It seems odd to me that the British are considered, historically, more formal than the US, but the language isn’t necessarily so. Elevator seems more formal to me than lift. Escalator more so than Moving Staircase.
In the US you would probably not hear someone ask, in a shop or a restaurant, where the toilet is. In the UK its the most common term.
I think UK slang is just more interesting than US. Quid versus Buck. Wanker versus Idiot.
There is slang that still gets me in trouble. Blow someone off has a totally different meaning here. I’ll you figure out what it is.
Fanny is not your bottom in the UK. It is a woman’s front bit. 😉 Want to get a bunch of UK natives chuckling? Tell them you own a fanny pack.
Interestingly, a penny is a penny all over the UK and US. In fact, I found an American penny at work one day and our accounts manager refused to believe it was also called a penny. I had to prove it to her online.
I still call potato chips chips. And I still call french fries french fries. Except when I don’t!!
And in other news, the lift in our block of flats announced the third floor again as we went by. Silly Lift.
cut it out and speak ENGLISH!!!
I once saw an episode of CSI: Miami which featured a weird crime where people run up, smack a stranger on the bum and run off, usually being filmed whilst doing it. They called ‘fanny smacking’.
Bloody hilarious watching it, I cracked up everytime it was said.