Words Brits use that Americans don't?

Bum bag, they have fanny bags.

 

Serviette is English for napkin. Since paper napkins have taken over, the tern has mostly been dropped.
Top hotels still use linen serviettes embroidered with the hotel name and logo. Needless to say, they are constantly getting stolen.

 

Bum isn't used widespread (lol) here but most Americans know what it means.

 

I thought you called our Tramps the word Bums????

 

Simple. They use the balcony to shoot the porn pictures.

 

I've definitely always heard the ends of cigarettes referred to as butts here in the US

 

And to think the people on the sidewalk below blamed that on a pigeon...

 

That too. But when it's used in reference to an ass (arse) we know the difference.

 

OK.

 

When I was a kid and I misbehaved, my grandmother would tell me "you're going to get a swift kick in the bum". She never actually did it tho.

 

Some in the US are referred to as Hobos as well. These tend to be migrants scratching around to find work and living off whatever they can find. They used to hitch rides in the days passed in train freight cars to get from one place to another .

 

This ex office block next to the river in Putney was converted, It included (so called) penthouses on the top 6 floors.

 

Yes I know it.

 

I don't think they have Fish Fingers.

 

Do you remember it when it was Hotpoint House. Only the top of the original tower is now visible at the back of the picture. The strength of the original tower allowed it to contain the lifts for the new building, avoiding a lot of cost sinking piles to support new liftshafts.

The hotel on the Fulham side of the river was also the offices of ICL. Back in the 1940's it was the site of a cinema.

The white building behind the Putney apartments is also on the former site of 2 cinemas. Their is still a cinema at ground level, but few people knew that the building above was the closely guarded admin center of the metropolitan police. I believe that they recently moved out. .

This is the original Putney Regal with the Odeon to one side

 

I always chuckle when I hear arse. In Canada I heard the term bum wad for toilet paper. My Triumph TR6 did not have a trunk, it had a boot. When it rained I put up the roof and watched water stream across the wind screen. I drove to the grocery and left the car in the car park next to a lorry. I enjoy fish and chips but cannot find bangers and mash or bubble and squeak so I settle for a pint at the pub. I live on a cul-de-sac named Kings Court.

 

You should be so lucky, I used to get a bamboo cane rapped across my knuckles if I misbehaved at the meal table, or a 'thick ear' at other times.

 

Cagarettes in the UK can also be referred to as 'fags', but that expression apparently has a different connotation in the US.

 

Chav, aeroplane, motorway.

 

I worked in the US for a company headquartered in a European country that did not have English as an official or dominant language, but with operations in 70 countries, they designated "British English" as the official language of the company so colleagues could share documents and talk to one another in one language.

Some practical work things that come to mind:

"Smart casuals" as a dress code. In the US, it's "business casual."

"Tea break" on a meeting agenda. It's definitely "coffee break" in the US, even for tea drinkers.

What is a "diary" in British English is definitely a "calendar" in the US. No one in the US would say, "hold on while I check my diary."

How about "A4" paper? No "8 1/2 x 11" there. No A4 in the US. However, every document has to be formatted with printing in mind.

Saying that someone is "dodgy," would probably best translate to "shifty" in the US. "Dodgy" comes up quite often to describe clients who may be part of a criminal enterprise, or otherwise on the wrong side of taxation authorities.