Are You Writing English Right? Part 4

byrevansca

166 followers

Updated 4 years ago

This is part 4 of this series of posts on the topic of recognizing that we have a global audience. Part 1 can be found at: https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/revansca/blog/are-you-writing-english-right/31406349 and part 2 at: https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/revansca/blog/are-you-writing-english-right-part-2 with
part 3 at: https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/revansca/blog/are-you-writing-english-right-part-3

… and so we continue the challenge of writing with an awareness that the audience for our posts and blogs is potentially global.

Part 4: People, Things, Food, and Weights & Measures

There are people…

To begin with, there are people. Mothers are affectionately known as moms in the USA, but in the UK, the spelling is ‘mum’, not ‘mom’, and ‘mummy’ instead of ‘mommy’. This can be confusing if you're referencing things Egyptian, but usually the context takes care of that. Also, it is more customary to capitalize the ‘M’ in mum and the ‘D’ in dad in the UK, as is Mum and Dad are proper names. It is virtually impossible to find a greeting card, Birthday, Christmas or Mother’s Day card spelled ‘Mom’ in the UK or find a greeting card spelt ‘Mum’ in the USA; you will most likely have to settle for ‘Mother’.

It is sometimes easy to get into embarrassing situations if body parts get mentioned. In the USA, the buttocks are often referred to by various other terms, the most common in the USA being the same word as the breed of animal of the equestrian, i.e. horse, family - the ass. Hopefully, any references in your writings to asses will be to the animal, and should you need to refer to the buttocks, a term which is mostly understood in the USA and in the UK, but in other English-speaking countries, a different term is often used. The 'behind’ is probably the best general term to use, although the French term 'derriere' is also often a good choice; one that won’t cause you or anyone else embarrassment. In the UK, the term 'bum' is used, which in the USA would be a reference to a vagrant or someone viewed as worthless.

If you need specialist foot care, in the USA you are looking for a podiatrist, but in the past, in the UK many people will be more familiar with the name 'chiropodist', although today, the term podiatrist is equally common; and at least you now know that they are the same and fully equivalent. Lest there be any confusion, the term chiropractor for back-doctor is used both in the UK and the USA, and 'chiropodist' and 'chiropractor' deal with quite different parts of the body.

Thankfully, there is no real problem with seeking services that provide eye care. The names optician, optometrist, and ophthalmologist are all used in both the UK and the USA, the only challenge is knowing what each is qualified to do. (An optometrist is an eye doctor that can examine, diagnose, and treat your eyes. An ophthalmologist is a medical doctor who can perform medical and surgical interventions for eye conditions. An optician is a professional who can help fit eyeglasses, contact lenses, and other vision-correcting devices.)

Then there are things…

Things like autos - automobiles - for example, known also as cars, which is the more-often used term in the U.K. where cars must all be female because they have bonnets and boots. Under the bonnet is where the engine is, at least in most vehicles. So, under the bonnet means under the hood. Suitcases and other baggage that go in the trunk in the USA, goes in the boot in the UK.

Each of these items is coming to mind (my mind) in a random manner, not in a structured or ordered manner. The word faucet is another example of a word that is frequently used in American-English but highly likely to not be recognized in England. It was many years ago at a campground when I first heard that word used. “Where’s the nearest faucet?” I was asked. “What is a faucet?” was my reaction. No, I didn’t say actually that out loud, I just thought it. I just didn’t respond. “I need to wash up,” was the next thing said. “There’s the toilet or you can use the kitchen sink,” I replied pointing in the direction of first the toilet and then the kitchen. Someone close by chimed in, “and there’s a standpipe over there,” gesticulating, also by pointing to where the standpipe was. Had it been me wanting to wash my hands, I would have asked, “Where is the nearest tap”, or “Where is the nearest wash basin?” Would I have been understood, or how likely is it that I would have engendered a similar reaction to the one I exhibited?

Anyone reading this article should not assume that this is an exhaustive treatise of all UK English/USA English items; but hopefully many of the common ones.

Food Confusions

Chips & Crisps: ‘Chips’ in England mean fish & chips, sausage & chips, egg & chips, and so on, while what Americans call chips are called crisps, potato crisps most often, but any vegetable sliced thin and either deep fried or baked. Crisps usually come in single serving or family size bags, and they come with many flavorings just as you would expect in the USA. So English chips are American fries and English crisps are American chips. Got it?

Jelly: In the USA jelly usually comes in a jar and is a fruit spread as in ‘peanut butter & jelly’ sandwiches. That is not what most English people will think of when you look for jelly although there are jelly jams, also known on both sides of the Atlantic as preserves. So if you are looking for jelly as in ‘peanut butter & jelly’ in a grocery store, you’ll find it. If you’re offered jelly in the UK you’ll more than likely be served what is ubiquitously known in the USA as ‘Jello’, which is a brand name of popular desserts, among which are gelatin desserts, hence the name ‘jelly’ as used in England. This ‘Jello’ type jelly is a key component of the English Trifle. If you have ever looked at, or even made’ a trifle following a recipe for English Trifle that is a recipe from England, you may well have wondered what the instruction ‘make the jelly’ meant, and you may well have purchased a large jar or two of what you thought it meant, jelly as in ‘peanut butter & jelly’. If you weren’t impressed with the trifle, I’m not at all surprised. How do I know you might have made this mistake? Because trifles made with the wrong jelly have been served to me!! It wasn’t what my host who served it was expecting it to be, nor was it what I was expecting.

Custard: To an English person is a creamy yellow sauce that we pour on top of dessert sponges, fruit tarts and pies. The same custard (custard sauce to Americans) that the English is also used as a component of a trifle, a layer of poured custard that has been allowed to cool before pouring onto the jelly trifle, and then cooled further in the refrigerator to make the custard set. Most Americans, however, when they hear ‘custard’ think of a cold dessert usually made in or served in a tureen dish, which might be an egg custard or maybe a caramel custard which is usually flipped out of the tureen dish for serving. Both are good, but they are definitely different even though they share much the same ingredients and both can be a cold dessert, but only the English custard would be served hot or warm.

Then there are quantities, and weights, and measurements…

Pounds & Ounces / Kilograms & Milligrams: Measurement of weight.

– The quick simple approximation to convert pounds to kilograms or vice versa, kilograms to pounds is to remember that a kilogram is approximately 2.2 lbs. So double the weight in Kg and add 10% and that’s the approximate equivalent weight in pounds (lbs), e.g. 2.5 Kg is (2 x 2.5) x 1.1 = 5 x 1.1= 5.5 lbs.

Converting pounds (lbs) to Kg, deduct 10% then divide by 2, so 5 lbs becomes (5-0.5) ÷ 2 = 4.5 ÷ 2 = 2.25 Kg.

Liter/Litre: Measurement of liquid volume.

– US and UK equivalent nearest measure if the quart. A Liter is approximately 10% larger in volume than a US quart. A UK quart, however, is approximately 10% larger in volume than a liter; so when the American is in the UK, European countries or other countries that use metric measurements the US quart is roughly 10% less than a liter and exactly 20% less than the UK quart. Now there are four quarts in a gallon, in either the USA or the UK, but there are five US quarts in a UK gallon.

Meter: As in a measuring device

– A noun meaning a device that measures and displays or reports use or volume. A verb meaning to measure and display or report use or volume.

– Rhythm, length of beat or pattern of beats in music.

Meter/Metre – as in the measurement of distance; length, breadth, width, height, or depth.

Kilometers / Miles: There are approximately 1.6 kilometers (Km) in a mile. In the reverse direction, 1 Km is approximately 0.6 miles (or 0.625 to be a little more accurate). 60 mph is approximately 100 Km/hr.

Meters, Centimeters & Millimeters / Yards, Feet & Inches:

– A meter (metre everywhere except in the USA) is 39.6 inches and a yard is 36 inches making the metre approximately one yard plus 10%; 400 metres is approximately 440 yards.

– An inch is 2.54 cm which is 25.4 mm. A foot is 12” which is 30.5 cm or 305 mm, which is slightly less that one third of a metre (by about 10%)

Celsius / Fahrenheit: measurement of temperature.

The freezing point of water is 0◦C and is 32◦F. The boiling point of water is 100◦C and is 212◦F. To convert ◦C to ◦F, multiply the temperature by 9 and then divide by 5 and then add 32. e.g. 25◦C = [(25x9) ÷ 9] + 32 = [235 ÷ 5] +32 = 81◦F

Americans when travelling internationally most often need to know what is the ◦C in ◦F? Within the range 15◦C to 35◦C, you can do an approximate calculation by simply doubling the ◦C temperature and adding 30. No, it’s not always as close as 81◦ is to 80◦ [(2x25)+30], but it works on a close-enough basis for most temperatures we live with, except for extreme hot or extreme cold temperatures. Two good ‘point of reference’ temperature conversions worth memorizing are -10◦C is approximately 0◦F and 10◦C is 50◦F.

Converting ◦F to ◦C, for accurate conversion, you first subtract 32 and then multiply by 5, and then divide the result by 9. e.g. 50◦F = [(50-32) x5] ÷ 9 = [18x5] ÷ 9 = 90 ÷ 9 = 10◦C.