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Tutor David 's Column

British and American English - Vocabulary - Part 1

Sep 23, 2017

Good morning everyone!

I have decided to start a new column on something which my students will find useful, and British and American English differences seems to be a very popular subject!

There are many differences between both forms of the language which span over categories such as spelling, difference in meaning, usage differences and more.

Today's writing will be outlining some common differences in vocabulary.

1. Pants 


In American English the word 'pants' is used to describe these:

But in British English it means these!

In British English, we refer to the long item of clothing worn on the lower body (as in the first image) as TROUSERS , and PANTS would be a word used to describe underwear!

2. Chips 


In American English 'chips' refers to these :

But in British English chips refers to :

In British English we refer to sliced fried potatoes as CHIPSThis is one our national dishes and something which in England everyone loves eat! In American English they would call these FRIES and CHIPS would refer to a crunchy type of snack food, usually made of corn or potato (as seen in the first image). To further add to the complication, we would refer to these as CRISPS in England!

There are many differences between American and British English, so I will spread these out over a series of columns to avoid overloading you with too much information each time. 

Have a lovely day everyone!

This column was published by the author in their personal capacity.
The opinions expressed in this column are the author's own and do not reflect the view of Cafetalk.

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