American vs. British English

Because I teach from books written in Britain (England, UK, Great Britain….why the heck does it have so many names!?), I’ve seen some big differences between British and American English in vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation. I’ve lost part of my American accent after 6 months of speaking like a British person, pronouncing all my T’s and what not; I feel like I’ve lost part of my identity…haha! No, not really. Here are some differences… American English is on the left and British on the right. Some of these words I’ve never even heard before so they are quite entertaining.

VOCABULARY
trucks = lorries
cafeteria = canteen
honk (car horn) = hoot
friend = mate
trash = rubbish
tennis shoes = trainers
robbed = burgled
time outs = stoppities
quotation marks = inverted commas
bangs = fringe
trunk (of a car) = boot
fired = sacked
movie theater = cinema
movies = films
to stand in line = to queue
elevator = lift
pants = trousers
bug = insect
parking lot = car park
pet peeve = pet hate
mall = shopping centre
freeway = motorway
gas station = petrol station
cut in line = jump the queue
out-going = extrovert
chips = crisps
fries = chips
laundry detergent = washing powder
advertisement = advert
restroom = toilet
take out = take away
math = maths
on the weekend = at the weekend
get along with = get on with
grocery store OR Wal-mart = supermarket

SPELLING
favor = favour
center = centre
defense = defence
connection = connexion
apologize = apologise
program = programme
learned = learnt
mom = mum

PRONUNCIATION
unnecessary = unnecess_ry
Idaly = Italy
thirdy = thirty
imporunt = important
edjucation = education
weather = weathah