American English

skirting board = Foot board
fried egg = over easy
Tyres = tire
dual carriageway = Freeway
Fairy Cake = Cup Cake
Crisps = chips
chips = french fries
Take-away = Take out
Windscreen = Windshield


way to many to list...
 
Quite interesting. According to wiki:

Wikipedia said:
A number of words and meanings that originated in Middle English or Early Modern English and that always have been in everyday use in the United States dropped out in most varieties of British English; some of these have cognates in Lowland Scots. Terms such as fall ("autumn"), pavement (to mean "road surface", where in Britain, as in Philadelphia, it is the equivalent of "sidewalk"), faucet, diaper, candy, skillet, eyeglasses, crib (for a baby), obligate, and raise a child are often regarded as Americanisms. Gotten (past participle of get) is often considered to be an Americanism, although there are some areas of Britain, such as Lancashire and North-eastern England, that still continue to use it and sometimes also use putten as the past participle for put (which is not done by most speakers of American English).
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It could be argued that American English is in some ways less bastardised than British English. Personally the differences don't bother me in the slightest. Language evolves (otherwise we would still be going to Ye Olde Overclock Shoppe - hmm not a bad idea!) and as long as the message is understandable I don't see the problem. Fight the grammar nazis!
 
As someone that has to teach American English, these are the three that annoy me the most and I don't think any of them have been mentioned yet:

Soccer --> Football
Z (Zeeee) --> Z (Zed)
Tomato (Tomate-ow) --> Tomato
 
Gerard said:
"I could care less" GOD DAMNIT its Couldn't care less. :mad:
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This. It makes me want to jam pointy objects down people's throats when I hear people say "I could care less" in a blatantly non-caring situation. Although now that I think about it, it's kind of funny that the mistake comes from the fact that they're trying to display their ignorance, whilst also being ignorant about the phrase they're using. :)
 
Le_Petit_Lapin said:
First Floor = Ground Floor.

Not really what you're after....I hate the American way of pronouncing aluminium, and leisure!
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Our uni has now adopted that all ground floors are called the first floor and so on. Bit weird and annoying. Still, it makes the 10k students at home I guess.
 
OT but i got confused when i had to install Steam on my daughters laptop yesterday. On the language selection screen it has an american flag next to "English" :confused: :(
 
Lightnix said:
This. It makes me want to jam pointy objects down people's throats when I hear people say "I could care less" in a blatantly non-caring situation. Although now that I think about it, it's kind of funny that the mistake comes from the fact that they're trying to display their ignorance, whilst also being ignorant about the phrase they're using. :)
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See, this is one thing that doesn't particularly bother me because I tend to think of "I could care less" as being short for "I could care less but I don't" and in that context it makes sense. It could be ignorance and I wouldn't say it myself but I'm trying to give my fellow humans the benefit of the doubt rather than immediately assuming them to be stupid - this might be folly on my part though.
 
Bill = Check
Ironmonger = Hardware store
Rounders = Baseball
Guard = Conductor
Cashier = Teller
Estate car = Station Wagon
 
Fender - Wing
Semi - Articulated lorry
Asphalt - Tarmac
Realtor - Estate Agent
Sidewalk - pavement
Condominium - Apartment or Maisonette
Apartment - Flat
Pants - Trousers

So many more...
 
AJUK said:
There is no such thing as American English, there is correct English (British) and bad English.
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That's just wrong. Anyone who says this simply has a misplaced and outdated sense of national pride and probably wishes America were still part of the Commonwealth.

Remember that lots of the differences between British English and American English actually arose because "we" arbitrarily changed something while in America it remained the same.

Evangelion said:
That's an oxymoron.
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Not really. English is a language, and American English a dialect thereof. What else would you suggest we call it?
 
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Garden - Yard
Wardrobe - Closet
Curtains - Drapes
Bin - Trash
Rubbish - Garbage
Cooker - Range
Sofa - Couch
Caretaker - Janitor
Rubber - Eraser
Break Time - Recess
Carpark - Parking Lot
Crossing - Crosswalk
Estate Car - Station Wagon
Petrol - Gas
Skip - Dumpster
Diversion -Detour
Fly-over - Overpass
Phone Box - Telephone Booth
Caravan - Trailer
Courgette - Zucchini
Sweets - Candy
Crisps - Chips
Chips - Fries
Starter - Appetizer
Ice lolly - Popsicle
Grill - Broil
Take-away - Take out
 
semi-pro waster said:
See, this is one thing that doesn't particularly bother me because I tend to think of "I could care less" as being short for "I could care less but I don't" and in that context it makes sense. It could be ignorance and I wouldn't say it myself but I'm trying to give my fellow humans the benefit of the doubt rather than immediately assuming them to be stupid - this might be folly on my part though.
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I think "I could care less but I don't" still implies a level of caring above what the phrase is meant to convey, in a literal sense at least - for example, "I think the dying of the Dreamcast is a bad thing - really, I could care less but I don't" would imply that the person cares. Then there's "I think the dying of the Dreamcast is a bad thing - really, I couldn't care less."

In fact, adding "but I don't" on the end really just clarifies the ability to care less, and therefore the fact that they care. I guess you could say "I could care less, but not by much," but that seems a lot less cutting than the original.

I guess it's really about how you interpret these things, it'll still bug me either way, though. Really it's just the fact that the phrase 'I couldn't care less' is often used in a context where the speaker is trying to dismiss or undermine whoever they're talking to's point that gets to me about the misuse of that phrase. The fact that somebody has just said they 'couldn't care less' (typically without reason) about a subject that has been brought up is usually irritating enough for those that do care, then the misuse of the phrase just compounds the issue.
 
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