AMERICAN USAGE BRITISH USAGE
DIFFERENT WORDS - SAME MEANING

1. Elevator
2. Trunk (of a car)
3. Subway
4. Scotch
5. Period
6. Cookie
7. Gas/Gasoline
8. Kid(s)
9. Cell phone
10. Sidewalk
11. Soccer
12. Football
13. Fall (the season, not the action)
14. Vacation
15. School terminology:
a. Semester - there are two in a year, allowing for a break over Christmas and the new year.
b. Freshman - a student in the first year of high school or university.
c. Sophomore - a student in the second year.
d. Junior - a third year student, or a student in the year before the final year of university or high school.
e. Senior - a student in their last year.
f. High School - secondary education
g. Public school - state run
h. Private School - private

[ 本帖最后由 散物过日 于 2008-1-9 23:25 编辑 ]

SAME WORD - DIFFERENT MEANING

1. Fag - a derogatory word for a homosexual man
2. Period - a full stop, (also a length of time or the hour-long lessons into which the school day is divided - these meanings apply in British English too).
3. To table (something) - to put an issue or problem aside for later, usually because it's too difficult to deal with.


4. Tea - the drink, not a meal.




SPELLING
Basically the Americans like to make it as simple as possible - it doesn't take much imagination to figure out why.

· "ER" - e.g. center, theater, meter

·"L" - e.g. jewelry, traveling, marvelous, councilor
· "Z not S" - e.g. symbolize, modernize, urbanization, organizer
·"O not OU" - e.g. neighbor, honor, favorite, color, harbor
·"M not MME" "N not NNE" - e.g. program, ton

1. tire
2. pickax
3. defense, (defensive)
4. airplane, (aircraft, airport)
5. toward

·For dates and days "on" is not used.
e.g. He said Thursday.
They spoke at a news conference in Hong Kong August 5, 2001.

  
·When talking about how long something
will last or has lasted, "through" is used. "Through" implies a continuous run until the end of the day/date mentioned.
e.g. The symposium is to last through Friday.
(It will last until the end of Friday)
The play ran from January 1 through February 18.

DIFFERENT WORDS - SAME MEANING

1. Lift (as an alternative to the stairs)
2. Boot (of a car)
3. Underground/Tube
4. Whiskey
5. Full stop
6. Biscuit
7. Petrol
8. Child(ren)
9. Mobile phone
10. Pavement
11. Football
12. American football
13. Autumn
14. Holiday
15. School terminology:
a. Term - there are three in the year - the autumn term from Sept to Dec, the spring term from Jan/Feb to April and the summer term from April to June/July. The April break is for Easter.
b. Fresher: a first year student at university, especially used during the first term.
Then we say - first year, second year, third year. e.g. she's a thi

rd year.
c. Finalist - a student in their last year of university about to take their final exams and graduate.
d. Secondary School - not high school
e. State school - state run, tuition is free.
f. Public School - private, tuition needs to be paid by each student.


SAME WORD - DIFFERENT MEANING
1. Fag - a colloquial word for a cigarette
2. Period - menstruation, not a full stop.

3. To table (something) - e.g. to table a motion. To bring an idea or issue up, to suggest it to one's fellows, to put it on the table so that everyone can see it and start to deal with it.
4. Tea - often said to mean the evening meal, but also a drink (with jam and bread).



SPELLING
The Brits are more traditional - they like their old fashioned spellings that make things as difficult as possible.
· "RE" - e.g. centre, theatre, metre. But not entre - that's French - it's enter
· "LL" - e.g. jewellery, travelling, marvellous, councillor,
· "S not Z" - e.g. symbolise, modernise, urbanisation, organiser
· "OU not O" - e.g neighbour, honour, favourite, colour, harbour
·"MME not M" "NNE not N" - e.g. programme, (but telegram is not telegramme), tonne.
1. tyre
2. pickaxe
3. defence, (defensive)
4. aeroplane, (aircraft, airport)
5. towards

·For dates and days "on" is used.
e.g. He said on Thursday
They spoke at a news conference in Hong Kong on August 5, 2001.
It is sometimes OK to omit the "on" and use a comma instead - usually in picture captions or with long sentences.
e.g. Hong Kong's Andy Lau and India's Sajit Ray pose for photographers at a news conference in Hong Kong, August 2, 2001. Also, it's "last Sunday," not "on last Sunday."

·When talking about how long something
will last or has lasted, "through" is not used. Instead we say "until," "from…until," "from…to."
e.g. The symposium is to last until Friday.
The play ran from January 1 until/to February 18.

[ 本帖最后由 散物过日 于 2008-1-9 23:25 编辑 ]