Distinctively American Words That Baffle British People

Laurence Brown of Lost in the Pond dourly shared a number of words and phrases he discovered that are distinctive to the United States but are baffling to those in who live in the UK where he grew up.

Ten years in the making: here’s a look at 11 American English words that utterly confuse British people.

Examples include “All-Purpose Flour (US) v Plain Flour (UK)”, “Gotten vs Got”, “Acclimate vs Acclimatize”, “Zee vs Zed”, “Realty vs. Real Estate”, “For Rent vs To Let”, and his favorite, “Sherbet” which is a frozen dessert in the US but a flavored fizzy sugar into which licorice and other sweets are dipped.

As somebody who was born and raised in Britain, I always knew sherbet to be a powder …it’s a fizzy powder that’s primarily used for dipping licorice and lollipops. When I described this to my American wife, she said it sounded like the American brand Fun-Dip. And after moving to the United States, I found out that sherbet here is completely different thing. How best to describe it? It’s basically sorbet but with dairy.

Words Brown Now Pronounces the ‘American Way’