British Phrases
This page is under
construction!
-
queue ("line")
-
jab ("shot" in the
medical sense of an innoculation)
-
lorry ("truck")
-
spark plug ("sparking
plug")
-
gear lever ("gearshift")
-
bonnet ("hood")
-
boot ("trunk")
-
windscreen ("windshield")
-
estate car ("station
wagon")
-
saloon ("sedan")
-
gasoline ("petrol")
-
lift ("elevator")
-
bloody (British curse
word)
-
stuffed (British sexual
term)
-
bug (British "insect"--British
speakers use the word "bug" exclusively for bedbug)
-
biscuits ("cookies")
-
chips ("French
fries")
-
serviette ("Napkins")
-
copse ("grove")
-
got as a past participle
(the British consider the American gotten to be quaint and
archaic)
-
mad (exclusively "insane"
in British use; the American use of mad as "angry"
isn't commonly used in Britain)
-
sick (exclusively
"nauseous" in British use; the Americans use of
sick for "ill" in a more general sense)
Some American terms are
not used in Britain:
"I guess" in the
sense of "probably."