I don't know how I got there, but I stumbled upon the Oxford English Dictionary's list of common differences between American and British English. I find it both enchanting, and funny. I like to think I know quite a lot about American culture, but I discover there are things I did not know at all. Are there really no zebra crossings in America? And I love the choice of terms. Did we really need to know that British people speak of boob tubes, whilst our American cousins talk of tube tops? Who has even worn a boob tube in the last twenty years?
But easily,
easily my favourite is:
British English - brawn (food) - American English - headcheese.
I think the compilers were just having a naughty little joke with that one.
You can see the whole list
here. It has kept me happy for hours.
Could not find an appropriate photograph to illustrate this, apart from some very pedestrian shots of American and British flags, so here is a nice picture of an old Fowler's advertisement instead. (British English: treacle; American English: molasses.)
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