English to USA Translations

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  • Qarol
    Qarol Posts: 6,171 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.
    hmm, must be a VA thing. I've lived a long time in GA and NC/SC, and we call them bags here. Shopping cart. And grocery bags.
  • ZombieSlayer
    ZombieSlayer Posts: 369 Member
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    Also cilantro = coriander

    Really? Cilantro and coriander come from the same plant, but cilantro is the leaf and coriander is the seed. Two different spices with very different flavors/applications.

    Nope, in England we have coriander leaf and coriander seed. No cilantro.

    Huh... so half different. :smile:
  • kapeluza
    kapeluza Posts: 3,434 Member
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    I think I would probably get lost in the UK after seeing how words translate.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 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.
    hmm, must be a VA thing. I've lived a long time in GA and NC/SC, and we call them bags here. Shopping cart. And grocery bags.

    I've lived in Georgia and Florida and I always hear the people with the Southern accents call them buggies. It's us Yankee carpetbaggers who call them carts. :-) So I hear both. I can't remember hearing anyone call a bag a sack, though. Not saying it isn't the case, I just haven't noticed it.
  • sheryllamb72
    sheryllamb72 Posts: 163 Member
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    bump for later
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    I don't agree, then. Everyone I know says dinner or supper (usually supper) Tea is something you have between 4 and 5 pm, and involved the drink.

    That's what I thought, but I'm not a Brit, so I wasn't going to argue the point. Thanks for clearing it up!
  • mamamc03
    mamamc03 Posts: 1,067 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).

    We call this a traffic circle. ;)
  • mamamc03
    mamamc03 Posts: 1,067 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.
    hmm, must be a VA thing. I've lived a long time in GA and NC/SC, and we call them bags here. Shopping cart. And grocery bags.

    I've lived in Georgia and Florida and I always hear the people with the Southern accents call them buggies. It's us Yankee carpetbaggers who call them carts. :-) So I hear both. I can't remember hearing anyone call a bag a sack, though. Not saying it isn't the case, I just haven't noticed it.

    We definitely call them buggies in the south!!
  • doorki
    doorki Posts: 2,611 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

    I am struggling to work out which side of the Atlantic you mean for which. I am English and say Profiterole, bottom, jobseekers, custard, pud, supper, bin (for bin you put rubbish in, be that dust or rubbish), and I have no idea what bin or dumpster diving are! I also say chips for the things you buy in packets that are made of slices of potato.

    Looks like the words on the left are the British words.

    I don't agree, then. Everyone I know says dinner or supper (usually supper) Tea is something you have between 4 and 5 pm, and involved the drink.

    I agree with you on Tea....you can have Tea and then in a few hours, you have supper.
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
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    I can see how sometimes a child's meal is called tea, as they are usually hungry when they get out of school, so some children have a meal at 4 or 5 pm, which is tea time, but I don't think anyone would call an evening meal tea. Tea is definitely afternoon.
  • biddysaurus
    biddysaurus Posts: 160 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.
    hmm, must be a VA thing. I've lived a long time in GA and NC/SC, and we call them bags here. Shopping cart. And grocery bags.

    I've lived in Georgia and Florida and I always hear the people with the Southern accents call them buggies. It's us Yankee carpetbaggers who call them carts. :-) So I hear both. I can't remember hearing anyone call a bag a sack, though. Not saying it isn't the case, I just haven't noticed it.

    I grew up in VA and call them "buggies". I'm in Lexington KY right now and no one here calls them buggies and they look at me really funny when I do. lol They call them "carts".
  • 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:

    Oh Really, says the guy from Boston who still pronounces his Rs. :wink:

    Really! I'm a New Yorker and a big Yankees fan, so I have to get it in where I can :wink:
  • roslynds9
    roslynds9 Posts: 139 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".

    In the UK we call them shopping trollies, and if something was on the opposite corner from something else I would say they are diagonally across from each other.
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
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    What about the thing you sit on in a sitting room? We have sofas. WHat are they in the US?
  • ShelleyD81
    ShelleyD81 Posts: 237 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.
    hmm, must be a VA thing. I've lived a long time in GA and NC/SC, and we call them bags here. Shopping cart. And grocery bags.

    I've lived in Georgia and Florida and I always hear the people with the Southern accents call them buggies. It's us Yankee carpetbaggers who call them carts. :-) So I hear both. I can't remember hearing anyone call a bag a sack, though. Not saying it isn't the case, I just haven't noticed it.

    We call a shopping cart a trolly over in the UK!
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    What about the thing you sit on in a sitting room? We have sofas. WHat are they in the US?

    Sofas or couches.

    But we usually call it a living room unless we're super rich. :-)
  • determinedbutlazy
    determinedbutlazy Posts: 1,941 Member
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    Elevator - lift
    Cookie - biscuit
    Pants - trousers
    Pants - underwear
    zucchini - courgette
    eggplant - aubergine

    There are hundreds of these, I have an American boyfriend and he laughs at my Englishisms all the time!
  • 10acity
    10acity Posts: 798 Member
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    What about the thing you sit on in a sitting room? We have sofas. WHat are they in the US?

    I say both "sofa" and "couch". My grandfather used to call in a "davenport", though :laugh:
  • grapeeyes1
    grapeeyes1 Posts: 237 Member
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    My husband is British and I am American. Before our wedding the family was sitting together discussing what they would wear. His mum was worried about someone taking her shopping and what she would buy. I told her not to worry so much about it. I told her she could just wear pants if she wanted. Everyone looked shocked for a moment and then they started laughing. At the time I did not realize that I told his mum she could go to the wedding in just her underpants.
  • determinedbutlazy
    determinedbutlazy Posts: 1,941 Member
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    I can see how sometimes a child's meal is called tea, as they are usually hungry when they get out of school, so some children have a meal at 4 or 5 pm, which is tea time, but I don't think anyone would call an evening meal tea. Tea is definitely afternoon.

    Nope, it honestly varies from family to family. We still ask each other "what you having for your tea tonight?"

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