I'll try that again, most people didn't get it. Do you believe in.... In UK English it means do you think it's

Question

right, in American English it means do you believe it's real. The question was about confusion caused by speaking the same language, with different meanings, I was wondering if there were other examples.

Just to stir a bit, we invented it, so our version has got to be correct? Right?

And yes I'm from the UK!

Fuschia - And biscuits are actually scones, weird.

Answer 1

I had to contact my solicitor the other day...when I informed an American friend of this...well....solicitor ...means a whole different thing in the US...lol !!!

Answer 2

In modern English for the first time we have printing on a mass enough scale to standardise (would be standardize in Am. English) spelling. Before that it was pretty much anyone's guess on how to spell a word. I don't know of any other means of standands for spelling outside of books and newspapers and such. And, so over the past 500 years or so... can't be that long that American has been around... well, never mind, the spelling standards of the two countries have drifted apart. This has happened again and again in the past history of languages where through geographic facts spelling have moved apart. What will happen in the next 100 years or so is that America will no longer speak English. Right or wrong? It is just what happens with languages.

Answer 3

I think just about any other question, people would have known what it meant. Try "do you believe in capital punishment?" (more yesses from Americans than the rest of the world, I'll wager) and you won't have people saying "I know it happens but I think it's wrong."

But yeah, I've seen other questions where Americans and Brits had completely different takes on the question. "What's the difference between holidays and vacations?" Americans said holidays are like Christmas and the Fourth of July and vacations are trips or time off work, while Brits said vacation is the American word for holiday.

Answer 4

Yeah its just the fact that the American's don't seem to like using the letter "u".
Color, Favor, Favorite and they say blonde is spelt blond.
I asked a question the other day about what people's favourite biscuits are and some American's said with Eggs and Ham on top???
That confused me i thought they were takin the piss!!!

Answer 5

First off, we do put an "e" on the end of blonde and we pronounce and spell words differently because each english speaking country has a different dilect as is true with other languages. Even in the states our dilects are regional. Do to the size of the country and our inhabitants.

Answer 6

I don't know that I would say one particular version is correct... It just depends on where you are from. Certain phrases have different meanings in different places... and in America, biscuits usually come with butter, jam, or egg and sausage... what is a biscuit in the UK? Like a cookie?

Answer 7

So it means for you, so for you is, and not it's yes? thou I born Spanish and of the English's from UK, I like best the pronunciation. thou I can find a lot more meaning's in my native Languages, can you feel and said native in English in the same time?

Answer 8

I was going to say that I think most intelligent people got it then I read fuschia honey's contribution and that I didn't get!!

Answer 9

if youthink that's weird then get this ... I lived in Scotland, for my sins, for 5 years and was really perplexed the first time I heard a native speaker use the expression "How no?" what he is actually saying in English is "Why not?"

Answer 10

remember all the people that moved to america were not english speaking, so whatever they have added to the language to help them understand each other is A-ok for them.