Hello. I'm Gill at engVid, and today we have a lesson on vocabulary and some of the differences
between American words and British words. Or... Well, it's confusing, isn't it? If I
say English words, they speak English in America as well, so I have to say "British" or "UK".
There are different names, but the differences in some of the vocabulary... I have some examples
here on the board. And just to clarify that I myself am in the UK, I'm British, I'm not
American, so if you wonder what my accent is, I have a British accent or a UK accent.
I don't have an American accent, okay, if you weren't sure. So, here are some typical
differences between the British/UK word for something and the American, and often Canadian
as well, word for the same thing, which I think, you know, people are aware of the differences.
People who are native English speakers mostly do know both words, but they also know which
their preferred one is based on where they're living. Okay. So, I suppose if a UK person
moved to America, they would gradually start using the different word that's used in America,
just... Just to fit in and just to be clear, to avoid confusion.
Okay, so let's have a look and see what we have here. So, "trousers" in the UK are usually
called "pants" in America. So, the trousers that people wear, women as well as men, wearing
trousers, which is... I'm wearing trousers. I'm wearing some denim jeans today, which
you probably can't see, but they are trousers. But in America, they would be called "pants".
And British/UK people think it's quite funny, really, that trousers are called "pants" in
America because we have a different meaning for the word "pants". And in the UK, "pants"
are actually an item of underwear, so it causes a bit of, you know, comedy sometimes to hear
trousers described as "pants" if you're a UK person. So, there we are, "trousers" in
the UK, "pants" in America.
Okay, so next one, we have a couple of things together, here. When we throw things away
in the UK, we throw them into the dustbin, which is a sort of usually a big plastic container
with wheels outside the house. And it's a strange word, really, because "dust" is just
sort of powder, dirt. So, we throw a lot more things into that container than dust, but
for some reason, going back many years, it's always been called a "dustbin". The "bin"
meaning a container, but we throw all sorts of things in the dustbin, and what we throw,
we call it "rubbish". But in America, they call it the "trash" or a "trash can" is the
container, the "trash" is the rubbish, but there's also the word "garbage" in America
as well. So, "rubbish" here in the UK, "garbage" in America, the "dustbin" in the UK, and the
"trash can" in America. Okay.
Right, so then these are very odd because a "boot" is usually what you wear on your
feet, you know, shoes or boots. And then a "trunk", you might think, oh, well, an elephant
has a trunk, but there's another meaning for "trunk" as well. But this pair of words is
actually to do with a part of a car. If you think of the back part of a car where you
lift it up, you open it up, and usually there's some space for storage. For example, if you're
putting some luggage, some suitcases in the back of your car, the storage at the back
if you're going away somewhere or you're taking something to somebody, it's a good place to
store things, and you can lock it with a key if you want to. But we call that the "boot",
which is a strange word to use, really, for the back part of a car. I don't know really
why it's called the "boot", but there we are. So, you put your luggage in the "boot", you
put your suitcases in the "boot", or you may have a spare car tyre in the "boot" just in
case you have a... If your tyre has a problem on a journey, you can change and put a new
tyre on. That might be stored in the "boot" as well. But in America, that part of the
car is called the "trunk". But there's also the meaning of a "trunk" can be a sort of
big container that you keep in the house with a lid that you lift and you store things in
a trunk, but here it's used as the back part of the car. So, the "boot" or the "trunk",
depending on where you are. Okay.
So, and then when you're writing and you come to the end of a sentence, in the UK you put
a full stop. Okay? A dot, but we call that a full stop. But in America, it's called a
period. Okay? So, that's another strange difference. We talk about the word "period", period of
time, a stretch of time, but in America it can also mean a dot at the end of the sentence,
a full stop. Okay.
And then a place where you live. If it's not a house, usually if it's on one level, it's
called a "flat", which is quite logical. It's just flat, no stairs up or down. You may have
to use stairs to get to it if you're on the first floor, second floor, third floor, flat.
You have to get there by stairs, but within the flat itself, it's flat, so there is a
logic to that word. But in America, it's called an "apartment". Okay? "Apartment", I suppose
because you're apart from other people, you're separate from other people. So, okay.
Next one, we... Sometimes these words aren't, you know, one thing in the UK and another
thing in America. Sometimes we use both words. We mostly use the word "holiday" in the UK
when you're not at work or you're not at school, you have a day's holiday, or you go on holiday
somewhere. In America, people tend to use the word "vacation", although I think also
they might use "holiday" or "holidays" in the plural with an "s" on the end, like the
Thanksgiving holidays. So, sometimes it varies a little bit, but generally, "holiday" in
the UK, "vacation" in America. Okay?
And then we eat biscuits in the UK. Sometimes we do call them "cookies", but cookies tend
to be a bit bigger and more sort of chunky, thick, and more expensive, too. I think usually
if they have an unusual name, they tend to be more expensive. It's a bit like if you
buy a "gâteau" rather than a "cake". "Gâteau" is the French word for "cake", and it will
probably cost more than something described as a cake because it sounds more special if
it's in French. So, the same with "biscuit" and "cookie". It may work in reverse in America.
If they buy biscuits, it might sound a bit more traditional English, a bit special. So...
But when we have "cookies" in the UK, they seem more special, so... Because it's the
more unusual word. But generally, "biscuits" in the UK, "cookies" in America.
Okay, so next one. We tend to go to the shop to buy all sorts of things, either food or
clothes, any kind of place where you go to buy something. Charity shop, food shop, clothing
shop, clothes shop. We do have something called a "department store", so we do use the word
"store", but that's usually when it's a big shop with lots of separate sections selling
different things. That's why it's a department store, because they have separate departments.
One for perfume, one for clothes, one for hats, one for furniture, and so on. But the
word "store" in America, I think, tends to be used for ordinary shops as well, although
I think it can vary a little bit according to what part of America you're in. So, you
may find the word "shop" is being used in certain parts of America, perhaps more than
others. But this is a kind of general difference. Mostly we call them "shops". Maybe in America
they mostly call them "stores". Right. And the same applies for "university" and "college".
We tend to call it "university" in this country, in the UK, if people are studying for a degree.
They've been to school, they've got to the age of 18, and then they want to do a degree
from the age of 18 to 21 is the usual kind of age that people will go to university as
an undergraduate and study maybe three years, maybe more, depending on what subject they're
studying. They call it "university". Also, they shorten it to "uni" sometimes. They just
call it "uni". I'm going to uni, but the full word is "university". But in America, perhaps
sometimes it's called "college" rather than "university", but it still involves a degree
course at that certain age of around 18 or 19 for about three years or more.
Okay, and then finally some more food, because we like food. What we call "chips" in the
UK, which is potatoes cut into, you know, sort of like finger shapes, potatoes chopped
up into shapes and fried. Very nice. Are called "chips". Quite a lot of different things are
called "chips", but that's one of them. You know, you can have electronic chips as well,
but that's a different thing. So, chips that you eat made from chopped up potatoes which
have been fried. But in America, they're called "fries", again because they're fried, so they
are "fries", but they're potatoes cut up and fried, called "fries". Okay.
So, there we are. I hope that's been a useful lesson for you to teach perhaps some new vocabulary,
as well as to maybe clarify the difference between UK and America, Canada. So, there
will be a quiz on this one, so if you'd like to test your knowledge, go to the website,
www.engvid.com, and find the quiz and see how you do. And leave a comment in there as
well if you'd like to. And so, see you again next time. Bye for now.