unfavorable words

[krisfromgermany]

A friend of mine who can't stand American English is going to come visit me this week. Please name me some American English words or sentences that seem unfavorable to British English speakers so that I can tease him a bit if necessary.
I think I already know some:
-sidewalk
-ain't
-gonna
-excessive usage of the question tag "right?"
-excessive usage of simple past instead of present perfect
-excessive usage of words like "awesome", "great", "huuuuuge", etc.
-calling a group of females "guys" or "dudes"
-"Liverpool has great players" instead of "Liverpool have great players"

Please name me some more.

 

[Tarheel]

So what do Brits call a sidewalk?

 

[krisfromgermany]

Pavement

 

[GoesStation]

I think gonna is equally prevalent in British and American English. Wanna may be more distinctively non-British, though it has been (very irritatingly to me) widely adopted by the world Internet community.

 

[emsr2d2]

faucet (tap)
hood (bonnet of a car)
trunk (boot of a car)
sidewalk (pavement)
suspenders (braces to hold up your trousers)
braise (roast)
sneakers (trainers)
pants (trousers)
rutabaga (swede)
eggplant (aubergine)
scallions (spring onions)

Those are the first AmE/BrE differences that spring to my mind.

 

[Tdol]

Ain't and gonna are very common in BrE and have been for centuries. If these wind your friend up, then it's his problem, not the variant's. Try saying herb and vitamin with an AmE pronunciation and asking to borrow his cellphone. Calling football soccer may work too.

 

[emsr2d2]

And of course there's everyone's favourite (or should that be favorite?) "I could care less". That still makes me want to stick pins in my eyes!

 

[Tdol]

Guys can be used for women in BrE, but calling him buddy may get right up his nose.

 

[Tarheel]

Three things.

I didn't know "braise" before.

We use both "tap" and "faucet" over here.

I also detest "I could care less".

 

[GoesStation]

Braising and roasting are different techniques.

 

[Skrej]

Silverware vs. cutlery
gas vs. petrol
pissed (angry) vs. pissed (drunk)
biscuits vs. (not sure what BrE would be for AmE biscuit)
cookies vs. biscuits
wrench vs. spanner
truck vs. lorry
apartment vs. flat
line vs. queue
fries vs. chips
chips vs. crisps
bandaid(e) vs. plaster
vest vs. (waistcoat, I think?)
flashlight vs. torch.

I've heard okra is landyfinger in BrE, but not sure if that's true or not.

 

[krisfromgermany]

How about "dindu nuffin'" (=didn't do nothing) and "wasted" (=killed, assassinated)? Are they used that way in British English?

Also, I think British people wouldn't freak out over every building that looks older than 100 years or so?

 

[GoesStation]

This speaker of BrE has never heard of okra, lady's finger or any of the other expressions mentioned here.

Okra is an African vegetable which arrived in North America with enslaved Africans and became a typical ingredient in southern US cooking.

 

[GoesStation]

How about "dindu nuffin'" (=didn't do nothing) ....

That looks like a rendition of Cockney pronunciation to me.

 

[Skrej]

This speaker of BrE has never heard of okra, lady's finger or any of the other expressions mentioned here.

Oh man, you're missing some good eating. Pickled and fried are the way to go, but you can't have gumbo without okra. Literally, it's what defines gumbo as gumbo.

It's also easy to grow, a prolific producer (like squash, pick early and pick often), produces a nice yellow blossom and is easy to pick since the plants can grow up to six feet, although mine usually are more like 4-5'.' It loves heat, tolerates drought well, and grows in damn near any soil type. The seeds will germinate quickly and grow rapidly enough that you can just sow directly and skip the bother of starting transplants. I think the only downside is that the sap in the stalks attracts ants, and every plant will be covered in tiny ants which tend to bite when you harvest. They don't seem to hurt the plant however, so I don't bother trying to eliminate them.

I particularly enjoy planting any of several red-fruited varieties.

If you ever meet a woman with a good family recipe for pickled okra, marry her, or at least try to marry into her family.

 

[emsr2d2]

I used "ladies' fingers" long before I discovered the vegetable is actually called okra. Now I call it okra. That is the word used on menus in the UK too.

 

[Skrej]

gumbo
okra
squash

I begin to understand how our transpondial friends managed to elect the Donald. It loves heat, tolerates drought well, and grows in damn near any soil type.

Really, politics? Don't be that guy.

Secondly, 'managed' implies it was some kind of accident, or fluke. It wasn't. It was a deliberate, intentional result of an establish constitutional process. It also has no relevance to this thread other than to deliberately insult roughly 1/2 of voting Americans who elected counter to your (foreign) whims.

Finally, those are loan words from various languages, so you seem to be implying that the influence of those languages is somehow responsible for what you perceptive as American voter stupidity. Thank you for that additional insult.

I'll make you a deal - I'll request mods delete my off-topic posts (#16 and this one) in this thread, if you're willing to ask for your insulting post to be deleted as as well.

 

[Skrej]

I used "ladies' fingers" long before I discovered the vegetable is actually called okra. Now I call it okra. That is the word used on menus in the UK too.

In AmE, ladyfingers are a kind of spongy cookie/biscuit, used primarily as an ingredient in other desserts such as tiramisu. According to Wikipedia, they may be known as sponge fingers in BrE?

 

[probus]

To get a little more contemporary "Ima" for "I am going to".

I have been using "guy" as unisex for over 50 years. I really don't think that is up for debate.

 

[probus]

Really, politics? Don't be that guy.

Secondly, 'managed' implies it was some kind of accident, or fluke. It wasn't. It was a deliberate, intentional result of an establish constitutional process. It also has no relevance to this thread other than to deliberately insult roughly 1/2 of voting Americans who elected counter to your (foreign) whims.

Finally, those are loan words from various languages, so you seem to be implying that the influence of those languages is somehow responsible for what you perceptive as American voter stupidity. Thank you for that additional insult.

I'll make you a deal - I'll request mods delete my off-topic posts (#16 and this one) in this thread, if you're willing to ask for your insulting post to be deleted as as well.

Don't be that guy yourself either, to use American syntax. This is not the place for that!