Talk:List of words having different meanings in American and British English (A–L)/Archive 2

message: Hmm, I'm confused. There seems to be three separate articles in WP that serve the purpose of explaining American/British differences. I added a bunch to one of them this morning, without really thinking about where they should go, because only that one page happened to be on my watchlist. Someone later kindly reorganised them. However, given a word or phrase, it's hard to know which page they should go on. More importantly, anyone coming to WP as a reference for these differences has to either look in all three places, or else might miss one or more of them. Maybe the three articles should be consolidated into one, so that's what I'm proposing. I think the form on this page is the most useful, with three columns rather than two. However, there should be two tables - one for British words and one for American words. They can appear one above the other. By consolidating the tables under one article heading, I think the ambiguity can be avoided and the page become much more useful. What do others think? Graham 04:29, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I believe these were previously separated due to size. I think the categories are quite clear, especially as there are links to the other articles. -- Chris Q 07:58, 1 Dec 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't think "size" is ever a good reason alone to split an article - no other articles do this, no matter how large they get. WP is not paper, so you don't find History of England (part 1) and History of England (part 2) etc. I disagree that the categories are clear, it was my confusion that led me to this proposal in the first place. Graham 00:15, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't think it is just size, though this can be a problem for people with slow connections. I think the split is logical. -- Chris Q 07:36, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I think the word "logical" is being misused here: it's 'convenient' for users with a slow connection to have the article split into 'pages'; the issue is perhaps 'how' to do that split. I think it's more logical to build the unified tables, and break them up into 'A-L' and 'M-Z' (or more if necessary). It takes one to know one 16:44, 25 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Consolidation of articles?

message: Can someone who knows what "undepilated" means replace it with something more intelligible? (under beaver) Thanks. 212.159.61.65 15:47, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Hmm, so undepilated is a bit of a rara avis linguistically speaking.  I was surprised to see only 'about 35' matches in Google, and 8,310 matches for 'depilated'.  Anyway, pilus is the Latin noun for 'a hair', and pilare is the Latin verb meaning 'to remove or strip of hair'. Depilate is an English verb, meaning to remove hair, formed from the Latin noun root - hence depilatory creams for removing hair.  Undepilated is therefore something that hasn't been depilated i.e. hasn't had the hair removed.  A possible alternative might be 'unshaven', although not strictly correct as there are ways of removing hair other than shaving - the use of depilatory creams that dissolve the hair is one, singeing is another. WLD 16:52, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Rare word

message: Doesn't solicitor also mean a telephone sales-person in the US? (My wife from Texas uses it this way though she doesn't know id it is just a regional usage)
: It can also be one who sells "door to door". Mga 17:19, 15 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: It certainly means door to door selling in Raleigh, N.C.  Lots of buildings have notices on the doors saying 'No soliciting'  which always makes me smile because I'm British and soliciting in British English is short for 'soliciting for immoral purposes', that is, attempting to pick up a prostitute on the street.  --Kjwhitefoot 23:17, 26 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  solicitor - us meaning? 

message: In the USA, medical doctors and surgeons are both M.D.'s (as in Jane Jones, M.D.) and both are addressed as "Doctor."  I have the impression, from reading English novels, that in England surgeons are referred to as Mr. (and Miss/Mrs.?), and that this conveys a higher status than Dr. Can someone clarify this?
: A hospital specialist or surgeon would be called "Mister" and this would usually rank him above MDs in a hospital. --Tony Sidaway|Talk 22:58, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: In Britain, very few doctors are MDs. Most are MBChB (Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery) - a course which takes as long as the American MD but gives a different qualification. They are still entitled to the courtesy title of "Doctor", however. Only the most highly qualified actually hold an MD. Only qualified surgeons (i.e. Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons - FRCS), not specialists (except gynaecologists, who traditionally also hold the title), are entitled to be called Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms. This does not technically confer higher status - the hospital ranks in all specialties, surgical and otherwise, are House Officer/Senior House Officer/Registrar/Consultant and most consultants are not actually surgeons (a consultant physician is just as senior as a consultant surgeon). -- Necrothesp 01:03, 21 Mar 2005 (UTC)

text: The title "Mister" dates to the 18th Century, when British physicians did have MD degrees but barber-surgeons did not; see Surgery#Development_of_modern_surgery. Joestynes 01:15, 21 Mar 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: People are confusing two meanings of the word 'doctor'.  As far as I can make out the D in MD in US usage now actually means medical doctor whereas the D in M.D. in British English usage is an academic degree (Bachelor, Master, Doctor). --Kjwhitefoot 23:25, 26 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Medical Doctors 

message: Current definition (part): "alternative to twit (a largely inoffensive term for someone who is a bit silly, although some consider 'twat' to be offensive)"
I was surprised and saddened to see that it is considered that "twat" is equivalent to "twit". I would argue that most Britons consider "twat" to be as vulgar as "fuck", and very few Britons would say that "twat" and "twit" are interchangeable. "Twit" is so weak as to be considered a child's word. "Twat" is similar in strength to "moron".
:To my mind twat is slang for vagina. I tend to agree with you, but possibly there's a regional variation on how strong it is considered. Jooler 01:03, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: In my experience, most British people would definitely not regard "twat" as anywhere near as vulgar as "fuck" (or as strong as "moron"), and many wouldn't even be aware of its sexual context (the mild insult usage being much more common than the anatomical usage in the UK). It is indeed often used as an alternative to "twit". I'm not sure why you're saddened - it's not being used here in its sexual sense. That's the beauty of language - different meanings are, well, different, even if they come from the same source. -- Necrothesp 12:51, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)

text: It's a vulgar term with or without its sexual connotations and the people I know certainly wouldn't compare it to "twit"! I've reworked the entry. violet/riga (t) 10:19, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)

text: I live in the north of England, and it's perfectly common for one's wife to "twat her husband on the head, if they're being a silly twat, for crawling back home twatted after a night out chasing twat." Pardon me, I'm sure! ; ) It takes one to know one 18:04, 25 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: If she called someone else's husband a twat it might raise one or two eyebrows though.  Certainly regarded as vulgar in the south.  However, I suspect that many are unaware of the anatomical meaning.  Also don't forget that the UK is still, or perhaps increasingly, a class conscious society and words that are common within one group can be almost wholly unused possibly even unknown to another group living in the same geographical area.  --Kjwhitefoot 23:33, 26 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  twat 

message: "(UK: fizzy drink or colloquially (fizzy) pop)"
The terms "fizzy drink" and "pop" are equally colloquial. The formal term is "(carbonated) soft drink". (When I was young they were called "minerals".)
:An intresting site to view on this and related words is: http://popvssoda.com. Dalf | Talk 20:20, 26 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  soda 

message: I'm British, and I understand a woman described as "homely" to be plain.
:You were as of 1994 in the minority; see SARA (intermittent link) for the British National Corpus.  Americanisms do tend to become naturalized.  Joestynes 04:01, 22 Mar 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Where on that page is your justification?  I've just looked and what I saw were mostly literary references of little relavance to everyday English usage.  Or are you taking plain to mean ugly?  --Kjwhitefoot 23:39, 26 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  homely 

message: ace: "a one or eleven in a suit of playing cards"
Does this mean that over there, you also call the jack the "ace"?  Or what? -- Smjg 10:38, 5 Apr 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I think it's a reference to blackjack.  Are there other card games where an ace is worth 11? Joestynes 10:43, 5 Apr 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  Not that I know of.  The definition as it stands is nothing but misleading, and should be reverted if nobody has a better explanation. -- Smjg 11:52, 5 Apr 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Should be reverted. -- Necrothesp 11:54, 5 Apr 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Agree that it should be reverted. WLD 07:56, 6 Apr 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  One or eleven 

message: There are a number of items that are listed as having a meaning of '(none special)'. If this is the case the surely they don't belong on this page but rather on List of British English words not used in American English or List of American English words not used in British English Jooler 08:27, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: It's not that there are no meanings there, it's that there are none specific to that region not also used by the other region.  If meaning X is uk-specific and meanings Y and Z are common to both, some entries state UK:X, US:none-special; other entries state UK:X (+US meanings), US:Y,Z.  This is of course inconsistent, but not in the way you suggest.  Some day this inelegant page will be a Template or Category in Wiktionary.  Some day.  Joestynes 09:13, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)

text: This was done by Lysdexia a while back - see archived discussion.  It's just plain silly to me - we should work on putting back the common meanings, complete with "(+UK meaning)" and "(+US meaning)" as appropriate. -- Smjg 15:28, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  "(none special)" is handy where there are lots of shared meanings e.g. band,  ring.   Broadening the discussion, there is also a problem of homonyms being grouped, e.g. sic is not one word with 2 different meanings, it's 2 words, one an Americanism, the other a Latinism.  I think the 3-way distinction "different meanings"/"British only"/"American only" falls between two stools of comprehensive distinction and simple blanket listing, and imposes an artificial rigid structure on a continuum of degrees of overlap. This means there are also frequent cases of words being shifted from one page to another, or duplicated on two pages.  Pending Wiktionarification, I would prefer all these vocabulary differences to be on a single page, enumerating only non-shared meanings, with (none) or (others shared) where appropriate.  Saying "comforter" means "quilted bedspread" is useful; saying it means "one who comforts" is pretty tedious. Joestynes 07:30, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  Aside from what's already been said (did you actually read the archived discussion?), a list of dialectal differences in the meanings of the same words is a useful resource in itself and should be kept.  Mixing it with words that only exist in one dialect would clutter it up quite a bit.  Moreover, is it that difficult to check for and clear out duplicates between this, List of British English words not used in American English and List of American English words not used in British English? -- Smjg 09:13, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  Yes, I read the proposal.  Why wasn't it implemented? Joestynes 00:52, 2 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  Do you mean the proposal to have three columns of meanings?  I guess partly because none of us got round to it, and partly because we hadn't decided what to do with the likes of "(+ US meaning as an Americanism)" and meanings that are on both sides but rare on one.  If we can come to a decision, I'd be happy to do it and tidy up things in the process. -- Smjg 10:07, 3 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  Yes, that's the one I meant.  To avoid repeating myself ad nauseam, I'll just say, I would hate to see other Wikipedians putting effort here into an imperfect categorization with information that is more appropriate to Wiktionary.  I would be interested in any work that improves each project's ability to cross-pollinate the other, but not in duplicating work.  I fear that if a would-be editor feels they have to add all 9 shared meanings of some word when they want to mention the one distinct meaning, they may just not bother adding it at all.  Of course, they might add the one distinct and leave the drudgery of adding the other 9 to good citizens like Smjg.  Better would be: add it to Wiktionary with some kind of categorization tag, and have some link in Wikipedia to the list of all such tagged items.  Joestynes 10:47, 3 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Meaning (none special)

message: The British meaning properly refers to the colour (actually an orangey yellow) rather than to the traffic light, though the traffic light is indeed by far the most common occurrence of this colour by this name.  Only children who don't know better would even tend to describe the colour simply as "yellow".  In the US, is the light more a plain yellow, or is it the same colour but you just call it "yellow"? -- Smjg 10:07, 3 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Amber 

message: I was interested to see that "flapjack" (UK) = "pancake" (US) and went to find out what the American word for what British people call a "pancake" was, but was disappointed to find it missing.  Does anyone know the answer?  In Britain, pancakes are traditionally eaten on Shrove Tuesday (also known as Pancake Tuesday!) and are similar to French crepes.
Tina Morrell 14:39, 7 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: No, the list states that "flapjack" (UK) = "granola bar" (US) and "flapjack" (US) = "pancake" (UK).  Not the other way round as you're claiming.  And most of us Brits call it Pancake Day rather than Pancake Tuesday. -- Smjg 09:26, 17 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Flapjack / Pancake 

message: I've started on the aforementioned rewrite with three columns of meanings.  I hope that this will end up as something that is tidier and more maintainable than the current article.  I've also improved some of the definitions there.
List of words having different meanings in British and American English/rewrite
Please discuss issues relating to this rewrite on its talk page.
-- Smjg 16:32, 18 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rewrite in progress 

message: American's call it a "lightning storm" is that right?  I reckon that's coz it's rare to actually see the lightning in this country haha!  Could someone add this I'm weary of messing up the tables... (ricjl)
:I'm from Massachusetts, and we've always called them thunderstorms. -- Beland 21:31, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Thunder Storm 

message: My understanding is that US usage is that an apartment is rented and a condo is bought (with a service charge), where UK usage has flat for any residence that is part of a building.
--Po8crg 7 July 2005 00:59 (UTC)
It's only a flat if it is flat, that is, only one floor.  At least that used to be the definition.  --Kjwhitefoot 23:44, 26 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  apartment/condo/flat 

message: UK: any time off from work or school, including the period between school terms (US: break, vacation); recreational trip away from home (US: vacation) -- US: (none special)
Surely the subtly-different American sense that should be shown here is that of a traditional (religious?) festival and its associated public holiday, eg Christmas/Channukah, for which it sometimes seems to be a deliberately denominationally-neutral term.  "Happy holiday(s)" doesn't really mean much in the UK but would (I suggest) be taken as an exhortation to have a nice "vacation", whereas in fact it would be a good (US) English translation of French bonnes fêtes, for which nothing springs to mind in British English.  There's plenty of scope for confusion here: for example, what would "holiday weather" or "holiday activities" imply in the different cultures?  Is "holiday" perhaps roughly equivalent to the British use of "festive" to mean "Christmassy"? Flapdragon 01:07, 17 July 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: The differences were indeed shown here until somebody took it upon themselves to remove a lot of useful info and replace it with the rather pointless 'None special' (and in many other definitions too). These are slowly being readded, but feel free to do so. -- Necrothesp 01:27, 17 July 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks. Would be good too hear some opinions from native speakers of US English to confirm I'm on the right lines. Flapdragon 17:59, 18 July 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: oops, I hope I didnt step on any toes. I figured the article entry is comparing Holiday (UK) and Vacation (US). ohwell --Kvuo 23:32, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  holiday 

message: We need an entry for "float" here, in the sense of admitting a private company to the Stock Exchange; but I don't know what the US verb would be (the noun would be IPO, I suppose) Mark O'Sullivan 09:19, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  float 

message: While I accept that it might not be the main meaning of the word prom here in the UK, I added "+ US meaning" to the 'prom' section because it is used and understood in that context here in the UK. However, it's been reverted on the grounds of it being a "pure Americanism". Americanism it may be, but its usage in that context is still understood and used here in the UK. Certainly, we had a prom at my school and we all knew what it meant, and that was five years ago! They'd been having proms at that school since at least 1990 as far as I'm aware, and I'm certain many, if not most, schools in the UK have them these days, so I dont see what's wrong with adding the "+ US meaning". Anyway, rather than become involved in some sort of edit war, I thought I'd raise the issue here. Angmering 00:40, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: It's understood, yes, but I'd heavily dispute that it's commonly used. Most people on hearing it would assume it was an Americanism and would probably be rather surpised at it being used in that context over here. I'm sure it is used in some schools, but only as a loan word from the USA because of the painful and rather tragic desire of some British people to use Americanisms because they think it gives them some sort of street cred. It's still not a word commonly used in the British vernacular, and therefore I don't believe it belongs here. Many American words are understood and occasionally used in the UK - it doesn't mean they're British usages. The OED, for example, lists it as an American usage only. -- Necrothesp 00:47, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Well I suppose I can only speak from my own personal perspective and experience, which differs somewhat from this, but I'm no great linguistic expert so I shall bow to your superior judgement on this one. Angmering 00:51, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

text: Neither of my schools had such a thing, but the college I went to from 1996 to 1999 had a 'prom' in that sense and by that name.  Though it was in mid-May rather than actually at the end of the academic year, and held for everyone rather than just those who are about to leave the college. -- Smjg 09:41, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Prom

message: I just noticed the phrase 'called for' in an American news report (Rita comes ashore), where it seems to mean 'to predict'.  In British English 'to call for' means 'to demand'.  I'm not sure whether to add this to the article, because:
#Not being American, I don't know whether the usage in the article report is standard American usage, and
#I'm not sure that phrasal verbs belong on this page.  Do we need a new 'Phrasal verbs' section?
Any opinions? --Heron 10:09, 24 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Seems a reasonable addition, if it's used (being English, I don't know either). No reason that phrasal verbs shouldn't be on the list (and some already are). -- Necrothesp 11:40, 24 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: A casual hunt for similar examples yeilds none. Either this is esoteric usage, a typo or other mistake or my search skills are not up to scratch. Jooler 11:45, 24 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text:  That might be jocular rather than an Americanism.  -- Smjg 12:46, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

text: Yes, a check of the Oxford English Dictionary confirms this usage as an Americanism. "To indicate or anticipate on the basis of present conditions or trends; to predict". -- Necrothesp 15:29, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  To call for 

message: I've heard Americans say they are going to the market , meaning the supermarket. It's not something that I've heard from anyone in the UK.I'd expect a market to be a street or covered market with stalls. Should 'market' be added to the list of words?
:Probably.  I was unaware that UK residents do not use market as short for "supermarket" like us Americans.  --Coolcaesar 22:05, 25 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, it's certainly true that we in the UK would never use "market" as a shortening of supermarket. -- Necrothesp 20:11, 26 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Market 

message: This is one I encountered recently.  I do not know if it belongs though as urbandictionary lists the diffrence as "old british" (though not in all the definitions).  roger at the urban dictionary.
:Still used and understood, although usually jocularly. -- Necrothesp 10:14, 29 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  roger 

message: I have several words that would appear to have different meanings in Britian as opposed to the US. However, as I am not current on my US meanings or my UK meanings I did not want to enter them.
*Brace as used by the BBC in sports to refer to a pair. As in "Shefki Kuqi's brace for Blackburn..." (he scored two goals). I've never heared it used in that fashion in North America.
*Travellers as used by the BBC to refer to what I would call tinkers or travelling people. This was a difficult one to decipher as I first assumed they were talking about people on holiday rather than people without homes who travelled about the country.
*Grooming when refering to persuading someone to have sex or preparing them for sex. 
*Suspicious is my favourite because it supplied me with a good chuckle. The BBC reported that the police had found a decomposed, headless body. The police said they "...did not find it suspicious...". Which of course left me wondering how many headless bodies the police had to find before they did become suspicious. It really is just the UK way of saying that "Foul play is not suspected". But it really looked funny the first time I saw it.
Nobody I know has heard of these words being used in this way but as I live in a small Canadian Arctic town that may just be a lack of communication. However, we have both satellite TV and internet and have not heard them used in this fashion. CambridgeBayWeather 11:25, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: "Brace" would be considered quite archaic by most British people, I suspect (I would associate it with a "brace of partridge" or a "brace of pistols", not phrases you usually hear in modern speech). The article on child grooming appears to have been written by an American, by the American spellings used, so I'm not sure whether that is peculiar to Britain. "Traveller" used in this sense probably is a Britishicism - it's a relatively recent usage. I don't know about "suspicious" - don't the North American media talk about "suspicious deaths"? -- Necrothesp 12:40, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: The usage of brace (and the quote) turned up yesterday from the BBC football results on my Palm. The quote is here Blackburn Rovers. I wasa surprised to see it as I too thought of it as archaic. I don't really remember it being in use even 30 years ago when I left Britain. Although I do not travel much to southern Canada I did check the other words out with people who do and none of them had heard the words used in those senses at all. The grooming one was the hardest one to figure out. In the end I had to call my 75 year-old dad in England to get it explained. Really wish I hadn't bothered. CambridgeBayWeather 13:29, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I listen to BBC Radio 5's sports coverage quite a lot, and "brace" turns up very often indeed when describing a player having scored two goals. I've often seen it written in newspaper sports reports, too, so I would dispute its status as archaic. Angmering 10:26, 9 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Several words

message: In the U.S. definition of Outside Lane, there is a comment: note that in both cases the term applies to the rightmost lane in the direction concerned.  Is this a fact about the word usage, or is it a coincidence brought about by the dual reversals of word use and traffic?  To test this question, we should consider the case of a person from the U.S. visiting the U.K.  Would he continue to refer to the "outside lane" as the one on the right?  I doubt it.  I sure wouldn't.  Similarly, a person from the U.K. would almost certainly continue to refer to the fast lane as the outside lane if he were transplanted to the U.S.  For this reason, although the comment points out an interesting oddity, it's not really about the definition or usage of the expression outside lane.  Furthermore, the comment might mislead a person to think that outside lane always means right lane to all speakers.—GraemeMcRaetalk 17:38, 29 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Outside Lane

message: Upon reading the entry for pressure I realized that factor is similar in a way.  As a result of helping math (or maths, in the U.K.) students, I realize that in the U.S. we say "to factor" (and its variants) as in "the trinomial x^2+x+1 can't be factored".  In the U.K., one would say "the trinomial x^2+x+1" can't be factorised".  Perhaps there are other words like this.  It might be the case that in the U.S. we verb nouns without changing them, but in the U.K. they more often "verbise" their nouns.—GraemeMcRaetalk 17:38, 29 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Of course, burgle/burglarize is an example of the opposite case. Nohat 20:09, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Factorise

message: The U.S. definition includes this:
:selected/chosen/requested/asked, especially to be publically selected for a special honor from one's peers as in the (possibly apocryphal) American Indian ceremony (e.g. "She was tapped for the position of CEO")
Can I suggest that the reference to the American Indian ceremony be either wikified (i.e. linked to the relevant articles that explain the reference) or else deleted.  For the latter, I propose:
:selected/chosen/requested/asked, especially to be publically selected for a special honor from one's peers (e.g. "She was tapped for the position of CEO")
—GraemeMcRaetalk 19:27, 29 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Tap

message: "bum" also means in the U.S. to cadge something off somebody else (e.g. "can I bum a cigarette off you?") (slang)
Yet, that meaning is missing from the U.S. side of "bum".
"burn" also means in the U.S. wound caused by chemical agents
"closet" also means in the U.S. secret (as an adjective; e.g. "he was a closet socialist")
[to] cop has all the same meanings in both countries except one.  This is British only: to be blamed for, be caught (e.g. "he'll cop it!") (slang)
In the U.S., "corn" also means horny swelling on the foot—GraemeMcRaetalk 01:47, 30 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Words with U.S. senses the same as U.K. senses

message: In the U.S., "copper" meaning police officer should add: (regarded as a Britishism)
This is not one of the meanings of "joint" in the U.S.: all or some of the limb of a meat animal, before or after cooking—GraemeMcRaetalk 01:47, 30 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: U.S. senses described here that are either regarded as Britishisms or not used at all

message: The following are changes that I would suggest, but I think there should be some discussion first:
in U.S., hire means "to recruit and employ for wages"
add to U.S. meaning of railroad: to do something, especially convict someone of a crime, with undue haste or without due consideration
root: change "Following" to "Upon"
To semi-trailer, add (UK: articulated lorry)
table: unlink "suspend", and delete from the U.S. side: ("to put it back on the table after having picked it up"), as it doesn't illustrate this sense of table.
fix "trillion" to be of the same style as "billion"...
::on the UK side: million million (1012)traditionally million million million (1018) (US and modern UK: quintillion), which is still often meant;
::::on the US side: million million (1012)(traditional UK: billion, which is now rare)
::::*Hearing no objection, I implemented this change today—GraemeMcRaetalk 23:36, 1 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: *Hearing no objection to adding this meaning of "trim", I will implement this today, reverting unexplained blanking of the whole row of the table.—GraemeMcRaetalk 03:59, 5 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Other changes that I suggest

message: I'm not so sure about the capitalization of Member of Parliment.  Is this a title that deserves a capital "M" and capital "P"?  I'm also not sure about the capitalization of Detective Constable, Detective Inspector, Police Constable.  If these are titles, and not used any other way, then they should be capitalized, but not otherwise.—GraemeMcRaetalk 01:47, 30 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, speaking as a fully paid up member of the Committee for the Abolition of Redundant Capitalisation and other Stylistic Fripperies: if the police ranks are directly attached to a named individual (ie a proper noun) they should normally be capitalised (eg Detective Inspector John Smith); if not, not (eg John Smith is a detective inspector in the Metropolitan Police). Many of these, of course, would rarely be spelt out in full (eg PC Jim Smith). This is also the case with MP (Edna Smith, MP). Parliament, of course, is always capped when refering to the UK Parliament. So I suspect Member of Parliament should be capped if only because member of Parliament looks odd.  Hope that helps. Icundell 12:49, 30 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, it does.  So Member of Parliment stays as is, but the others become detective constable, detective inspector, and police constable.—GraemeMcRaetalk 18:25, 30 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Seems eminently sensible to me. Icundell 13:09, 1 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Capitalization I'm not sure about

message: I see somebody's added a merge proposal to this piece.  I disagree:
* This article is long enough already without the clutter that that page seems to be aiming for.
* That page is nowhere near finished.
* If the structure of that page is meant to be that that was suggested above, then it doesn't really make sense.  Why have four columns if only the first two or only the last two are going to be filled in any row?
* Attention seems to have been diverted away from the rewrite that was already in progress.
* It doesn't solve some of the problems that the pre-existing rewrite was made to address; moreover, from what I can see at the moment it adds ambiguity of its own.
-- Smjg 13:34, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  The merge proposal 

message: When pronouced as "Reh-fuse", it means rubbish (that you dispose of) in British English, but it's not on the list.
geckokid82.39.41.172 23:59, 14 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: It doesn't need to be.  The list is only for differences. The word "refuse" as a noun carries the same meaning (garbage or rubbish) in both American English and British English.  Therefore there is no difference.  --Coolcaesar 00:16, 15 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Refuse 

message: Is this entry back to front?  I have never heard "napkin" used to mean "sanitory towel" in 50 years of living in the UK.  I have always understood a napkin and a serviette to be the same thing, the only difference being that "serviette" is often seen as a lower class word.
:Agree.  I also have never heard "napkin" used to mean "sanitory towel". It is either the wrong way round or completely incorrect. I will remove it for now, as I am not sure of the US meaning. -- Chris Q 07:21, 9 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: This is being discussed (at least my me) on List of words having different meanings in British and American English/rewrite, which is were the powers-that-be want the editing to be done, this page being deprecated.  For what it's worth, however, where do you think "nappy" came from?  (Answer: back-formation from that sense of napkin).  I'm willing to admit (subject to further research) that the sanitary use of napkin is old-fashioned now in Britain. -- Gnetwerker 07:25, 9 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Napkin 

message: I would suggest that it is about time to archive again.  Objections? - Gnetwerker 09:47, 8 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Archive?

message: I recently moved the article tout to ticket resale, because it seemed to me that both the terms "scalper" and "tout" are pretty regionally-marked. I had never even heard of "tout" until I searched for ticket scalping and got redirected to that article. Anyhow, I'd do it myself but the format of this page is a little more opaque than I feel like figuring out myself, but someone should add "tout" and "scalp" to this list, giving the "ticket resale" definitions. Nohat 20:07, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It turns out that "tout" has a whole bunch of meanings, some of which were totally unknown to me. I'm fixing to add it to the rewrite, along with "scalp."--JackLumber 12:23, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tout / scalper 

message: Does ramp (UK) / speed bump (US) qualify here? LuiKhuntek 03:00, 17 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't know what a British ramp is, but I'm guessing it's not at all the same as a U.S. ramp. Bump too apparently has different interpretations. So, they qualify here, you might think. Nope they dont. They qualify HERE. Anymore this page has gone down the drain. So long. --JackLumber 13:25, 17 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  A ramp is, generally, an inclined section of path or road that connects two levels.  It can also mean a bump in the road to slow traffic down, but that usage is usually qualified as "speed ramp"; the synonym "speed bump" is sometimes used over here too.  We wouldn't use the "motorway slip road" meaning over here, and the "steps up to an aeroplane" meaning is new to me either way.... -- Smjg 15:54, 17 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Ramp / speed bump

message: Why keep this page here when the rewrite has been rewritten? Or are there words on this page which are not in the rewrite, even though it has been in progress since May 2005? Keeping the "proper" editable version in a secret location seems to suggest that newbies and other mere mortals are not supposed to edit it :-) Saint|swithin 10:37, 24 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: We've been talking about it on and off on the rewrite talk page, and it will probably be finally moved across in the next few days.  Please see Talk:List of words having different meanings in British and American English/rewrite#Perspective Additions (Reminder). -- Smjg 12:22, 24 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Why is this page still here and not the rewrite?