English Language

English is one of the most widely used languages in the world. But it is also called a language with few variants there is a lot of difference between English which is used by the British, and what is used by Americans.  It has so happened that this language is being used in mainly two variants in the world, is British English and other is American English, and there are many countries in the world that use the English language in daily use, but their English is filled with slang words, which are not dictionary words, and their pronunciation is also quite different from people speaking British or American English. In India, we mainly follow British English.

There are plenty of words from British and American English that basically means the same. Like when someone asks for a bill, the waiter looks at that person like he is not aware of this word, this only means that the person is in America, where they use the word check instead of a bill. There are plenty of other commonly used words that fall in this category. As we Indians use British English, we find that British ones are more common, but American words are not wrong either.

Here are some other words;

1Underpants Vs Shorts

Underpants is a British word for a piece of men’s underwear under their trousers. Shorts mean the same thing in American English.

2 Autumn Vs Fall

Autumn, as we all know, is the season between winter and summer when leaves start shedding and the weather starts becoming different. In American English, it is called Fall.

3 Toilets Vs Restrooms

“ May I use the restroom?” is what many people prefer to use when we are anywhere but home. However ‘restroom’ is simply the American version of the British word Toilet.

4 Biscuit Vs Cookie

Biscuit is the British word for a small flat fry cake that is baked until hard. While some of us may think cookie is a fancier version of biscuits, it is not. It is just the American word for it.

5 Angry Vs Mad

“Are you mad at me?” is the American version of “ Did I do something to make you angry?”. Angry is the British word for mad.

6 Condom Vs Rubber

You might want to stop calling your eraser a “ rubber”. Rubber is an American word used to describe the most popular used contraceptive tool to avoid unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). In British English, the same tool is called a condom.

7 Chips Vs French Fries

Chips is the British word for a long thin piece of potato fried in oil or any other type of fat. French fries are certainly a common word for it, but it comes from American English, and not from the British one.

8 Dustbin Vs Trashcan

Britishers call it a dustbin while American refer to it as a trashcan. You can call that a large container you use to put garbage in whatever you want.

9 Film Vs Movie

A series of moving pictures showcase a story often recorded with sound. Mostly watched at the cinema, on television or on other devices is called a film by Britishers. Whereas Movie is an American word.

10 Holiday Vs Vacation

A lot of people think holidays are shorter than vacations, but that is not the case. Holidays, a period when you are not studying or working is what Britishers call it. Americans call it a call it vacation.

The above mentioned are some of the words which we use in day-to-day life. Actually, in Indian English which is basically British English, over the last few decades many American English words are being used in our daily life, Words like movies, French fries, mad, restrooms, shorts etc have become part of Indian English. Presently Indian English is an accepted form of communication.

Friends, if you know many other such words, please do write in the comment column.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

16^th August 2022