What trips you up when reading books from different English-speaking countries?

[shalym]

Originally Posted by fathead

"Shined" instead of "shone" always trips me up and dumps me out of the story. Ditto, an author dropping double consonants - gravely and gravelly do NOT mean the same thing and why should I have to guess meaning from context.

Hmmm...I always thought that the two words are both valid, but have different meanings.

"I shined my shoes this morning" vs "The sun shone brightly brightly today"

It seems the Chicago manual of style backs me up.

https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org...e/faq0302.html

Please see CMOS 5.250:

shine. When this verb is intransitive, it means “to give or make light”; the past tense is shone {the stars shone dimly}. When it is transitive, it means “to cause to shine”; the past tense is shined {the caterer shined the silver}.

So the flashlight shone (gave or made light) because Mary shined it (caused it to shine) in front of them. (Note that “causing something to shine” has more than one meaning. Presumably, Mary didn’t shine her flashlight along with her forks.)

Shari

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by mitford13

Pants - UK underwear, US trousers
Rug - UK blanket, US carpet. Though I’ve been told elsewhere that the UK usage is outdated now, not really used any more. Still, I seem to come across it in mysteries all the time. When they pull a rug out o’ the boot. (And not one of those with a body rolled inside)
Purse - UK coin purse/ladies wallet, US handbag

Originally Posted by theducks

Might be East coast (where I grew up). To me, Rug was something smaller than a full area covering. We used to lay upon a Throw rug in front of the TV (over a Hardwood floor). There are Rugs alongside my bed (Again HW floors) that are nice on bare feet while I find my slippers

Originally Posted by maddz

Rug is used in the UK for carpeting and blankets. However, on it's own, it's usually a small carpet.

Lap rug: small size blanket used to put over one's legs while seated. Can be quite light-weight compared to the full-size blanket put on a bed. Tends to be decorative as well as it usually lives in the sitting room and hence is on public view.
Hearth rug: small piece of carpet placed in front of the fire place. Given the probability of sparks, it's cheaper to replace a hearth rug than the main carpet for the room. With central heating, this usage is in decline.
Bed side rug: small piece of carpet placed beside the bed to keep your feet warm until you find your slippers.

US here - I think of a "rug" as a floor covering that is not attached to the floor (as opposed to wall-to-wall carpet)

"rug" used to mean blanket definitely gives me pause before my mental translation kicks in. If someone wraps up in a "rug", I picture them with an Oriental-pattern area rug wrapped around them

[4691mls]

"Homely" is another word that is used differently. In the US it's most commonly used to describe a person who is plain in appearance (not beautiful but probably not ugly either).

British usage seems to be equivalent to what in the US would be referred to as "homey" - typically a description of a building interior as being like a cozy home.

[4691mls]

Maybe some of the Brits here can explain these terms regarding education?

If someone takes a "first" does this mean they had the highest grades in the class?

What is a "good degree"?

[maddz]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

Maybe some of the Brits here can explain these terms regarding education?

If someone takes a "first" does this mean they had the highest grades in the class?

What is a "good degree"?

Not exactly. Honours degrees have 5 classes: First, Upper Second [or II(i)], Lower Second [or II(ii)], Third, and Pass. They are usually awarded in terms of the marks given to students in that year; so a 1st would be awarded to someone in the top 10%, an upper second for 75-80% and so on.

A good degree is usually a 1st or II(i).

[maddz]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

US here - I think of a "rug" as a floor covering that is not attached to the floor (as opposed to wall-to-wall carpet)

"rug" used to mean blanket definitely gives me pause before my mental translation kicks in. If someone wraps up in a "rug", I picture them with an Oriental-pattern area rug wrapped around them

Wall-to-wall carpet in the UK is usually referred to as a fitted carpet. These usually come in standard widths and you buy a length off a roll. Carpets were woven as a single unit in a variety of sizes (like a large Oriental rug). I have my Mum's Wilton which lived in the dining room; it was big enough for a refectory table and 8 chairs with the floor as a surround. In the bay window, we had an Oriental rug with a blanket box on top which Mum used as a silver store.

Carpets were large enough to cover most of the room and were islanded in the centre with bare boards between the carpet and walls (that's another thing - UK skirting board = US baseboard). This usually led to draughts, especially with open fires. Rugs were used to cover smaller areas of bare boards or to protect the main carpet from sparks in the case of hearth rugs.

All this is now considered very old-fashioned and a trip hazard for the elderly. It also leads to colder properties because of draughts. The bedrooms were always cold in my Mum's house because the boards weren't tongue-and-groove; the downstairs were tongue-and-groove so weren't as draughty, but there were cold draughts from the old windows and the doors.

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

Maybe some of the Brits here can explain these terms regarding education?

Or what about the different types of schools? In British books it sounds to me like what they call a public school (e.g. Eaton and Harrow; very upper crust) is what here in the US we'd call a private school.

What do they call what we call a public school; one that's free and paid for with taxes?

And then after finishing their public school and they go to Oxford or wherever, they don't study Cicero, they read Cicero. And studying the classics is a very worthy endeavor while here in the US we're busy getting ready for grubbing for money by studying engineering, agriculture, etc.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by maddz

Not exactly. Honours degrees have 5 classes: First, Upper Second [or II(i)], Lower Second [or II(ii)], Third, and Pass. They are usually awarded in terms of the marks given to students in that year; so a 1st would be awarded to someone in the top 10%, an upper second for 75-80% and so on.

A good degree is usually a 1st or II(i).

Thank you for explaining this!

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by hobnail

Or what about the different types of schools? In British books it sounds to me like what they call a public school (e.g. Eaton and Harrow; very upper crust) is what here in the US we'd call a private school.

What do they call what we call a public school; one that's free and paid for with taxes?

And then after finishing their public school and they go to Oxford or wherever, they don't study Cicero, they read Cicero. And studying the classics is a very worthy endeavor while here in the US we're busy getting ready for grubbing for money studying engineering, agriculture, etc.

And they don't "study" (as we would in the US) - they "revise". In the US "revise" would be reworking an earlier version of something - like if you had written a paper and it needed updates.

[4691mls]

In the US we would say something like "I've got a red car" or "I've got an appointment" but in UK books they don't put in the "got". It's probably technically better ("I've got" = "I have got" which seems redundant) but still when I read "I've a new coat" my first impression is that a word is missing.

[JSWolf]

What bothers me is when someone fromt he UK says that their English (Queen's English) is the one true English and we speak American. That's BS. When the Pilgrims came to America, they spoke the same English. Yes, English changed in both countries. But one is not more true then the other.

Australia has another English dialect. That's no more wrong then the others.

The only English I don't like is the Southern accent. Y'all is not a proper English word.

[JSWolf]

Since marrying my wife, I've learned a lot of UK English. So it doesn't bother me as much. But I still prefer to use the US English words.

[4691mls]

A couple of years ago I read two or three books that all had a plot line where someone was locked inside a house that was on fire. Is it common in the UK to have outside doors that can only be opened with a key?

In the US, every house or apartment I've ever lived in or visited has had one or more locks on the outer doors - typically one in the knob itself plus a deadbolt. These are normally operated from the outside by a key, but on the inside there is some kind of knob or lever so if you didn't have a key you could still get out in case of emergency.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What bothers me is when someone fromt he UK says that their English (Queen's English) is the one true English and we speak American. That's BS. When the Pilgrims came to America, they spoke the same English. Yes, English changed in both countries. But one is not more true then the other.

Australia has another English dialect. That's no more wrong then the others.

The only English I don't like is the Southern accent. Y'all is not a proper English word.

Speaking as a southerner - "Y'all" is a contraction of "you all". How is that worse than any other contraction?

[Apache]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What bothers me is when someone fromt he UK says that their English (Queen's English) is the one true English and we speak American. That's BS. When the Pilgrims came to America, they spoke the same English. Yes, English changed in both countries. But one is not more true then the other.

Australia has another English dialect. That's no more wrong then the others.

The only English I don't like is the Southern accent. Y'all is not a proper English word.

Y'all is a contraction you all. Ya'll is a misspelling of y'all.
Apache (A Southerner)