| American
| British
|
| auto, automobile | car (as US), van (for small commercial vehicle)
|
| backhoe | JCB
|
| barf (colloquial) | puke (colloquial), vomit, be sick
|
| barnyard | farmyard
|
| bill (paper money) | note
|
| blinders (on a horse) | blinkers
|
| broil | grill (cooking)
|
| Bronx cheer | blow a raspberry
|
| bullhorn | loudhailer / megaphone (occasionally bullhorn)
|
| burglarize | burgle
|
| busboy | (no equivalent) junior restaurant worker assisting waiting staff, table clearer, water pourer etc.
|
| busy signal | engaged tone
|
| candy | sweets
|
| canola | (oilseed) rape
|
| carriage (for baby) | pram
|
| cart (for shopping) | (shopping) trolley
|
| checkers | draughts
|
| check (bank check) | cheque
|
| check (meal payment) | bill
|
| checking account | current account
|
| cilantro | coriander
|
| collect call (telephony) | reverse charge call (telephony)
|
| cookout | informal meal cooked and eaten outdoors - a cross between a picnic and a barbecue
|
| cotton candy | candy floss
|
| crapshoot | risky and uncertain venture
|
| cuss | swear
|
| diaper | nappy
|
| diner | cafe
|
| drug store | chemist, chemist's shop
|
| drywall | plasterboard, or any process that builds interior walls without the use of water
|
| duct tape | like gaffer tape, but silver
|
| dumpster | skip
|
| duplex (house) | semi-detached
|
| eggplant | aubergine
|
| "El" | elevated railway used in urban transport
|
| envision | envisage
|
| fall | autumn
|
fanny pack
Note: fanny is British slang for vagina | bum bag
Note: bum is American for a lazy person or a vagrant.)
|
| faucet | tap
|
| flack | publicist, PR
|
| flashlight | torch
|
| gasoline | petrol
|
| gopher | native North American rodent; or junior (office or political) worker willing to do minor tasks for little reward ("go for")
|
| gotten | got (but gotten is used in some British dialects)
|
| green thumb | green fingers
|
| gridiron | field of play for American football
|
| grifter | transient swindler (? or professional gambler?)
|
| hickey | love bite (sometimes used in UK)
|
| hard liquor | spirits
|
| (hominey) grits | coarsely ground maize boiled for breakfast, especially in the Southern USA
|
| hobo | tramp, vagrant
|
| intern | temporarily employed trainee; junior hospital doctor (UK: house officer)
|
| irregardless (sometimes considered incorrect) | regardless
|
| kleenex | generic term for tissue (from brand name, which is known in Britain but not used generically)
|
| lifesavers | sweets in a shape reminiscent of a life-belt, usually packaged in a roll
|
| life preserver | lifejacket
|
| liquor | alcoholic beverage (also the formal term in the UK, but rarely used in normal speech)
|
| math | maths
|
| movie | film
|
| named for | named after
|
| newscaster | news reader
|
| meet with/meet up with | meet (meet with is also used)
|
| narc | law enforcement narcotics agent, not a 'nark' (police informant)
|
| normalcy (sometimes considered incorrect) | normality
|
| pantyhose | tights
|
| parking lot | car park
|
| popsicle | ice lolly
|
| pre-authorized payment/withdrawal | direct debit (variable amount)/standing order (fixed amount)
|
| railroad | railway
|
| raincheck | put off (possibly indefinitely)
|
| rappel | abseil (to descend on a rope)
|
| restroom | toilet(s), loo, lavatory, specifically one in a public facility (as opposed to in a home)
|
| rutabaga | swede
|
| scallion | spring onion
|
| Scotch tape | Sellotape (brand name used generically)
|
| sedan (car) | saloon (car)
|
| semi (truck) | artic (for articulated lorry)
|
| sidewalk | pavement (unlike US, always refers to sidewalk, never to road), footpath
|
| skillet | frying pan
|
| sophomore | second (particularly second-year students)
|
| spyglass | (terrestrial) telescope
|
| squash | (vegetable) marrow
|
| station wagon | estate car
|
| steam-shovel | mechanical excavator
|
| stick-shift | manual gearbox (not often used, since it's the default. The opposite is "an automatic")
|
| stool pigeon | informer
|
| streetcar | tram
|
| stroller | pushchair, buggy
|
| switchback | hairpin bend or bends
|
| teeter-totter, teeterboard | see-saw
|
| tenderloin | fillet steak
|
| theater (movie) | cinema
|
| theater (stage) | theatre
|
| thumb tack | drawing pin
|
| tic-tac-toe | noughts and crosses
|
| traffic circle, rotary | roundabout
|
| triplex (house) | no direct equivalent, more than two houses joined together "terraced" houses
|
| trolley car | tram
|
| truck stop | transport cafe
|
| turn signal, directionals | indicators
|
| tuxedo | dinner jacket, 'DJ', 'black tie' (sometimes used in UK)
|
| two cents | fourpenn'orth/tuppenn'orth
|
| undershirt | vest, singlet
|
| wall jack | electricity outlet, plug socket, phone socket, power socket, or even "plug", despite being exactly the same term as the thing that fits into it.
|
| wall wart | transformer that plugs directly into the wall socket i.e. has no trailing lead/power cable
|
| wonk | single minded topic specialist
|
| xerox | photocopy (although 'xerox' is still used in the UK by some older people)
|
| ZIP code | postcode
|
| zucchini | courgette
|
