Biscuit. Candy floss. Courgette. Loo. Serviette. Swede (not someone from Sweden!). Zebra Crossing.

Here is a lovely Wikipedia list of things those silly British people think are words. Had fun laughing at a few. They have soooo many metaphors and um, vulgarities.



Oh, and here is the list of American words which are totally fine. The British are just difficult like that.


Post your favorites!

Hrm, silly americans, that's all i can say! Some of those words are fine.

Nah, them british are weird. Add 'u's to everything, and drive on the wrong side of the street. Crazy.

And they talk funny-like. GO AMERICA! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

And you wonder why they hate us.

They hate us cuz we're the fish that got away

I love 'argie-bargie', I forgot about that phrase. I think I'll have to start using it again.

personal favorites:

minge*(to rhyme with singe)
female genitals or pubic hair

slap-and-tickle
sexual activity

toad-in-the-hole
batter-baked sausages, sausages baked in Yorkshire Pudding.

black pudding
blood and oat sausage (f-ing gross)

Fairy floss? *boggle* Cotton candy!

It's really candyfloss, not fairyfloss. Some of those words are a bit...odd, we don't really use them. But don't get me started on some of YOUR stupid words. "Backhoe"?! >_<

And Vix is just doing this thread to make me sad. How mean.

Aww, we love you people... from a distance.

"Rutabaga"? Wtf is that supposed to be? That's what you people call swedes? Eesh...

EDIT: And you call them heads too? It's a VEGETABLE.

If it's a vegetable, why is it a "swede" then? And I'm not sure why they put in head. We say a "head of lettuce" but never a "head of rutabaga?"

My turn to make fun of you!

You send your delinquents to an approved school? Well, that's... nice. I'd be a very concerned parent...

Shiri, do this:

Go to google and type in: Rutabaga. You will find 450,000 listings.

Type in Swede: You will find 3 for "Swede Vegetable."

Why do you call them swedes? They're not Swedish people!

I do seem to remember a particularly funny Green Acres episode about rutabagas, though.

Because...presumably...it's a swedish plant in origin? Seems fairly reasonable to me.

As for google, results are distorted by the fact that more things are American than English there.

But we're still right, so results like that are invalid.

And I've never heard the term approved school actually. I think that might be just regional to London or whatever...or perhaps a term that's dying out. Some of those others we don't actually say but are just there archaically, whereas Americans have "gotten" confused and made something up instead.

I can't believe all the things you don't have words for. You can't distinguish between grilling and broiling? Biscuits and cookies? Sweaters and jumpers? Jelly and Jello? Drug stores and chemists? You don't have a word for candy?

Defective. British are all defective. You wonder why we had to throw your tea in the ocean. It was probably the only noun in the English language before we pitched a fit.

Biscuits and cookies you have no idea. You guys are SO SO SO confused on that whole issue I won't even get started. Sweaters is just a made up word, doesn't exist. Jello is a brand name as far as I know...but I could be wrong. Drug stores? We have pharmacies and chemists...so you probably just couldn't spell "pharmacies" and used drug stores instead.

And candy...man, no. We call those "sweets." You've totally mutilated that too.

fortnight
a period of 14 days (and nights) or two week.

I've heard this a few times but never knew what it was and was too lazy to look it up.

Anyway, what about a flat? Isn't that an apartment or something?

We have pharmacies in the US too, that's where i got my sweet sweet meds for my thumb.