English to USA Translations

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  • BigAardvaark
    BigAardvaark Posts: 43
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    Another one I've run across here on MFP:

    US drive-through > UK Take-away

    A take-away here just means food to eat at home from a Chinese/Indian/Italian, etc, restaurant. We get them delivered too. We have drive-through McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, etc, just the same as the US.
  • yoovie
    yoovie Posts: 17,121 Member
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    My favorite will always be that they call a chick a bird.

    First time a British man said 'toodle pip, pretty bird' to me, I almost had a stroke.
  • devonette
    devonette Posts: 263 Member
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    UK Roundabout = US Rotary

    I've only heard them called roundabouts in the US. Rotary is a club (Rotary International).

    Depends on the location in the US -- here in New Jersey they're called Circles.


    a few more:
    profiterole = cream puff
    bum = bottom, rear end
    on the dole = on unemployment compensation
    custard = pudding
    pudding = dessert (various)
    tea (not the beverage) = lunch or supper
    dust bin = trash can
    rubbish bin = garbage can (although not too many towns have you separate the two anymore)
    bin diving = dumpster diving
  • Siannah
    Siannah Posts: 456 Member
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    Has fanny been mentioned yet? Means something different here in Ireland than in the US.

    Oh and thongs in Oz are something different than here too :laugh:
  • Pengi81
    Pengi81 Posts: 336 Member
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    My husband laughed the other day because he'd never heard the term 'throwing a wobbly' before. XD

    I love that expression!

    My American friend found it a bit strange when I told her me and my ex "had a Barney"

    She wanted to know what we were doing to the purple Dinosaur!
  • 10acity
    10acity Posts: 798 Member
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    UK Roundabout = US Rotary

    I've only heard them called roundabouts in the US. Rotary is a club (Rotary International).

    I know they are Rotaries in the Northeast. My wife is from Boston and I grew up in the UK so we argue all the time about it.

    Weird, I'm from the NE and we don't even have roundabouts (which is what they'd be called if we did). Of course, Boston is a bit of an aberration... :tongue:
  • rossi02
    rossi02 Posts: 549 Member
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    I have to book meetings all the time with our UK counterparts and this is my favorite.

    US: Calendar = UK: Diary

    I love how it sounds in a british accent, and it makes me giggle and think back when I was 10 and would write in my diary evening before bed.
  • Ejwelton
    Ejwelton Posts: 331 Member
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    If someone is taking a long time to tell a short story we say they're going "round the houses"
  • saturnine15
    saturnine15 Posts: 140
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    I am from Connecticut and my side of the family calls them rotaries. My husband's family calls them traffic circles.
  • ambitious01
    ambitious01 Posts: 209 Member
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    Well, I'm from Alabama so I don't want to play. :laugh:
  • LondonEliza
    LondonEliza Posts: 456 Member
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    Well, I'm from Alabama so I don't want to play. :laugh:

    In the UK, we call that sulking :)
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    Well, I'm from Alabama so I don't want to play. :laugh:

    In the UK, we call that sulking :)

    Here, too. Or pouting. Interchangeable. :-)
  • saturnine15
    saturnine15 Posts: 140
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    Question for the British: What do you call the cart you put your groceries in while shopping? We have a few variations between northern and southern US. In the north, it is either carriage or shopping cart. In the south I have heard people call them buggies.
  • cdpm
    cdpm Posts: 297 Member
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    In my old job, had to work with a few Americans and I found the way they said 'Niche' quite odd. Took me a while to figure out what they were saying as they seemed to add a t into the word so it sounded like nitche.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    In my old job, had to work with a few Americans and I found the way they said 'Niche' quite odd. Took me a while to figure out what they were saying as they seemed to add a t into the word so it sounded like nitche.

    That's regional. I say neesh. It's French, after all. But I have heard it pronounced nitch.
  • castadiva
    castadiva Posts: 2,016 Member
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    Question for the British: What do you call the cart you put your groceries in while shopping? We have a few variations between northern and southern US. In the north, it is either carriage or shopping cart. In the south I have heard people call them buggies.

    Shopping trolley. Generally-speaking.
  • roslynds9
    roslynds9 Posts: 139 Member
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    I remember being in Florida for a holiday when I was about 6. I was in a shop with my parents and I'd been allowed a lollipop and had just unwrapped it. Being a good little girl I knew not to litter so I went up to the checkout and asked the lady if there was a bin I could put the paper in. I Had absolutely no idea why this lady though that was a confusing question but she had no idea what I meant until my mum came over and explained that I was looking for a "trash can". That was the first time in my life I discovered that American's had different words for things than we do in the UK even though we both speak English lol.
  • WTJoyce
    WTJoyce Posts: 86
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    trump - fart

    That brings a whole new meaning to my old Top Trump card sets.

    Or Donald Trump, I think it fits him though.
  • 10acity
    10acity Posts: 798 Member
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    Question for the British: What do you call the cart you put your groceries in while shopping? We have a few variations between northern and southern US. In the north, it is either carriage or shopping cart. In the south I have heard people call them buggies.

    I'm from NY, so they're carts. But some people here in VA call them buggies. Also, they put my groceries in bags, but Southerners' in sacks.

    What about when something is on the opposite corner from another thing? Where I'm from, that's "kitty corner" (and I have no idea why) but here in the South they say "caddy corner".
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    I remember being in Florida for a holiday when I was about 6. I was in a shop with my parents and I'd been allowed a lollipop and had just unwrapped it. Being a good little girl I knew not to litter so I went up to the checkout and asked the lady if there was a bin I could put the paper in. I Had absolutely no idea why this lady though that was a confusing question but she had no idea what I meant until my mum came over and explained that I was looking for a "trash can". That was the first time in my life I discovered that American's had different words for things than we do in the UK even though we both speak English lol.

    Now, see, in context she should have been able to figure that one out. Some people aren't quite as quick on the uptake as others.

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