What a difference some English terms make

There are 5 countries in the world where English is the native language. These include the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It’s common knowledge that how they refer to their mother in these languages varies a little from country to country and region to region. For example, Mum is used in the UK but also in Australia and New Zealand which reflects their British heritage. But the Americans refer to their mother as ‘mom’ as do the Canadians in most parts of the country. However, where there was a British influence in the language, they do also refer to her as ‘mum’.

Up until the late nineteenth century, kids in America used to refer to their parents as Ma and Pa. In nineteenth-century England, it was either mother and father or mama. Even today in England alone, there are slight variations for what one would call one’s mother. In Wales, for example, and this I didn’t know, it’s ‘mam’ and up north and in Ireland it might even be ‘maw’.

Thinking about the variations in terms for the same word around the English-speaking world, it got me thinking about how British English can be so different from American English for the same item, even though both will argue they are correct whereas the other is bonkers. Take the word ‘pavement,’ for instance. In America, it’s sidewalk which seems more of a descriptive term. In the UK, the indicator inside a car is called a turn signal in America. The trunk of a car in America is a boot in the UK, the bonnet of a car is the Engine in America and a windshield in America is a windscreen in the UK. Even vehicles have different meanings; a truck in America is a lorry in the UK and what the British refer to as a lorry has multiple names in America. For example, you might hear '18-wheeler', 'tractor trailer' and even a simple ‘semi’. And where you park your vehicle outside shops or buildings is also very different across the aisles. Whereas in the UK you would park in a carpark, in America they’re known as parking lots. Even the names of where cars travel on the road has different names for the same thing. For example, Americans say freeway whereas the UK says motorway. An overpass in America is a flyover in the UK and an exit or entrance in the UK is an off-ramp or on-ramp in America.

An apartment in America is a flat in the UK. Furthermore, a lift in England is an elevator in the UK and either you throw out the rubbish in the UK or the garbage or trash in America. In fact, a bin in the UK is a waste paper basket in America, which again seems to be more of a descriptive name, and a wardrobe in the UK is a closet in America. Also, a yard in America is actually a garden in England.

Even foods have different names. For example, a biscuit in England is a cookie in America, a packet of crisps is a bag of chips in America whereas chips in England are fries in America. Candy in America are sweets in the UK, candyfloss in the UK is called cotton candy in America, presumably because it looks like cotton when it’s growing, and a cooker is a stove in America. Cilantro, which is a Latin name for the herb, has been adopted by the Americans but it’s called coriander in the UK; and I think most of the world also refers to it as such. An aubergine in England is called an eggplant in America which doesn’t make sense because there’s no connection between it and an egg, and a courgette in England is called a zucchini in America.

Here’s a funny story. An American cleaning product that caused complete confusion among shoppers when it appeared on UK supermarket shelves was ‘EZ clean’, the Z being pronounced Zee to sound like ‘easy clean’. As you know, in England Z it is pronounced ‘zed’ so shoppers weren’t sure what the product was for!