Transcript American English and British English – Same words

American English and British
English – Same words different
meaning
Are you sure you want to wear your
vest over your shirt?
Some words are cross-variety homonyms, i.e.
they mean completely different things in
different varieties of English. This can
sometimes cause confusion.
Here are pictures of some ‘English’ words which mean different
things in British and American English. Do you know what the
word is and which meaning belongs to which variety of English?
For example on the first slide the word is ‘vest’ which in British
English is worn under your shirt and in American English is worn
over your shirt. In British English a ‘waistcoat’ is worn over a
shirt (and usually under a jacket as part of a man’s suit) and in
American English an ‘undershirt’ is worn exactly where you
would expect.
This is a difficult one. You need to
know the name of the town with its
famous ‘crooked spire’ in
Derbyshire.