British v American Slang

[reahit]

thank you i learned an interesting words. i love to go to britain and stay their esp. in london

[dudesanddudettes3]

im hispanic and almost peed my pants wen u closed your video by saying adios amigos lol!!british ppl these days... lmao

[BrookeSouthPaw]

You forgot a big one.......

A rubber in England means Eraser in America

And a rubber in America means condom...

A girl from Germany who only took British English made a big mistake by asking for a rubber in the middle of class xD lol

[hammerboycb]

Americans say sweets too

[aurorazamora]

"We don't say it for that because we're retards." Lol that just made my day!

[X546DLF]

what about weiner and sausage

[wildernesswandering2]

Another question: any chap may answer When a student "quits" school, do they say that they "drop out." Or, as I heard from a guy on the teli, say that he "walked out" and then later he said he "ran out" which is it mates?

[efcdk92]

@wildernesswandering2 it's the same; 'dropping out of school.'

[wildernesswandering2]

I was watching a John Lennon interview with Dick Cavet, and I was sure when he was talking to Dick Cavet he called him "hey love." Question 1: Do Brits still use that term? And question 2, do people say it to guys? Or do they only refer to them as mates.

[The97froggy]

@wildernesswandering2 yeah 'love' is still used loads and its used both ways.

[icecreamlover5405]

crucnchy things? really

[kadeekate13]

I'm from Georgia and and I've never heard of a roundabout or a junction we just have red lights and stops sign lol. And we have jellie jam and jello jellie is somewhat artificial while jam has chunks of real fruit in it :)

[SLAW3LL]

Americans call them Roundabouts too.

[SnickeringSnark]

I live in Texas, and the only time I have ever seen a roundabout is when I went up north to visit a friend in Washington. Tons of them there. Also, I was recently delighted to find out that an American biscuit is basically a British scone. Didn't know about the fanny thing. Mostly only older women say fanny here. Or when we talk about fanny packs. That would be an interesting misunderstanding. lol

[seaturtle202]

@dateadawg I live in Nebraska we call em roundabouts as well

[julieannaClark]

I'm from the US, but I still giggled at most of the English bad words. Like, fanny. I couldn't stop giggling.

[DuckrollProductions]

americans call them roundabouts too

[hkmamacmd428]

oh so fit = UK version of badd

[mvr0cks]

5:10 LMAO.

[tarquinnff3]

Fanny is also a nickname for a woman named Francis. I hope she doesn't visit England.

[BleedingHeart1885]

In MN, we have a few roundabouts. We never call them traffic circles.

[daTeadawg]

@BleedingHeart1885 same. I live in Wisconsin, must be a Midwestern thing :/

[brighteyezxx01]

I had no idea about the car/truck ones! I've never heard of a lorry, a boot (aside from footwear) or a bonnet (aside from the type of hat) lol so interesting!

[jesscook7559]

@NelsonClick

We don't say closet at all! We store clothes in a wardrobe.

Sometimes people say cabinet but we much more often use the word cupboard :)

[harry1552]

we do say intersection, and americans do say cheers with the correct meening. Also Jello is a brand that has caught on, like hoover fyi. otherwise kudos.

[marnimarien]

british slang is sexy

american slang is cool

[kandleboy]

hah, my moms from england and there periods(the ones at the end of the sentence) are called full stops. when she first came to this country and met some friends, one of their little kids said 'today in class we learned about periods' and she was shocked, lol.

[MizzSweetz18]

I say sweets for candy sometimes.

[ickleann]

i knew about some of these. i was quite proud of myself when i knew the trunk was called the boot. heh. but that's cuz i have relatives in australia. so. yea.

[Goose122194]

Woah! That's really cool! I live in Missouri and we say intersection and where I live I only know of 2 roundabouts. All the other places where roads come togeather have stop signs or traffic lights. Always cool to learn stuff. Thanks for posting. Won't ever say fanny to anyone again tho. We say that a lot here! Lol

[CarCrashedHeartsX]

lol i'm Canadian but i guarantee that canadians/americans do not say "Junction" haha always intersection

[Cheerio271]

'because we retards' LOL

[Sillilesshells]

or being english asking your aunt for a rubber..that was pretty bad especially as i was 8 and i had no idea why she was shocked..

[TheDxandy]

American english is the best

I love american english

diogo from brazil

[MrPaultoner]

i cant understand you! xD

[JacktheTF2Guy]

@MrPaultoner pathetic...

[adonayvazquez]

oh did you said adios amigos in the end of the video wow

[MissSpannerZ]

Americans say pants we say trousers and for ourunderwear we say pants

[mightybfool]

We say sweets.....

[SKGBoston]

@mightybfool Maybe if you're 12 years old.

[luv4drums1]

lol slang is funny. here in the USA we actually use some of the slang u mentioned brits use but damn some of the slang is completely different :s

we also have some roundabouts. and we say "sweets" like you guys do but sweets could mean anything sweet, not just candy. and we say "bum" to mean someones butt too, but more as a joke, not srsly

[ks97677]

we do say sweets!

[Seaije]

In America ( or at least Ohio instead of the British " fit " we say firm...... Same meaning as your fit

[MrOpalTV]

I've got one: Americans say that they want to 'speak with' someone, whereas us brits say we want to 'talk to' someone

[luv4drums1]

@MrOpalTV we say both

[emahlee26]

In Australia, we call candy/sweets 'lollies' :)

[xXMrSkimpyXx]

@emahlee26 i guess thats where the lollie pop came from

[Shurupadi]

To cute!

[iamverystupid1]

great British accent! :D

[KezzieQ]

@iamverystupid1 Lol, Thats If I'm Honest Is A Normal English Accent. Check Out The Scottish Accent. I'm British And I Don't Understand Scots. Lovely People Though, Life Of The Party @ Festivals!

[sonnysburning5133]

i find you to be informative, and incitefull thank you 

[countryxoxmusic]

we have roundabouts here in America too :)

[LiveLoveMitchell]

A lot of the British words that you said Americans don't use, where I'm from we actually do. Every state has different slang so everyone is different.

[NelsonClick]

Your videos are very entertaining because it's what I wanted to know about British and British-isms but was afraid to ask because they are so mundane. Here's a couple words that I would like to clarify in British - closet (which I was told is not used in Britain), cabinet (where you store the plates and cooking utensils in the kitchen) and cupboard (this is an older term and is in decline in America).

[MariusWoodwarde]

this is more than 4 minutes...awkward

[s3xypie]

After you said you were going to edit it to make it more interesting, I was sort of expecting you to cut in a clip of an explosion... :(

[eatsleeprawr95]

lol these are cute :3

[slateer55]

you sound gay

[Monkofmagnesia]

"adios, amigos"? What the hell does that mean?

[XxFreshOutTheBoxxX]

@Monkofmagnesia Good bye my friend

[IamLiambee1]

if this is about english slang why is the video called brittish slang? there is no such thing as a brittish slang, there is scottish slang and english slang and irish and welsh and these are very different especially scottish.

[sweetjynx97]

I actually call (American) chips crisps, and 'French Fries' chips. I call cookies biscuits, I've called a truck a lorry a few times, jelly is jam for me as well, I go on holiday, and I almost always say sweets as well. I'm from southern Wisconsin.

[LifeOfTheParty323]

OMG. If i were to ever visit London, nobody would ever understand my fucken English LOL and vice versa haha

[jaytalex10]

You dont have intersections???

And yes we do have "junctions" but here (South) we only use that for major roads and highways...

[cannibalsrcul]

the main difference between the Americans and us Brits is that we don't need armour to play rugby.

[vidbyvid]

also fag in britian means cigarette but in america in means gay person -.-

[darlingnicole93]

I'm surprised how many british words i didn't know...i'm Canadian but we use almost the same words as Americans for everything minus a few exceptions :P

[HJAnimations945]

from what i've read here, i can see that most of the americans that have commented didn't actually know half of these english terms, and I can tell you now most english people will know every one of the american ones, whcih proves how little americans are taught about where their language came from

[at90percent]

In regard to Candy Floss / Cotton Candy. The difference seems to be in the focus.

Candy Floss is indeed made up of a long thin floss like thread of candy. We Americans think of dental floss when we think the word floss, However the end result of all the floss being spun together looks like and has the consistancy of cotton balls.

[at90percent]

Ironically, on your channel page there was an ad(vert) wishing us Happy Holidays.

[Tony95Gonz]

The English invented english and the Americans perfected it

[TheMasterDiasaster]

Wow, didn't know half of those.

[ryan473]

in new england our roundabouts are rotaries for the big ones around a town common and a roundabout for a smaller rotary. maybe you can add that.

[iamfckingred]

Can you imagine england used to rule the world.

[tiger9120]

Cotton as in the plant is fluffy candy is sweet so cotton candy is fluffy and sweet get it now??

[itsmemadness]

your right you bored the fuck out of me at 4minutes

[TheCuddlesProduction]

Americans do have Jam, Jam is Jam in america which is preserved fruit pulp, Jelly is a Preserve made with Fruit Juice not pulp nor Gelatin and Jell-o is a brand name much like how we say hoover, hoover also a brand but we have adopted it to mean vaccume.

[awhitegmail]

So now, "chip" and "trunk" are slang words? How's about retitling this one, hmm? (Just teasing with you, but really).

[JanetL621]

Good video and very informative. For the person who's never heard of a traffic circle, they are pretty rare but sometimes they can be found in big cities. Most of them were taken out long ago because we Americans know what a nightmare they can be! Also, in the US jelly is made from just the juice of the fruit but jam can include some pieces of fruit (think of grape jelly v. strawberry jam) but it can be used interchangeably.

[IchigoHime7]

I've never heard a roundabout called a "traffic circle" in my entire life and I've lived in America the whole time. I suppose there are people who call it that though! Also I've always thought Jam and jelly were used interchangeably... thank you for this video! (and especially explaining "fit" because that always confused me!)

[Killer30deathking]

I knew all these except for: fanny, and skip. I now know these....also the reason us americans call candy floss "cotton candy" is because down south in areas known for cotton growing the term came about for obvious reasons(i.e. the texture and apperence of candy floss is simular). Just thought I'd point that out. But yeah I've had a number of confersations with brits and aussies, and picked up on these terms quite easily. So I'm glad you made this video, it can really clear up mistakes!

[Bubi903]

If there were only American English life would be much easier.

[12345hallam]

@Bubi903 If only America had it's own language and didn't steal others and call it there own.

[brighteyezxx01]

@12345hallam haha how did Americans steal the english language? It was brought to the United States... by the English who moved there. And it is still called English and not American. And there is no official language of the United States, so technically they don't call any language their own. Soooo I'm a little confused as to exactly how the United States "steal others and call it their own". Also, its "their" and not "there" FYI.

[12345hallam]

@brighteyezxx01 there, their, they're, your, you're, I know the difference. And no, I know America didn't steal our language. But what I can't stand is how you people think everything revolves around America. PS, don't reply to old comments, I don't even know what I said. -.-

[thedoctorlovescats]

Thank you!

[timogame]

crissspsssss I hate this word :D

[BreakTheSkyMyseIf]

This is interesting! I knew a bunch of these already, but some of these were surprising, like "candy floss?" Wtf? lol

[GTASynch]

stupid teabag

[AnimewatcherfreakMal]

Oh my god. The end was the first time I've heard a British person speak Spanish. It was almost painful XD haha.

See, I live in Florida, and we have a these things called "Cubans" running around....

[DarkosApprentice]

This britain kid looks like a loser, No offense though.

[laurenoliver23]

In America a bonnet is a style of hat. We have Jelly, Jam & Marmalade. A biscuit is an Irish style scone. We say Junction but it depends on where you are. It can be a small train station or a train crossing. We only call Fries Chips when they're served with Fish. If we use the word Crisp it will be Potato Crisps which is a much thinner style chip. Most of us don't say intersection we say light e.g. make a right at the next light.

[jb10626]

@laurenoliver23 WTF IS AN IRISH STYLE SCONE????

[laurenoliver23]

@jb10626 lol, I meant UK style scone. I must have had Ireland on the brain. Southern biscuits are UK style scones and Midwestern/Western biscuits are light, fluffy & flaky, almost like a croissant.

[stepennwolf]

we have roundabouts also....

[kenzieegracee]

its called cotton candy because it looks like cotton but it candy duhhhh

[NinjaPoetGrl]

One I don't think you mentioned. "Lift" means "Elevator" in American. Americans only use "lift" to mean picking up something.

[darkconversationist]

HOW DO WE AMERICANS SOUND 2 U?

[MrWeeRhys]

@darkconversationist wankers

[darkconversationist]

@MrWeeRhys i kno u would like 2 c that

[iRibz]

@darkconversationist dumb

[darkconversationist]

@iRibz lol yeah rite

[diantc333]

Jelly and jam are different. We have them both in the US. Jelly is just like jam, but without the fruit bits., lady.

[NbG8Luka]

not slang really

[thegreekboyssister]

At least in Mississippi we call them roundabouts too. America is so big and diverse that there are variations in lingo among the states also.

[NenaPhebewo612]

also i am rich now

[Madonkadonk]

In Massachusetts, roundabouts are called a rotary. 

[vampiricange]

Nah we have roundabouts here.

[Imoutofyourmind]

I havn't heard anyone say junctions, just intersections. We say round abouts, not traffic circles.

[ChrisJI89]

@Imoutofyourmind You've never heard anyone in England say junction? Where the hell have you been living? Yellow box junction?

[aleset1]

well done, I think you did a great job of that.

[dannyzee4]

lol your 1st word made me hungry....for chips/fries

[isamtator]

It is strands of sugar, that resembles the cotton strands!

[isamtator]

Jam's have chunks of fruit, and jelly is the juices condensed!

[LLOYD19851012]

I find it annoying that americans say bata when it's spelt beta. Bee Tar

[ummjw]

Also, I've seen people really confused when asked if someone could 'bum a fag' from them. Hahahahaha. I imagine this sounds very funny to Americans, but it simply means that the person would like one of your cigarettes.

[smilekatysmile]

did you know that Austrialians call sweets Lolly. Like haribos would be lollies in austrialia

[ummjw]

@smilekatysmile We tend to follow the British traditions, but that's slowly changing. There are notable exceptions. French fries/chips are called hot chips in Australia. When an Australian says the chips, they mean crisps. We say truck as opposed to lorry but both are understood. Older people may use lorry. We use the words intersection, and dumpster, but skip is used sometimes too. And yes, no one would say sweets or candy, it's lollies. Sweets is another word for dessert in Australia.

[TocoLaPiano]

This is really helping me perfect my British accent- You're Awesome, Thank you for posting.

[collaredslaveja]

cotton candy: My guess as to why that word came about is because if you've ever seen cotton when it's picked from the field, it looks like a small white version of what we call "cotton candy"

[paulsroom]

Fag can also mean a younger boy at a Public School who runs errands for the older boys. And of course Public School actually means a Private School or an Independent School. A Public School that is government run is called a State School. Route is also an engineering term which has the same pronunciation and meaning in both American and English. It means to cut something out (metal or plastic) with a machine. So a router is such a machine. Aluminium is spelt Aluminum in American.

[FanGirl182]

@paulsroom omg the american spelling of Aluminum always killed me (and still sometimes does) as a kid, I always spelled it the British way because that's how it sounds! Realize too, I spell it relise sometimes when I'm not paying attention I mean comon wth is up with the way american spell things?

[wizard101magic2]

i live in england and i fear to go on roundabouts for my driving test lol

[MattSm130]

"If its more than 4 minutes long I just turn it off"

Almost 7 minutes later... ;)

[Fiabazaka54]

Hi that was a great video I'm from london England and I'm trying to start a Vlog please watch my videos and subscribe thanks!!!:)

[msfaserious]

some of my fav terms are daft, mate

[msfaserious]

loved this video i simply love british accents and think i do a pretty good impersonation lol

[DerynxAlek4eva]

i say like half of these words nd im american....maybe thats y sum ppl dnt get me...

[ismaithliomchocolate]

So, what I have learned from this video .... hmmmm..... Irish people use a lot of Americanisms ... :O ...

[alex123superface]

I've got a good one-

In the US,  a 'bummer' means something that's depressing or a pain in the arse (I'm English so I don't say ass)

In the UK, it's an un-PC word for a homosexual. Obviously a follow-on from 'bum' meaning your rear end

[deviliciousangel235]

can i stroke your fanny?

[zzyzx0788]

Intersection=junction.

Yes, that is correct

[XItsxANGELbaby]

ohhh you for got "piss take" or "dont take the mic" it means when you make fun out of somebody and they dont like it so they say "dont take the piss " or "dont take the mic"

[mkarmam]

Haha... you said "I don't think you that thick" but you did not explain that one. Thick = Stupid/Dumb.

[samantharobillard]

like his face at 5:05.

[delatina]

I love the word fit.

[PEAKTYMEZBLUD]

I'd like to point out that in the UK we don't call a flashlight a torch. Instead, it's called a torchlight.

[FirstOfTheGreat2010]

@PEAKTYMEZBLUD maybe that's just you, because most people call it a torch. i have never heard anyone call it that. ever.

[PEAKTYMEZBLUD]

@FirstOfTheGreat2010 Hmm.. maybe you are right. :)

[meowool]

@PEAKTYMEZBLUD i call it a torch! 

[AliceItoko]

@PEAKTYMEZBLUD I say torch, UK :D

[MASTURCHEEF001]

Bum= someone who spends whole day sitting on their BUM. I demand a cookie!

[Kasdeveo]

@MASTURCHEEF001 Lol

[3CooperBoys]

Pissed in the UK is drunk, pissed here means MAD. We don't pinch or smoke fags over here either - they are homosexuals here, not cigarettes, and to pinch means grasp with two fingers... usually to be sexually suggestive. We don't even have the word BUGGER in our vocabulary. I have loads of these discoveries I've made with some Brit friends... we have lots of laughs. We don't speak English here, we have refined the language and we call it American! :)

[damiion666]

I am fit

[MoiraNadapx305]

hihi I`m good looking babe, with great sense of humor

[wanaka020]

Adios amigo!!  =)

[Petegrin1]

Brittish is the right and the best accent!

[gladifly]

america just makes the english language look bad.

[Petegrin1]

@gladifly Amen. 

[damiion666]

@gladifly No we gave it a much needed modernization <<<< =)

[gladifly]

@damiion666 well i prefer the good old english.

[damiion666]

@gladifly I like the james bond english he always sounded sophisticated, but that lizard's accent in the Geico commercial is just annoying

[JerryRowell]

...and An American Is A Bloody Yank...No Matter What Part Of The States They're From *lol*

[melissacarl2002]

Roundabouts look confusing.

[jesssss123123]

@melissacarl2002 They bloody are! I'm jealous of people in America for not having to use them!

[JerryRowell]

An Important One Is "Fag" In England It Means Cigarette & In America It Means A Gay Dude. An American Over Here For Visit & That Word Comes Up, It Can Be Taken The Wrong Way Easily

[zzyzx0788]

@JerryRowell In America not every word in a sentence is considered a proper noun, though.

[MattSm130]

@JerryRowell Tbh in the UK it depends on the context...

[wizard101magic2]

@JerryRowell true :) lol ill go amrica gimme a fag!