Winston Churchill once referred to England and America as "two countries, separated by a common language". I have no idea of the context in which these words were spoken, but it is a phrase that has often come to mind since I fell in love with an American. Because we speak the same language, we tend to assume that we also use the language the same way, but it is amazing how many differences there are. The same can be said of the culture, but for this posting, I'm going to concentrate on language, and save the culture for another time. Having studied Linguistics, these differences are particularly fascinating to me, and I hope that you find them interesting, and perhaps entertaining too.
A visitor on holiday (vacation) probably wouldn't notice too many examples, but during the course of daily life, they become more noticeable. Many of the differences are subtle, and are easily understood, for example, in England I would go to the shop, whereas here, I go to the store. When I get there, however, the names for things are often quite different. If I need something for a mild headache, in England I might go to the pharmacy and ask for some paracetamol, or if I wanted a well-known brand I might ask for Panadol. Here, I would ask for Tylenol, or acetaminophen. Grocery shopping, using a cart instead of a trolley, currently takes me twice as long as I'm used to, due to the differences in brands, and names of items. A favourite vegetable of mine (and Todd's too now) is swede, which is known here as rutabaga, and courgettes are known as zucchini. While these differences occasionally take some remembering, it is not nearly so confusing as when the same word is used, but has a completely different meaning.
A phrase not common in England is "à la mode", but if it is used, then it would likely refer to being fashionable. In America, you see it on dessert menus, and it means it is served with ice cream. When I first heard someone say they wanted "Apple pie à la mode"... well you can possibly imagine my confusion! And on the subject of menus, to me, an entrée would perhaps be a starter, but here, it is a term used to refer to the main course. A starter is known as an appetizer. I can happily read a menu in 5 European languages (not including English), but it seems I need an interpreter for American ones. I still don't know what a London broil is!
One example that caused some amusement was the definitions of braces and suspenders - while people on both sides of the Atlantic might wear braces on their teeth, British men sometimes wear braces to hold up their trousers, or pants, whereas an American would wear suspenders for that purpose. Suspenders in the UK are more commonly worn by women... to hold up stockings. Another one of my favourites is the word garnish - in the UK, it is used exclusively to mean a savoury decoration on food, but in the US, it means what we in England would refer to as an attachment of earnings. Mostly, any confusion is easily cleared up without any offense, but that isn't always the case.
In England, the term Asian refers almost exclusively to people from the Indian subcontinent, or someone whose family originated there, while those who are from East Asia are often referred to as Oriental. In America, however, the term Oriental is considered to be impolite, even pejorative, and so people of East Asian heritage are generally known as Asian, and those from the Indian subcontinent are simply Indian. One that could be quite embarrassing, is the term "rubber". If you're English, and you ask for a rubber over here, you'll probably get more than you bargained for... what you want, is an eraser, but what you'll get is a condom!
Well, there are many more words that I could go on about, but that's probably enough for now. What to blog about next time? Watch this space!
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