The United States and Great Britain have shared many different things over the years. With American heritage beginning as a colony of the United Kingdom, our language should be the same, right? Not at all. Not only are our voices and dialects completely different, but so are some commonly used words. I spent three weeks there, and yes the accents were great, and I didn't have to get over a language barrier as huge as a Spanish or French speaking country, but a lot of their words were very different.
Some of the different words that I came across were having to do with either food, or items in the kitchen. For example, our paper towels are known as the kitchen roll in Britain. Chips in England are American fries, and crisps are American potato chips. Zucchini is known there as Courgettes. Biscuits are cookies, and buns (as in hamburger or hotdog) are rolls or baps. Jam in the UK is jelly, and jelly is American Jello. Cotton candy is known as candy floss and oatmeal is known as porridge.
The craziness and differences don't stop in the kitchen, though. They continue on into every aspect of life, especially fashion. Their wardrobe is our closet. And their braces are our suspenders. As our braces are metal things that straighten our teeth, imagine the confusion this could cause! Trousers in Britain are pants in America and boring old underwear in America is called knickers in the UK.
