American vs British-English Sayings, Spelling, and Meanings
32 words with different sayings, 10 different spellings, and 2 different spelling rules in America and England.
After being bored at work, I have compiled a list of 32 words that have different sayings in England and America. For some words, they can mean completely different things and for others, they are just spelled differently.
The main difference between American and British English is the pronunciation of the words and the grammatical rules we follow. Why is there a difference? Because of the result of British colonization of the Americans in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
Through this article, the British words are on the left side of the column and the American English words are on the right side:
Nappy vs Diaper
Football vs Soccer
Handbag vs Purse (in England, a purse is completely different from a handbag)
Fizzy vs Pop
Trainers vs Sneakers
University vs College
Flat vs Apartment
Dummy vs Pacifier
Chocolate bar vs Candy bar
Biscuits vs Cookies (in England, cookies and biscuits are completely different!)
Mobile phone vs Cell phone
Jello vs Jello
Underground vs Subway
Cinema vs Movies
Crisps vs Chips (in England, chips are like french fries but much thicker)
Chips vs Fries (French fries are a type of chip, not a chip in itself!)
Petrol vs Gas
Alcohol vs Liqueur
Boot vs Trunk
Rubbish vs Garbage
Chemist vs Drug store
Shop Assistant vs Sales Clerk
Maths vs Math (why remove the S?)
Torch vs Flashlight
Break vs Recces
Sweets vs Candy
Upper school vs High School (although we do tend to say the word high school a lot in England)
Primary School vs Elementary School
Year vs Grade (referring to school years)
Advert vs Commercial
Post vs Mail
Garden vs Yard
Alongside all these different meanings, Americans also have a tendency to spell the following words differently:
Cancelled vs Canceled
Center vs Centre
Tyre vs Tire
Grey vs Gray
Cheque vs Check
Judgement vs Judgment
Moustache vs Mustache
Programme vs Program
Dialogue vs Dialog
Disc vs Disk
America has two grammatical rules that are completely different for US English folk. The first is that they always spell with a ‘Z’ instead of an ‘S’. Take the three following examples:
Apologise vs Apologize
Memorise vs Memorize
Realise vs Realize
The second rule is that the English spell everything with a ‘U’. Take the following three examples:
Colour vs Color
Glamour vs Glamor
Humour vs Humor
Why do these two rules exist? We can blame this on someone called Noah Webster — an American lexicographer in the late 1700s. Unfortunately, he’s dead, so he hasn’t even established why he made these changes. However, here are three words he originally tried to Americanise from English.
Machine = Masheen
Daughter = Dawter
Believe = Beleeve
He doesn't sound like the smartest chap, does he?
Another thing about the big difference between English and American spelling is that I don’t know which one to write in. I’m English, so obviously I’m used to writing English, but as Medium is an American platform with mainly American writers, I want everyone to be as engaged as possible. Sometimes I have to go back over my writing and make sure I haven’t mixed American and English spellings!
English is one of the hardest languages to learn on Earth, and it shows. We have many silly, unnecessary grammatical rules and we only make it harder to learn other languages.
Grammarly did not like this article one bit. I’ve got it in American mode, and I’m unsure how to get it to British-English. Oh well, Grammarly works well for other things!