Discussion » Questions » Language » All squabbling aside, don't you find it interesting and kinda cool the slight variations in words from UK to US? I do
Adaydreambeliever

All squabbling aside, don't you find it interesting and kinda cool the slight variations in words from UK to US? I do

I've been around Americans a long time. 1994 I first got online and back then there were next to no Brits online so I made friends with Americans, many of whom are still friends today. When I landed on the fair land that is the States we and our hosts constantly jibed each other about the need for an English/American translation dictionary :P  I offered to write one.. I could be rich if I did!

SO biscuit and cookies... to us they are two different sizes and textures of biscuit.. 

Anyway... just while browsing idly I saw this article - it's fairly light-hearted :)

https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2014/05/biscuit-vs-cookie/

and this.. which ahem agrees with Brits on the matter 

https://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2014/10/biscuits-different-britain

One thing though... can you even imagine the cookie monster getting anywhere in life if he were called the biscuit monster??? Unthinkable!

Disclaimer please dont get mad.. this is meant to be a funny look at language differences

Posted - July 10, 2017
Tags : None

Responses


  • It's not only British English vs American English. Depending on what region you are in here, there is a bit of a language difference.  Southern American English is probably the most colorful.  
      July 10, 2017 9:59 AM MDT
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  • 6477
    Absolutely Karen...  a point well made. Same in the UK.. tiny island but 3 different countries and even within the different regions there are different sayings and terms for things.
      July 10, 2017 2:47 PM MDT
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  • 2500
    Ah, yes. As Oscar Wilde once wrote "we have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language". He penned that sentiment back in 1887 in The Canterville Ghost. 
      July 10, 2017 10:02 AM MDT
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  • I like to toss some Brit into my American like, "take away" for "carry out". 
      July 10, 2017 10:36 AM MDT
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  • 6477
    I like to toss some American into my language... and it took forever to teach my daughter that cotton candy is Candy floss in the UK :P
      July 10, 2017 2:49 PM MDT
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  • I've heard the term, "floss" too.  Do Brits really do the extended pinky thing while drinking tea?  It is an ubiquitous cliché here.
      July 10, 2017 3:19 PM MDT
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  • 6477
    Sometimes we do :P but not always :P  I remember when I flew into the States vis Toronto - the US guard that you have to pass through to be allowed to proceed onto the journey to America said that when Brits have to have their thumb print taken before entering the country we all hold our hand in a strange way which doesn't leave a good thumb print.. He said it's where we all drink our tea with our pinky thing going on.  :P
      July 10, 2017 3:26 PM MDT
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  • 7938
    lol That would have been helpful right after I got married. It took me forever to "translate" what my in-laws were talking about. Things like that or chips vs. crisps vs. fries or football vs. soccer. The "boot" of the vehicle. Ugh. They were good about it, though. Eventually I learned most of the common ones and they also used the American words for stuff a lot when they talked to me.

    I still have to Google a lot of Irish phrases, though. Many of my clients are in Dublin and they use slang that boggles my mind.
      July 10, 2017 11:16 AM MDT
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  • 5354
    Cockney is fun, and rhyming slang surprizingly often makes good sense :-))
      July 10, 2017 1:18 PM MDT
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  • 6477
    Absolutely my old China.. (short for china plate = mate = friend/term of endearment.  My nan was a cockney... so I do throw the odd cockney word into conversation.  Glad to find a fellow appreciator of cockney
      July 10, 2017 2:53 PM MDT
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  • 22891
    i dont really know much about it
      July 10, 2017 1:43 PM MDT
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  • 6477
    That's fine Pearl... the thing is... for each of us *our language* is the right one :) 
      July 10, 2017 2:53 PM MDT
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  • 7126


    This post was edited by LyricalOne at July 10, 2017 3:28 PM MDT
      July 10, 2017 3:19 PM MDT
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  • 5354
    There is a 'Delete' button you can use on posts you have posted yourself. this 'reply' to it will become homeles and go away too, but that is no loss :-))
      July 10, 2017 3:24 PM MDT
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  • 7126
    Thanks Jakob. I'm finding it difficult to figure out which images will post so I go back and forth between editing and deleting and starting over again!  
      July 10, 2017 3:32 PM MDT
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  • hat happens to me a lot too. It's very irritating seeing as how there used to be no problem posting pics and gifs.....
      July 10, 2017 3:56 PM MDT
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  • 7126
    Sorry it does but glad it's not just me! Thought maybe it corresponded to a certain size image but that doesn't seem to be the case. And I think all the ones I've attempted to post are jpegs sooo..... it remains a mystery!
      July 10, 2017 4:02 PM MDT
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  • There used to be issue at all. To be honest, I'm about to go as well. Too many glitches and too many trump questions. It's just not all that fun here anymore, plus, everyone else is leaving. 

      July 10, 2017 4:06 PM MDT
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  • 5354
    when you  a link into someone elses server it is called 'hotlinking', and server owners tend to frown on their servers being used for that, it cost them CPU time and bandwidth, and they dont even get to show their advertisements to the people who do the hotlinking.

    For images the surest way to show an image found on the web is to:
    1) Grab the image and put it on your desktop.
    2) Upload the image to one of the many 'you can store your pics here for free' websites. fx photobucket or Google photos
    3) finally link to the picture there, not directly into somebody elses server (where you found it) This post was edited by JakobA the unAmerican. at July 10, 2017 5:56 PM MDT
      July 10, 2017 4:57 PM MDT
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  • Up until about two weeks ago, all you had to do was copy/paste. Thanks for the info though. :)
      July 10, 2017 5:57 PM MDT
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