Differences in words-

Almost 3 years here and I just learned this:

Me: When do kids learn cursive?
DH: What?
Me: Longhand.
DH: What?
Me: Script.
DH: What?
*** I get out pen & paper to show him ***
DH: Oh, you meant joined-up letters

  ? It sounds like what a 3 year old would call it.


Otherwise, generally I know all the different words for things, but sometimes forget if it is the American or UK version of the word. I also forget whether I am talking to a UKC or USC and end up using the totally wrong version of the word. 

DH says chest of drawers for a dresser (in the bedroom), he says cupboard for both a closet in the bedroom and cabinets in the kitchen. He says cabinet for the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. I call a chest of drawers a bureau or a dresser. For the rest I say closet, cabinet and medicine cabinet.

What I still haven't gotten use to is dinner for lunch  AND dinner for dinner or sometimes tea depending on DHs mood. In my house it was always breakfast, lunch, supper.

In my house it was always breakfast, lunch, supper.

It's that way for a lot of British people too. My family has always called it breakfast, lunch and supper. It's dinner if it's an evening meal out - like going out to dinner. And sometimes the mid-day meal on a Sunday might be Sunday dinner (but we eat our Sunday meal in the evening).

I should have specified, when I think of coriander I think of the dried herb- it's a powder.
When I think of cilantro I think of the fresh herb they put in things like salsa.

Maybe that's why I have a dislike for one and a liking for the other?

What you call coriander and what is also coriander here, the powder, is a spice not a herb. i.e. it's the ground seeds of the plant. What you call cilantro but we also call coriander or "fresh coriander" are the leaves of the plant and constitute a herb.

In Glasgow we normally say 'the pictures' instead of 'the cinema'... or sometimes 'the flicks'.

Same in Yorkshire

It's that way for a lot of British people too. My family has always called it breakfast, lunch and supper. It's dinner if it's an evening meal out - like going out to dinner. And sometimes the mid-day meal on a Sunday might be Sunday dinner (but we eat our Sunday meal in the evening).

Yes, me too. Exactly this.

Its not just that there are US/UK differences, regional variations can make for hilarity too!

I get very confused: brought up in SW England, moved to the North of England for marriage, moved to SE England, then Texas, and now in Malaysia.

My motto is just use all the different variations in the same sentence and someone, somewhere might understand you!

I don't know if it's a northern thing, but my Manc dw refers too all types of melons as watermelons. She thought she disliked all watermelons but she has found that the watermelon she enjoys is cantaloupe

I have also found it odd that a living room suite is known as a '3 piece' even if it only has two pieces.

I've had trouble getting used to calling a broom a brush and a sidewalk a footpath. Don't know why I have struggled with those two in particular.

sidewalk a footpath.

Also known as pavement   

 

It's a barely different word, the smallest possible difference, but my wife always gets me to say 'alumin-um' in front of people and it cracks her up for some reason to hear it pronounced like Americans do instead of 'alumin-i-um'.

Almost 3 years here and I just learned this:

Me: When do kids learn cursive?
DH: What?
Me: Longhand.
DH: What?
Me: Script.
DH: What?
*** I get out pen & paper to show him ***
DH: Oh, you meant joined-up letters

  ? It sounds like what a 3 year old would call it.

That's funny! 

I wont' call lunch 'dinner' and I refuse to call dinner / supper 'tea' even though hubby uses those terms.

This may be a northern thing; 'I'm washing up the pots' to refer to washing up (or as I'm used to saying 'doing') the dishes.  All dirty dishes seem to fall under the category of 'pots' whether they are plates, bowls, cups, or actual pots and pans.

Also up north I have often heard mugs called 'beakers' which made me laugh as I always though a beaker was something only scientists (or science students) used.

This is really petty but I cringed for quite a while when I first realized how people in the UK say "schedule"- I just didn't get it. Are all 'sch' words pronounced like that? Is 'school' also pronounced like that? If not - why just some words?

My husband's family (Swedish) refers to 'lunch' as 'dinner'- kind of makes me wonder if we (Americans) are the wrong ones.  I realize it's just because the English Swedes know is British English but really, if a good majority of the world refers to something one way why are Americans so weird? 

and a sidewalk a footpath.

If it's next to a road, it's called 'the pavement' (i.e. http://cyclinginfo.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/pavement.jpg).

While a footpath is something you find in the countryside or residential areas - either across or round the edge of a field, or a paved path for walking on in a residential area with no roads nearby (i.e. http://i.thelocalpeople.co.uk/275000/article/images/1968875/1412439.JPG or http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk/images/winchester35.jpg).

This is really petty but I cringed for quite a while when I first realized how people in the UK say "schedule"- I just didn't get it. Are all 'sch' words pronounced like that? Is 'school' also pronounced like that? If not - why just some words?

Not all British people say schedule that way. I pronounce it the US way and always have (sked-yule). My mum says 'shed-yule' and it really bugs me .

I can't think of any other 'sch' words that are pronounced differently here. School is generally the same as the US (sk-ool), except there are regional variations for the 'ool' part.

My husband's family (Swedish) refers to 'lunch' as 'dinner'- kind of makes me wonder if we (Americans) are the wrong ones.  I realize it's just because the English Swedes know is British English but really, if a good majority of the world refers to something one way why are Americans so weird? 

It really depends where you're from/how you grew up and also what time you eat.

I grew up in the south west of England and I call the 3 main meals breakfast, lunch and tea (although if I'm going out to eat in the evening, I will call it dinner - 'going out for dinner').

But then you do have others too:
- Breakfast: first thing in the morning
- Brunch/Elevenses: mid-morning
- Lunch/Dinner: midday/early afternoon
- Tea: late afternoon/early evening
- Dinner: mid-late evening
- Supper: late evening, before bed

So, you can have different combinations, all referring to basically the same 3 meals, depending on what you were taught/where you live/what your family uses:
- Breakfast, Lunch, Tea
- Breakfast, Dinner, Tea
- Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
- Breakfast, Dinner, Supper
- Breakfast, Lunch, Supper

.

Not all British people say schedule that way. I pronounce it the US way and always have (sked-yule). My mum says 'shed-yule' and it really bugs me .

Aye, J my British other half- hates 'shed-yule' and says sked-yule as well.  Because you pronounce school as sk-uul rather than sch-uul -

But I wouldn't go with his pronunciation on most things because he's got the strangest Geordie-Highlands of Scotland cross mix of an accent going 

Aye, J my British other half- hates 'shed-yule' and says sked-yule as well.  Because you pronounce school as sk-uul rather than sch-uul -

But I wouldn't go with his pronunciation on most things because he's got the strangest Geordie-Highlands of Scotland cross mix of an accent going 

My Scottish (Glasgow) DH says school like "skeeyull" (all one syllable). It cracks me up and I'm always asking him to say it again if he happens to say school in conversation. We also have a running joke about "eleven" after this video: Scottish Elevator - Voice Recognition - ELEVEN !