In the UK Mother’s Day is 3rd March this year. US 11th May. This means I have to buy Mother’s Day cards now and remember where I put them so I can send them to my mom and step-mom in May.
It used to be that the clocks changed a week apart in the fall, but that’s been changed and we do it on the same day now.
A UK worker gets about 25 days of holiday a year. US, 10 if they’re lucky.
In the US there are, I think, 6 Federal Holidays that everyone gets off. In the UK it varies by area, but here in Northern Ireland we get 12.
In the UK chips are crisps and french fries are chips.
In the US you drive on the pavement and walk on the side walk. In the UK we drive on the road and walk on the pavement.
In the UK we have boots and lifts and moving staircases. In the US you have trunks and elevators and escalators.
In the US you have subways. In the UK we have tubes.
UK cars use petrol. US cars use gas.
In the UK we take a coach. In the US you take a bus.
In the US the alphabet ends with zee. In the UK it ends with zed (totally messes up the song to have it end with zed, I think. Go ahead, sing it with zed, if you’re from the US, you’ll see what I mean. See? It doesn’t rhyme any more!).
In the US, at least at my private school, 4pm was time for PE. In the UK, time for tea.
Neither is better. Neither is worse. They are just different.
The Mother’s Day thing frequently causes great panic and confusion in places where Americans and Brits live side by side. If you get it wrong, you are a Bad Child.
I have got into the habit of using Zee, simply because there are a lot of Czech abbreviations with a Z in them. My health insurer is called VZP. VeeZeePee is easy to say, but VeeZedPee is definitely not.
I’ve explained to Jeff what the difference is between cookies and biscuits to a Brit. If it’s large and soft-textured (and probably sold hot in a shopping mall or supermarket) then it’s a cookie – if it’s smaller and crispy then it’s a biscuit. Either way, it’s MINE.
Oh, one other thing:
In the US, you can get peanut butter M&Ms with great ease and for a very small capital outlay. That’s definitely better rather than just different.