British and American English

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This article examines the differences between British and American English in the areas of vocabulary, spelling and phonology.

Vocabulary

Lexical differences are:

British American
autumn autumn/fall
car-park parking lot
chips (French or french) fries [1]
crisps potato chips
curtains drapes/draperies/curtains
film movie [2]
flat flat/apartment[3]
(Association) football soccer
lift elevator
lorry/truck[4] truck
nappy diaper
off-licence liquor store
pavement sidewalk
road road/pavement
petrol gasoline/gas
rubber eraser
condom rubber
sweets candy
sweetshop candy store
pants underwear
trousers pants

Notes

  1. Though strictly, these are two different shapes, chips being broader than fries
  2. ‘Movie’ is nowadays normal in BrE when talking Hollywood
  3. Increasingly heard in British English; in San Francisco, California, at least, a city of small, shared buildings, both "flat" and "apartment" are used, mostly interchangeably. Purists, however, distinguish between the two: an "apartment" is in a building that has a shared main entrance; a "flat" has its own outside entrance door.
  4. British trucks are traditionally small, and pulled, typically on rails