunteer lay persons. If they think the case is more serious then they can refer it up to the Crown Court where you might be R vs Wolters (R = Rex = The King/The Crown).
You hold your trousers up using braces - not suspenders. Suspenders are what ladies wear to hold up their stockings.
If you're sick (but not seriously dying) you can go to the chemist or pharmacy - not the drug store. Many can now give medical advice which is quicker than waiting for a GP (General Practitioner = family doctor).
Another one is nappies. I think you call them diapers? You need nappies for your baby.
We say dinner also for the evening meal, but I am from the United States.
I think most in the United States say supper for the evening meal, however
@@enjoystraveling in the US, "dinner" may mean lunch, or it may mean supper, depending on where you are. I worked with a texan foreman, and at noon, we'd stop for dinner. whereas in my family, dinner has always meant a holy day feast. I.E. Christmas Dinner, or Thanksgiving Dinner.
Barrister is not to be confused with Barista.
@@chutalotraye don't confuse them or you'd be aghast at the cost for a coffee lol
@@enjoystraveling south uk and growing up Lunch was midday meal usually sandwiches or similar, dinner a cooked meal when the family gets together after work/school around 6pm and supper a light meal such as cereal or toast before bedtime. Tea is either the drink or a fancy snack mid afternoon 'afternoon Tea' with cream cakes, scones and other light confections with a cup of cream tea.
As always, great content. Just thought I'd mention it. Some hotels have a basement, ground floor, then a mezzanine floor, (usually a lounge or restaurant or utility. And then it's 1st 2nd 3rd ect bunched together. This makes it easier to navigate for sleeping areas. So in real terms the 1st floor becomes the 3rd floor. This is sometimes employed in high rise hotels.
Also hotels tend to number the rooms depending on the floor. So 101 would be on the first floor,201 would be on the second and 301 would be on the third
I first visited York, two years ago, and I LOVED it. I was staying in Harrogate, not too far away. I love England.
Really cool to see you there and cover thism just spent Christmas in york and around the UK. I love it. ❤
You could do an entire video just on tea. High tea is the tea + dainty sandwiches and cakes served around 3-4pm. Tea as an equivalent for dinner is very regionally dependent. In the area of the midlands where I grew up, tea certainly meant dinner (and dinner meant lunch), and I think that is true for a large part of the north of England. But in the south I don't think tea is the equivalent of dinner at all. Other stuff: Ketchup is ketchup in the UK too (as well as tomato sauce). Knock up can have the same meaning in the UK too - but context is everything! In the UK we just say policeman now - no-one I know says constable or bobby. And I think American football is more popular in the UK than you imagine. London gets 4 NFL games a year and they sell out pretty much instantly. And TV coverage is pretty good (and we've had highlights coverage since the 80s). A lot of people will know who the Chicago Bears etc are (go Packers!). But great idea to try to demystify some of this stuff.
Even though you're cheering for the Packers (haha), I like your idea of doing an entire video on tea. I'd watch that.
High tea back in the 19th century was a working class meal at ~5pm, nowadays it's as you said, tea, dainty sandwiches, cakes and scones with jam and clotted cream. Sometimes they even serve wine.
High tea, is a big meal, afternoon tea is a dainty meal with small sandwiches and cakes.
@@utha2665I think high tea got appropriated by luxury hotels who wanted to advertise their afternoon tea but wanted to make it more luxurious, and so high and afternoon tend to mean the same these days.
There's so many terms we stopped using or merged into something else where the one that was lost became less distinct
tea is dinner in NZ although when i was a kid at primary school i went home for dinner at noon
but we also have afternoon/ morning tea also known as smoko
Dates can also be misunderstood:
1/2/24
UK: 1st February 2024
US: 2nd January 2024
Very helpful!
Great work, as always.
Here in America, the only time we only call cookies or treats biscuits is when we're referring to dog treats lol.
But then it will be said as dog biscuit, not just simply biscuit
@@vermontvoice13 It depends if you're talking to your dogs or other people I suppose.
It took me years of asking on UA-cam how the British refer to an American biscuit. It sounds like Mark answered that here with savory cracker, but I've had a Britt say they call it a savory scone.
@@timmmahhhh I've also heard that. I suppose scones are made with a very similar type of dough, but they're not shaped the same and tend to be sweeter, or have sweet fillings. Ask to "pass the scones" at a Southern meal and you'll definitely get a weird look.
@@Dreamweaver94 In the UK, plain scones are exactly like your 'biscuits'. However they can be made with fruit (sultanas) or cheese, so sweet or savoury. And 'gravy' only comes in one colour - brown.
A very common one is the mailman and the postman. Besides this you've got the different pronunciation of the words potato and tomato. Thanks for the fun vlog. Love from Holland
Great video. Very informative.
Great video! There are actually many words that differ, and that's before considering the spelling differences and the many British accents and some regional variations in vocabulary (like 'dinner' meaning 'lunch' in Northern England, 'pop' meaning 'soda' in the Midwest...); it's fascinating and very interesting!
There was this video I found on YT of a couple who used both US & UK slang. The husband was from the UK & his wife was American. They would use their own slang words against one another throughout their day, and plenty of the words you used were in that video. The video got so funny when it came to the pacifier/dummy part. The wife was so chippy when she assumed her husband called her a dummy while he was trying to explain that he was referring to the binky. Later in the video, he commented on her swim costume(or cozzie). She was like "It's a bathing suit." They happen to also have a baby son so they used a lot of UK/US words like Push chair/stroller or Baby carriage/pram.
I use togs for what you wear for swimming
Ketchup is ketchup in the UK too
Tommy K
Tommy sauce
Really well informed!
Getting ready for our trip in March and this video is a fun resource....
Hi there,
I lived in Minneapolis and found my accent was the hardest thing for them to understand. It surprised me but as you alluded to, it’s how words
Are pronounced. So a few more examples is 1) where is the toilet (restroom), 2) rutabaga is what we call a swede, c) cilantro is what we call coriander, d) filter coffee is what Americans would call drip coffee. Hope you find this useful. Keep up the brilliant and informative videos. Allan
I thought I’d heard every Americanism out there but ‘drip coffee’ has passed me by, good one!
I’m from Wales and also live in Minneapolis .. NE to be precise, been here 30 years .. can’t say I’ve come across ‘drip coffee’ but yes the non rhotic speech is a bit of an issue for a lot of the US .. more so in the south than mid west in my experience.. asking for water is usually the one that most don’t understand? Still drives me nuts after all this time.
I met my american friend in London and said I'd travelled by coach and she thought I meant by train. Struggled to explain until I remembered the word bus.
Loved these 🎉and the tour around town
Love this video sent it to loads of people 😂😂 should be played in every English class
A jumper in the U.S. also means a casual sleeveless dress meant to be worn with a blouse. Mostly used for young girls’ clothing. (A common type of jumper looks like an overall bib with adjustable straps, attached to a skirt.) That’s not to be confused with a jumpsuit (a one-piece long-legged garment that covers your top and bottom),
The latter garment "of which ye spake" are called 'overalls' here in the UK, and can be / are often worn in a work environment (eg by a car mechanic) to protect the wearer's 'day clothes' ...or, alternatively as a 'fashion-style' item, either with long or short leg coverings / 'trousers' /'pants'*...(the last* to an American, obviously!!) either worn over other clothing, or on warmer / hot days perhaps, with only 'undies' underneath!!😊
@@brigidsingleton1596 Interesting! In the US, that latter outfit would be called a jumpsuit if it’s a fashion outfit or a coverall if it’s functional work clothing (like to wear as a car mechanic or house painter).
@@brigidsingleton1596OP didn't quite describe jumpsuit correctly. It's a one-piece garment providing both trousers and shirt/blouse.
@@bonniea8189
I wouldn't know...to me a "jumpsuit" sounds like something a professional might wear, eh like a flightsuit ?!
To me, 'dungarees' are short (though mostly long) trousered, all-in-one garments with bib tops, secured via straps / with a firm of metal loop fasteners which slide over metal buttons which protrude from the shoulders. They may / usually include side (hip) pockets and maybe one on the front of the bib top. Worn over a shirt or tee-shirt, can be considered casual wear, or 'jazzed-up'
/'sparkky' / made of materials other than denim, as party-wear...
(I once wore an 'all-in-one' outfit - but not exactly 'overalls' - in a soft and shiny purple fabric, (long trousers, shirt-style collared top, connected to and buttered down to the elasticated waistband) to a party with my then boyfriend...he _liked_ the effect, but his friend, (a 'much older lady') hostess _didn't_ approve of me wearing it (...due to no underwear...!!) and I was in my late twenties so oblivious to all of her frowns and disapproval of me, at the time!! 🤔😏😶😟🏴🖖
When I was in 1st-3rd grades in the late 1960s and early 1970s in the southern U.S., I wore jumpers. The jumper was worn over a blouse, but it wasn't a dress. It was sleveless and shaped like a dress, but it came just below my waist. The reason for the jumper was it was warmer than just wearing a blouse. I wore slacks with my blouse and jumper.
'Pissed' - there's a moment near the end of Die Hard when one of the villains emerges back into the scene (having been strung up in chains, maybe?) and Bonnie Bedelia says "that guy is so pissed!" - which always gets a good chuckle in the UK.
Great vid Marc.
I've never heard anyone say 'knock up' to knock on the door over here, must be a regional thing. I would deffo link it to pregnancy more than knocking on a door.
Haha, never mind a butty, you should see how many words we have for a bread roll (cob, bap, bun, barm, roll, stotty) depending on where you are
There used to be a job in the UK called knocker upper. He used to go round streets to knock up (make sure they are out of bed) the local employees before their shift began. Certainly in my part of the UK, to knock up does mean to ensure someone is awake. It's possible it might be a generational thing, as I am out of touch with young people's vocabulary.
100% a generational thing , as someone who grew up in the UK but allot of the media i consumed very much from the US or interacts with Americans , "Knocked up" would be "got pregnant" and "Knock up" itself has no meaning @@davidjackson2580
"Knock up" is the UK term that makes Americans laugh the most because once we realize what you mean it is so funny. I'm giggling just typing this. The UK's use of the term is so innocuous and sweet contrasted with the US term which is so naughty.
I want to clarify in the US the term "knocked up" does not mean a planned pregnancy or a pregnancy within a marriage between husband and wife. "Knocked up" means it was an accident or unplanned or resulted from reckless behavior. A married pregnant woman would never be described as knocked up. The actual term "knock up" if Americans said that (which they don't) would be said by a man who is trying to intentionally make a woman pregnant.
@@NelsonClick no need to clarify, it's used exactly the same over here!
Hilarious breakdown of UK vs. US English! Cracking up at "rubber." Thanks for the tips, Mark 👍
Rubber is also used as a condom in Britain from the phrase "rubber Johnny". We just use context to determine what's meant.
He missed an even better one: "suspenders". In the UK they hold a lady's tights (pantyhose) up rather than the over the shoulder braces which hold up a trucker's pants.
you missed that in the UK, the ER is A&E (accident and emergency)
You just went ahead and taught me at least 20 new words. Thank you!
20 wrong words
@@corneliusdoug troll
Great video, Mark! 😁
Casualty was used years ago - we call it A&E now - accident and emergency. Silverware definitely means cutlery and any silver items like jugs and teapots. Never heard it as trophies. We would just say trophies! We use the word sweater too - jumper is probably used more often.
Ketchup is used as often as tomato sauce. We use cookies too mainly for home made biscuits you find in a bakers.
We have chips and French fries here. Chips are the large fat ones but French fries thin like in the US. I think you’ll find that the average person from the UK knows these American words - it’s the Americans that don’t know our words!
Silverware is used for trophies won by a football club, as in “Liverpool risk winning no silverware this season”.
Also Knackered can mean broken..not just tired
@@RS__7 Generally knackered just means worn out, originates from horses past their time getting used for glue.
@@computingnerd7005 You might need to fix your car in England and the mechanic says something on your car is completely knackered...it doesn't mean it's tired it means it's broke and will need replacing
@@RS__7 Knackered come from the old Knacker's Yards. These were places animals not fit for human consumption (usually horses) that had become too old or injured/ill would be taken to be slaughtered and body part used for various things (bone rendered for glue etc). Thus if a horse was no longer fit for purpose (worn out) it was Knackered (sent to the Knackers).
My favorite British slang is "Face like a smacked arse" which means "Someone who looks angry/upset".
Or "Face like a bulldog chewing a wasp".
dont get me wrong it can mean that but if i ever used that term it would mean the lady involved was 'less than pretty' shall we say
@@neuralwarp My favourite variation is "Face like a bulldog licking piss from a thistle"
Nice mix of York and Chester in your video here. Have you done any videos about Chester? Nice choice of differences in the language, too. As a brit, I've always thought of High-tea as afternoon tea, like tea and scones. For an evening meal, it's just tea, and only usually in the North. Loving your videos, keep up the good work. 😊
‘Off day’ in the UK means you’re not having a particularly good day; if you’re having a day of no work we would say ‘day off’, as in ‘tomorrow is my day off’.
High tea and dinner are different. High tea tends to be served late afternoon but dinner is an evening meal especially in Scotland. Also in some parts of UK dinner is eaten in the middle of the day and then the evening meal is called tea. Lots of regional variations but as a lot of things to do with English it is designed to confuse Jonny Foreigner 😊😊
Not to mention when you add "Supper" into the equation.
Although this can be used instead of tea or dinner for an evening meal (mostly in Scotland). It's also used as a snack before bedtime in other parts of the UK.
@@johnimray7590 When used in a fish & chip shop in Scotland, the suffix "supper" means "and chips". To specify "no chips", we use the prefix "single".
As in "single steak pie and a square sausage supper please".
Then there's fritters ....
@robertfoulkes1832 first time I went to a chipper in England they had no idea what I meant when I asked for a fish supper. We used supper as a general term for our evening meal too. Maybe its just a North East thing.
@@johnimray7590 supper is used, as the evening meal, across the whole of the UK, by the upper strata of society, region regardless
ice lollie is a popcicle. a lollie is short for a lollipop (hard candy on a stick)
lolly can also be slang for money, just to add confusion...lol
We love you Wolter❤
wow your vlog is so interesting i enjoyed it lots , learned so many words that mean totally different in the US thanks for the upload .
One for US shoppers in the UK. If you say to.a sales assistant "can you ring me up" she'll assume you are awakwardly asking her to "phone" or "ring" you (call you on the phone). Simple "I'd like to pay now, can you please help me" should suffice.
Unless you say 'can you ring IT up' which everyone would know means put all the items in the till and give me the total cost. It's in how you describe 'it' rather than "me'
@@jog1694 no that would get you a blank expression, no British person would ever say that
@@aeris2001 that's surprising considering I'm British, living in the UK and I've heard it said a few times 🤷♀️
That was a fun one. I was born in Canada but with Scottish & Irish parents so a lot of the British terms are every day ones for us. And actually I find they are common in Canada, too. I think "tea", "afternoon tea", "high tea" and "tea time" could use their own video. LOL
Tea.
Even within the UK this is used selectively. I. The North , tea time is is evening dinner.
Dinner in the North is the midday meal as opposed to the South where it is the evening meal.
There are no real worries as it is more about preference and all understand.
Pissed off = Mad in UK. ... Pissed on it's own = Drunk
Depending on the context of the conversation saying someone was 'well pissed' could mean either mad or drunk but more often than not angry would be 'well pissed off'
The UK is incredibly regional and so some of the things here are actually not used - tea instead of dinner, for example - in many parts of the UK.
Sometimes we'll know what part of a region someone is from because of their accent or a word they used... we're talking knowing they might be from as little as 8 miles away because they sound different to us. So, anyone clearly not from the UK will prick our ears and we'll know some terms will be absolutely different, and that's completely expected. When visiting, do not worry, we will work it out!
On just a couple of examples used, context is everything. A banger could be a sausage ('bangers and mash'), it could be a cheap car (aka 'a runabout') or relaying something is a hit song (aka 'tune!/choon!').
A chippy could be a fish and shop ("I'm going to the chippy"), the actual meal from a fish and chip shop ("having a chippy") or... a carpenter (slang term for that tradesperson).
Just enjoy your visit and we'll work out what you mean. :)
A banger can also be a firework, not the rocket kind though.
@@imagseer Yup, I wonder if there are even more uses.
This sheer amount of different ways a single word can be used just shows that British English is used in a more contextual way rather than Yankiedoodle speak(American English) which comes across as more literal.
I’m a Canadian and we generally use the same terms as Americans, with some slight differences. When I went to teach in the UK, there were certainly a few “lost in translation” mistakes! My main difficulty came from all the differences in mathematical terms, since I was teaching mathematics (we even abbreviate that word differently!): “exponents” became “indices”, “radicals” became “surds”, “scientific notation” became “standard form”, etc.
I definitely was taken aback the first time a student asked for a “rubber” because that means “condom” in Canada too.
Another time I asked a student to place their assignment in the “bin”, because that’s what Canadians term for a storage box with open sides, not noticing that I was asking the student to throw their assignment in the garbage! 😬
My worst, though, was when I was writing a detention slip for a student who made an obscene gesture to a classmate; I wrote that she had “fingered” the other student … yeah, I immediately realised how badly I worded that one! 😂 We were all laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation. She told me she was going to have that detention slip framed!
Sadly New Radicals weren't forced to release their song You Get What You Give under the moniker New Surds in the UK. That would have stopped it being on radio every 5 minutes for a year.
Doing my A levels I was so confused anytime people mentioned calculus, I didn't even realise I had learnt it because we generally just called it integration and differentiation. Thought it was something involving using an abacus for years.
In the US "sod" is something you buy from the garden store. In Britain ...
For quite a vulgar act, sod (or bugger) is a mild swear word
Sod is also something that you buy from the garden store in the UK. Just has different meanings depending on the context.
Enjoyed looking at scenes from York.
High tea is like a cream tea had mid to late afternoon, but tea is dinner, like you said. If youre up north, that is. A southerner like me has breakfast lunch and dinner!
"A policeman is called a constable" You might want to be careful there, as that's a particular rank (the ordinary footsoldier, the bobby on the beat), and it might not be popular if you're talking to a sergeant
All British police officers are constables hence most police forces have a Chief Constable. It's a legal term for an officer with the powers of a police officer. Agreed addressing a sergeant etc as "Constable" might get you a bit of side eye but only until they realise you're a foreigner.
Just stick to 'officer', when addressing a member of the constabulary. Rank and gender non-specific. As in, 'It's a fair cop, officer,' as he/she slips the bracelets on.
"Police" does not equal "Constable". Constable is just one rank of the police, so its more the equivalent of "officer" in usage.
You beat me to it.
I'll add that "Policeman" has the same meaning in both dialects.
Jumper in the US can also be an article of clothing. It usually has shoulder straps and either a zipper or has buttons going down the garment. It can be like a dress or of a denim jeans style of which you have to wear a shirt under both. I’ve had both when I was in HS in the late 70s. Stores at that time advertised them as Jumpers. 💕💕
Hey Mark, great video
Actually the 'tea' thing is complicated and not necessarily consistent in all parts of the UK, but broadly speaking:
If someone just means the drink, they'll either specify would youl like a cup of tea, or more commonly a 'cuppa', in the north of England people often say a 'brew' and in Wales they may say pannad. Other regional variations exist.
Afternoon tea is a very light meal, basically a snack from the times when ( wealthy) people ate much later in the evening and need something to keep them going. Nowadays it's quite a fancy treat for a special occasion and is seldom prepared in the home, so most people go to a cafe/ restaurant/ hotel
High tea is a substantial meal which was traditionally eaten on Sunday evenings and some other special occasions, is best described as a buffet style meal which was eaten sitting at a table ( hence ' high). This type of meal is much less common than in the past, but strictly speaking afternoon tea and high tea are two different things, though with some similarities.
In most of the UK, outside the south of England if you're invited to somebody's home for ' tea' this means an evening meal ( at least two courses, and usually with some alcohol if their are guests). You might get a cup of tea after the meal though.
Chester is 18 miles from Liverpool. I know because I grew up in Chester.
Good on you Mark..this was an entertaining video 🎉
What you said about tea is true for people up north especially York.... In down south especially London we call it dinner time and it's actually dinner.
Tea time is either snack time which can be any time... Or well.... My Pakistani family have tea after our dinner.