Linguistics

[resonant]

I'm compiling an American-to-British phrasebook (because reasons Sherlock). You can find decent dictionaries online (nappy, lorry, etc., etc.) but I'm not so much finding speech patterns -- word choices, syntax, where an American says 'on' and a Brit says 'in,' that kind of thing.

Oddly enough, most of what I've got here (that didn't come from Arctic Monkeys songs) came to my attention because I'd be reading a story in a fandom with an American canon, and I'd hit a phrase that made me go, "This author must be British." (The drawback of this is that some of it might be Australian or something.)

Anybody want to offer input? Here's what I've got (American on the left, British on the right).

Brits use a lot of 'got,' but I can't quite formulate a rule.

to see if you had my number -----> to see if you'd got my number

(also Americans say 'gotten')

Brits don't like to let helping verbs hang out alone.

"You'd eat a horse." "I have." ---> "You'd eat a horse." "I have done."

"That joke gets old." "It must." ---> "That joke gets old." "It must do."

The two dialects handle prepositions differently.

"in the hospital" ---> "in hospital"

"lives on Baker Street" ---> "lives in Baker Street"

Different vocabulary.

"we went to college together" ---> "we went to uni together"

"toss it" or "throw it away" ---> "bin it"

There are a number of things that Brits treat as plural that Americans treat as singular.

"the band wasn't very good" ---> "the band weren't very good"

"I'm no good at math" ---> "I'm rubbish at maths"

"the jury wasn't paying attention" ---> "the jury weren't paying attention"

Comments

[spainja]

Ones that have jumped out at me:

"hire" vs. "rent"

"lot" to refer to people--as in "You lot, come with me." or "The lot of you." (Americans would say "you guys" or "all of you" or, in some places, "y'all.")

"rude"--Brits use it to mean "vulgar" or "obscene"; Americans use it to mean "impolite".

"holiday" vs. "vacation"

What exactly "snogging" means--I've seen it in fics to refer to casual kissing, which isn't right.

"have a lie in" vs. "sleep in"

"do the washing up" vs. "wash the dishes" or "do the dishes"

"High Street" vs. "Main Street"

[jesse_the_k]

This fangirl is dying to know the difference between casual kissing (mother/son? on the lips no tongue?) and snogging and (as long as I'm asking) full-on snogging?

[greedy_dancer]

Not actually a native English speaker at all, but I've been taught "snogging" is the equivalent of "frenching" or what they called "pashing" in Australia = kissing with tongues!

[resonant]

Those are truly excellent.

So what does 'snogging' mean? I picture it as fairly wet kissing in a close clinch (maybe because it has two G's in it like 'snuggling.'

[carolyn_claire]

Not British (obviously) but I always thought snogging was equivalent to "making out" in USian? Which would be different from more casual kissing in the same way that snogging is, yes? (Almost typed that as snotting, which is also very different from casual kissing, if all goes well.)

[jamjar]

Also, getting off with someone (as in "I got off with Tim last night." is more in the nature of making out, snogging, maybe heavy petting, then actual orgasms.