British Slang?

Question

I am trying to inform my friend about the differences between HM the Queen's English and the American sorry excuse for English. Give me what you've got.

Answer 1

Queen's English is correct or current language of good speakers; pure English.

American English is the English language as used in the United States.

American English has both spelling and grammatical differences from British English, some of which were made as part of an attempt to rationalize the English spelling used by British English at the time. Some people who hold strong to the Queen's English in the UK take offence to the alterations made in the various spelling and pronunciation of some English words. Americans see it as simplifying the language while strict English protectors of the language see it as changing the language.

There are differences in the use of some words and differences in the spellings of some words too.

Some more differences:

In American English, words of two or more syllables, where the first syllable ends with a single consonant, usually use the long vowel sound:

Patriot, the a rhymes with the a in gate
Zenith, the e rhymes with the ee in seen
Vitamin, the i rhymes with the i in bite

In British English the short vowel sound is usually employed:

Patriot, the a rhymes with the a in sat
Zenith, the e rhymes with the e in bet
Vitamin, the i rhymes with the i in sit

In both British and American English a double consonant ending the first syllable usually means the short vowel sound is used.

Bitter, the first i rhymes with the i in sit.

Another example:
In the UK, a student "revises" or "does revision" for an examination, while in American English, the student "studies" for it.

When "taking" or "writing" the examination, a student in the UK would have that examination supervised by a "invigilator" whereas in American English it would be a "proctor".

Spelling differences:

In American English, one would use color, flavor, honor, whereas in Commonwealth English one would use colour, flavour and honour. This includes loads and loads of other words.

In the end both inspire each other with new words and even use the other's standard.

For example:

British English uses jail and jailer more often than gaol and gaoler (except to describe a mediaeval building and guard).

American English uses both grey and gray.

Answer 2

Revising British Slang

Answer 3

The boot of the car is called the trunk in the USA.
In Britain, a bum is a bottom - what you sit on. In the USA, a bum is a tramp.
In Britain (in most of Europe uses a variation on the same word) there are taxis. In the USA, these are called cabs.
Those are just the things I could come up with off the top of my head. Then there are the spelling differences - traveller/traveler and so on.

Answer 4

When you "knock someone up" in England, it means you go around to their house and call on them. (It's quite a different thing in North America; I knew a British guy who initially got into a lot of trouble when he told a Canadian woman he fancied -- "liked" in American -- that he was going to knock her up. They sorted it out and eventually got married!)
A "lorry" is a truck. A "roundabout" is a traffic circle. "Boot" and "bonnet" are the trunk and hood, respectively, of a car.
"Snog" is to kiss or make-out. A "slag" is a s.l.u.t. A "wanker" is an a.s.s.h.o.l.e. A "bloke" is a guy.
There's also Cockney rhyming slang -- for instance "trouble and strife" means wife.
A great source of British slang is the not-so-old television series "Only Fools and Horses". You may be able to find it on DVD to show your friend.
Enjoy!

Answer 5

CHECK OUT THIS PAGE FOR WORLD ENGLISH DIALECTS.


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