American vs British English - do we understand each other?

Since it is your language originally, I usually defer to British English. However I still call it a fender rather than a wing. Cars don't fly. :)
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
Oh no not another prawn shrimp thread quick turn things around… do we understand each other?
Invariably yes.
Enough that it’s only odd words that differ and everyone is happy to say “What’s that?”
It’s generally a cause of amusement or intrigue rather than any difficulty.

I think the difficulty comes when we use the same words similarly but not exactly in the same way. So a word like clever where an Americans tend to mean worthiness and integrity and we would assume you mean what you’d call smart.
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A major difference between English and Spanish is that Spanish is consistent in spelling and pronunciation while English is all over the place. An example is that clever also refers to a heavy chopping knife. Same spelling, different pronunciation. One is an adjective while the other is a noun. Or words that end in "ough." Through, though, thought and tough have very different pronunciations. Take the letter "o." Woman, women, world, woven. I wonder how non native speakers learn English. I learned it at the age of six so I've forgotten how hard it was. ;)
 
blades said:
A major difference between English and Spanish is that Spanish is consistent in spelling and pronunciation while English is all over the place. An example is that clever also refers to a heavy chopping knife. Same spelling, different pronunciation. One is an adjective while the other is a noun. Or words that end in "ough." Through, though, thought and tough have very different pronunciations. Take the letter "o." Woman, women, world, woven. I wonder how non native speakers learn English. I learned it at the age of six so I've forgotten how hard it was. :wink:
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In British English the knife is a cleaver.
 
Here a fender isn't really considered a car part at all. A fender is only the mudguard so we mainly see them on motorbikes and old fashioned styled cars.
The wing more refers to the whole corner side of the car front and back.
 
Don't get me started on cars/automobiles :laugh:
Boot = trunk, bonnet = hood, gear lever = stick shift, bumper = fender, windscreen = windshield, accelerator = gas pedal, petrol = gas...
 
Just think these languages differences are likely to become a thing of the past as the the internet will mean the country naming the thing will be the word everyone uses.

Edit: In countries where English is the first language that is.
 
Not so sure about that, but still.
The same wierd differences also occur in Spanish. A waiter is a mesonero in Venezuela, mesero in Colombia, joven in Mexico (well that's what you call them when you need them) , mozo in Argentina & Cuba, and garzón in Chile.
 
Morning Glory said:
One word which really causes confusion is 'casserole'. In Europe it means a dish cooked in a pot with gravy. A stew in other words. In the US it's a baked dish. What in Europe we might call 'a bake'.

Example of casserole in US:

View attachment 119491

Example of casserole in UK and, I believe Australia and New Zealand:

View attachment 119493
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17288479285722490341987346094918.jpg


This is my casserole dish. I used it yesterday for corned beef n carrots. All cooked in that dish. It's over 30 years old. I also cook my chop casserole in this. It holds a 3kg meat and a pile of carrots.

Russ
 
blades said:
Since it is your language originally, I usually defer to British English. However I still call it a fender rather than a wing. Cars don't fly. :)
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In nz we call it a mud guard but with modern cars its gradually progressed to front panel or rear panel. American sayings creeping in.
BUT we still say bonnet and boot.

Russ
 
SandwichShortOfAPicnic said:
gotten
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Gotten is actually old/middle English that fell out of use in Britain.

“Got” vs. “Gotten”: Which Is Correct?

Origin
Middle English: from Old Norse geta ‘obtain, beget, guess’; related to Old English gietan (in begietan ‘beget’, forgietan ‘forget’), from an Indo-European root shared by Latin praeda ‘booty, prey’, praehendere ‘get hold of, seize’, and Greek khandanein ‘hold, contain, be able’.
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