It's actually quite shocking just how many differences the United States & the United Kingdom have in the words we use for everyday things. Since we have been doing this for 2 years now, we thought we would test our UK knowledge and see if we could guess the British word. How do you think we did? Some of these REALLY SURPRISED us! We hope you have fun with us on this episode. Thank you SO much for watching! If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our channel, it is the BEST way to support our channel and it's FREE! Also, please click the Like button. Thank you for your support!
One thing that does irritate me is this notion that there is something called British English, as if it's just one of many dialects, the UK is the home of the English language, it is our mother tongue, the people of the USA don't speak English, they speak a highly modified variation of the language that at times bears little resemblance to English, it's also a bit rude of RUclipsr's to keep referring to our language as weird, it's way beyond time that the people of the USA stopped saying they speak English, just call your language American.
@@RushfanUK Couldn't agree more. The two languages are diverging more and more, and it's not just a case of saying "elevator" instead of "lift"; even the grammar is different. We're rapidly reaching the stage when saying Americans speak English is like saying the English speak German. We and The Americans can still understand each other (at the moment), certainly, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if a modern German ever met an Anglo-Saxon, they'd probably, with a few misunderstandings, get by.
I can’t remember anyone saying ‘Happy Christmas’ to me in the UK, and I’ve been acknowledging the gesture for 69 years. ‘Merry Christmas’ has always been my go to.
@@MrVisualHigh I live in Gloucester and only use Merry Christmas. Think this may be another instance of Londoners taking their personal experiences and extrapolating them to the country as a whole.
I'm from the UK and I would actually contest that a bathrobe and a dressing gown are the same thing. A bathrobe is something you put on exclusively after you've had a bath. It's most often made of thin, towelling material that soaks up any wet still on you. A dressing gown is often made of thick, soft fleece that's like fur. I would never put my dressing gown on immediately after having a bath. It could ruin it. Because my dressing gown is a thick soft fleece, I often put it on over the top of my PJs in winter to keep warmer than just wearing PJ's alone. My dressing gown has a hood and is made more to keep you warm than to dry you. My partner has two items of clothing in this subject. One I would call a bathrobe which is thin and towelling which she puts on immediately after having a bath. Then separately she has what I would call a dressing gown, which is similar to mine in that it is thick, fleecy and it's qualities are more for keeping the wearer warm.
A bathrobe to me is light and made of towelling or some other absorbent fabric, and they're short - not past the knees - dressing gowns are made of thicker, heavier fabrics and are often longer. I have one of each - I put my bathrobe on after a shower/bath to walk into the bedroom etc... before getting dressed - I wear my dressing gown over my pyjamas for warmth when I'm sitting around the house /making breakfast etc...
I have never called anything a bathrobe, its a dressing gown, i have always dried myself with a towel before putting my pjs and dressing gown on... but yea never heard anyone use the term bathrobe in the UK
As a Brit, and Former UK HM Forces Serviceman (RAF), I want to take this opportunity to thank you both for your reactions. I love the content you both upload and especially the content on learning about GBR/UK. You always make me laugh and smile and I hope this will continue for as long as you want to keep on entertaining your followers. I would seriously miss you both if you gave this up. Much admiration and best wishes, Dougie ... from Frome, in Somerset, England.
As a British person, I am indebted to Bob Newhart for my knowledge of what a realtor is. He defined them as people who couldn’t make it as used car salesmen.
There used to be a thing on Steve Wright's radio show when they'd use the same malapropism. For instance Draclea in an ambleance with a spatchlea@@sharonmartin4036
@@JACB006 LOL. The term “real estate” means the land plus anything growing on it, attached to it or erected on it, including man-made objects such as buildings, sewers, and fences. This is as opposed to buying virgin land. At least that's the way I understand it.
@@sharonmartin4036 In GB the term Estate can mean a physical estate (property) and the items in one's will which will often include the contents of bank accounts and stocks/shares etc. Real Estate is used in the US to differentiate between the two. An Estate Agent was the manager of an estate for the landed gentry, managing the tenancies, sales and acquisition of land/property.
got to dispute the xmas greeting comparison. I live in the UK and have never, ever (and I'm 74 yr old wished anyone 'happy christmas'. it's always 'Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year'. Nor has anyone ever wished me a happy christmas rather than merry christmas. By chance, I have a box of unused Christmas cards left over from those I bought last year. I dug the box out. There were 18 cards. Two were printed with 'Happy Christmas' The rest were printed with the greeting 'Merry Christmas'
England is also divided by the same language, try understanding Shakespeare's English from that time, it is hard to comprehend. What we read today has been updated to the 19th century at least. A lot of American English still uses words and meanings from the 16th and 17th centuries.
I was born in 1957 and am English. I've always said Merry Christmas, everybody I grew up with always said Merry Christmas. It is only comparatively recently that I've noticed people saying Happy Christmas and it annoys the hell out of me.
Funny thing is the older generation 45+ when we went to school 1st.2nd,3rd,4th, and 5th year students and 17 and 18 year old were the 6th form, in our day we left school at 16 to go to work
Just to clarify: No one over the age of 40 says "Happy Christmas" in Britain. It was always "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" until the millennials somehow got stuck halfway between the two. We even have several traditional Christmas Carols (songs for Christmas time), dating as far back as the 1600s, using "Merry" for Christmas.
A P45 is what you get when you leave a job regardless of whether you resigned or were fired, as its main purpose it to tell your next employer how much tax you paid via "Pay As You Earn" which is kind of like Withholding but much more accurate, so much so that most people who are not high earners don't have to do a tax return at all, and tax refunds are rare, rather than routine.
Lee Nelson (Simon Brodkin) did a great prank a few years ago when Theresa May had lost the support of the government and gave her a fake p45 while she was giving a speech 😅😅
Dressing gowns usually made of warm fabric or lighter fabric and worn over pj's etc, bathrobes are made of absorbent fabric like towelling to put on after a shower or bath. Distinct difference between the two.
When I was at school the UK secondary/comp school was 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th year after that you had the choice to either leave school, go to collage or go to 6th form
I'm British and I've never heard a Ball Pit called anything other than a 'Ball Pit' in my life. Certainly not 'Ball Pool'. We do use the term 'yard' for an open area next to a house, but it specifically means a _hard-paved_ area: grass & flowers is a 'garden'. A 'camper van' is self-powered. A 'caravan' is towed behind another vehicle. We say 'Merry Christmas' just as often as we say 'Happy Christmas': this is kind of a non-distinction. We also use 'flasher' or 'winker' as less formal alternatives to 'indicator' for what you call a 'turn signal'. Blondie were decent enough and Debbie Harry was quite the pin-up in her day, but Pink Floyd are just on a whole other level. Congrats on 20 years you two! 👍
I'm sixty. Debbie Harry was the cause of many "interesting" dreams in my youth. Blondie were classic pop punk for me, way better than "decent enough". I'm in total agreement with you on Pink Floyd.
Natasha digging around in the recesses of her memory for the word indicator was priceless! So many epic faces pulled 😁 thanks as ever to the two hardest working, loveliest people on the internet- can't wait until 8:00 on the 19th to see you two celebrate your 20th anniversary 🎉
*Merry* Xmas and a *Happy* New year. Never Happy Xmas! And the P45 is the official form you need to sign-on for benefits after you lose your job. And although he didn't ask, you were right, it's a wing mirror. Brackets is an interesting one. We call all of these: (),{},,[] brackets. We differentiate by adding a descriptor: curly-brackets, angle-brackets or square-brackets, but mostly it's just brackets. I got a lot of flack from US reviewers for a book I wrote where I called parentheses and braces brackets! One even accused me of being illiterate!
Even HM the Queen used to end her Christmas Day speech with Happy Christmas. Find one on here and skip to the end. I sure the King probably did last year. Anyway, merry Halloween and a happy Christmas to you.
Merry Christmas is found in lots of our classic literature. I grew up saying that, I am flabbergasted by the idea that we don't say it. I am very traditional too, and have a good understanding of the differences between dialects of English from all over the world. I am rarely surprised.
I don't know why, but I usually associate "merry" with some level of intoxication. like rosy-cheeks intoxication. Now I'm wondering if I've got it wrong, or if this implication is related.
@@shaunmoneil I think we can trace that back to the temperance movement. Merry doesn't necessarily equate to intoxicated but "eat, drink and be merry" could be interpreted as the drink makes you merry. Merriment is also associated with other high days and holidays especially the first of May, where no suggestion of alcohol is present. I think a certain dour sort of Christian started to rail against merriment as interpreted as synonymous with drunkenness, but no such association was originally present. My family was quite religious yet nevertheless did not equate merriment with drink. This sort of confusion may originated with the English tendency to euphemize. To cover embarrassment with a euphemism such as switching out drunk for a word that does not mean the same but can be coloured by association. Your aunt is drunk, no she's just a bit merry. Then merry starts to mean tipsy, where it never did previously. Then it hardens into meaning blind drunk. But the original meaning is still known and used by others. Queer is another word that's gone on a fabulous journey and had two different modern meanings, the original now fading somewhat.
@@shaunmoneil Yeah, "merry" used to just mean happy or joyous, but over time got used as euphemism for "tiddly" (slightly inebriated) - as opposed to "pissed" or "plastered" (extremely inebriated). So it can mean either thing, depending on context. (And at Christmas, people are often merry in both senses! =:o} )
I am 73 tears old born and lived all my life in England and I cannot ever recall anyone saying Happy Christmas. Everyone I know says Merry Christmas, but then I'm not in or from the London or south east which has it's own version of the English language.
I am also 73. My maternal grandparents were Londoners (Grandad talked like a proper Cockney) and they never said "Happy Christmas". It was always "Merry Christmas".
53 year old here that has never said or heard anyone in London or the South East say anything other than "Merry Christmas". Love to know why when "non Southerners" hear something they don't like they decide to denigrate London.
I think Blondie were a much bigger deal in the UK than the states, they had huge success here and were signed to a British label. That's the first time I've ever heard the term year 13 used, when I was in school in the 80's A-Level students during the last two years of high school were called sixth formers, lower or upper depending if you were first or second year sixth formers, to me first school type experience was nursery, then first proper school at 4/5-7 was Infants, 7-11 was Juniors, 11-16 was High School, 16-17 was Lower Sixth Form and 17-18 was Upper Sixth Form.
The change was with the introduction of the National Curriculum, which stipulates Early Years (Nursery and Reception), Key Stage 1 (Year 1 & 2) Key stage 2 (Years 3-6) Key stage 3 (Year 7-9) and Key Stage 4 (Years 10 and 11). Schools still refer to their 'Sixth Form' but the Years are officially Years 12 and 13.
The rotisserie chicken is a bit of a strange one; I call a chicken that has been roasted in-store at a supermarket, often purchased hot, a rotisserie chicken (because they are usually cooked on a rotisserie) - almost all other circumstances I call it roast chicken because a rotisserie is not involved! I also think there are regional differences for some of these, because I have always called it a 'ball pool', whereas many in the comments seem to call it a 'ball pit'.
Just to clarify, a P45 is actually a tax form that the employer you've just left gives you so that your next employer knows how much money you've already earnt that tax year. This is so that you end up paying the correct amount of tax at the end of that tax year. You'll get one regardless of the reasons for leaving a job - not necessary because you've been sacked (fired).
I'm really quite surprised that here in Australia we borrow a lot more from American English than I thought even if we're culturally closer to the UK. Learn something new every video. "Root" pronunciation means something very different here though!
I believe standard use in the UK is that a router pronounced "rooter" is something that routes (e.g. sends packets of data to the correct destination) whereas a router pronounced "rauter" is something that routs ("a machine with a revolving vertical spindle and cutter for milling out the surface of wood or metal").
I am almost 70yrs old and have never said Happy Christmas, I always say Merry Christmas. On Christmas cards we usually put "Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year"
When my daughter was around 3 years old we used to go to a farm that ad a barn play area with forts and tunnels and climbing structures made of straw bales. there was also a ball pool made of straw bales but it was lined with hessian sacking material. One time we took my parents along and she asked my dad to take her "to the farmer's ball sack"
That was so much fun, I thought you both did very well! As a New Zealander, I found it particularly intresting that I seem to use half American and half British terminology. I must be a very confused kiwi! 🤔🤣😂 Thanks for being you! ❤
I smiled when the US word for Hippie was Crunchy...we have a chocolate bar named Crunchie and I couldn't get the vision out of my head of a load of Hippies floating around eating Crunchie Bars. 😃😃
I only recently discovered Americans call aeroplanes 'airplanes' - I thought that was a deliberate misspelling for the comedy film 'Airplane!' as opposed to being a real word. Even the Bangles (or Prince) use the word 'aeroplane' in the song 'Manic Monday' (and Prince even says 'telly' instead of television or TV in 'Sign 'O' The Times').
The P45 is an important document in the UK which you will always get when you leave a job, either by being fired or voluntary to more onto a new Job. Because we pay our taxes through deductions on our wages (called PAYE or Pay-As-You-Earn), this shows what you have earned and what tax you have paid in the current tax year as well as the Tax Code (this is which is used to show what you can earn before you pay tax) which your new employer will need so they can calculate the correct amount of tax to be deducted from your wages when they start paying you. Also while saying that you've been made redundant is generally used it's not actually correct. HR and Unions would say it's the Job that's redundant, not the person.
A camper van and caravan are different. A caravan is pulled along by another vehicle (usually a car) a camper van is a self contained vehicle that has both its own propulsion and living area. Both serve the same end goal, but are different. Edit: Most people don't say Happy Christmas in my experience, some do, but the vast majority say Merry Christmas and a Happy new year It's even in a Christmas Carol that goes back at least 200 years and is most likely even older. A p45 is an official document that is a copy of one that is given to the government to indicate to them that you're unemployed. You hand it in the DWP (department for work and pensions) to start the process of claiming JSA/UC (job seekers allowance/universal credit) it has other uses but that's usually what it's for
I’ve seen old USA films (movies) in which the word ‘route’ is pronounced much as we Brits do. On the other hand the word ‘rout’ (meaning to defeat an enemy/opponent) is pronounced the way Americans pronounce ‘route’.
To clarify a camper or camper van is a van converted for use. The next level up is where the body has been specially built from the chassis up and is called a motorhome. A caravan is towed and used predominantly for holidays although some people use them to live in. We have larger ones which are kept on a site long term and are almost never moved but have wheels, these are called mobile homes.
I think there’s a lot of overlap on some of these and some regional variations in both countries, but the one that I got unreasonably annoyed by was the Christmas greeting. Brits absolutely do say “Merry Christmas” to each other, particularly when we’re going on to add “and a happy New Year”. Try it the other way round: “Happy Christmas and a merry New Year.” It looks weird if you put it that way round in a Christmas card, and it sounds weirder if you say it aloud. We say “happy Christmas” a lot but I don’t think anyone would even notice if you say merry instead.
Indicators on the back of the wing mirrors is more often on newer (cars). On old bangers, like mine, they're set near the headlights (at the front) and near the brake lights (rear).
Girls. Some of these are a bit out, at least in my memory, & may have changed over time. Pickles in the UK are more than just gherkins. Jelly in triffle is yummy. A back yard is a small enclosed area behind Victorian street houses. A garden has lawns, flower beds etc. Janitor from Latin, door keeper. A gym is just a gym. All gyms don't have other facilities, only an exercise room. Baggage is not British. A camper has an engine. A caravan has to be towed. A budgie is smaller than a parakeet, sort of sparrow sized. They used to be very popular household pets. You drink the juice, not the box or carton. A large liquid holder is a carboy. A box in the UK is for dry goods, not liquids. An exam is more serious than a mere test. A Proctor is a city official in Scotland. Universities in Britain contain several colleges. Rounders is the origin of baseball. In the UK we say Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. Holidays are when you go away somewhere for leisure etc. Some say blinker instead. Some are known as Main street in the UK. A show is an individual thing. Programmes are more regular. AnAEsthatist has a dipthong! A P45 is a real tax document. Being fired is not always redundancy. CV is course of life in Latin.
We have bath robes, which are put on after a bath of shower and are made of towelling. However, we also have dressing gowns which we put over our nigh clothes when getting ready for bed or when we first wake up prior to a bath or shower. They are not usually absorbent and are often made of silky materials.
Younger people say Happy Christmas and older people say Merry Christmas. People in the middle of the two interchange Happy Christmas and Merry Christmas depending on how they feel.
It might be worth noting that many British words are derived directly from French. Hence Router is pronounced "Rooter" because that is how the French pronounce it. I have never said "Happy Christmas!" in my life. I've always been merry.
It’s Blondie for me . Congratulations on your 20th anniversary.enjoy your trip ❤. Now this episode was fun . I learned some American words and it was funny watching you trying to remember the English words you knew but couldn’t remember. More like this would be good 👍
Technically, you got 34 right, although not in the common vernacular. My first job title was "replenishment assistant", and I'm pretty sure the job description used the phrase "replenish shelves". As for juniors and seniors, we also have them (language varies between regions/schools). To me, juniors are 7-11 years old (UK years 4-6) and seniors are 11-16 years old (UK years 7-11). Don't ask me what we might call those at middle school, I never went to one. Router: I've been trying to ween myself off the American pronunciation for 25 years thanks to 90s cable TV tech shows - I think I say it the British way about 98% of the time now. One type of vehicle in the UK might have blinkers: horses. Given the faux outrage I'd probably go with Happy Christmas these days. Those that get upset only seem to appear on the TV and radio, so I've not had a chance to use my faux inebriated retort yet: "Merry Yuletide! Those Christians banned Christmas and their soldiers seized all the food, but we kept our alcohol! Merry, merry, merry! Down with Scrooge McCromwell! God Save The King!"
A Caravan is like a Camper Van but: A Caravan is a separate vehicle towed behind a car. A Camper van an integrated vehicle,not towed behind a car,but complete in itself.
P45 is just a tax form you receive when leaving an employment, irrespective of how that job is terminated. It details your earnings to date, tax paid, current tax code, etc., so that your next employer knows how much tax to take from your wages.
I think more people in the UK say "Merry Christmas", and "Happy New Year". Most Xmas cards have the standard printed greeting on the inside - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
A p45 isn’t for when you’re fired, it is given when everyone leaves a job. It is purely for tax purposes to inform you’re next employer what your tax code is and dictates how much tax your new employer takes from you each month. It has nothing to do with being sacked (fired). There’s a new one for you. 😄😄
A bathrobe (or towelling robe) are used after a bath or shower to keep you warm and help you dry off. A dressing gown was used by women to keep warm when they were in their underwear (small clothes?) and waiting for the maids to sort out the bustles, petticoats, chemisettes etc. We also have a house coat which is similar but is worn over your clothes to keep warm indoors. My mum always uses house coat for all of these and I think most people only use one name rather than differentiating between them.
I’m definitely using Cold Kettle from now on. My American ex decided that the British name for a car wash must be bubble scrub so that stuck as the term for years, I still think that when I see them now 😂
The computer device we would call a “rooter” (because it routes the signals) but there is also a woodworking power tool we would probably call a “rowter” (because it routs out the wood) even though they have the same spelling.
''We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!'' is how the song goes so people I know have always said merry Christmas. Happy Christmas sounds wrong to me!
One of the differences I notice in American english v English english is the American lack of adverbs. In American you do it DIFFERENT, we do it DIFFERENTLY. You play NICE, we play NICELY. You talk LOUD we talk LOUDLY. In British english verbs are described by adverbs which often (but not exclusively) end in LY. Americans seem to have no concept of the adverb. I notice it on your news channels too. Spanish use adverbs too - they often end in MENTE.
We do have school janitors in Scotland, though. Most people in the UK would say Merry Christmas. Dressing gowns are different from bathrobes, we do have bathrobes but they are made of towelling and used specifically after bathing/showering. It can be intensive care here or ICU.
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It's actually quite shocking just how many differences the United States & the United Kingdom have in the words we use for everyday things. Since we have been doing this for 2 years now, we thought we would test our UK knowledge and see if we could guess the British word. How do you think we did? Some of these REALLY SURPRISED us! We hope you have fun with us on this episode. Thank you SO much for watching! If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our channel, it is the BEST way to support our channel and it's FREE! Also, please click the Like button. Thank you for your support!
Have you wildbears new video aka Claire
One thing that does irritate me is this notion that there is something called British English, as if it's just one of many dialects, the UK is the home of the English language, it is our mother tongue, the people of the USA don't speak English, they speak a highly modified variation of the language that at times bears little resemblance to English, it's also a bit rude of RUclipsr's to keep referring to our language as weird, it's way beyond time that the people of the USA stopped saying they speak English, just call your language American.
We use stocking the shelves England.
Chassis England.
@@RushfanUK Couldn't agree more. The two languages are diverging more and more, and it's not just a case of saying "elevator" instead of "lift"; even the grammar is different. We're rapidly reaching the stage when saying Americans speak English is like saying the English speak German. We and The Americans can still understand each other (at the moment), certainly, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if a modern German ever met an Anglo-Saxon, they'd probably, with a few misunderstandings, get by.
I can’t remember anyone saying ‘Happy Christmas’ to me in the UK, and I’ve been acknowledging the gesture for 69 years. ‘Merry Christmas’ has always been my go to.
Are you a northerner perhaps? I've also only ever heard it as "Merry Christmas" and wonder if it's a southern thing.
@@MrVisualHigh Bolton ….. So yeah, very northern. 😊
Sometimes hear Happy Christmas, but not when it's coupled with Happy New Year....
@@MrVisualHigh I live in Gloucester and only use Merry Christmas. Think this may be another instance of Londoners taking their personal experiences and extrapolating them to the country as a whole.
I’ve always said Merry Christmas and never really heard anyone say happy Christmas
I'm from the UK and I would actually contest that a bathrobe and a dressing gown are the same thing.
A bathrobe is something you put on exclusively after you've had a bath. It's most often made of thin, towelling material that soaks up any wet still on you.
A dressing gown is often made of thick, soft fleece that's like fur.
I would never put my dressing gown on immediately after having a bath. It could ruin it. Because my dressing gown is a thick soft fleece, I often put it on over the top of my PJs in winter to keep warmer than just wearing PJ's alone. My dressing gown has a hood and is made more to keep you warm than to dry you.
My partner has two items of clothing in this subject. One I would call a bathrobe which is thin and towelling which she puts on immediately after having a bath. Then separately she has what I would call a dressing gown, which is similar to mine in that it is thick, fleecy and it's qualities are more for keeping the wearer warm.
I think I and many others would refer to both as dressing gowns, probably regional.
A bathrobe to me is light and made of towelling or some other absorbent fabric, and they're short - not past the knees - dressing gowns are made of thicker, heavier fabrics and are often longer.
I have one of each - I put my bathrobe on after a shower/bath to walk into the bedroom etc... before getting dressed - I wear my dressing gown over my pyjamas for warmth when I'm sitting around the house /making breakfast etc...
I have never called anything a bathrobe, its a dressing gown, i have always dried myself with a towel before putting my pjs and dressing gown on... but yea never heard anyone use the term bathrobe in the UK
Dressing gown for me
Robe or bathrobe after a shower or bath. It’s towelling material. Dressing gown is worn on top of pyjamas when you are dry.
As a Brit, and Former UK HM Forces Serviceman (RAF), I want to take this opportunity to thank you both for your reactions.
I love the content you both upload and especially the content on learning about GBR/UK.
You always make me laugh and smile and I hope this will continue for as long as you want to keep on entertaining your followers. I would seriously miss you both if you gave this up.
Much admiration and best wishes,
Dougie ... from Frome, in Somerset, England.
As a British person, I am indebted to Bob Newhart for my knowledge of what a realtor is. He defined them as people who couldn’t make it as used car salesmen.
There used to be a thing on Steve Wright's radio show when they'd use the same malapropism. For instance Draclea in an ambleance with a spatchlea@@sharonmartin4036
@johnkemp8904 😆
I have no idea where realtor or real estate came from? What does “real” mean? Not fake?
@@JACB006 LOL. The term “real estate” means the land plus anything growing on it, attached to it or erected on it, including man-made objects such as buildings, sewers, and fences. This is as opposed to buying virgin land. At least that's the way I understand it.
@@sharonmartin4036 In GB the term Estate can mean a physical estate (property) and the items in one's will which will often include the contents of bank accounts and stocks/shares etc. Real Estate is used in the US to differentiate between the two. An Estate Agent was the manager of an estate for the landed gentry, managing the tenancies, sales and acquisition of land/property.
got to dispute the xmas greeting comparison. I live in the UK and have never, ever (and I'm 74 yr old wished anyone 'happy christmas'. it's always 'Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year'. Nor has anyone ever wished me a happy christmas rather than merry christmas. By chance, I have a box of unused Christmas cards left over from those I bought last year. I dug the box out. There were 18 cards. Two were printed with 'Happy Christmas' The rest were printed with the greeting 'Merry Christmas'
My family say happy Christmas we’re from North Lanarkshire but I’ve also heard merry too .
Never used merry, always happy. Not that they are either
When writing my cards,i always say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
I am from England ❤❤
As Oscar Wilde described us - “two nations separated by a common language”!
And, as the 'The Pub Landlord' said, 'A k'ing big ocean !'
Oscar Wilde in “The Canterville Ghost” published 1871. Repeated by George Bernard Shaw in 1942.
England is also divided by the same language, try understanding Shakespeare's English from that time, it is hard to comprehend. What we read today has been updated to the 19th century at least. A lot of American English still uses words and meanings from the 16th and 17th centuries.
I was born in 1957 and am English. I've always said Merry Christmas, everybody I grew up with always said Merry Christmas. It is only comparatively recently that I've noticed people saying Happy Christmas and it annoys the hell out of me.
I'm a generation younger than you and I agree with everything you said.
We old English guys say " MERRY CHRISTMAS " and "HAPPY NEW YEAR ".
You met 20 years ago???? When you were both 3? That's heart warming.....
You win comment of the month! 🏆🏆
All this Year 11, 12, 13, etc didn't exist when I was at school ........ we'd have called 17/18 year olds 'Sixth Formers'
In the video he did actually put brackets around years 12 and 13 and label it Sixth Form.
Y11 is when you do your GCSE’s. Y12 and 13 is sixth form or college
Funny thing is the older generation 45+ when we went to school 1st.2nd,3rd,4th, and 5th year students and 17 and 18 year old were the 6th form, in our day we left school at 16 to go to work
Yes, when I was 16 I lived on my own and had a job.
Just to clarify: No one over the age of 40 says "Happy Christmas" in Britain. It was always "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" until the millennials somehow got stuck halfway between the two. We even have several traditional Christmas Carols (songs for Christmas time), dating as far back as the 1600s, using "Merry" for Christmas.
I’m nearly 70 and say Happy Christmas
@@Flossey114 I'm beginning to wonder if there's a regional aspect to this.
Beg to differ… 51. I’ve always said happy Christmas. But only in late December.
I'm 47 and have always said it both ways, they are both as good as each other
Same in Australia...i wonder why ;D
A P45 is what you get when you leave a job regardless of whether you resigned or were fired, as its main purpose it to tell your next employer how much tax you paid via "Pay As You Earn" which is kind of like Withholding but much more accurate, so much so that most people who are not high earners don't have to do a tax return at all, and tax refunds are rare, rather than routine.
Yes, for being fired, we’d say “you were let go”……then you get your P45 afterwards.
Lee Nelson (Simon Brodkin) did a great prank a few years ago when Theresa May had lost the support of the government and gave her a fake p45 while she was giving a speech 😅😅
I'm british and I've only heard of ball pit,not ball pool 🎩
I'm British and I have never heard Ball Pit!
Ball pool if your English
Dressing gowns usually made of warm fabric or lighter fabric and worn over pj's etc, bathrobes are made of absorbent fabric like towelling to put on after a shower or bath. Distinct difference between the two.
When I was at school the UK secondary/comp school was 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th year after that you had the choice to either leave school, go to collage or go to 6th form
We say Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!
Here in the UK, the American pronunciation of "Route" is spelled "Rout", and means to totally defeat an enemy.
And spelled is often spelled spelt
But is spelled instead of spelt going against the grain? 😇
@@crocsmart5115 Haha .. are you here all week ?
@@reluctantheist5224Spelled is spelt spelled, but spelt is spelled spelt.
Rout also means to gouge or grind out excess material, for instance when you are making timber mouldings.
When I was in primary school, "break" was still being called "playtime". Which was happening, obviously, in the "playground".
The love in Natashas eyes at 58 seconds was a joy to behold ❤
I'm British and I've never heard a Ball Pit called anything other than a 'Ball Pit' in my life. Certainly not 'Ball Pool'.
We do use the term 'yard' for an open area next to a house, but it specifically means a _hard-paved_ area: grass & flowers is a 'garden'.
A 'camper van' is self-powered. A 'caravan' is towed behind another vehicle.
We say 'Merry Christmas' just as often as we say 'Happy Christmas': this is kind of a non-distinction.
We also use 'flasher' or 'winker' as less formal alternatives to 'indicator' for what you call a 'turn signal'.
Blondie were decent enough and Debbie Harry was quite the pin-up in her day, but Pink Floyd are just on a whole other level.
Congrats on 20 years you two! 👍
Motor caravan is another UK name for campervan/RV.
Blondie had chart hits in the UK before they did in the USA.
I'm British and I say ball pool. Never heard anyone call indicators flashers or winkers either.
@@trickygoose2 I am 14 and I love blondie she is my fav
I'm sixty. Debbie Harry was the cause of many "interesting" dreams in my youth. Blondie were classic pop punk for me, way better than "decent enough". I'm in total agreement with you on Pink Floyd.
Same hear with ball-pit. I say both Happy and Merry Christmas - but always Merry if I'm going to follow it up with "... and a Happy New Year."
“Merry Christmas” is our family’s way of saying the traditional greeting
So many Brits say Merry Christmas and not Happy Christmas! I’ve always said Merry 😂. Congrats on 20 years together 👏🏼🎉🍾🥂💚🧡
We would call the vehicle at 9:50 a motorhome. A camper van is a smaller vehicle.
Natasha digging around in the recesses of her memory for the word indicator was priceless! So many epic faces pulled 😁 thanks as ever to the two hardest working, loveliest people on the internet- can't wait until 8:00 on the 19th to see you two celebrate your 20th anniversary 🎉
*Merry* Xmas and a *Happy* New year. Never Happy Xmas! And the P45 is the official form you need to sign-on for benefits after you lose your job. And although he didn't ask, you were right, it's a wing mirror.
Brackets is an interesting one. We call all of these: (),{},,[] brackets. We differentiate by adding a descriptor: curly-brackets, angle-brackets or square-brackets, but mostly it's just brackets. I got a lot of flack from US reviewers for a book I wrote where I called parentheses and braces brackets! One even accused me of being illiterate!
Even HM the Queen used to end her Christmas Day speech with Happy Christmas. Find one on here and skip to the end. I sure the King probably did last year. Anyway, merry Halloween and a happy Christmas to you.
@@andyt8216 A dressing gown could also be called a housecoat.
I'm 75 and lived all over the UK and never heard anyone say happy christmas it has always been Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Merry Christmas is found in lots of our classic literature. I grew up saying that, I am flabbergasted by the idea that we don't say it. I am very traditional too, and have a good understanding of the differences between dialects of English from all over the world. I am rarely surprised.
I don't know why, but I usually associate "merry" with some level of intoxication. like rosy-cheeks intoxication. Now I'm wondering if I've got it wrong, or if this implication is related.
@@shaunmoneil I think we can trace that back to the temperance movement. Merry doesn't necessarily equate to intoxicated but "eat, drink and be merry" could be interpreted as the drink makes you merry. Merriment is also associated with other high days and holidays especially the first of May, where no suggestion of alcohol is present. I think a certain dour sort of Christian started to rail against merriment as interpreted as synonymous with drunkenness, but no such association was originally present.
My family was quite religious yet nevertheless did not equate merriment with drink.
This sort of confusion may originated with the English tendency to euphemize. To cover embarrassment with a euphemism such as switching out drunk for a word that does not mean the same but can be coloured by association. Your aunt is drunk, no she's just a bit merry. Then merry starts to mean tipsy, where it never did previously. Then it hardens into meaning blind drunk. But the original meaning is still known and used by others.
Queer is another word that's gone on a fabulous journey and had two different modern meanings, the original now fading somewhat.
@@shaunmoneil Yeah, "merry" used to just mean happy or joyous, but over time got used as euphemism for "tiddly" (slightly inebriated) - as opposed to "pissed" or "plastered" (extremely inebriated). So it can mean either thing, depending on context. (And at Christmas, people are often merry in both senses! =:o} )
@@shaunmoneil me too, 1 floor below drunk.. I say Happy Christmas always have.. save the Happy New Year for week after Christmas
I only saw this after having made a comment myself. As far as I'm concerned, it was always "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year".
I always find things like the different words so so interesting! Thanks so much for sharing that.
Hey! Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it! ❤️
I am 73 tears old born and lived all my life in England and I cannot ever recall anyone saying Happy Christmas. Everyone I know says Merry Christmas, but then I'm not in or from the London or south east which has it's own version of the English language.
I am also 73. My maternal grandparents were Londoners (Grandad talked like a proper Cockney) and they never said "Happy Christmas". It was always "Merry Christmas".
53 year old here that has never said or heard anyone in London or the South East say anything other than "Merry Christmas". Love to know why when "non Southerners" hear something they don't like they decide to denigrate London.
We say 'Merry Christmas' often. We need 'Happy' for 'New Year'.
We have bath robes as well as dressing-gowns.
I think Blondie were a much bigger deal in the UK than the states, they had huge success here and were signed to a British label. That's the first time I've ever heard the term year 13 used, when I was in school in the 80's A-Level students during the last two years of high school were called sixth formers, lower or upper depending if you were first or second year sixth formers, to me first school type experience was nursery, then first proper school at 4/5-7 was Infants, 7-11 was Juniors, 11-16 was High School, 16-17 was Lower Sixth Form and 17-18 was Upper Sixth Form.
The change was with the introduction of the National Curriculum, which stipulates Early Years (Nursery and Reception), Key Stage 1 (Year 1 & 2) Key stage 2 (Years 3-6) Key stage 3 (Year 7-9) and Key Stage 4 (Years 10 and 11). Schools still refer to their 'Sixth Form' but the Years are officially Years 12 and 13.
It’s always been “merry Christmas and a happy new year” in my 50 odd years!
The rotisserie chicken is a bit of a strange one; I call a chicken that has been roasted in-store at a supermarket, often purchased hot, a rotisserie chicken (because they are usually cooked on a rotisserie) - almost all other circumstances I call it roast chicken because a rotisserie is not involved! I also think there are regional differences for some of these, because I have always called it a 'ball pool', whereas many in the comments seem to call it a 'ball pit'.
Just to clarify, a P45 is actually a tax form that the employer you've just left gives you so that your next employer knows how much money you've already earnt that tax year. This is so that you end up paying the correct amount of tax at the end of that tax year. You'll get one regardless of the reasons for leaving a job - not necessary because you've been sacked (fired).
We used to say Janitor or "Jannie" in Scotland
From the Latin for doorman which is from the Greek, Janus the two faced god of doors, as in January moving from one year to the next
Thanks. Your shows are always uplifting.
I'm really quite surprised that here in Australia we borrow a lot more from American English than I thought even if we're culturally closer to the UK. Learn something new every video. "Root" pronunciation means something very different here though!
Like we put a rubber in a childrens pencil case LOL
I believe standard use in the UK is that a router pronounced "rooter" is something that routes (e.g. sends packets of data to the correct destination) whereas a router pronounced "rauter" is something that routs ("a machine with a revolving vertical spindle and cutter for milling out the surface of wood or metal").
@@robertfitzjohn4755 Just what I was going to say.
In that case, your words are weird too!
At least you drive on the proper side of the road though! 😊😂
I'm a Brit and I say " Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, Not Happy Christmas. so not all Brits say Happy Christmas
With you on this one! Never heard anyone say ‘Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year’.
I am almost 70yrs old and have never said Happy Christmas, I always say Merry Christmas.
On Christmas cards we usually put "Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year"
When my daughter was around 3 years old we used to go to a farm that ad a barn play area with forts and tunnels and climbing structures made of straw bales. there was also a ball pool made of straw bales but it was lined with hessian sacking material. One time we took my parents along and she asked my dad to take her "to the farmer's ball sack"
🤣
I thought 55 sounded like a lot but it zoomed by really quickly. Thanks for a fun start to the day.
That was so much fun, I thought you both did very well! As a New Zealander, I found it particularly intresting that I seem to use half American and half British terminology. I must be a very confused kiwi! 🤔🤣😂 Thanks for being you! ❤
Fantastic RUclips episode ladies. Really enjoyed that.
I smiled when the US word for Hippie was Crunchy...we have a chocolate bar named Crunchie and I couldn't get the vision out of my head of a load of Hippies floating around eating Crunchie Bars. 😃😃
Love those Crunchies (Sugar addict)
I am British and i have always said merry Christmas, when writing Christmas cards i have always wrote.. have a merry Christmas and a happy new year.
I only recently discovered Americans call aeroplanes 'airplanes' - I thought that was a deliberate misspelling for the comedy film 'Airplane!' as opposed to being a real word. Even the Bangles (or Prince) use the word 'aeroplane' in the song 'Manic Monday' (and Prince even says 'telly' instead of television or TV in 'Sign 'O' The Times').
I didn't realise people say aeroplanes ever since maybe the 80s lol! It's similar to how bicycles get referred with bikes/pushbikes.
As a Brit it gets my goat when people say happy Christmas, because happy is reserved for new year! It’s merry
The P45 is an important document in the UK which you will always get when you leave a job, either by being fired or voluntary to more onto a new Job. Because we pay our taxes through deductions on our wages (called PAYE or Pay-As-You-Earn), this shows what you have earned and what tax you have paid in the current tax year as well as the Tax Code (this is which is used to show what you can earn before you pay tax) which your new employer will need so they can calculate the correct amount of tax to be deducted from your wages when they start paying you. Also while saying that you've been made redundant is generally used it's not actually correct. HR and Unions would say it's the Job that's redundant, not the person.
I say merry Christmas for the exact reason you said, it was happy Christmas for me growing up
Interesting that in The Simpsons (American show) the Scottish guy who looks after the school is known as Caretaker Willy, not Janitor Willy.
The old joke in England use to be the only person that said Happy Christmas was the Queen. We always say Merry Christmas.
A camper van and caravan are different.
A caravan is pulled along by another vehicle (usually a car) a camper van is a self contained vehicle that has both its own propulsion and living area.
Both serve the same end goal, but are different.
Edit:
Most people don't say Happy Christmas in my experience, some do, but the vast majority say Merry Christmas and a Happy new year
It's even in a Christmas Carol that goes back at least 200 years and is most likely even older.
A p45 is an official document that is a copy of one that is given to the government to indicate to them that you're unemployed. You hand it in the DWP (department for work and pensions) to start the process of claiming JSA/UC (job seekers allowance/universal credit) it has other uses but that's usually what it's for
In the Queen’s speech, I just looked at 2019, at the end she says “I wish you all a Happy Christmas”.
We don't all speak like the queen.
I’ve seen old USA films (movies) in which the word ‘route’ is pronounced much as we Brits do.
On the other hand the word ‘rout’ (meaning to defeat an enemy/opponent) is pronounced the way Americans pronounce ‘route’.
A pleasure to watch this video
Noooo!! 😆😉
If there was ever a British quiz in an American bar you two would ace it xx
Not so sure...then again, probably 😉
@@TheNatashaDebbieShow I hope when your over you get to experience a proper pub quiz xx
@@TheNatashaDebbieShowyou did incredibly well girls x
To clarify a camper or camper van is a van converted for use. The next level up is where the body has been specially built from the chassis up and is called a motorhome. A caravan is towed and used predominantly for holidays although some people use them to live in. We have larger ones which are kept on a site long term and are almost never moved but have wheels, these are called mobile homes.
I think there’s a lot of overlap on some of these and some regional variations in both countries, but the one that I got unreasonably annoyed by was the Christmas greeting. Brits absolutely do say “Merry Christmas” to each other, particularly when we’re going on to add “and a happy New Year”. Try it the other way round:
“Happy Christmas and a merry New Year.”
It looks weird if you put it that way round in a Christmas card, and it sounds weirder if you say it aloud. We say “happy Christmas” a lot but I don’t think anyone would even notice if you say merry instead.
I would say " Happy Christmas and New Year"
I would shake the persons hand on Christmas Day & wish them a happy Christmas.
Ps on a Christmas card I would write merry though so it depends on the context
As a 67 year old Englishman it's always been 'Merry Christmas'.....'Happy' is for 'New Year': 'Happy new year' lol.
Debbie's "juice carton" accent was brilliant!
Indicators on the back of the wing mirrors is more often on newer (cars). On old bangers, like mine, they're set near the headlights (at the front) and near the brake lights (rear).
Australia pretty much follows the English with all these examples, when we're not using slang that is. 😊
We say, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Girls. Some of these are a bit out, at least in my memory, & may have changed over time.
Pickles in the UK are more than just gherkins. Jelly in triffle is yummy. A back yard is a small enclosed area behind Victorian street houses. A garden has lawns, flower beds etc. Janitor from Latin, door keeper. A gym is just a gym. All gyms don't have other facilities, only an exercise room. Baggage is not British.
A camper has an engine. A caravan has to be towed.
A budgie is smaller than a parakeet, sort of sparrow sized. They used to be very popular household pets. You drink the juice, not the box or carton. A large liquid holder is a carboy. A box in the UK is for dry goods, not liquids. An exam is more serious than a mere test. A Proctor is a city official in Scotland. Universities in Britain contain several colleges. Rounders is the origin of baseball. In the UK we say Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. Holidays are when you go away somewhere for leisure etc. Some say blinker instead. Some are known as Main street in the UK. A show is an individual thing. Programmes are more regular. AnAEsthatist has a dipthong! A P45 is a real tax document. Being fired is not always redundancy. CV is course of life in Latin.
Spot on
For the record we never say "happy christmas."
Everyone says merry christmas, thankfully
You did so well at this. Merry often means drunk over here. My mother always said saying merry Christmas suggested people would be drunk.
We have bath robes, which are put on after a bath of shower and are made of towelling. However, we also have dressing gowns which we put over our nigh clothes when getting ready for bed or when we first wake up prior to a bath or shower. They are not usually absorbent and are often made of silky materials.
Hello from Australia 🇦🇺 my gorgeous girls , can't wait for this to start ❤❤
Younger people say Happy Christmas and older people say Merry Christmas. People in the middle of the two interchange Happy Christmas and Merry Christmas depending on how they feel.
You two are such fun to join in and learn American with 😂❤
Many! If not most, Brits say Merry Christmas too, and Happy New Year.
It might be worth noting that many British words are derived directly from French. Hence Router is pronounced "Rooter" because that is how the French pronounce it. I have never said "Happy Christmas!" in my life. I've always been merry.
Merry Christmas for me too and a happy new year. Another French word is garage and the Americans pronounce it correctly, I say it the French way.
Yes, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Always 'Merry Christmas' and 'Happy New Year' in the UK
When I was nursing, what's now known as Intensive Care was known as ITU. Intensive Therapist Unit.
It’s Blondie for me . Congratulations on your 20th anniversary.enjoy your trip ❤. Now this episode was fun . I learned some American words and it was funny watching you trying to remember the English words you knew but couldn’t remember. More like this would be good 👍
Here in the UK we do actually say Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Technically, you got 34 right, although not in the common vernacular. My first job title was "replenishment assistant", and I'm pretty sure the job description used the phrase "replenish shelves".
As for juniors and seniors, we also have them (language varies between regions/schools). To me, juniors are 7-11 years old (UK years 4-6) and seniors are 11-16 years old (UK years 7-11). Don't ask me what we might call those at middle school, I never went to one.
Router: I've been trying to ween myself off the American pronunciation for 25 years thanks to 90s cable TV tech shows - I think I say it the British way about 98% of the time now.
One type of vehicle in the UK might have blinkers: horses.
Given the faux outrage I'd probably go with Happy Christmas these days. Those that get upset only seem to appear on the TV and radio, so I've not had a chance to use my faux inebriated retort yet: "Merry Yuletide! Those Christians banned Christmas and their soldiers seized all the food, but we kept our alcohol! Merry, merry, merry! Down with Scrooge McCromwell! God Save The King!"
I'm 71 years old and have only ever known it as Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year...
A vehicle similar to the American RV is a camper van,
A caravan is the luxury trailer that is towed behind a vehicle,
🇬🇧😎👍🏼
Camper van is sometimes known as s motor caravan (or it used to be), so Natasha wasn't wrong.
@@philfenn3991 , which was otherwise known as Motorhomes in the UK,
🇬🇧😎👍🏼
A Caravan is like a Camper Van but:
A Caravan is a separate vehicle towed behind a car.
A Camper van an integrated vehicle,not towed behind a car,but complete in itself.
P45 is just a tax form you receive when leaving an employment, irrespective of how that job is terminated. It details your earnings to date, tax paid, current tax code, etc., so that your next employer knows how much tax to take from your wages.
I always say Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
17-18 yer old school students are in the Sixth Form. I don't think we say Year13.
I think more people in the UK say "Merry Christmas", and "Happy New Year". Most Xmas cards have the standard printed greeting on the inside - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
A router (roo-ter) for connecting to the internet, the way you say it, is how we pronounce the name of a wood working tool.
A p45 isn’t for when you’re fired, it is given when everyone leaves a job. It is purely for tax purposes to inform you’re next employer what your tax code is and dictates how much tax your new employer takes from you each month. It has nothing to do with being sacked (fired). There’s a new one for you. 😄😄
A bathrobe (or towelling robe) are used after a bath or shower to keep you warm and help you dry off. A dressing gown was used by women to keep warm when they were in their underwear (small clothes?) and waiting for the maids to sort out the bustles, petticoats, chemisettes etc. We also have a house coat which is similar but is worn over your clothes to keep warm indoors. My mum always uses house coat for all of these and I think most people only use one name rather than differentiating between them.
I’m definitely using Cold Kettle from now on. My American ex decided that the British name for a car wash must be bubble scrub so that stuck as the term for years, I still think that when I see them now 😂
The computer device we would call a “rooter” (because it routes the signals) but there is also a woodworking power tool we would probably call a “rowter” (because it routs out the wood) even though they have the same spelling.
Like the printed T shirts 👍.
Pink Floyd = Another Brick in the Wall.
Blondie = Heart of Glass.
🇬🇧
3 is a Hub. A router is a power tool for cutting slots in wood.
You guys compliment each other so well ❤ I dare you to try Glaswegian 😂😂
*complement
... or Geordie? 😀
I don’t think there’s a great difference between Geordie & Glaswegians I can understand Geordies nae bother .
@@Parker_Douglas My friend's father was a mix of Geordie and Glesga. No-one could understand him at all. 🤣
''We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!'' is how the song goes so people I know have always said merry Christmas. Happy Christmas sounds wrong to me!
One of the differences I notice in American english v English english is the American lack of adverbs. In American you do it DIFFERENT, we do it DIFFERENTLY. You play NICE, we play NICELY. You talk LOUD we talk LOUDLY. In British english verbs are described by adverbs which often (but not exclusively) end in LY. Americans seem to have no concept of the adverb. I notice it on your news channels too. Spanish use adverbs too - they often end in MENTE.
Absolutamente.
Thank you for bringing that up. It's absolutely a pet hate of mine grrr
I'm British, 64 yrs old and have never heard anybody in the UK say Happy Christmas
Congratulations to my TWO FAVOURITE Americans.
20 years that's a credit to you both.
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Andy
UK 🇬🇧
You’re right about ADHD Natasha. The vast majority of comedians I know have ADHD
We do have school janitors in Scotland, though. Most people in the UK would say Merry Christmas. Dressing gowns are different from bathrobes, we do have bathrobes but they are made of towelling and used specifically after bathing/showering. It can be intensive care here or ICU.