AMERICAN vs BRITISH English Words Vocabulary Differences
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hi everybody my name is Alisha in this
lesson I’m going to introduce some
common differences in vocabulary between
British English and American English so
for this lesson yes I’m saying British
English but some of the words in the
British English column are also used in
other places outside the UK you might
hear this in like Australian English or
Scottish English or Irish English but I
just want to introduce some different
vocabulary words you might hear in
different parts of the world from
different speakers of English so let’s
get started
okay first one over here let’s begin
with the British English word lift the
British English word is lift the
American English word we use is elevator
elevator so take the lift or take the
elevator in American English which I
speak the next difference is the word
petrol petrol so petrol is the British
English word the American English word
is gas or gasoline so gasoline is quite
long we shorten it to gas but gas in
American English and petrol in British
English have the same meaning okay next
one the British English word flat as a
noun used as a noun not we’re not used
as an adjective like a flat area or a
flat space as a noun is the equivalent
equals American English apartment so we
use the word apartment to talk about a
place we live the apartment we rent in
British English the word flat is used or
can be used okay next the next key
difference then the American word we use
the word vacation for this but you
you’ll hear a holiday used in British
English to talk about time away from
work to take a holiday we say to take a
vacation in American English so holiday
is the British English word for this
also the next word for Americans we use
the word parking lot to talk about a
place to park our car
the British English word is car park so
let’s find a car park or where is a car
park the Americans will look for a
parking lot
little bit different okay another
interesting difference British English
you might hear the word chemist used for
what we say in American English as a
drug store or pharmacy we use drugstore
or pharmacy in American English to talk
about a place where we get medicine
medicine or maybe everyday everyday it’s
small like life goods or household goods
perhaps too but usually medicine so
chemist is used in British English to
talk about this place okay let’s
continue on to the next group the first
two here on this side are both about
trash are both about rubbish so when you
talk about what we say in American
English as the garbage can or the trash
can you might hear dust bin you might
hear this part bin as well by itself
where’s the bin or the dust bin or maybe
rubbish bin as well this relates to the
next word rubbish as a noun we say
garbage or trash in American English
British English also uses the word
rubbish so rubbish is not commonly used
in American English but very commonly
used in British English okay another one
is the word motorway motorway so
motorway in British English equals in
American English highway or freeway so
this is the high speed road like the
lots of cars travel on usually quite
large so we say highway or freeway in
American English British English uses
motorway alright another may be
confusing one sometimes is the
difference between torch and flashlights
actually there’s no difference but to
even American English speakers this can
cause some confusion
so torch just means a flashlight so that
handheld light that you can use the
British English word is torch the
American English word is a flashlight
flashlight okay next one another
important one to keep in mind the word
in British English for the clothing you
wear under your regular clothes is pants
we can use the word pants to talk about
our underwear we use underwear
in American English but pants can be
used in British English to talk about
that so in American English like what
I’m wearing now today I would say pants
I would describe these as pants in
American English but this could be
understood in British English to mean
underwear if I say pants so please be
careful about your use of pants and
underwear in American and British
English okay next one the next one is
tube in British English and subway in
American English so these two words they
refer to the public transportation
system underground so Americans use the
subway like the New York subway system
in London is B - you can use the I mean
we can use subway but tube is also used
to refer to the subway system in London
so the tube last one I want to mention
since we talked about tube here is a
verb difference to mind to mind
something to mind something is used more
commonly in British English we can use
it in American English but it’s not so
typical we use to be careful of or to
watch out for something so I included
this because if you have visited London
you might have heard the announcements
on the subway platform that say mind the
gap mind the gap between the train and
the platform so we wouldn’t say this in
American English we would probably say
watch your step watch your step
so I meaning be careful of where you put
your feet so in British English in
London in the tube very example we say
or we here to mind the gap mind the gap
be careful of the gap between the train
and the platform
so this is a verb difference here these
are some common nouns that you may hear
in British English or in American
English and they have the same meaning
we just use different vocabulary words
to describe them so I hope that this was
helpful for you and you can keep an eye
out for this the next time you’re
reading or listening to something that’s
in a kind of English that’s a bit
different from what you’ve studied
before so I hope that that was helpful
for you if you have any questions or
comments or want to try to make a
sentence with these please feel free to
do so in the comment section of this
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much for watching this lesson and I will
see you again soon bye
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