George Bernard Shaw, the playwright who wrote Pygmalion – the basis for “My Fair Lady” – made this often quoted statement:
England and America are two countries separated by a common language.
While the traditional grammars are very similar and pronunciations very different, there are lots of everyday vocabulary differences between the two. For the foreigner learning “English,” this can be … amusing.
Because the car is omnipresent, automobile and the vocabulary of transportation is one of the themes where differences show up every day.
Americans say trunk … the British say … boot
In North America, the windshield; in the UK, the windscreeen
Trucks use the highways and interstates … across the states … while lorries travel motorways …
For more, here’s a link you ought to appreciate:
Of Loos and Language. By Roger Cohen.
