Differences in words-

- 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

This question has nothing to do with this thread, but out of curiosity what types of foods do you have for all these different meals?

This question has nothing to do with this thread, but out of curiosity what types of foods do you have for all these different meals?

Well, I don't eat all of those meals personally - just breakfast, lunch and tea each day, but they are other possibilities for what meals people might eat, when they might eat them and why they might call their meals what they do (i.e. my family eats their evening meal around 5 pm, so they call it tea, while another family might eat around 8 pm and therefore call it dinner).

Everyone probably has different things they eat for the different meals, but I would eat things like:

Breakfast: cereal, toast, porridge, English breakfast/fry-up etc.
Brunch: a mid-morning snack instead of breakfast or lunch, something like bagels or eggs or similar, maybe even a full English breakfast
Lunch: things like sandwiches, soup, fruit, yoghurt, panini, crisps or some chocolate maybe
Tea: Main hot meal of the day - meat and two veg, lasagne, curry, pasta dish etc., with a dessert
Dinner: Similar to Tea, but eaten later in the evening and reserved for more special occasions... maybe a bigger meal, perhaps 3 courses with wine as well
Supper: an evening snack (usually while watching TV) - anything from cheese and biscuits, crisps, maybe cake, to something hot like Indian snacks or chips... whatever I fancy.

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? 

Schmoose, schnitzal

It's one of the perculiarities of the English language, why are many words that look similiar spoken differently?

my family eats their evening meal around 5 pm, so they call it tea, while another family might eat around 8 pm and therefore call it dinner

Interesting how it varies, isn't it? I've always heard and would assume it as dinner being the earlier one and tea being the later one.

My Scottish (Glasgow) DH says school like "skeeyull"

Is that typical of the Scottish?

Honestly, there are a lot of words my husband and his family say that make me wonder just how much they actually paid attention in English class, only to later find out that is actually out they are said in the UK. 

Interesting how it varies, isn't it? I've always heard and would assume it as dinner being the earlier one and tea being the later one.

I think 'tea' comes from Afternoon Tea - which is usually eaten around 3 or 4 p.m. - hence it being earlier. I suppose dinner is a tricky one because it can refer to either the lunchtime meal or the evening meal, so technically it could be earlier or later than 'tea'.

Is that typical of the Scottish?

It's due to the accent - in the north of England and and Scotland, school is often pronounced very differently than in other areas of the country. My godfather used to live in Durham and his kids said: 'skew-ull' (two syllables), while I'm from the southwest of England and I say 'skool' (one syllable)

Honestly, there are a lot of words my husband and his family say that make me wonder just how much they actually paid attention in English class, only to later find out that is actually out they are said in the UK. 

Lol - what kind of words?

Lol - what kind of words?

I'm going to have to think about this one a little. But off the top of my head here are a few:
Windscreen - Windshield
Car Park - Parking Lot
Clothes Peg - Clothes Pin
Drawing Pin- Thumb Tack
Postbox- Mailbox
Dustbin- Trashcan (ok, so we can call this dustbin too- but I think more often it is trash bin/can)
Zip - Zipper
Plaster (I still don't get this one!) - Band-aid

Looking at it from the perspective of a native English speaker, most of these don't seem too far off, but when listing to someone with a Swedish accent say these things- coming from an American's viewpoint- I would have assumed they learned the wrong word.

I'm going to have to think about this one a little. But off the top of my head here are a few:
Windscreen - Windshield
Car Park - Parking Lot
Clothes Peg - Clothes Pin
Drawing Pin- Thumb Tack
Postbox- Mailbox
Dustbin- Trashcan (ok, so we can call this dustbin too- but I think more often it is trash bin/can)
Zip - Zipper
Plaster (I still don't get this one!) - Band-aid

Looking at it from the perspective of a native English speaker, most of these don't seem too far off, but when listing to someone with a Swedish accent say these things- coming from an American's viewpoint- I would have assumed they learned the wrong word.

Nope - they are all correct words, they're just British English rather than American English. I say all of them too .

With dustbin though, we usually say just 'bin' instead, and also instead of plaster, you might hear Elastoplast, which is the main brand name here (same as saying 'Band-Aid' instead of adhesive bandage in the US).

There are actually hundreds of words that are different in British English compared to American English - there are some great online dictionaries around that have databases of the differences. A couple of them are:
http://www.effingpot.com/index.shtml
http://www.bg-map.com/us-uk.html

Can I add "pudding" (referring to dessert) to the list? Drives me bonkers!

Can I add "pudding" (referring to dessert) to the list? Drives me bonkers!

Whenever DH asks me if I want pudding I immediately picture a Snack Pack in my head and go to say "ew no" and then I remember he means dessert. 

I'm going to have to think about this one a little. But off the top of my head here are a few:
Windscreen - Windshield
Car Park - Parking Lot
Clothes Peg - Clothes Pin
Drawing Pin- Thumb Tack
Postbox- Mailbox
Dustbin- Trashcan (ok, so we can call this dustbin too- but I think more often it is trash bin/can)
Zip - Zipper
Plaster (I still don't get this one!) - Band-aid

Took me a while to realise those were 'British words'. Guess I've been assimilated... 

Breakfast: cereal, toast, porridge, English breakfast/fry-up etc.
Brunch: a mid-morning snack instead of breakfast or lunch, something like bagels or eggs or similar, maybe even a full English breakfast
Lunch: things like sandwiches, soup, fruit, yoghurt, panini, crisps or some chocolate maybe
Tea: Main hot meal of the day - meat and two veg, lasagne, curry, pasta dish etc., with a dessert
Dinner: Similar to Tea, but eaten later in the evening and reserved for more special occasions... maybe a bigger meal, perhaps 3 courses with wine as well
Supper: an evening snack (usually while watching TV) - anything from cheese and biscuits, crisps, maybe cake, to something hot like Indian snacks or chips... whatever I fancy.

It's 1 a.m. and I am now starving. Thank you very much. 

Can I add "pudding" (referring to dessert) to the list? Drives me bonkers!

I had no idea 'pudding' meant dessert- interesting. Thanks! I needed to know that one for sure!! 

Speaking of food...

US | UK

granola bar | flapjack
crepe (kind of) | pancake
tuna salad |tuna mayo (if salad is listed, it means lettuce but no mayo!)
shrimp | prawn
breaded chicken cutlet | chicken escalope
sandwich | butty or bap (depending on whether the roll is hard [butty] or soft [bap])

I didn't read all of the replies so I apologize if this is a repeat.

US: Understand | UK: Appreciate

My mom had given DH and I the gift of a very fancy hotel for our wedding night. I told DH about this on a skype session one night and the next night had this conversation:

DH: I didn't appreciate what you said last night.
Me: (Suddenly upset) About what? What did I say?
DH: About your mum.
Me: (Confused) What? What about my mom?
DH: I didn't appreciate what you said she was giving us.
Me: (Really confused and defensive) What? She's giving us a hotel room for our wedding night.
DH: Yes. I didn't appreciate what you told me about that.
Me: (Getting really defensive) What's not to appreciate? We are getting a free hotel room!

This continues on for a while until I figure out that he meant he didn't understand what I had said. I took it to mean he was unhappy with what I said. That one still happens a lot. He'll say he doesn't appreciate something I've said and I get defensive. lol.

I didn't read all of the replies so I apologize if this is a repeat.

US: Understand | UK: Appreciate

My mom had given DH and I the gift of a very fancy hotel for our wedding night. I told DH about this on a skype session one night and the next night had this conversation:

DH: I didn't appreciate what you said last night.
Me: (Suddenly upset) About what? What did I say?
DH: About your mum.
Me: (Confused) What? What about my mom?
DH: I didn't appreciate what you said she was giving us.
Me: (Really confused and defensive) What? She's giving us a hotel room for our wedding night.
DH: Yes. I didn't appreciate what you told me about that.
Me: (Getting really defensive) What's not to appreciate? We are getting a free hotel room!

This continues on for a while until I figure out that he meant he didn't understand what I had said. I took it to mean he was unhappy with what I said. That one still happens a lot. He'll say he doesn't appreciate something I've said and I get defensive. lol.

Hmm, that actually sounds more like the use of the wrong word than a different meaning, because I'm British and that conversation didn't make sense to me either .

To me, the phrase "I didn't appreciate what you said last night." means 'I didn't like and am not happy about what you said', or 'I wasn't too impressed with what you said' (complete with a disapproving look). It doesn't mean 'I didn't understand what you said last night'.