The American Language/Chapter 18

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145631The American Language — The Two VocabulariesH. L. Mencken

By way of preliminary to an examination of the American of today, here is a list of terms in everyday use that differ in American and English:

 American English
 ash-can dust-bin
 ash-cart dust-cart
 ashman dustman
 backyard garden
 baggage luggage
 baggage-car luggage-van
 ballast (railroad) metal
 barbershop barber’s-shop
 bath-robe dressing-gown
 bath-tub bath
 beet beet-root
 bid (noun) tender
 bill-board hoarding
 boarder paying-guest
 boardwalk (seaside) promenade
 boot high-boot
 brakeman brakesman
 bumper (car) buffer
 bureau chest of drawers
 calendar (court) cause-list
 campaign (political) canvass
 can (noun) tin
 candy sweets
 cane stick
 canned-goods tinned-goods
 car (railroad) carriage, van or waggon
 checkers (game) draughts
 chicken-yard fowl-run
 chief-clerk head-clerk
 chief-of-police chief-constable
 city-editor chief-reporter
 city-ordinance by-law
 clipping (newspaper) cutting
 closed-season close-season
 coal coals
 coal-oil paraffin
 collar-button stud
 commission-merchant factor, or commission-agent
 commutation-ticket season-ticket
 conductor (of a train) guard
 corn maize, or Indian corn
 corner (of a street) crossing
 corn-meal Indian meal
 counterfeiter coiner
 cow-catcher plough
 cracker biscuit
 crazy-bone funny-bone
 cross-tie sleeper
 crystal (watch) watch-glass
 department-store stores
 derby (hat) bowler
 dime-novel penny-dreadful
 district (political) division
 druggist chemist
 drug-store chemist’s shop
 drummer bagman
 dry-goods-store draper’s-shop
 editorial (noun) leader, or leading-article
 elevator lift
 elevator-boy lift-man
 enlisted-man private-soldier
 excursionist tripper
 ferns bracken
 filing-cabinet nest-of-drawers
 fire-department fire-brigade
 fish-dealer fishmonger
 floor-walker shop-walker
 fraternal-order friendly-society
 freight goods
 freight-agent goods-manager
 freight-car goods-waggon
 freight-elevator hoist
 frog (railway) crossing-plate
 garters (men’s) sock-suspenders
 gasoline petrol
 grade (railroad) gradient
 grain corn
 grain-broker corn-factor
 groceries stores
 hardware-dealer ironmonger
 headliner topliner
 hod-carrier hodman
 hog-pen piggery
 hood (automobile) bonnet
 hospital (private) nursing-home
 huckster coster (monger)
 hunting shooting
 Indian Red Indian
 Indian Summer St. Martin’s Summer
 instalment-business credit-trade
 instalment-plan hire-purchase plan
 internal-revenue inland-revenue
 janitor caretaker, or porter
 laborer navvy
 legal-holiday bank-holiday
 letter-box pillar-box
 letter-carrier postman
 locomotive engineer engine-driver
 long-distance-call trunk-call
 lumber deals
 lumber-yard timber-yard
 mad angry
 mantelpiece chimney-piece
 Methodist Wesleyan
 molasses treacle
 monkey-wrench spanner
 moving-picture-theatre cinema, or picture-palace
 necktie tie
 news-dealer news-agent
 newspaper-man pressman, or journalist
 notions small-wares
 oatmeal porridge
 officeholder public-servant
 orchestra (seats in a theatre) stalls
 outbuildings (farm) offices
 overcoat great-coat
 package parcel
 parlor drawing-room
 parlor-car saloon-carriage
 patrolman (police) constable
 pay-day wage-day
 peanut monkey-nut
 pen-point nib
 period (punctuation) full-stop
 pitcher jug
 plant (industrial) works
 poorhouse workhouse
 post-paid post-free
 potpie pie
 prepaid carriage-paid
 press (printing) machine
 program (of a meeting) agenda
 public-school board-school
 quotation-marks inverted-commas
 railroad railway[1]
 railroad-man railway-servant
 rails line
 rare (of meat) underdone
 receipts (in business) takings
 Rhine-wine Hock
 road-bed (railroad) permanent-way
 road-repairer road-mender
 roast joint
 roll (of films) spool
 roll-call division
 rooster cock
 round-trip-ticket return-ticket
 saleswoman shop-assistant
 saloon public-house
 scarf-pin tie-pin
 scow lighter
 sewerage drains
 shirtwaist blouse
 shoe boot
 shoemaker bootmaker
 shoe-shine boot-polish
 shoestring bootlace
 shoe-tree boot-tree
 sick ill
 sidewalk footpath, or pavement
 silver (collectively) plate
 sled sledge
 sleigh sledge
 soft-drinks minerals
 smoking-room smoke-room
 spigot (or faucet) tap
 sponge (surgical) tap
 stem-winder keyless-watch
 stockholder shareholder
 stocks shares
 store-fixtures shop-fittings
 street-cleaner crossing-sweeper
 street-railway tramway
 subway tube, or underground
 suspenders (men’s) braces
 sweater jersey
 switch (noun, railway) points
 switch (verb, railway) shunt
 taxes (municipal) rates
 taxpayer (local) ratepayer
 tenderloin (of beef) under-cut, or fillet
 ten-pins nine-pins
 terminal (railroad) terminus
 thumb-tack drawing-office
 ticket-office booking-office
 tinner tinker
 tin-roof leads
 track (railroad) line
 trained-nurse hospital-nurse
 transom (of door) fanlight
 trolley-car tramcar
 truck (vehicle) lorry
 truck (of a railroad car) bogie
 typewriter (operator) typist
 typhoid-fever enteric
 undershirt vest
 vaudeville-theatre music-hall
 vest waistcoat
 warden (of a prison) governor
 warehouse stores
 wash-rag face-cloth
 wash-stand wash-hand-stand
 waste-basket waste-paper-basket
 whippletree splinter-bar
 witness-stand witness-box

Notes[edit]

  1. Railway, of course, is sometimes used in the United States. But all the English dictionaries call railroad an Americanism.