British & American English

Christina Wilson
Sep 30, 2019
2 min read

Updated: Aug 9, 2020

I get quite confused sometimes, and I'm a native English speaker :)

I've lived the first half of my life in England and the second half in the US, so perhaps I could be considered bilingual (as I speak British and American English). Sometimes they seem to be completely different languages.

Once I asked for water in a restaurant here in the US, and the waiter told me they didn't have that and he had never heard of it. After some confusion, my husband then asked for a "waarderrr" (taking 8 seconds to pronounce it), to which the waiter replied, "Oh, why didn't you say that in the first place? Why were you speaking in a funny accent?".

In England, I used to live in a flat, but in the US, people live in an apartment.

In England, I put my suitcase in the boot of the car and went on holiday, but in the US, people put the suitcase in the trunk of the car and go on vacation.

I'm so happy the cooler weather will soon be here; in England I used to wear a jumper in winter, but here in the US, people wear a sweater. In the US, a "jumper" is a sleeveless, collarless dress worn over a blouse or t-shirt.

I used to wear trainers in England, whereas in the US, I wear sneakers or tennis shoes.

And, most importantly, please call it a loo or a toilet in England, but the restroom or bathroom in the US. If you ask for a bathroom in England, you'll be given a bath towel and some soap!