Fun:British English

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British English is a term coined by Americans to contrast their dialect of the English language, created by Noah Webster, to that used in the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth. In theory it is the form of the English language used in the British Isles; you know, the English people.

Variations

Just as the English language varies from place to place worldwide, there are numerous dialects of English spoken in the United Kingdom.

It is a basic principle of linguistics that variations in a language are greatest where the language has been spoken longest. Thus spoken English varies far more within the UK than within North America or other places where English (of a sort) is spoken, and some dialects of British English are unintelligible to other speakers. While the form of the language called "Received Pronunciation" (RP) that is learned in British public schools (termed private schools in the U.S.) would be understandable to all, the English spoken in such areas as the rural south-west (largely just the phrases "oo-arr" and "yarp") and parts of Glasgow (e.g. "Nawzatsatesnotook" and ""Geiswanoyerfagsahvranoot") is intelligible only to natives of those areas. Americans can get a taste of this in some of the Monty Python sketches.

Although there are now many types of English in the world, the two main written versions of the language are British and American English. British spellings, but not necessarily pronunciations, are generally used throughout the Empire Commonwealth of Nations as well as Ireland.

Vocabulary

English is reputed to have the largest vocabulary of any language in the world - although this does rather depend on how you define a "word". This is largely due to the addition of many Latin and French words to the older Germanic base.

Historically, French began to exert a powerful influence on the English language when the Normans invaded Britain and began to rule the country. The influence of a ruling class that spoke French can still be seen in the fact that most words for domesticated animals (raised by the Saxon peasantry) are based on the Saxon language, while most words for the meat of these animals (served at the meals of the Norman lords) are derived from the French. For example, cow vs beef, pig vs pork, sheep vs mutton, and chicken vs poultry. This influence can also be seen in synonymous words or phrases in which one is derived from French and the other is Germanic, in that the French-derived synonym often is perceived as more formal. An example is "cordial reception" (from French) versus "hearty welcome" (Germanic); another would be value (from French) versus worth (Germanic). The difference between "ruddy complexion" and "bloody cheek" is a bit less nuanced.

Spelling

The spellings of all types of English are idiosyncratic and have to be learned - as the rules connecting the written and spoken words are dependent on the historical evolution of the language. It is possible that British English, being the "ancestral" form, is the least phonetic. As the spelling of English words had not yet been standardized standardised made uniform at the time the American colonies were founded, it may at times be difficult to determine exactly which variation is actually older or more "archaic."

For example, in British English many words retain their archaic spelling, which Noah Webster excised from the American version: 'colour', 'humour' etc. are representative of the retained 'u'. Although there are many other examples no version of English can really be regarded as phonetic.

There are some instances where American English has the more archaic version, for instance gage is a no longer used version of the British gauge. Whichever version of English the previous sentence was written in, it makes no sense. Just remember that Americans use "-or" instead of "-our" and you're probably about right.

There are few actual rules to spelling English, but one that is always obeyed is "i before e except after c". The only trouble is: see the next section's header.

Weird examples of spelling and why you use "an"

The word apron actually derives from "napron" by way of "a napron" to "an apron". In the reverse direction, "nickname" is from "ekename", and even "tawdry" is from "Saint Audry".

Pronunciation

A pronunciation difference often noted is that RP British English officially drops the H in hotel (though British people usually pronounce it) and retains it in herb - the contrary (which was the original pronunciation) being true in the US. Also, "you say tom-ahhh-toe, I say tom-ay-to, let's call the whole thing off". It wouldn't have worked anyway.

Some non-rhotic dialects of English (that is, those which generally drop the "r" at the end of words) will actually insert an "r" at the end of a word which doesn't have one, if that word is followed by a vowel. Thus, "we had pizza and beer" is pronounced in such dialects as "we had pizzer and beah". This curiosity, known as the "intrusive r", occurs in both British and American English. (Although when it occurs in American English, you end up sounding like Gomer Pyle.)

ough

The most absurd English letter pattern is "ough." Whilst its true phonetic rendition is a laboured caveman "uuggh," the English language accords it nine different sound-symbol relationships, each of which bears little or no phonetic resemblance to the letters themselves. For this reason, it is usually considered polite to offer a short apology before teaching this letter pattern to non-native speakers.

The madness in full:

• through = "oo"
• though, dough = "oh"
• thought, ought = "aw"
• bough, plough = "ow"
• rough, enough = "uff"
• borough, thorough = "uh" ("oh" in American English)
• cough, trough = "off"
• lough, hough = "ock"
• hiccough = "up"

The following sentence contains all nine: A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed, houghed, and hiccoughed.

Some (but not many) of these have been amended in America; for example, "plow" for "plough", "hiccup" for "hiccough", and "hock" for "hough".

Z and H

A notable British/American difference is in the name of the last letter of the alphabet: the British letter "zed" is pronounced "zee" in the USA (to rhyme with b, c, d, e, etc.). Similarly, the letter H is pronounced "haych" by some people in the UK and "aych" by everyone else in the UK (and in the US). In the 1980s thugs in Northern Ireland would ask people to pronounce H, the trick being that Catholics pronouced H as haych and thus got a beating from the Protestant thugs, or vice versa.

Rows

Consider the homophone "rose". If you couldn't speak English, how would you explain that that very same phonetic word has forty-three bazillion meanings. Viz:

Rows of houses; the rose is a pretty flower; the sun rose in the morning; she rows the boat; a watering can has a rose to make sprinkly water, you can eat cod roes; and rhos are used frequently in Greek. And I arose this morning for work.

There is also the new European Union product safety standard, ROHS.

Muffins

In Britain "English muffins" are known as "Muffins", because they are. Well, they were English, but "the Muffin Man" hasn't "lived down Drury Lane" for a century or two. In England, muffins are rather plain bread items that people often eat at breakfast. Of course, in "America" (the US, at least), a "muffin" is more like a single-serving cake, usually enjoyed at breakfast time. Americans call English-style muffins "English muffins", intuitively enough.

City, town and village name pronunciation

Ben Auchinleck

Some visitors from the US to the UK are completely unable to pronounce British names for various cities, towns and villages, because their pronunciation is completely arbitrary and makes no goddamn sense whatsoever. Of particular note are the following:

• Auchinleck
• Barnoldswick
• Berkeley
• Bicester
• Birmingham
• Cambois (people outside Northumberland actually refuse to believe that it isn't pronounced "camb-bwah")
• Cholmondeley
• Cirencester (in fact, any name ending in -cester.)
• Cogenhoe
• Culross
• Edinburgh
• Greenwich
• Hawarden
• Kilconquhar
• Leicester
• Loughborough
• Shrewsbury (actually, even the locals can't agree on how to pronounce this)
• Stiffkey (likewise, as it's actually pronounced "stookie") - most memorable for Harold Davidson
• Slaithwaite
• Strathaven
• Towcester
• Trottiscliffe
• Warwick
• Woolfardisworthy
• Worcester (or even better, Worcestershire)
• Wymondham

Enjoy trying to figure them out. And, for giggles, see what happens when you explain to the Welsh and Scots that all the Celtic-derived names on this list are actually "British English".

See also

• Massachusetts

Excretoria

These are various terms and euphemisms used in different regions for the rooms in which we excrete bodily wastes, what we call the act of excreting, and so on.

USA and Canada

• Bathroom, derivative of the washing function also performed in the room.
• Restroom - usually the word on the sign in public places (a restroom would be distinct from a bathroom by its lack of a bathtub or shower).
• Toilet - the place in which solid and/or liquid wastes are released.
• Washroom.
• Privy, outhouse - before indoor plumbing, so not so relevant.
• Crapper - an early name for the appliance also known as a "flush toilet"
• Commode - one more euphemism for a toilet bowl. (Also the bowl for washing your arse afterwards. Normally with an up-pointing tap - very posh usage.)
• John - when needing to urinate (not polite)
  • Said to derive from a Mr. John Crapper, who supposedly patented an early flush toilet.
  • The distaff equivalent is, rarely, referred to as the Ruth. Why "Ruth"? Who knows? Perhaps Mrs. Crapper was named Ruth.
• Can - when needing to defecate (not polite)
• Shithouse - (very not polite)
• Head - nautical/naval term for the room
• Thunderbucket
• Facilities
• The Mens' Room
  • The little boys' room (twee)
• The Ladies'/Women's Room
  • The little girls' room (also twee)

In order to excuse oneself to use the above, a less-than-gentleman might say "I have to go see a man about a horse". Lord only knows what a less-than-lady might be shopping for.

Britain

• Lavatory; lav. derivative of the washing function also performed in the room.
• Lavvie/lavvy (from above)
• Loo (this is one that Anglophilic Americans like to adopt)(apparently from the French for water)
• Privy (derived from "private")
• W.C. (standing for "water closet")
• The smallest room
• The facilities as in "Would you like to use the facilities?"
• Bog (not polite)
• Cludgy (not polite)
• Craphouse (not polite)
• Nettie (northeast England)
• Out back (from former times when the facility was in a shed in the yard (not to be confused with the Australian "outback")
• Shitter (not polite)
• Doughnut in Granny's greenhouse (humourous, but well-known)
• Poe, Gezunder (chamber pot, so consciously archaic)

To use the above device, a lady powders her nose and a gentleman turns his bike round or sees a man about a dog. The contrast between the American "see a man about a horse" and the British "see a man about a dog" should not be taken as a comment on the average size of urination equipment in the respective countries. Also : "Shake hands with the unemployed" and some even cruder ones imported from Australia (admittedly via Barry Humphreys).

Oz

• Dunny. From "dunnikin" - a container for dung. A little out of vogue, a little blue-collar. Like rhyming slang.
• Toilet.
• eyebrow raise. If you are in someone's home and need to use the facilities, one would go "Mate, ahh - " indicate in the direction of the more private areas of the house, and eyebrow raise. Which would elict the response "third door on the left", or whatever.

Dick Van Dyke

Dick van Dyke's spirited rendition of a cockney accent in the film Mary Poppins marked the lowest point in Anglo-American relations since the War of 1812.

We've got over it now, and he's become a sort of honorary National Treasure. Gorebloimy Mayerey Poppuns, he did apologise later! And you've got to make allowances for someone with a double schoolyard-bully-magnet name.

Some vocabulary differences between British English and American English

“”"Son, why did you kick your little sister in the fanny?" "I didn't know she could turn round so fast."

This is a small and incomplete list.

British	American	Australian
automotive
bonnet	hood	bonnet
boot	trunk	boot
windscreen	windshield	windscreen
tyre	tire (or "taaar", in the South)	tyre
indicator	signal, turn signal (sometimes "blinker"). Unknown in the South.	either.
petrol (petroleum distillate)	gas (gasoline)	petrol or fuel
car	land whale car, automobile	car
saloon	sedan	sedan
people-carrier	minivan	people mover, mpv
estate car	station wagon	estate
lorry	truck	truck
hire car	rental car	rental car
motorway	highway, freeway	highway, freeway, motorway
miles per (Imperial) gallon	miles per (U.S. liquid) gallon	litres per 100 kilometres
food and drink
biscuit	cookie	Tim Tam
crisps	chips	chips
chips	fries; French Freedom fries	chips
lager	weak near-frozen gnat's urine beer	Foster's beer
maize	corn	corn
aubergine	eggplant	eggplant
courgette	zucchini	zucchini
corn (e.g. corn circles)	cereal crop
bacon	back bacon	bacon
streaky bacon, 'not eating that shit'	bacon	bacon
gammon medallion	Canadian bacon	pork
other
lift	elevator	lift/elevator
first floor	second floor	first floor
underground	subway	not really used. Just "train".
budgie (budgerigar)	parakeet	budgie
bad oral hygiene dental braces	braces	braces
braces	suspenders	suspenders
suspenders	garter belt	garter belt
vest	wife-beater	singlet
waistcoat	vest
pram (perambulator), buggy	baby carriage, buggy	pram
aeroplane	airplane	spelled aero, pronounced air- but with a vowel distantly suggesting the missing letters
aluminium	aluminum	aluminium
road surface, tarmac	pavement or asphalt	road, or "asphalt"/"bitumen", even if it isn't
pavement	sidewalk	footpath
football	soccer	soccer
American football	football	Rugby for pussies
kit	gear	gear
"gear"	"groovy"
"groovy"	old fart
trousers	pants	pants, sometimes trousers
pants	rapid breathing, underwear	jocks (from "Jockey", a band name). Or underpants.
slut	slut, tramp	aren't they all?
tramp	bum	derro
bum	fanny	bum, arse
fanny	cunt	cunt
cunt	Bush
bush	beaver
condom, johnny, French letter, Durex®	rubber, condom, Trojan®	condom, franger
Sellotape®	Scotch Tape®	Durex® (!)
rubber	eraser	rubber or eraser
snog	French kiss	the verb "to pash"
metres and litres	meters and liters, or, er... yards and quarts (not to be confused with Imperial quarts, which are larger)	metres and litres. Except for penis size.
nought	zero	zero
noughts and crosses	tic-tac-toe	noughts and crosses
conservative	liberal
tory	conservative	liberal (party)
dear	expensive	Fucking everything, these days.
note (e.g. 5 pound note)	bill (e.g. 5 dollar bill)	note
thong, g-string	thong	g-string
flip-flop, probably too cold for them	flip-flop	thong
tap	faucet	tap
nappy	diaper	nappy
mobile phone	cell phone	cell phone

Accidental offense offence

Certain words exist in both American and British English which may be unspeakably horrible in one country but quite innocent in the other. Faggot and fag are the most famous examples (in the UK they're a type of meatball and slang for cigarette, respectively). The term wog, an ethnic slur in the UK referring to black people, Indians, or some other ethnicities, was used by L. Ron Hubbard in a derogatory sense to describe anyone who was not a Scientologist. If you were to say wog to most people in the US, they would think you were slurring your speech in reference to some passing canine. Similarly the slang term fanny refers to the buttocks in America, but in the UK refers to the female vulva (not horrible but definitely unspeakable on British TV before the 9PM watershed). A "fanny pack" is not, therefore, a Dutch cap, or even a femidom, but a bum bag. And any Brit reading this is probably thinking of Keith from The Office.

Similarly, if you're in America and need one of those pink things for erasing pencil marks, don't ask for "a rubber," because that means a johnny. And if your friend's wife is asleep in her hotel room, don't offer to go and knock her up, because that would be an offer to impregnate her.

Cockney rhyming slang

Despite US perception, not all English people communicate using rhyming slang, preferring instead to take a walnut whip down the wormwood scrub with our china plates for a few pints of nelson and a ruby.

Some CRS words which have been completely "normalised" into British English to the point where most people use them without realising where they came from : "Berk" (silly person), "Raspberry" (rude noise). Apart from these words, anyone using CRS non-ironically (Septics may need a translation here) will be regarded outside Eastenders as a bit of a Merchant (Banker). When using CRS ironically, it is permitted (or compulsory) to make up your own rhymes to show that you ARE being ironic (sorry again, Chieftains / Petrols / Five-fingereds).

See also

Want to read this in another language?

Fun:Inglés británico es la versión en español de este artículo.

External links

• Here is a page explaining British/American language differences.
• How Americans preserve British English