British-English to American-English 'translation' thread

[AwayinaChive]

I've heard paci or binky for dummy, maybe it's regional.

In my family we always said pacifier and would shorten it to paci sometimes to say it quickly or whatever. My cousin says binky. I personally hate the word binky, I think it sounds dumb and makes no sense.

Dummy is always funny to me because, not sure about here, but in America a dummy is what you would call someone if they were being, well, dumb, or stupid!

[Turtle'sMammy]

UK - Coriander = leaves and seeds
US - coriander = seeds
cilantro = leaves

[BLTMama]

Oh, thought of another: UK allotment = no real equivalent in the US; a private section in a community garden. Here community gardens are pretty rare and almost always co-operatively maintained.

I'm still a little confused about corn flour/cornmeal. I think UK corn flour = US cornstarch (a white powder used to thicken things), but I'm not sure what you all call cornmeal (ground corn for baking with, the same thing as polenta)? We don't really use the term corn flour at all.

And since I flipped my lid about it the other day , I should probably point out that US canola oil = UK rapeseed oil.

Re: yams and sweet potatoes, people tend to use them interchangeably here. Some people use yam for the orange ones and sweet potatoes for the yellow ones (or the other way around). But really they're both sweet potatoes and yams are a completely different thing that only gets used in Caribbean/Hispanic food.

Jell-O is generally dessert, although some pretty terrible atrocities used to get committed in its name -- stuff with peas and carrots and meat and whatnot. No one would call it jelly here, though -- if you don't call it Jell-O, it's gelatin. Cranberry sauce is NOT Jello, but some kind of Jello dessert is pretty common at Thanksgiving (we have one with pretzels and cream cheese and whipped cream )

Queue is getting much more common here as they use in online and telephone customer service a lot. But I think people are scared of using it because they don't know how to spell it!

We have self-rising flour, but it's just not used very commonly. We also have bread flour, and pastry flour, and cake flour, and 00 pasta flour imported from Italy, and whole wheat and rye and soy and amaranth and teff flour every other crazy thing you can think of. The US is a consumer paradise. Or something.

Finally, I would also like to defend American cheese -- there is very good cheese here; there's just way more horrible rubbery dreck, too. Tillamook from Oregon has very good "premium" cheese (although their regular stuff is pretty crap anymore), Maytag Blue from Iowa (holla KG!) wins international prizes, and OAG is right that New York sharp cheddar is DA BOMB (FIL is from Cuba NY, the home of New York cheddar).

And finally finally, I mention this in every UK/US terms thread we have, but my favorite British term is wheelie bin. I don't know why but it just makes me smile every time I see it.

Can you tell that I'm inordinately pleased with my (self-appointed) position as the forum's pet American?

[OnlyAGinger]

please, do share...wheelie bin?? garbage can?

[twilightfan]

please, do share...wheelie bin?? garbage can?

Yup! Our garbage cans have wheels on hence the name!

[OnlyAGinger]

bloody brilliant!

[blackberrycrimble]

up! Our garbage cans have wheels on hence the name!

Although 15 or so years ago they were metal, no wheels and called dustbins.

I'm not sure what you all call cornmeal (ground corn for baking with, the same thing as polenta)?

We call it polenta, mostly! Or sometimes cornmeal. But I think you are right on cornflour.

We have self-rising flour, but it's just not used very commonly.

self raising here, not rising.

Finally, I would also like to defend American cheese -- there is very good cheese here; there's just way more horrible rubbery dreck, too. Tillamook from Oregon has very good "premium" cheese (although their regular stuff is pretty crap anymore), Maytag Blue from Iowa (holla KG!) wins international prizes, and OAG is right that New York sharp cheddar is DA BOMB (FIL is from Cuba NY, the home of New York cheddar).

You're going to need to work a bit harder to convince us!

Dummy is always funny to me because, not sure about here, but in America a dummy is what you would call someone if they were being, well, dumb, or stupid!

It comes from 'dumb' with the meaning of not being able to speak.

[fourweewonders]

Vaugly related to bins, do they have skips in america i've never heard mention of them on american tv and they're not quite the same as dumpsters

[OnlyAGinger]

nope, skips don't exist as a noun...

[AwayinaChive]

Finally, I would also like to defend American cheese -- there is very good cheese here; there's just way more horrible rubbery dreck, too. Tillamook from Oregon has very good "premium" cheese (although their regular stuff is pretty crap anymore), Maytag Blue from Iowa (holla KG!) wins international prizes, and OAG is right that New York sharp cheddar is DA BOMB (FIL is from Cuba NY, the home of New York cheddar).

What?? I have friends in Cuba! It's a small town, I wonder if they know each other!! Weird! I used to have cheese curds at their house. YUM! They came from the cheese factory in their town, I think there is one right? I couldn't even find them in my hometown on the other side of NY state.

[Wilma]

UK pizza = US pie
Not everywhere but definitely in Boston, I always thought that was quite strange as it doesn't have a lid!

[Antje]

So...what about the rest of us commonwealthers? I'm Canadian, and I'll bet the Aussies and Kiwis (do we have any Kiwis?) and others have their own words too!

I've scanned this thread, and so far I use about 60% of the "US" words and 40% of the "UK" words. In the case of things like "courgette", even though I would say zucchini, as a Canadian I'm familiar enough with French to understand what a courgette is.

[AwayinaChive]

UK pizza = US pie
Not everywhere but definitely in Boston, I always thought that was quite strange as it doesn't have a lid!

I'm from NY and we definitely say pizza! Sometimes to be silly we'd say pizza pie. That sounds really weird now that I've written it out!

[BLTMama]

Finally, I would also like to defend American cheese -- there is very good cheese here; there's just way more horrible rubbery dreck, too. Tillamook from Oregon has very good "premium" cheese (although their regular stuff is pretty crap anymore), Maytag Blue from Iowa (holla KG!) wins international prizes, and OAG is right that New York sharp cheddar is DA BOMB (FIL is from Cuba NY, the home of New York cheddar).

What?? I have friends in Cuba! It's a small town, I wonder if they know each other!! Weird! I used to have cheese curds at their house. YUM! They came from the cheese factory in their town, I think there is one right? I couldn't even find them in my hometown on the other side of NY state.

I imagine they probably do -- FIL's family have been there for generations. Last name of a famous Irish clergyman satirist. Small world! And yes, the cheese curds are pretty good, although the squeak takes some getting used to.

[Wilma]

UK pizza = US pie
Not everywhere but definitely in Boston, I always thought that was quite strange as it doesn't have a lid!

I'm from NY and we definitely say pizza! Sometimes to be silly we'd say pizza pie. That sounds really weird now that I've written it out!

They used to interchange between the 2 but it was pretty much 50/50. I guess they use pie a lot for other open topped flans/tarts etc. ie. pumpkin pie, pecan pie...