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American and British Vocabularies

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yall
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 Message 49 of 76
31 August 2008 at 10:57pm | IP Logged 
Aritaurus wrote:
hmm , here's some other ones I know of

Primary school (UK), Elementary school (CAN) , Grade school (US)
Secondary school (UK and often used in Canada) , High school (US)


I personally use all of these words, and I believe other Americans do as well. In the first case, the sign in front of the school would read "Elementary." The one I went to was "Lakeview Elementary." I do use the other two though.

"Secondary school" is also used here in addition to "high school." The latter is less formal. The association that governs high school sports in my state is called the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association. However, in conversation, no one would ever ask you where you went to secondary school.
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ymapazagain
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 Message 50 of 76
01 September 2008 at 5:13am | IP Logged 
I haven't read the entire thread so I appologise if this has been brought up already...

When reading through the original list I was thinking of which words we use in Australia. In general it's a mix of the british and american words, but we do have a few additions...

BRITISH        AMERICAN        AUSTRALIAN

aubergine,      egg-plant
bisuit,        cookie
chips,           French fries
cooker,        stove         & nbsp;  Oven
crisps,        chips
jug,         &n bsp;  pitcher
mince,           hamburger meat
maize,           corn
sweets,        candy         & nbsp;  lollies
tin,         &n bsp;  can
aeroplane,      airplane
boot,         & nbsp; trunk
filling station, gas station     petrol station
lorry,           truck
petrol,        gas
autumn,        fall
braces,        suspenders
dressing-gown, bathrobe
trousers,       pants
chemist's,      drugstore
dustbin,        garbage (can)    Rubbish bin
dustman,        garbage man
film,         & nbsp; movie
flat,         & nbsp;apartment
lift,         & nbsp; elevator
post,         & nbsp; mail
prison,        jail/penitentiary
toilets,        restrooms
rubber,        eraser
shop assistant, sales-clerk

I do notice, as an Australian living in London, that there are quite a few differences with food.

The british say Pepper where the Australians say Capsicum, and the British say Courgette where the Australians say Zucchini.

A lolly in Britain is an icey-pole in Australia. And a lolly-pop in Australia is (I believe) a sucker (am I right?) in America.



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ymapazagain
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 Message 51 of 76
01 September 2008 at 5:14am | IP Logged 
Appologies for the terrible formatting of that post....not sure why that happened, I hope you can still get the gist!
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Volte
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 Message 52 of 76
01 September 2008 at 6:07am | IP Logged 
Wow, what do you mean by 'oven'?

To me (Canadian English), a "stove" is what you cook food on, in pots and pans, and an "oven" is what you bake food in, like pies and cakes. What do you call these two pieces of equipment?


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raeve
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 Message 53 of 76
01 September 2008 at 7:50am | IP Logged 
I had to learn British English in school here in Germany, however due to my American roots (which are actually of German roots), I always preferred American English. Occasionally got me into trouble with my teachers.

I know most of the British words either from school or from TV, but I always use the American ones. British English is strange to me :P

What I also notice quite often is that BE more often uses "Have you got...?", where AE mostly uses "Do you have...?". Is that true and how are your experiences with that?

Edited by raeve on 01 September 2008 at 7:51am

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Volte
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 Message 54 of 76
01 September 2008 at 8:18am | IP Logged 
raeve wrote:

What I also notice quite often is that BE more often uses "Have you got...?", where AE mostly uses "Do you have...?". Is that true and how are your experiences with that?


I definitely follow the AE use on that one.

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Ichiro
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 Message 55 of 76
01 September 2008 at 8:49am | IP Logged 
For me (British) "Have you got...?" and "Do you have...?" are both perfectly natural, but "Do you have...?" is just a shade more formal. There's not much in it though - properly formal would be "Would you have...?" or some other special politeness form.

We can definitely differ in the negative, though. Long ago I remember watching the Quicky Koala show on TV. It was an American cartoon about a very fast Koala. According to the theme song -

     First you got him
     Then you don't
     It's the Quicky Koala show

I'd never think of saying anything like "You don't got him" or "You don't got it".

One US form I've heard from someone who lived over on the East Coast was the use of 'went' as the past participle of 'to go', eg 'I had went' or 'he had went'. I don't think it was a written form for him, but it was his standard spoken form.

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zenmonkey
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 Message 56 of 76
01 September 2008 at 9:42am | IP Logged 
Volte wrote:
I use coriander and cilantro interchangeably, barely leaning towards the latter.


Arggh!! ;)

Coriander and Cilantro are not the same thing.

Coriander -- dry seed
Cilantro -- fresh herb or Chinese Parsley

a little word play... from here: http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Coriandrum.html

BENGALI : Dhane, Dhania, Dhoney.
BURMESE :   Nan nan bin (leaves), Nan nan zee (fruits / seeds).
CHINESE : Hu sui, Xiang sui, Yan sui (wan swee).
CROATIAN : Korijander.
CZECH : Koriandr.
DANISH : Koriander.
DUTCH : Koriander.
ENGLISH : Chinese-parsley (leaves), Cilantro (leaves), Coriander (fruits / seeds).
FINNISH : Korianteri.
FRENCH : Coriandre (fruits / seeds), Persil arabe (leaves), Grain de coriandre (fruits / seeds), Graine de coriandre (seeds for sowing).
GERMAN : Böbberli (Switzerland), Chinesische Petersilie (leaves), Chrapfechörnli (Switzerland), Indische Petersilie (leaves), Koriander (fruits / seeds), Rügelikümmi (Switzerland), Wanzenkümmel (fruits / seeds), Korianderfrucht, Schwindelkorn, Wanzendill.
GREEK : Koriannon, Korion.
GUJARATI : Kothmiri, Konphir, Libdhane.
HEBREW : Kuzbara.
HINDI :   Dhaniyaa (Dhania, Dhanya, Dhaanya), Dhania saabut (whole seeds), Dhaanyakam, Haraa dhania (leaves).
HUNGARIAN : Coriander.
ITALIAN : Coriandolo, Coriandro, Seme di coriandolo.
JAPANESE : Koendoro, Koyendoro.
KANNADA : Havija, Kambari, Kottambari, Kothambari, Kothambri, Kothmiri bija.
KASHMIRI : Daaniwal, Kothambalari.

etc...



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