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American English: Difference between revisions
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** '''Electric Steetcars''' are the equivelent of a "tram" or "trolly"--a bus that runs on rails or wires. They are occasionally thought of as the types of cable cars that run in San Francisco, but that is not the correct term for them. A "tram" is an interchangeable word for either. Tourist trolleys are considered different vehicles, and are called "trolley replicas".
* '''Gasoline''' or '''gas'' is what fuels cars in America, not "petrol." Filling a car's fuel tank is sometimes called "gassing up," and to tell the driver to press down on the accelerator pedal you can say "give 'er the gas."
* '''[French] fries''' (No one actually calls them "[
** '''[potato] chips.''' are "crisps" (confused yet?) Fish and chips ''is'' generally referred to as fish and chips, however, but otherwise "chips" will always mean "crisps". Or is it the other way round....
*** And if you get asked "Would you like fries with your fish and chips?" by the waitstaff, feel free to mock them - they should know better.
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* A '''stroller''' is what the British would call a pram. "Baby buggy" and "baby carriage" are other, less common names.
* A piece of hardened mucus pulled from your nose is a '''booger'''. A "bogey" refers to a ghost or hobgoblin (rarely used), a score of one above par in golf, [[Humphrey Bogart]], or an unidentified aircraft if you're a jet-fighter pilot (e.g. "Bogey on my six!").
* When referring to a [[Television]] programme, the actual show is referred to as the '''series''', and the period of time in which there are episodes is called the '''season'''. The "series premiere," of a show is the first aired episode ever (not necessarily the [[Pilot]]). The "[[Series Finale]]" is the last aired episode of the show ever, unless it is [[
** And we do not spell "program" with two 'm's and and an extra vowel.
* A small dwelling in a complex is called an '''apartment''' (or possibly a condo) instead of a flat. A "flat" generally refers to a flat tire on a car or bicycle. For this reason, a flatmate is called a "roommate," although "roommate" still also carries the literal meaning, so confusion does sometimes occur.
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* The term "wanker" is understood, but not usually used (and usually considered more benign than in Britain, being treated as a [[Foreign Cuss Word]]). Much more common is '''jerk-off''', or '''jack-off'''. This applies to insults as well. "You stupid jack-off!"
* A '''period''' is the Americanism for the punctuation mark known as a full stop. As an idiom, however, putting the word at the end of a statement means "unconditionally" or "without exception" (as in, "not only applies to race cars, but to cars period"). An equivalent expression would be something like "end of story."
** Then there is "period" in the sense meaning "menstrual cycle," as in "Are you on your period?" (Thus the trope [[No Periods, Period]])
** '''Question mark''' means "interrogation point".
* '''The government''' to an American means the entire ruling body, i.e. the State (a term Americans don't use this way for obvious reasons). The President and those under him are usually collectively called "the Administration" or more commonly "the [name of President] Administration."
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[[Category:Useful Notes/The United States]]
[[Category:American English]]
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