Give a few examples: misunderstanding caused by different meanings of American English and British English.

Someone once asked the waiter for a "napkin" in a restaurant when he was in Las Vegas. The waiter wondered why you asked me for diapers. It turns out that "napkin" originally refers to diapers for children in English, but the meaning of "napkin" is only popular in the eastern United States.

Pants means pants in America, but it means underwear in British English. If an American says to an Englishman,' Your trousers are beautiful. The British will think you are an American without quality.

The differences between British English and American English exist objectively, and there are also some differences in grammar.

In fact, not only in grammatical structure, but also in the use of words. That is to say, if different words are used to express the same meaning in British English and American English, then more people use American English than British English.

The author has done some research on some words to judge whether the above trend is universal, and the result is affirmative. According to the survey of some British and American people, there are about 1000 expressions of "British English" and "American English" in daily vocabulary, among which the common ones account for the majority. But the so-called "universal" is actually that the British have adopted American vocabulary. Outside Britain and America, people who use English are used to "American English", while those who use "British English" less account for the majority.

Here are a few examples to illustrate the performance of the above situation.

Antenna, aerial (the former is "American English" and the latter is "British English", the same below)-refers to the "antenna" used in radios, but antennas are far more popular than antennas (or overhead wires).

Flat-refers to the residential unit in the building, and the former is also translated as "(residential) apartment". However, the expression "Left" is popular in Southeast Asia, so there are more opportunities to use it.

Grey, yes; Dust, dustbin-refers to the dustbin. In American English, trash can and garbage dump have the same meaning, but in British English, there is only trash can. At present, garbage bins are widely used in Hong Kong. However, the two names of wastebasket are wastebasket and wastebasket, and their popularity seems to be equal.

Cars, cars, cars. American English is often simplified to auto, for example, "car accident" is called car accident. There seems to be no difference in the usage of these two words.

Luggage, luggage-the two words are common terms, so you can't say one luggage (or luggage), but one luggage (or luggage), two luggage and so on. There doesn't seem to be much difference in popularity, but it should be noted that when Americans use suitcases, they usually refer to big suitcases or purses. Americans say luggage carts, and British people say luggage carts.

Banks, bills; Banks, paper money, paper money. Bank-bill is an American banknote, but it is used by the British to refer to "bank-to-bank banknotes", and Bank-note is more popular. Campus, campus-campus, campus. Due to the vigorous school movement in the United States in recent years, the word campus is widely used, but the school playground is rarely heard. Campus refers to the whole school (mostly universities), not just open places such as gardens and playgrounds. For example, campus activities refer to "campus activities" of universities, and campus buildings refer to buildings in universities and so on.

Canned food, canned food-canned food. Can and tin are synonyms in American English and British English, both of which refer to pickled canned food. Tin is sometimes transliterated as "listening". These two words can also be used as verbs, meaning "canned food". Canned food is more popular in use than canned food.

Department store, store-department store. The shops in the American population are equivalent to those in Britain. Department stores are generally larger than ordinary stores and divided into several departments, so it is appropriate to call them department stores. This word is becoming more and more popular in Britain, replacing the English word "stores".

Special attention should be paid to the usage of the words drawer and trousers-underwear. Pants refer to underwear in Britain and pants in America. In Britain, pants are pants. So when a foreigner says pants, you should find out whether he is British or American, and don't turn underwear into pants.

Editorial, leading article-editorial In British English, besides leading articles, the word Leader can also be used to refer to editorials. But at present, editorials are the most widely used, and even the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong refers to its editorials.

Gasoline, gasoline-gasoline. Gasoline is sometimes written as gasoline, which can be abbreviated as gas in spoken language. A gas station is a Gas Station (= gasoline station), which can also be called a gasoline station. However, petrol bombs cannot be called gas bombs.

Long distance call, long distance call. The meaning of long-distance call in American English is clear at a glance, far better than trunk call in British English, and it is naturally adopted by most people.

Coat, great coat, coat, coat. The commonness of the two words is similar, but coat seems to be slightly better.

Radio, wireless radio. Originally, there were sets behind these two words, that is, radio sets and wireless sets, but they were generally omitted for the sake of economy. Of course, of these two words, American English broadcasting is more popular.

Second floor, first floor-second floor. This method of addressing building floors has caused great inconvenience in many fields. In the past, many buildings were called British English, so the problem was not serious. However, in recent years, many buildings have used American English names, which has caused confusion. Now when people say which floor is the first floor, they must say "how many words is the elevator" to avoid misunderstanding.

Soft drink, mineral-soft drink: Non-alcoholic drink, such as soda water. Soft drinks in American English used to refer to non-alcoholic drinks, including soft drinks and fruit juice, but now they are mostly used to refer to soft drinks, not the original gas water. Minerals in British English is not as popular as soft-drains, so there are fewer opportunities to refer to soda water, but it is more used to refer to mineral water, which is equal to mineral water.

Different pronunciations of the letter z

The pronunciation of the English letter Z is specially put forward here. Americans read zee, and British people read zed. China people are deeply influenced by the British, so they often pronounce z as zed. I suggest you change your habits and pronounce zee according to American pronunciation. Many northerners in our country (including many radio announcers) read Z as a "thief", which must be changed. Z in English alphabet songs should not be read zed in Britain, but zee, which rhymes with the following words Now you see/I can say my ABC.

You're welcome. You're welcome.

Americans mean "you're welcome" and "you're welcome", and they often say you're welcome. The British never use "you're welcome" to mean "you're welcome". If they say you're welcome, it means "welcome". They say you don't have to say anything, say nothing or mention it. Besides, as mentioned above, Americans also say sure means "you're welcome". So, in America, you will hear a dialogue like "thank you". "Of course." Or "thank you"

"You're welcome." What needs to be mentioned here is that in You're welcome, welcome is an adjective and you can't say welcome. But welcome can also be a verb, and there may be morphological changes. For example, in the sentence He was welcomed with kissed and hugs, welcome must be written as welcome to form the passive voice.

Boys and girls

It is indisputable that the boy is a boy. However, the British love to say young man. For example, gather enthusiastic ladies to play a football. Boys fall in love with girls, which is a kind of naive love. British people will say love between men and women, while Americans will say love between men and women. The British also call the little boy a lady. Americans also love to use the word kid, which means not only children, but also young people, such as college students, that is, college students. Besides kid, Americans also use kiddy or kiddy.

Various ways to make a phone call

Besides telephone and telephone, Americans also like to use the word call to mean to call, for example, call me at nine o'clock instead of calling me or visiting me at nine o'clock. British people use rings, for example, call me when you have time. There are several kinds of calls Americans make: local calls; Long-distance call (inter-regional call or international call); Overseas telephone; Collect call (collect call); Toll-free telephone; Emergency call (emergency call); Operator assistance (operator-assisted telephone). Long-distance calls are best made after 1 1 in the evening, and the price can be much cheaper. Toll-free calls refer to calls with area code 800. Many companies in the United States use 800 toll-free telephone numbers to encourage customers to call social or government agencies to provide services. Emergency call mainly refers to telephone call such as fire alarm.

Friends and brothers

American English fellow usually refers to a man, a boy, a boyfriend or a colleague. Americans also use guy to address their friends. The singular guy equals fellow and refers to men. The plural guy refers to both men and women. In addition, there is buddy in English, which is equivalent to brother or brother in Chinese. British people don't call others guy, because guy in British English refers to people who dress strangely. British people use blog or chap to address their friends, but the two words have slightly different meanings. Chap is a very trustworthy male friend, while Blog is a friendly person, but not someone you know very well, which means chap is more cordial than Blog.