Language and Dialectical Differences
By Amanda
@mommyzhuuraan (217)
United Kingdom
August 3, 2018 3:02am CST
It's interesting to think about the differences between the meaning of words, even when people speak the same language. I am originally from the U.S., but I now live in England, and while I know a lot of the differences, a lot of Americans and British don't, so they get confused easily sometimes. Chips/potato chips = crisps, thick fries = chips, trash = rubbish, yard = garden, highway = motorway, gasoline = petrol. The list goes on and on.
I have told a few people here I was going to make biscuits and gravy for breakfast, and they were disgusted, as biscuits in the UK are crunchy cookies. Those in gravy? Yuck! Then when I told them biscuits are more like savory scones, they still had a hard time imagining them in gravy.
My son likes to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. For one thing here jelly = jam and jelly here is jello. Peanut butter and jello sandwiches? Gross! In addition, even the good ol' PB&J isn't very common over here.
English is definitely not the only language this applies to. I have heard that, in Spanish for example, the Latin American word for pregnant actually means embarrassed in Castilian Spanish. That actually makes more sense to me as it is a cognate of embarrassed. Maybe that's because there was a time when women were embarrassed to be pregnant. I don't know.
I'm no expert, but even just for fun it can be interesting exploring the etymology of various words, how they got their meanings, and how they got to differ so greatly sometimes in different parts of the world. What is the most unusual set of words with different meanings that you know?
8 people like this
8 responses
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
3 Aug 18
Even different parts of the UK have their differences which can make communication awkward. In Scotland, or at least, in Glasgow, 'jam' is 'jelly', as it is in the US. 'A jelly piece' is a jam sandwich, for example.
My particular favourites are the different terms for parts of a car (that is to say, an automobile, not a railway carriage!). In England we talk about the boot and the bonnet but in the US they are the trunk and the hood. I think that cars in England are like little old Victorian ladies, with their bonnets and boots. Cars also have 'tyres' on their wheels here but in the US they have 'tires'. I have no idea why we spell it with a 'y'. 'To tire' is an old word for 'to dress' which is now only seen in 'attire'. In Shakespeare's time, the place where actors changed (now called a dressing room) was called the tiring house. Clearly, a wheel which has an iron or rubber tire/tyre is properly 'dressed for the road', so to speak. Perhaps the English want to make a distinction between a 'tyred' wheel (which is bouncy and ready for anything) and a 'tired' one, which would be exhausted before it started!
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43910)
• Cambridge, England
3 Aug 18
@mommyzhuuraan It's quite possible that the word 'jelly' arrived in the US with Scots immigrants. ''Faucet' certainly arrived with the English settlers and remained in use over there, while here 'tap' became more usual and 'faucet' is understood as something different.
@mommyzhuuraan (217)
• United Kingdom
3 Aug 18
Lol. I knew most of the ones you mentioned but not all, and I didn't know that jelly in Glasgow was the same as the US. Even my husband didn't know that one, lol.
1 person likes this
@allknowing (137553)
• India
4 Aug 18
We call it soil (used in gardens) and the Americans call it dirt Dirt is something that is dirty while soil is not
@mommyzhuuraan (217)
• United Kingdom
4 Aug 18
Not true. Americans use soil as well, and soil is specifically used for growing things while dirt is just stuff on the ground. Soil is also generally more moist than dirt.
1 person likes this
@allknowing (137553)
• India
4 Aug 18
@mommyzhuuraan We use the word 'dirt' for everything that is dirty but here I have seen users using that word for stuff that they use in their gardens.
I searched through some discussions and found this where dirt is not what we think it is
I love the taste of dirt but the dirt in my yard has a not to good taste it taste like chemicals and it has a lot of sand I have seen twice on tv about people...
@mommyzhuuraan (217)
• United Kingdom
3 Aug 18
I've wanted to be out of the US all of my adult life, but I always wanted to go somewhere that I knew people. I've known my husband who is English for 14 years and I know lots of other people over here as well, many for over 10 years. Getting my visa was tricky and a lot of bureaucratic red tape, but it has been well worth it. I still have a lot of hoops to jump through over the next 5 years or so though.
@Jessabuma (31700)
• Baguio, Philippines
3 Aug 18
I also love to know different languages and their differences. I am not aware that American and British language have differences.
1 person likes this
@mommyzhuuraan (217)
• United Kingdom
3 Aug 18
In the US, a yard is a grassy area in the front or back of a house, sometimes with bushes or trees, and a garden is usually a small area where people grow fruits and vegetables for personal use. However, in the UK, garden is used for both.
1 person likes this
@anamika161088 (11866)
• India
3 Aug 18
Good to know so many differences in the same language spoken in different parts of the world.
In India, English language came with the coming of Britishers. So earlier we were following British language.
Now being very much impressed by America and Americans, scenario is changing. Higher studies books have more of American English.
It's confusing for the student which is to follow. Now it depends on the examination type. :)
