Differences between American & British English

Thank you very much vinnie.

That explains why Austin Powers's Jaguar says 'Shaguar'. (shag-uar hehe)

When I say "Asian", I refer to ALL the people from Asia, which includes Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Indochinese, Indians, Pakistanis, Afghanis, Iranians, Iraqis, Arabs, Turks, Siberians, Kazakhs, etc.

When I say "Indian", I refer to people from the Republic of India.

Nay, Vinnie,

US Candy = UK Sweet (most often used in the plural "sweets")
"Chocolate" is a type of sweet/candy.

Here's a very humorous site on our cultural differences (from a Brit's...er, British person's point of view):

"British in America: Going Native"
http://www.britishinamerica.com/goingnative.html

to Guoefei Ma

yes the word asians does mean to people from all parts of asia but we both know when an american means asians he means people that descend form parts of east asia( china , korea ,japan etc) , but when a person form britain says asians he 's refffering to people thatdescend from parts of south east asia ( India , Pakistan , Bangladesh)

this is because they are the major immigrants to these countries, there is hardly a chinese population in england ranging only to about 150,000 (all mostly in london) but there are around 2 million people from the indian sub continent.The asian (indian sub continent) community has been very much part of british life influencing recent british life , with indian (tandoori ) take out being very popular .



In america there are more number of chinese and other east asians than south east asians( India , Pakistan , Bangladesh).Chinese culture has influenced American culture with the chinese take out being very popular


As to indians ask any american about indians and he's gonna talk almost always about the native americans .But in britain indians are gonna always be ppl from india. This difference is because Christopher Columbus thought that he would be able to reach India by going west instead of east, but he encountered a whole new continent and thought that the natives were "indians".Infact Christopher Columbus died thinking he had discovered an alternate route to india ,not a whole new continent .

And sweets , yes it is used but not as much as choclate , u never hear chocolate much in america , and candy in britain .

Hello, Vinnie:

According to data from the U.S. Census 2000, there are almost as many Indians (that is, people from India) as Chinese in the United States.

I happen to live in the Silicon Valley, a region of California where there is a heavy concentration of Asians, mostly Chinese, Indian, and Vietnamese. I believe that Asians combined with Latinos account for more than 50% of the local population. Here, one can see Indians (that is, people from India) everywhere and not a single Native American. In fact, all my neighbours are Indian (people from or descendants of people from India). When one says the word "Indian", it is very unlikely for one to be referring to Native Americans.

On the other hand, if one happens to live in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, or even in the more inland regions of California, one is most likely referring to Native Americans when one uses the word "Indian".

I have heard the word "chocolate" used in America and I have never heard any Briton referring to any sweets that do not contain cocoa as "chocolate". I would say that Godiva Chocolatiers manufacture chocolate whilst Smarties are sweets.

By the bye, Vinnie, are you a Briton or an American? I am a Briton currently living in the US.

According to many lists of differences between UK and US English, the word "jelly" has a different meaning in the two countries. Whenever I hear the word "jelly", I instantly think of a sweet gelatin-based food. However, I understand that what comes to my mind is the British "jelly".

Can someone please tell me what Americans refer to when they say "jelly"?

What is with the "by the bye" ?

by the by = anyway ,by the way


i'm actually canadian who has grown up in the uk .
So i have a good idea of both the noth american and british dialects.
And if you are gonna go by statistics c'mon ask any north american when u refer indian they alway mean native american , infact people now refer to indians (india) as "east" indians .If u don't believe me ask any american or better yet go to a search engine and type in or "asians in britain" "asians in america" .

And don't tell me indians in britain haven't contributed to british life , bhangra, chincken tikka masala are practically british , u go to south hall , birmingham , manchester , london, coventry , glasgow , u have all indians/pakistanis , the only chinese community i have seen are in london( the only place having it's own china town , i also think they are mostly from of hong kong , hk beign a recent colony of sorts ) or in few numbers in the north.

(i'm also takign the liberty of assuming that you are part of teh british chinese community so u should know it's not what u think it's what the people in general in britiain think)
The next largest immigrant goup to britain are the afro carriebiens.

the recent immigration by indians to america is mostly due to the internet boom owing to the indian population in the west(the valley ) in the east it's been a bit longer especially in jersey . The chinese on the other hand have been immigrating for almost a 100 years , anyway why doesn't another ameican just speak up eh? My experience asians are always (far east asians) innorth america . And about chionese being more i don't thikn so out of the asian (asia) community in general tehy rank teh higest indians come third or 4th i beleive

i thikn that in britain (canada ??) jelly is the jelly u going about the american equivalent i belive is jell-o , jelly in america is only used to refer viscous liquid not the sweet .

UK Jelly = US Jell-O

When I refer to "jelly", it's the fruit spread that I combine with peanut butter to make my sandwiches. Similar to "jam", although jam is made from fruit pulp rather than fruit juice.

right thanks julian i forgot about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches , yes the british euivilant is similar to jam , it's also used to refer ky jelly eh ? something thick liquid like i should think

Julian, thank you for your explanation of "jelly".

Vinnie, thank you for responding. You can consider me a member of both the British Chinese and American Chinese communities. I am a British citizen and I have lived in the UK for some time but I currently live in the US. It is absolutely true that I am from Hong Kong.

"By the bye"

How completely, utterly, pretentiously annoying!

"By the bye" isn't more annoying or pretentious than "by the way". Golly, chappies, pray let a fellow use the words he prefers to use! Perhaps some sleep would make you a little less irritable.

I agree with you. With all the idioms and slangs and altered words in the world today, another wouldn't hurt. He might as well complain about the personal slang of EVERYONE and then he'll see that "by the bye" isn't worth arguing over or being irritated by.

Like the saying goes "Don't sweat the small stuff." :)

Amoni