Don't Say THESE American Words In the UK!
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- Опубликовано: 27 сен 2024
- As a foreigner living in the UK, I still say quite a few American words... here's all the Americanism that British people tell me to stop saying!
Even though I've lived in the UK for 6 years, it's hard to totally change your vocabulary and solely use British words and phrases - but maybe some day!
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Hey! I'm Alanna - a twenty-something documenting my life as a Canadian living in England.
I share the ups and downs of an expat living abroad and what it's really like living in the UK. It's not always easy, but there's been so many wonderful experiences, too. I post a RUclips video every Tuesday & Friday plus an additional video every Saturday on my Patreon account. I also livestream every Wednesday and Sunday at 5:30pm GMT on Twitch.
Alanna x
As a brit who has lived in the US for over 30 years, I can safely say you will never completely leave behind the words and expressions you grew up saying.
You have the benefit of being always correct though. ;)
Confirmed (26 years here).
I loved changing my speech slightly to live int he US. It was fun saying aloominum, or tomaytoes at burger stand :-) people often asked which 'London; I was from as there are several in the US and many accents. I never felt out of place.
Many year ago a friend moved to Canada and learnt to drive. He was told to drive on the pavement. He has not tried that since returning to England.
🤣🤣
What are roads paved with on the UK?
@@terryomalley1974 gold !
@@terryomalley1974 Tarmac, I Imagine?
@@terryomalley1974Roads are made with tarmac (short for tarmacadam) although in conservation areas, a lot are cobblestone instead
The parking lot thing being weird to us Brits is because of the "lot" bit. In British English, the word "lot" - as a noun - is exclusively used to describe an item for sale in an auction. We simply don't use the word to describe a piece of land, unless it is being auctioned.
I worked with a guy from England and I would try to switch to the English versions of words when talking to him. It almost felt like being bi-lingual
If I lived in the US, I’d be fine saying fries/chips/gas etc.
I could never say ‘Drive stick’ or’Math’ though.
I didn’t even like typing them 🤣
1st point - though the word toilet is the most used, an alternative when at a club/pub/restaurant is ladies or gents. And yes, do not say bathroom or restroom. 25 years ago while at MacDonalds in Wales with an ex girlfriend who was American, she needed to use the toilet so she went to the front counter to ask where they were (no signs we could see). She returned and said 'They don't have bathrooms here!' I told her to say toilet. She went back to the counter and tried again and then came back and said 'Nope, we have to leave and find somewhere.' She'd asked for the restroom the second time. Grrrr.
She refused to say toilet as she considered it SO gross. I had to ask.
Good times, she was such a joy, and I miss her every day even now. The one that got away.
“Can I borrow your rubber” would be hard to say for our North American cousins.
😂
Instead of pudding, we say “afters”. For example: “Mum, have you gone to a lot of trouble for afters?” Mum: “here’s an orange”. 😉😝
I'm a Brit. Always say pudding never say afters
@@outerheaven8797 Born in North London in the 50s, we always said 'afters'.
The worst one is when using "England" in a simplified way, when referring to the whole UK, rather than just specifically "England".
Imagine how Canadisns feel when everything we do and say gets called American! Yes, we all live in North America, but that includes Mexico as well. And don't forget Central and South America!
Anyone ever heard of someone from Brazil being referred to as "American"?
Oops, can't type on my phone!
@@susandavidson5357 Oops I can't type on your phone either.
Absolutely! Try doing that in front of a Scotsman! You would be taking your teeth home in a plastic bag. 🤬🏴😆😜
I was born and lived in the UK almost my entire life, But after a few years living in The USA, I came back and while driving with a friend I said "oohh We're low on Gas, I think there's a gas station in the next town"... She looked at me as if I'd just murdered the royal family 😂.
😂😂
This reminded me of a book I read. The "hero" of the book asked a Singaporean policeman if he spoke English. He replied yes and I understand American.🤣🤣🤣
He was either a wise man or a diplomat.All the best to you and yours,Rab
Yeah, that's quite logical! English from England and American from America. Cheers, mate!
I always laugh when an American refers to their butt as "fanny" that's a totally different thing over here 🤣
😱
The Americans are all mixed up . They don't know whether they are coming or going .they just shoot whatever moves first .
I was shocked when I heard someone say 'fag' and learning they meant cigarette. The context in which it was used, thinking they were saying when we know as a negative slur, made it even worse.
A fag is also slang in Oxford uni, who is a fresher serving a more senior student lol.
It seems that the ‘s’ that goes on the end of “maths” was misplaced at one point in time, possibly in the shipping process and put on the end of “Lego” by mistake! It must of dropped off when they were shipping the words over to America, some careless American Hermes worker at the other end must of thought it would be funny to slap it on the end of Lego!!!
Americans: Math, Legos
British: Maths, Lego.
Oh my god you're right 😂
Nice one. Your comment remind me of another channel called Lost In The Pond in which he talks about all the stuff that got lost in transit.
Not much really bugs me on the internet, math doesn't but Legos really does. Americans just won't accept they are wrong, even when Lego themselves have said they are. 🙂
Here in America, I just drove by several deers and sheeps! 😆
I still wonder why "have" is often written as "of". It makes no sense
@@norabradley9108 Because people use the contractions "should've" and "would've" when they talk and think that it's written as "should of" and "would of".
"Restroom" makes me think there should be a recliner in there or something.
Another specific product we tend to use is “Biro” for a ball point pen, this is because the ball point pen was invented by Hungarian Lazlo Biro
We tend to mispronounce the word though.
I've had British friends for decades and I find myself using the US or UK equivalent, depending on who I talk to. I've noticed, "fries" are used for the thinner chips in many places in the UK.
Yes, French fries is common.
@@missharry5727 Haven't run across the full French Fry thing, but Chips of Fries, yes. If we are eating fish in the US, we will say Fish and Chips, because you have to.
To put the record straight chips are actually slightly different to fries. Yes, they are both made from potatoes but fries are thinly sliced whereas chips are much thicker hence the "fish and chips" meal would not be the same as "fish and fries" 🍟😂😂😂
Lego and Sheep are both plural.
I remember when i first moved to the USA and in a posh restaurant asking where is the toilet. The look of almost shock on the waitress's face was so amusing in fact in my mind at least I think the whole restaurant was shocked to silence. I quickly learnt to use the term bathroom. i think if i had said WC it might have been too much.
Could have been worse, you could have said " Where's the bog?"
I've got 5 years on top of you my dear and we aren't going to speak just like those around us, at least not for a good while longer. "Don't loose your North American accent".It's what makes you charming. I'm told this often by my fellow English neighbors, friends, and strangers. They always say the same thing, "it's so cool you are American and you sound like it still after all these years, that's great!!" Keep being exactly who you are. We sound unique and if anyone disagrees? Too dang bad 😉
Of course the Canadian language is English and French. Not Canadian.
@@nilocnolnah6788 gee thanks, fixed it.
Sorry if you can't become fluent in a language that so closely resembles your own within 6 years and certainly 11 years there has got to be a major problem.
Hi Julia M,Neighbors or neighbours.I will always love you! :>)
Are you seriously going to argue with the ENGLISH, about the ENGLISH language???? Really? Are you that stupid and ignorant?
A pavement is, or used to be, made of paving slabs, hence the word.
A highway is the main road in a town, hence High Street.
A backyard is a small enclosed area, usually with a wall around it, and paved. They used to be common in small terraced houses.
The legal use - Highway - covers any route or path with a public right of access, including footpaths etc. Wonder of what she makes of the "high street" - i.e. the Cumbrian hiking path.
Garden - anything with a lawn and/or plants. Front garden - in front of the house. Back garden - at the rear of the house. Yard - a space that is concreted or tarmac'd over.
I thought I knew my Americanisms but I never knew that “pavement” was the road surface. Mind blown. 😅
There’s something about dropping the “s” off of maths that grates on me, it just sounds too abrupt. I don’t know why people would have an issue with North American’s using Americanisms though, I mean, it’s in the name. 😂
Thanks for the vid Alanna
Pavement is the material on the road in Canada and the USA. We usually refer to a road as a road.
noun
a paved road, highway, etc.
a paved surface, ground covering, or floor.
a material used for paving.
Atlantic Provinces and British. sidewalk.
So in Canada the Atlantic provinces also use Pavement for "Sidewalk".
@@williamcampbell435 However originally the paved area was a pavement. that meant with paving stones I think, not a tarmac or similar. Saying that, most UK pavements are no longer paved. I live in York and many pavements are paved with paving stones and there is a street called 'The Pavement' which was one of the earliest paved streets in the city.
Driving in Arizona I didn't realise the significance of a sign warning "Pavement ends in 100 yards": I hit the gravel doing 50 mph!
Ask for the "ladies" or the "gents" if trying to find the loo, lav, bog, head, dunny etc when in a restaurant. The Hoover thing is similar to how we tend to use "Google" as a verb rather than saying "please look that up on the internet using a search engine of your choice"...Google it.
So true!
My understanding is that the Hoover company in UK is not associated with the Hoover company in the US.
@@AdventuresAndNaps WC works pretty well, even in the rest of Europe.
@@robertewalt7789 From Wiki "It also established a major base in the United Kingdom; and, mostly in the 20th century, it dominated the electric vacuum cleaner industry, to the point where the Hoover brand name became synonymous with vacuum cleaners and vacuuming in the United Kingdom and Ireland." I find it very unlikely that two separate companies would use the name "Hoover" to brand vacuum cleaners.
Rather than asking where the "toilets" are, I'd personally ask where are "the Gent's" (gentleman's toilet) is, and you can do the same with "the Lady's".
And I agree with the others who have said that skinny fast food style Fries and proper thick Chips are two totally different things.
This made me laugh, It always makes me smile when I hear people try to make the effort but slip into old habits but I appreciate the effort esp as is Brits don’t make this much effort when we go abroad…we just talk louder 😂 don’t ever loose your your Americanisms 😊
Hi Deb,Lose or loose? you are a winner.All the best to you and yours.Rab
When I think of a garden, I think of vegetables that are planted in the dirt. I don't really thank about flowers, except for the ones blooming on the plants.
My youngest daughter, when she was a toddler, used to call it a "Par Cark"! In our family it's still called a par cark to this day! 🙂
😂 That's adorable!
Us Brits use so many different words and phrases for the same things that it doesn't really matter what terms you use.
Unless it's absolutely necessary, for example in a legal document or court case, just use what comes naturally.
You're fine just the way you are and you'll gradually assimilate more over time anyway.
It's "We Brits".....
A yard is an area that has been concreted over or paved, a garden is where plants are grown. I know that its a bit complicated and confusing for Americans.
🇨🇦 I have a friend from South Africa that has been here in western Canada for about 20 years. She uses British terms. I notice them especially regarding cars…bonnet and boot instead of our hood and trunk. Can drive me crazy sometimes, but it is a part of her and who she is.
My issue is 'rest room'. It conjures up images of pampering like a health spa, not a p*ss covered lavatory.
I was taught to call it a lavatory, or loo ('toilet' is a bit 'common'), but 'bog' is my preferred word. I was told that it's what roman legionaries in UK called it; that might be bogus!
My first language was Dutch, and a loo is 'WC', which is the old British abbreviation for 'Water Closet'. A closet being a place where you close yourself away for privacy, not a place where you keep your clothes.
Pavements are paved - with paving slabs or bricks. The footway (the legal term for the pedestrian way adjacent to a road) was traditionally paved, but these days they are often surfaced in tarmac. What's the difference between tarmac and asphalt? You can safely say to your Builder's Merchant "I'd like my tarmac".
In UK a Highway is any road maintained by local or national government.
Merkins shorten Maths, but not Stats.
Chip derives from the same source as the Latin cippus - a post, stake, or beam. British potato chips are beam-shaped, which is what you'd expect. For some reason, Merkins decided to use the word 'chip' to mean a thin slice.
Ive only heard lavatory in an airplane.
@@Lemonade_Stand_ I always say lavatory.
The use of the word pudding for dessert is relatively recent. When I was growing up in the UK the dessert course was called the sweet. Also, while Hoover is a term used based on that being the name of a pioneer in the field, in the US and Canada Fridge is used for the refrigerator based on the name of a brand name pioneer company in that field: Fridigaire
"Dessert" is well understood everywhere. What is a problem, though, is the way Americans call the main course the "entree", which is objectively insane.
Really, so what do they call the actual entreé?
Fries are a variety of chip in the UK - so McDonalds sells fries, but the local fish and chip shop doesn't... in the same way, cookies are a type of biscuit, but not all biscuits are cookies...
Don't worry Alanna, we all understand these Americanisms. If anyone gets genuinely angry about them, they should perhaps get a sense of proportion, with everything else going on in the world. If you can understand our rhyming slang, then we should understand you ! BTW our euphemism for toilet, loo, is probably from the French word for water.
Thanks so much!
Majority use Dessert nowadays. Every restaurant has a dessert menu. Every supermarket has a dessert section. Things have changed.
Puddings can be savoury or sweet as you mentioned. An easy way to describe as a pudding, is if it could be eaten with a spoon.
I'm a Londoner and never fully got behind pudding. Don't know whether that word is posh or northern but we always used to say "what's for afters" in our house. Oh, and it's "where's the loo". Other than that, full marks "10 out of 10 bemused Canadian ex-pats".
Thanks so much!
That's interesting, as I'm from the North East and I thought Pudding was the southern way of saying afters or desert.
Same here in East Anglia - "what's for afters?". And sometimes afters really was a pudding!
Deffo a posh thing
I was boiught up in South london, i think we mainly said whats for pudding but also would use desert or afters
As a UKer. I understand all you said quite well. Only ‘line’ cracked me up. We use ‘line’ differently. So it is funny when you use in that way
Another great entertaining video. That whole chip/crisp discussion both confused me & made me hungry at the same time, aswell as making me laugh. I suppose it comes down to what you grow up with, your brain develops & gets used to set words, be easier if more people accepted that. Its like in some areas people grow up with words from local dialects that others wouldn't understand but I suppose thats a topic for another day
Glad you enjoyed it!
No, fries and chips are 2 different things.
@@AdventuresAndNaps Fries are those skinny things sold in McDonald's, not proper British chips.
In Australia crisps are called potato chips
"aswell" isn't a word on either side of the 'pond'.
You shouldn't worry about using Americanisms in your everyday life Alanna, we British are using them more & more.
Having been to Canada (beautiful!) & America (fascinating) I do tend to translate the Britishisms into their own terms. I would ask an American for the location of the bathroom & a Canadian for the washroom.
Ah, the perennial "hoover" terminology question. Personally, I would "vac" my floors having got the vac(uum) out of its storage space. I'd then put the dust into the bin once I'd finished.
Have a great weekend Alanna (& partner). All the best, BY-EEE!
It was a good segue, but you'd never refer to a cheese board as 'pudding' just cos it's after your main meal. By the way, as well as pud there's also 'afters' re dessert. Afters, is a good 'un.
If you are out somewhere and in need of the loo, when asking staff for the whereabouts of the convenience it is quite acceptable to ask for directions to the "Ladies" or "Gents". Also the "Ladies Room" was sometimes referred to as the "Powder Room" where women would retire to replenish their makeup.
Referring to it as "the smallest room" is acceptable too.
Backyard always makes me think of how Jamaicans in the UK say "back a yard", meaning the island of Jamaica - as in "back home" or "back at the yard"
Interesting! I have opinions on some of these words 😂
Bathroom - I usually hear bathroom in the US but washroom in Canada (specifically Ontario). I'm surprised you don't call it washroom!
Highway - In California, we call it a freeway even when it's not free, but in the rest of the US/Canada, people seem to call it a highway even when it's not high speed
Chips - None of those words sound like real words anymore after hearing you say them so many times in a row lol
Vacuum - Funnily enough I've never used a Hoover branded vacuum in my life
We do not call it a highway from the Midwest to the Eastern seaboard, its the interstate. Only on the west coast, yes, all 3 states its called a freeway. I may have misunderstood your comment about highways, if so, sorry. You may have confused me a bit.
I work for a national bowling chain in the UK, the one that's named after an American venue ... customers are directed to our toilets by a giant neon sign "Washrooms" 😊
Brits often use the abbreviation vac. I'll just get the vac out, or I was just vaccing the carpet. And we do use highway, for any public road. Our Highway Code contains the rules for road users. It's unspecific.
In UK any road that is not privately owned is a public highway, when you take a driving test it includes questions on a book called the Highway Code.
The Highways Agency in the UK is responsible for the maintenance and safety of highways in the UK.
In America (or perhaps even Canada) someone may describe a house, apartment or condo as having 2 1/2 baths. The 1/2 bath refers to a toilet and sink, typically on the main floor and designed for the use of guests.
I love your videos, particularly as you are now using mild sarcasm in your commentary now that you've become more anglicised! In the same ilk, as US/Canuk people think "toilet" is too descriptive a word for where one goes to the toilet, I suggest Table Room instead of dining room (as "dining" may suggest over indulgence), rest room in place of bedroom (can't mention "bed" as it may have sexual undertones), parlour instead of lounge or sitting room (as the two may suggest idleness), and certainly activity room instead of den (as den may be suggestive of a room for wasting time)! 🤣🙄
If Alanna is over-sensitive about using 'toilet', she'd best not go downunder to Australia- 'dunny' would be going way too far!
I'm not too keen on toilet either, but that's really because loo or bathroom just sound nicer. Toilet is as 'slang' as I get! 🤣
@@wilmaknickersfit No, "toilet" actually originally came from the word in French which evolved into meaning a dressing room, or a place to wash and dress, in English a lavatory. "Loo" is the slang word. It derives from Waterloo, the battle which ended Napoleon's tyrany in Europe, when in effect the French self-styled emperor was washed into the toilet by Arthur Wellesley, later Duke of Wellington.
@@t.a.k.palfrey3882 Sorry, but I did know the origin of the word toilet (toilette, etc. I was just saying that although I prefer to use other words, I will say toilet sometimes! 😁 And loo is older than Waterloo, but it's likely to be another word from France. France and Scotland used to be great allies, especially against the English. In Scotland in the 18th century people would empty chamber pots out of the upstairs windows and shout the warning "gardy loo" meaning watch out for the water (l'eau). Loo is definitely slang, so perhaps I should have used a different word instead of slang about my use of the word toilet. 😉
The "Back Yard" is (in the North) a paved area at the back of a 2 up/2 down old terraced house
As a British person in Canada I know how you feel, it’s not so easy to remember every time to use different words than you’ve been using your whole life. I’m good with my line-ups, sidewalks and baseboards. I tend to go for washroom as you wash your hands after going to the toilet, still always feels a bit weird saying it though. I recently learned that wall plaster is called mudding! Not sure I’ll ever get used to that. And bangs instead of fringe just sounds wrong.
I lived in Hungary for a while and they often use the English word hello but they use it when arriving or leaving. I could never bring myself to say it when leaving!
Good to see you've retained 'different than' rather than the UK's 'different from'.
To this Canadian, mudding is the act of applying a plaster-like material to cover the joints between two sheets of drywall. (Drywall being those pre-made gypsum boards with paper backing usually 4x8 feet but can also be 4x12 feet, also called sheetrock). While it could apply to the act of building an actual plaster wall, I suppose, very few modern (ie less than 50 years old) houses would be plastered.
As a Canadian, I go nuts when Brits refer to the ground or road outside as, 'the floor'! Nooooooo!!!! No, it's not a floor!!!!
Where does your stuff land that you drop then if not on the floor?
@@gutinstinct4067 the ground. Cindy's not wrong!
@@gutinstinct4067 If it's dropped in a structure, like a house, then it usually lands on the floor. As a general rule, if it is dropped outside of a structure, it would land on whatever that material is called, like.....the ground, road, puddle, driveway, train track, grass, pathway, etc. Hope that helps & please tell your friends!
I have never heard that used in England.
Rest room in England often refers to a room in a factory where the workers take their break. True story: I was working on construction of a UK owned chemical plant in Alabama. The engineers were English, workforce good old southern boys. The site was large so radios were used for communication. Brits were very RAF "roger", "over' etc, Alabamans were C B radio "whats your 20", "10-4" etc. So over the radio English engineer asks where Chuck is. Answer " He's in the restroom". Response "Well, can he come out here & fix this do-hickey". Answer " He's in the RESTROOM". " Yea OK, can he come out here & fix this...". Laconic voice comes over radio "He's in the John". English "Oh..."
To impress their friends, posh people might say they are getting the Dyson out (not the hoover) if they have one. Henry vacuum cleaners are often called "Henry Hoovers" which is nice and alliterative.
Be brave, Alanna! Stand up for your people! Don't listen to Brits complaining! Express indignation when they criticize your "American" words; ask them how they dare dismiss Canada's importance by calling the words "American"! Declare that at the very least they ought call the words "North American"!
Cookies are either the soft baked biscuits or ones with things like chocolate chips in. Biscuits comes from the French word for twice baked.
Got some more for you: windscreen/windshield, hood/bonnet, trunk/boot, caboose/brake van (not that there have been brake vans in the UK for about 70 years, and cabooses are pretty few and far between in North America these days…), erm… that’s all I can think of off the top of my head.
Your random use of the word period in conversation can have issues in polite company, well, with a certain generation, as it generally refers to a woman's menstrual cycle.
Noooo, don't tell her that, just watch the fun
We say it both ways. Like period full stop and a women’s menstrual cycle. It’s only the context that matters over here.
The Canadian expression I remember hearing was "What's that chose?". We all understood him but then had to explain the difference between a coffee pot and a tea pot.
I'm English, but I think the American abbreviation for mathematics ("math") is logically more correct. The non-American word "maths" is formed on the incorrect assumption that "mathematics" is a plural word; for example the logical abbreviation of "kilograms" is "kilos" - but "mathematics" is derived from the Greek "mathēmatikós" meaning “related to learning” - not plural and so the abbreviation should be "math". (But I still say "maths"!)
Shhhhh 🤫 She's Canadian remember? You gotta say North American 💙🤭
Also there is a linguistics video that goes over Math vs Maths. It's been found in American documents from the 1800s into 1900s but was finally dropped around 1910-1915. Interesting stuff ey?
Fun fact: Garbage comes from garb = clothing. Old second hand clothing was called garbage in Elizabethan times.
Alanna I think you would really enjoy Bill Brysons book notes from a small Isle, After living here for 20 years Bill is about to return back to live in the states so he takes a trip around the UK to explore all our weird pass times and strange customs. Its such a funny book, he also explains all the culture shocks he got when first here and he did a follow up called notes from a big country where he talks about the reverse culture shock of returning back to the states which is also brilliant.
Hi, Alanna, another entertaining video. It must almost be like learning a foreign language moving here. Great fun. Hope it does well.
@jay little hi, Patreon does that.
Sorry to cover old ground with this but in my family a Yorkshire pudding can be a feature of three different corses in a single meal. Here in Yorkshire we can and do have a starter of a Yorkie with gravy, followed by a main dish which has a Yorkie included as an ingredient in the dish. Or we might serve the whole main corse inside a large Yorkshire pudding either as a filling or with a part of the dish cooked inside the pudding batter as in a “Toad-in the -Hole”. Then we move on to the dessert course that can be basically a large flat piece of a Yorkie spread with jam or golden syrup served either rolled up, or just flat and covered in custard or if you prefer to have something a bit decedent you can have a dish of profiteroles filled with whipped cream and covered with a chocolate sauce. Another way of enjoying the Yorkshire pudding is to take a large flat one and lay the meat and vegetables out on top and fold and roll it up into a wrap or burrito shape, add the gravy and enjoy.
Pudding is desert - normally…
Steak & ale / Yorkshire pudding etc deserve a whole sub-video!
But pudding is NEVER cheese.
Loving your channel! 👏👏👏👏
I make you right however cheese can easily replace a desert now that i'm almost grown up.All the best to you and yours. Rab
None of the different words really bother me, not even a bathroom without a bath.
Two mainly North Americanisms which really make me cringe are Write me and I could care less 🤬
It also bugs me when Americans say "the proof is in the pudding".
@Hadz English too.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating!
I'm an American living in the northern United States, and we tend to say bathroom when we are in someone's home and restroom when in some sort of public setting. Washroom is mainly a Canadian word.
Interesting!!
@@AdventuresAndNaps Yep!
Restroom sounds like you're needing to lie down in dark room.
BTW pudding is actually means something that's been steamed or boiled.
I am sure in American movies I have heard the word " JOHN " to describe a toilet! In Victorian times it was called a W.C., water closet and of course Americans still use the word Closet as a small walk in room.
Alanna - you left plaster/Band Aid out in your trade name compare! 😳 most Americans/Canadians would get flummoxed and perplexed if they were to hear a British person cry out “oh blast, I’ve cut myself, I’d better put a plaster on it…” they imagine either mixing some cement together or trolling down to the local A&E to get a cast on a paper cut! 🤣 the only reference to the term Band Aid for most peeps of a certain age, would be singing along to “do they know it’s Christmas?” And thinking of Mr Geldof!
As a first generation Canadian, my Mum and Dad came from England. I have learnt to speak both types of english. The funny thing is my Mum lived and worked (outside of the home)in Canada for over 30 years and still couldn't speak Canadian english. I have a sister who was born in Coventry and came to Canada at age 9, so most of her education is Canadian and she still uses British english. It is really funny because her husband is Mohawk, born on Six Nation in Caledonia, but part of his schooling was in California and he was in the US army during the Vietnam War, so he speaks more US english than Canadian english. I used to work for Bell Canada and one of my work mates was Australian. Four countries that are suppose to speak the same language but really we all speak a different english. Sorry this is so long. I am enjoying your videos. Keep your Canadian ways it makes you extra special. 😉😉 🇨🇦
We’d always say garden rather than yard when there is grass. Not necessarily flowers. If there is no grass, it’s a a yard.
i cook a sweet Yorkshire pud filled with different fillings , being Scottish I do Cranachan ( rasps with Whisky , toasted oats & whipped double cream all mixed together )or even Strawberry Romanoff ( fresh strawberries laced with Quatro spirit , double cream & crushed meringue mixed together )
Hi Alanna, we call that room a restroom here in Australia, as far as I know. Pavement in the UK is the footpath here. Cookies are biscuits here, though we do have some biscuits also called cookies. We use both car park and parking lot here. Motorways are freeways and highways here in Australia, though they become motorways again in New Zealand. we also say Maths here as well. Chips here are both crisps and fries. Fries here are hot chips. We use garbage and rubbish here strangely enough. We have back yards and front yards here and they contain gardens. We also use vacuum for both the machine and the action, like Canada. We usually say tissue rather than Kleenex, as Kleenex make both tissues and paper towels. I think we use queue rather than line. Pudding is mostly a dessert here. Anyway, take care and all the best. Rob.
Highway is applied to any road but there are different rules for Motorway driving.
Yard? The grassy place with trees and flower beds, will always be more logically a garden.
We also commonly say 'Sellotape' as well for what Blue Peter used to call in their own classic way 'sticky backed plastic' (sticky tape). That would often be called 'scotch tape' I believe over on the other side of the pond in America (though I'm not sure about Canada). Sellotape, of course, is technically a brand name for the product in the same sort of way as 'Hoover' is for vacuums. Interestingly, I think 'Scotch tape' also comes from a brand name.
in the north of England we have backyards because they are yards they have flags a back garden would need grass or flower beds. Black Pudding, Steak Pudding and Yorkshire Pudding are definitely not pudding.
The hoover one is basically that we are wrong. I prefer to use vacuum, but grew up saying Hoover so sometimes I slip. It's just like when people used to call all personal stereos "Walkmen" or a lot of people call all MP3 players, iPlayers. It's just about brands that become synonymous with that product. As you say, Kleenex is another great example.
Another one, that is not so common these days was referring to biro pens as a Bic.
The American use of “Yard” reflects the old use in England which is now only commonly used to describe a Church yard. The land around a Church, whether or not it is used for burials is always called the Churchyard. I think “Yard” originally referred to the land around a house but when the Industrial Revolution came and there was lots of housing built for the workers the space their yards were hard paved, often had the outside toilets, and were where clothes were hung up to dry. So when the middle classes started getting houses with grass around them they started to call them “gardens” to emphasis their superiority. My house has a back and a front “garden” - grass, flowers etc - and also a side yard which is paved and is where the “bins” live. So it is easy really - in English usage a yard is hard and a garden is pretty.
Another word for pudding is "afters". As for asking about the toilet - if I am in someone's house, I ask if "Can I use your facilities".
Another great video Alanna 😀😀👍👍 When you said "We're having so-n-so/so and so for pudding that relates to you're having 'someone' for pudding. Where as We're having such and such/such-n-such for pudding, that would relate to something or an actual thing. So-n-so = Person, Such-n-such = thing/item/food. But that's what I've grown up with up here in North East Manchester 😀😀
I have often wondered why it is that Canadians and Americans put the shortened word in the singular when the full word is in the plural; math mathematics. Maths covers the same range of subjects, algebra, arithmetic, economics, geometry, trigonometry, etc. as mathematics.
Years ago when I was a kid and there was no internet yet, I saw a sign for a "restroom" in America. I thought it must be some sort of fancy lounge, possibly serving coffee, so I followed the signs to go and check it out. I was disappointed to find out it was just a euphemism for the toilets.
I think yard depends where you live in the UK, I live in the midlands and we say back yard, the yard is the slabbed or tarmac part just in front of the garden. Yard was used in the past when most lived in terraced houses.
Nice one! Garden does sound nicer, but yeah I will always think of it as a yard...
Hi Alanna, it's me. Sorry I haven't been liking and commenting on you vids for a bit. I have been going through some choppy personal stuff but now you have my full attention again x Byeeee
A biscuit is a biscuit and a cookie is a cookie, I’ve always considered them two different things.
Tbh I use car park when it's a parking area outside on the ground, but if it's a building with multi story parking I will call it a parking lot. Which I never really thought about till now lol
Thanks Alanna, always interesting to hear what we'd take for granted, always isn't the same elsewhere!
Sometimes a highway refers to a toll road.
Another apologetic lesson in Englishness: you can have Yorkshire Pudding for pudding! Usually with dobs of Raspberry jam but perhaps Strawberry jam in a dire emergency, but I can't think of an emergency that would excuse that
I know people that have had Yorkshire pudding as a starter with jam, and also with gravy, also as a pudding after the lunch main and also with the meal itself but usually just with gravy.
As a Brit, none of these bother me, the thing is if you say parking lot or bathroom to me for example, I still know what you are referring to so who cares.
And some Americanisms I've adopted myself: I have an American friend (who is now a British citizen) originally from Tennesee, who calls the shopping trolley shelters in supermarkets "corrals," and it conjured up a delightful image of cowboys rounding up shopping trolleys that I absolutely loved!
Here in England we do use the word Garbage, it's where we park the carb when we get home from a drive!!🚗🤣🤣
Another one for the vac - hoover, tissue - kleenex topic. I've heard that Americans call cotton buds "Q-tips" and apparently that's for similar reasons.
Oddly enough, I always remember saying backyard growing up. Back garden was normal as well, but I do remember saying "back gard" as a kid once and my dad correcting me to say it's either a back garden or a backyard.
While us Brits often use the brand name hoover (hoovering/hoovered) for the act of vacuuming, I know Americans will sometimes use the brand name xerox for photocopying.
Puddings aren't necessarily sweet deserts like rice pudding or bread and butter pudding, but also savoury, and not just steak and kidney pudding or Yorkshire Pudding (as mentioned), but also black pudding (a blood sausage, particulary in Lancs), or it's Irish (Scottish?) cousin, the white pudding
As a Brit born & bred, I refuse to use the term “Hoover” instead of vacuum. However, my wife insists on using the term Hoover. Language is fascinating. If you travel in Europe regularly, it’s interesting to find how often similar words are used for the same object. Then again, certain countries (Hungary springs to mind) that are so radically different that’s it’s almost impossible to find any words that are the same.
It must be incredibly difficult for non native English speakers to try to learn English with all its subtleties and nuances. Because America has such a massive TV & film industry, their phrases and usage have become so widespread. However, when speaking to a Dutch colleague once, I asked her how had she learned to speak such perfect, accent less English ? She explained that she was brought up speaking English as her family watched a lot of British TV as well as some Dutch, Flemish, German and French TV. The geography of Europe allows this more often than not.
My brain got fried when you discussed chips, crisps and fries. ....and God Bless You (you sneezed).
National Highways are the agency that 'look after' the motorway network so highway is ingrained in the governmental lexicon.
The S in "maths" has migrated to what I call "sport" but Americans call "sports".
If you clean a vacuum you are a vacuum cleaner - in Liverpool we use vacuum, it's a good job we don't use the name of the creator of the toilet - crapper :) We also use 'afters' for a sweet after the main meal.. You use whatever language you want! x
Toilet is actually considering a lower class phrase here in the UK too. Loo is more appropriate. As a boy my gran would go crazy if i used the word toilet.
One thing I will say is that, with most of these words, most British people will understand what you mean. One exception is the chips/crisps/fries example as there is more potential confusion. For example, the snacks menu in a British pub. Something like a toasted sandwich could come with crisps (chips) or with chips (fries).