ENGLISH VERSUS AMERICAN

more participants at Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday

Although English was the origin of the today's American, with the centuries there are a few differences in the languages now. For example :

Eiderdown - Before Brits started to sleep under duvets, they would cover their sheets and blankets with an eiderdown. Similar to a comforter it does not have a removable cover and is just there to add extra warmth and to look nice.

En-suite - If an American looks at Bed & Breakfast listings in the UK he might see reference to an en-suite. This is the bathroom and means that it is connected directly to the bedroom and therefore not shared.

Bathroom - Again, the clue is in the name. In a British house, you will find a bath in the bathroom. (In smaller houses there may also be a toilet). So when an American asks for going to the bathroom - he is not answering a call of nature - he is going for a bath ! Always causes problems when Americans visit the UK.



Toilet - For Americans, the Brits are not so shy about their use of the word toilet. In fact, it is perfectly reasonable to ask for the toilet in the most classy of establishments. An American visitor asked for the bathroom, shortly to return complaining there was no toilet there. Of course there wasn't ! That is in the toilet ! For some reason, it's also called a restroom although nobody is resting in one yet!

Couch - Sofa for Americans. America has some of the largest furniture in the world, yet the only sofa too small to make love in, is called a Love Seat !



Garden - is not the vegetable patch or the flower beds. The garden is the yard. Americans may think it was odd that Brits spend so much of the summer sitting in the garden!

In one anecdote, a young man, in the course of a passionate courtship, tells his American girlfriend, "I'll give you a ring tomorrow." All he meant was that he would call her by telephone. But she understood him to have offered betrothal, and the relationship didn't survive the misunderstanding.

Then there's the hotel that failed to understand an English guest who called to say he had left his "trousers in the wardrobe." Translators had to be summoned before the hotel staff finally cottoned on: "Oh, you've left your pants in the closet. Why didn't you say so in the first place?"

The English drive on a Motorway, while the Americans use the Highway which is exactly the same for a car. And if your car has problems the English opens the bonnet, while the American opens the hoot.