American and British Terminology

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no, not from a site, however I have been collecting terms from both sides of the pond for decades and many sources. . .some may be out of date.

I look pretty young, but I'm just back dated.

I'll give you auto box I guess yep auto is abbr. of automatic. It is not really common usage to say auto box probably something a mechanic says, just like a programmers say unix box, etc. See and automatic is still a gear box. You could call it transmission.

I'm not really sure what you mean by rear window backlight. You can have those additional break lights in the window.

Pinch
A - to give someone a sharp pain by pressing a bit of their skin between thumb and forefinger, as in, "I pinched her ass..."
B - to steal something, as in, "he pinched that lady's purse"
alternately, to arrest someone, as in, "that purse-snatcher got pinched"

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also much of my Britspeak is from a few specialized Englander periodicals in automotive and electronic rfelated fields. They may not be comon usage.


truck lorry

? milk float

Cardan joint Hookes joint

wrist pin gudgeon pin


cigarette ciggy (or fag)

Milk float is a three wheeled vehicle used to deliver milk to your in glass bottles. It is something than has (almost) died out. Most people get their milk from the supermarket in plastic cartons.

Waste Basket

A - Trash can
B - Rubbish bin

Pissed

A - Angry/irritated
B - Drunk

On a related note...

Taxed
A - Money deducted from income and paid to the government
B - Stolen, as in, "he taxed that lady's purse" or "where did you get those trainers?" "Oh, I taxed them from JJB"

Bashed
A - hit/smashed
B - has had electric device modified/tampered e.g. "I'm getting free international calls on my phone now because I got a bashed SIM card off Reihan on the market" or "my car seems a lot smoother in third cog since I got that bashed ECU fitted"

also a confusing one:
Public School
A - State school, free for everyone
B - a certain class of top, fee-paying private schools

The etymology behind this is interesting. The public schools in England date back to a time before people generally went to school. The richer, upper class boys were taught by private tutors at home so the first public schools were the first places that teachers would be teaching a class full of boys together, hence the term 'public schooling'

Last edited by JakeG on 16 May 2007, 5:44 pm, edited 2 times in total.

They are the same; if you bought an EL34 or a 6L6 in the US it would be called a (vacuum) tube whereas in England, it would be called a valve.

Sorry yes I know what you mean as in valve radio. I've only done a little imbedded systems so I've not used valves.

auto accident
as in racing shunt


damage as in
the above pranged

stolen nicked


Rolls Roller


Naughty lady
of the night doxie

When I was growing up, we had milk trucks here in the states. They weren't three-wheeled though. That died out in the States (in my area, at any rate) probably in the late 60s.

locomotive engineer / engine driver

railfan / train watcher


real cool looking
fast English car
with a Mopar V8 / Jensen Interceptor


Morgan / Mog


English Ford / Dagenham Dustbin


trash can / dustbin

Yep some of them were four wheeled. It could have been for tax reasons. They were essentially a scooter engine. They didn’t need much because they were going really slow delivering to each door.

Yep it was widespread in the 60's. There were hardcore people who kept it going till recently, but the numbers were small. There used to bread and egg men too. In fact my dad did bread it for a summer job before he joined the foreign office. He was told if a dog came at him he should drop his crate as that made a loud noise.

Pompous arrogant
automotive
journalist /LJK Setright


RIP Setright, ye be sorely missed in my house


V1650 / Merlin

Pantomime
A - to wordlessly communication by means of gesture and facial expression, as a mime would; to play "Charades."
B - an odd sort of vaudevillian variety show.

Some of us call all soda Coke, even if it's Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, grape soda, etc.

Tim