Differences between American & British English

it's actually by the by not by the bye , bye is a short form of good bye

here's some words commonly used in england not all are very friendly but i thought i might add them to show the various slang

twat,

prat,

wanker,

sod ( can also be used as "sod off"),

innit?( "isn't it " used at the end of a sentence for a response like RP isn't

that so , american huh? , candaian eh?) ,

snog(kiss),

shag(to have sex),

bobbie(police man , cop comes from robert peele inventer of the modern police force),

twit,

bloody(used alot as in "bloody hell"),

flaming (same usage as bloody),

you wha ?( "come agian?" "what did u do"),

paki (not very polite racsist expletive for the indian/pakistani community ),

bugger off, sod off, piss off (get lost),

thick( as in you are thick , he is thick , meaning he is stupid mean that
nothing get through his head common prhase is thick as a brick ),

barmy( loony , lost his marbles),

cow( used for women equivalent is bitch , wouldn't make sense to americans but would make any brit lady mad)

tart(same usage as cow),

daft (not very bright as in he's a bit daft ),

football( american soccer , soccer is used only in norht america/australia foot ball to rest of the world , contrary to american misconception cricket is not the main sport foot ball is everyoen is football mad),

mate(best friend , one of ur good friends ex i went out wiht my mates ,NOT your spouse or to have sex ,pal(A)),

fag (can mean ciggarettes or gay ppl watever teh context),

ciggies(cigarettes),

posh(can refer to posh spice nowadays,a english football club , as well assomeone high class , ex did u hear posh's latest album,did u watch posh's match, or she's rite posh respectively )

Man U(refers to manchester united english soccer team)

becks(david beckham former Man U captain who now plays for barcelona, u mite commonly hear about the england's power couple as "becks and posh" )

wog ( rascist term for the afro -caribbien community)

coronation street,eastenders(popular shows on television)

goodness gracious me , hte kumars at no.40 ( stereotypical comedies about the indian/pakistani community popular in whole of britain (even indians))

fish n chips ( snack in england )

chicken tikka masala , vindaloo , curry( nicknames and dishes of indian food in england which is very popular , u have indian restraunts all over england )

the tube( subway system in london)

the sun ( british tabloid noted for pg 3 which is kinda liek the one page playboy of the tabloid )

eastend( workign class of london , in most areas (???) , is it still (???))
cockney (dialect of english with mostly slang spoken by estenders)

quid (pound , american buck , candain loonie, has no plural ex, 100 quid )

that's all for now mite add more hope u liek it , mite be especially useful for the american expat , or visitor , especially if u get into a fight eh ? :) ;)

British sports:

- Football (soccer): Traditiona

- Football (soccer): traditionally the game of the working class, now by far the most popular sport in the country.
- Cricket: Popular village sport, middle class audience upwards. Used to teach natvies of foreign countries what civilisation was in the gory days of the Empire.
- Rugby: A sport to turn boys into men. Very popular in private schools and so also middle class and probably most of the spectators played it when young. At least, for England. It is the national sport of Wales and has more popular appeal there. It is a bit like American Football but on the whole obsessed with sportmanship and (traditionally) anti-commercial. By far the best of all three but only the Welsh, SW French, New Zealanders and South Africans seem to realise this.

Actually, there are more English dialects than American dialects in a country 25 times smaller. I'm not saying that's better or worse though, just different.

we do have a 'lingo': how about wanker, tosser, bollocks, schewiff, fag (a cigarette), bender (a homosexual), lorry, flat, ginger (red-headed), mate (friend), bloke (a man), bugger (idiot - also bugger off: go away), dodgy - badly made, knackered (tired).

You just don't see many American programs.

Also, you're wrong about the hard and fast grammar rules - British and American are different but one is not more grammatically correct than the other.

Also, American spelling might be slightly easier to remember, but both styles of English are hugely unphonetic and half a dozen words isn't going to make that much difference. British words like center reflect their french origin. If English was phonetic we wouldn't have words like 'blood' and the thousands of others I can't be bothered to write down..

No, "centre" is how we spell it. Call Centers, Furniture Care Centers are spelt the American way.

The United Kingdom may be 25 times smaller geographically but in terms of population, it's about one fifth. Yet, the population of Ireland is less than a tenth of the United Kingdom population...

The UK has more accents just because English speakers have lived there for longer, and lived during a time when there was no electronic communication. Back when Native Americans lived across the United States they spoke hundreds of different languages, not just dialects or accents.

James, if you are talking about TV programs, there are many American television programs. You just don't get them in the UK. Actually, you do get programs on certain channels like Simpsons or Friends. We don't get any UK programs here unless someone has BBC America on digital cable, although public television shows some British TV movies. Oh, we get Jamie Oliver on Food Network too.

Ryan

You can also get some UK show on PBS at times...

I meant *shows* <---with the "s"...another thing is PBS is local I think. KVIE is our local PBS station in Sacramento and they show some UK programs. (Or at least they sound British.) Masterpiece Theater, Tudor House (?), Sherlock Homes, and some old shows. I also remember seeing a documentry of people re-living WWI (or WWII?) in England (a family just had to live like an actual family of the war time would and another was a documentry of a Shakespeare group in England (rather non-Shakespeare) trying to show/prove that Shakespeare didn't write his books/poems and some other guy did (his name started with an M.)

It doesn't show popular the stuff though (Besides Seseme Street and Arthur in the morning when I'm at school. hehe.)

There was this one program I saw were the scene was the same (One Scene produnction) and never changed (except from day to night) and I'm not sure if it was British or Irish. The accents sounded a little Irish... (*It had a very interesting plot, though, considering I watched it and there was NO action or visual effects. Not even sound effects. Just drama and little humor.*) Sorry. I was talking to myself...

Bye :)

Maybe I'm just incredibly uncultured, but on Comedy Central, occastionally they air episodes of the original version of Whose Line is it Anyway, hosted by Clive Anderson(the US version is now hosted by Drew Carey). A good deal of the jokes told by the British cast members based right over my head. With American programming on your TV stations, is this ever an issue? Just general wondering on my half...

I'm sorry, not "based", "passed". Sometimes my own stupidity amazes me.

Amoni, thank you very much. I am indeed indebted to you for your understanding and tolerance.

who ever started i do think some part of american lingo is entering british english and alos i would think vice vers ??. i means cops used to say halt b4 now eveeryone one uses bloody "freeze" very american i should think

You are very welcome. :)

to "hi again " i know this mite be a bit late but perhaps they shakespeare ppl were talking about christopher marlowe who mite have written shakespeare's plays