British and American English can be quite different. Don't forget if you
haven't already subscribed, you might want to! Today is just the first of many
lessons looking at the differences between British and American English and...
there are quite a few! Pronunciation of course, spelling and even grammar! Today
we'll be focusing on a vocabulary the differences between British and American
vocabulary. 20 words. Megan Markle, if you're looking to broaden your
vocabulary and speak more British English, this lesson could be useful for you!
So today, do you have any idea where I am? Well I'm in London but I have actually
come to a very royal palace! Behind me you can see Kensington Palace. This is in
fact the royal residence of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge,
along with their two children, soon to be three! Now, Kensington Palace has been
home to many of the Royals including of course Queen Victoria, who was in fact
born and grew up here.It was also home to the late Princess Diana. However, a
soon-to-be new royal has recently moved into Kensington Palace but she's not
English. She is in fact American! Prince Harry and Megan Markle are set to marry
this year in 2018, and for Megan Markle there will be many adjustments to make.
Not only a living as a princess in a palace but in fact she'll be learning
many new words in English. Here we go the 20 words that are
different in British and American English!
Okay,number one, autumn. in British English we say autumn meaning at the
season after some up but before winter in American English they actually say
fall now this kind of makes sense as the fall as opposed would be when the leaves
are falling down from the trees that's the season so we have autumn and fall
number two in British English we say biscuit careful of that pronunciation
biscuit but in American English they say cookie cookies now in British English a
cookie is only a biscuit with chocolate chips in it's a very particular kind of
biscuit so biscuit and cookie now number three is an area that might confuse
Megan Merkel because we have the same words in English but they mean different
things so crisps crisps in English but in
American potato chips potato chips now that can get quite confusing because of
course in British English we say chips fish and chips but in American English
they would say french fries now we do say fries in British English but only
really when we're referring to those skinny thin chips that you would get at
McDonald's normally we would say chips so crisps another difficult
pronunciation crisps potato chips chips and french fries now this could be an
embarrassing mistake to make with British and American vocabulary in
British English we say trousers trousers but in American English they say pence
now we also say pants in British English however it actually means underwear for
men so if you say somebody I just need to buy a pair of pants in British
English you mean that you need to buy underwear if you say this in American
English it means trousers so a confusing one in British English we
say handbag handbag but in American English they will call this a purse now
the problem with this of course is that we also have the word purse in British
English but it means somewhere that you keep your credit cards and your money
for a woman for a man it's a wallet for a woman it's a purse so a purse it's
somewhere you keep your money but the purse in American English would be a
handbag that's another confusing one bit like crisps and chips okay number six a
frequently used word in both countries holiday British English holiday American
English vacation so Meghan Merkel would ask Prince Harry to go on vacation but
the Duchess of Cambridge would ask Prince William to go on holiday there's
a lot of words that are going to be flying around the royal household right
number seven in British English we would say lift but in American English they
would say elevator elevator now this is a word that I'm sure will be used in
Kensington Palace nappy nappy so what a baby it would wear so they don't make a
mess so with the Duchess of Cambridge having a new baby in I think April or
May they'll be saying nappy so that's British English in American English they
say diaper diaper now number nine this could get confusing but it's not too bad
in British English the area that you walk on next to a road is called the
pavement pavement but in American English and this does make a lot of
sense it's called sidewalk sidewalk to the
side of the road where you walk that does make a lot of sense but in British
English we wouldn't say this we would say pavement so number ten where any
halfway there number ten is one that often I realize when students use this
word I realize that they have actually learned American English rather than
British English shopping centre shopping centre in British English
but more MORE in American English so an area where there are many shops inside
now number 11 I wonder if the Duchess of Cambridge often asks Prince William to
take out the rubbish no doubt they have somebody to do that job for them so
rubbish in British English or litter the rubbish that you have on the streets but
in American English what do they say garbage
so Megan Merkel will be asking Prince Harry to take out the garbage
not the rubbish they also say trash in American English
garbage is considers to be the refuse so the waste from the kitchen or the
bathroom but trash is just in general now with lots of children running around
the palace I'm sure they'll be asking for sweets so that's Prince George and
Princess Charlotte will be asking for sweets
from their mother or father but should Prince Harry and Megan Merkel have
children will they be asking for sweets or the American word candy candy so
British English sweets American English candy now I'm not sure how much driving
she'll be doing while she's here but in the UK we say motorway motorway
however in American English highway highway or I think they say freeway or
expressway I came up with loads of different words in British English they
say motorway okay number 14 I think Prince Harry and Prince William more
fans of rugby than football however football in American English is soccer
soccer and that's kind of one I don't know why that annoys me when people say
soccer rather than football me it's football okay number 15 in England when
we want to tell people where we live and give them a specific address we would
say postcode what's your postcode so in London are lots of different postcodes
SWE something I don't know the post but in American English they don't say
postcode they say zip code not too different we've got code there it is a
code to show you where you live but postcode and zip code now these words
these last words I don't think the Dutch yes or Megan Merkel will be using very
much however I thought I'd tell you guys the slang in British English for one
pound is quid one quid three quid four quid slang but in American English for
dollar for one dollar they say buck buck and this is slang in
formal English so I'm not sure how often Meghan Merkel or the Duchess of
Cambridge will be using this language they're both quite posh now I don't know
that they would need this vocabulary either but in the UK we call it the
underground or the tube the underground or the tube in American English they
would say subway subway now to us Brits we would only say subway if we go into
the sandwich shop and number 18 a word that you guys might need to know CV but
in American English they don't say CV they say resume so when you're applying
for a job you might need to know this word if somebody asks you for your
resume you're probably applying to an American company if they ask for your CV
your beer planes who a British company and again Dutchess and Megan probably
don't need to be looking for a job right now now 19 and 20 my final words useful
tonight if you're watching movies or if you have a car in America in England in
the UK we would say bonnet so the front part of the car where the engine is
underneath the bonnet of the car but in American English they call it the hood
the hood of the car likewise the back over the car where you
would put your shopping bags would be called in British English the boot the
boot but in American English the trunk go figure we've got a lot of different
words in British and American English so I hope those
we'll be useful for you if you've been learning American English or you've been
learning British and you want to understand the differences make sure
that you subscribe to follow our course of American and British English looking
at the pronunciation the grammar differences and you know what the
Spelling's difference sometimes in American English thank you so much for
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you