AMERICAN VS BRITISH ENGLISH
BASIC DIFFERENCES AND INFLUENCES OF CHANGE
Introduction
American English has grown steadily in international significance since World War II, parallel to the
growth of U.S. political, economic, technological and cultural influence worldwide.
American English is currently the dominant influence on "world English" (cf. British English) largely due to
the following:
Population: U.S. vs U.K.
Wealth of the U.S. economy vs. the U.K., & influences
Magnitude of higher education in America vs the U.K.
Magnitude of the publishing industry in America
Magnitude of global mass media and media technology influence
Appeal of American popular culture on language and habits
International political and economic position of the U.S. (cf. Kennedy)
American and British English are both variants of World English.
As such, they are more similar than different, especially with "educated" or "scientific" English.
Most divergence can be ascribed to differing national histories, demographics, and cultural development,
and the way in which national language has thus developed differently in parallel with the differing
national needs.
The following general categories of difference between standard American English (SAE) and standard
British English (SBE) each have their own sociolectic value:
Different Pronunciation, Although Same Spelling
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Controversy, Laboratory, Secretary
Leisure, schedule, dynasty, dance
Renaissance, oregano, migratory, clerk [bank, office], ate
'PC'-influence examples: harass & harassment, Uranus, etc.
Different Spelling, Although Same Pronunciation
Colour — color
Centre — center
Cheque — check (noun form [bank]; verb "to check" the same)
Defence — defense (noun form)
Licence (noun form) — license
Alright — all right
Manoeuvre — maneuver
tyre — tire
Ageing — aging
Whisky (Scotch) — whiskey (U.S. & Ireland)
Gaol — jail
Same Term, Different But Similar Spelling and Pronunciation
Aluminium — aluminum
Polythene — polyethylene
Maths — math (shortening of "mathematics")
Rise — raise (more money in salary, wages)
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Same Words, But Different or Additional Meanings
I married a homely girl.
The opening of our new play was a bomb!
We all had tea and biscuits. (cf. Harry Potter, 'crumpets' vs 'English muffins', etc.)
The corn harvest was exceptional this year.
(cf. US "maize" or "sweetcorn"; GB "any cereal" or "wheat", Scotland "oats", etc.)
We needed a torch for the dark trail. (cf. flashlight, or GB 'electric torch', flaming torch)
IBM made over a billion dollars last year. (cf. "thousand million"; 'changing' GB standards)
The committee tabled the motion (GB: put it on the table).
Nigel and Trevor purchased 7-day Travelcard season tickets.
Ralph needs to write an essay for his university course.
GB 'Trousers' = US 'Pants'
US 'Pants' = GB 'underwear pants'
US 'It was a tremendous storm; my pants got all wet' would in GB refer to 'underwear pants' rather than
'outerwear pants' [trousers]
GB 'Jumper' = US 'Sweater'
US 'Jumper' = GB Pinafore [dress].
GB 'I'm getting warm; I think I'll take off my jumper' would refer in SAE to 'taking off my dress' instead of
'taking off my sweater'
Grammar, Syntax, Punctuation, General Usage
Punctuation
Date writing, number/word order (Never use only numbers!)
Use of commas and periods inside quotation marks
Business letter salutations, colons vs commas
'Honorifics': Mr. or Mrs. or Dr. Smith (U.S.)
vs
Mr or Mrs or Dr Smith (GB), etc.
Grammar
(U.S.) Finnair has a flight to London today.
(G.B.) Finnair have a flight to London today. (large collective nouns)
(U.S.) England has (...) played well today, even if it lost.
(G.B.) England have played well today, even if they lost.
(G.B.) The Government are acting like themselves again.
(G.B.) Have you got your grade in history yet?
(U.S.) Have you gotten your grade in history yet?
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(G.B.) He went on a course. How many were on the course?
(U.S.) He was in a course. How many were in the course?
(G.B.) We lived in the High Street. (cf 'street people' ...)
(U.S.) We lived on Main Street ("on" plus article plus High/Main)
(G.B.) He's in hospital with a broken leg.
(U.S.) He's in the hospital with a broken leg.
(G.B.) I have got a car. vs. (U.S.) I have a car. I got a car. (different implications)
(G.B.) We weren't able to catch him up
(U.S.) We weren't able to catch him, catch up with him, catch up [with him].
One was different from/than the other.
Divergence and Overlap
To post vs to mail a letter
An art gallery vs an art museum
Autumn vs fall
Tap vs faucet
Luggage vs baggage
Shop vs store, etc.
Same Concept, Different Terms or Expressions
Same Word, Differences in Style, Connotation and Frequency
Hire a car — rent a car (hire-purchase vs installment plan)
Petrol — gasoline
Saloon — sedan
Estate car — station wagon
Boot — trunk (storage area)
Silencer — muffler (to reduce exhaust noise)
Fortnight — two weeks
Goods train — freight train
Barrister vs. solicitor
Lawyer, attorney-at-law
Sweet (vs "sweets") — dessert
Red whortleberries — lingonberries
"Inventiveness"- Spinoffs - Combinations - Allusions to Brand Names
Hamburger — cheeseburger, beefburger, fishburger, lobsterburger ..
Hotel, motel, floatel, boatel
Hardware, software, firmware, shareware, freeware, vaporware; "treeware ..."
Suburb, exurb, technoburb, cyburb; citizen, netizen
Smoke/fog = smog
"to litter"/"to bug" = litterbug
Cosmetics/pharmaceuticals = cosmeceuticals, pharmaceuticals/farming = pharming;
Sexploitation, cityscape, zeroscaping (xeriscaping; xeric plants)
(also 'hard landscaping' and 'soft landscaping' to 'hardscape' and 'softscape')
"Metrosexual" — jetrosexual; magazine — fanzine; catalog — magalog
"Half and half"; "A six-pack of PBR tallboys . . ."
"Let's go and visit the Colonel ...." (Colonel Sanders & KFC vs military)
(Roz, on Frasier): "I'm going to climb into a hot tub with my good friends Ben and Jerry"
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Euphemistic References
Senior citizen
Emeritus professor
Security officer
Hair stylist
Household manager
Powder room, ladies' lounge
Motion discomfort bag
A "pre-owned" car (cf "used" & "used-car salesman")
"The loved one..." (cf death and funeral jargon generally)
"To deselect, dehire" employees
To "downsize, right-size" the company
"Equality" Vocabulary
Fireman — firefighter
Policeman — police officer
Mailman — mail carrier
Salesman — sales person
Manmade — artificial
Synthetic, manufactured
Maid — house cleaner
Stewardess — flight attendant
Chairman — chairperson
Chair, presiding officer (chairperchild — cf "PC jargon")
"Politically Correct" Terminology (Jargon)
Elderly or "old" people vs 'senior citizens'; seniors; 'older' adults, adults 55 & older
Differently-abled or physically-challenged (vs "handicapped")
"People of Color" vs "colored people" or "coloreds" or "blacks"
"Canola" vs "rapeseed" oil
Animal companion vs "pet"
Native American vs "Indian"
'Stay-at-home mom' vs "housewife" (not 'married to one's house')
International Wildlife Conservation Park (former Bronx Zoo — "zoo" connotations)
"Black English" (specific terminology in cultural context)
Everybody look down at they feet
I ain't afraid of nuthin'
You ugly, man
I the baddest cat around
He be good.
Boy
Nigger
Soul food
Honkie
Rapping
Gig
Cool !
Yiddish and Ethnic Jewish Influence on SAE
Schlock, Goy, Schlemiel, schlep, chutzpa, nebbish, shtik
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He should live so long!
I should have such luck!
He's complaining yet!
This I need?
All right already.
Fat-shmat, so long as she's happy.
Smart, he's not ...
Many Other Ethnic Influences, Constantly Changing . . .
"Gay" liberation movement (drag, closet, fairy, fruitcake, 'to out' — 'he was outed')
Organized crime, crime syndicate (vs "Mafia")
"Chicano" (vs 'Latino' or 'Hispanic') culture vs "wetbacks," etc...
Jargon; "Professional" influences, Media conveyance ...
Computer: fonts, multitasking, up/downloading, blogging, flaming, autoGoogling
Drugs: Cocaine (coke, leaf, snow, angel dust); crack, valise, kilos, brick, 'trips'
Social Position: Yuppie, Buppie, Puppie, Dinks, Woofs ...
Business: Power breakfast, Valium picnic, warm fuzzies ...
Youthisms: dork, nerd, geek, dweeb; psyched, pumped, barf...
Technology and Media in Culture: technocrat, technopeasant, techno-potato, tech-nomads; virtual
corporation, telecommuting, edutainment, 'terrestrial' TV (vs satellite); [broadcasting to] 'narrowcasting',
Regional Variation, Identity, Stereotyping
Variation in Terminology
Soda vs Soda Pop vs Pop vs Coke vs 'tonic', etc. (see map from www.popvssoda.com)
'Ice cream soda' vs 'milk shake' vs 'shake' vs frappe vs cabinet
'Rubber band' vs 'gumband' (Pittsburgh region), etc.
Terms for general, unknown, 'anonymous' or 'stereotypical' persons
"Uncle Sam" (U.S.) vs "John Bull" (U.K.)
John Doe, John Q. Public, Joe Citizen
Joe Blow, Joe Shmoe, Joe Six-Pack, "Mac", "brother", "sister"
The South vs California
"bourbon and branch," "blues, banjos, Billy Bob, Bubba & Baptists" "good ole' boys," "ice tea, grits & red
eye; pecan pie"
Southern California "Valley Girl" language and culture, cf. "Awesome," "mondo," "tubular" (Rhonda, Tracy
& Kelli) [see also Clueless language and Clueless mp3 sample]
Varying implications (region, education, ethnic) of "non-grammatical" language
(a) "He ain't done nothin' yet" (uneducated, rural?)
(b) "He done et over at th' Hatfields" (hillbilly...)
(c) "You be late...the food be cold." (Black English)
"Four-letter words", Obscenities and Implied Obscenities
Damn, fart, piss, crap, turd, shit, fuck, cunt; vs GB bloody, bugger, bollocks, sod, etc.
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"A five-letter woman married to a four-letter man."
His daughter was a thespian who matriculated at the state college.
She came to the party with a homo sapiens!
The dean said he was an extrovert.
He masticated during the meal.
