American uses of English (C)

Continuing with C - D

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American/Canadian	British	Notes
C
caboose *	guard's van	A caboose traditionally includes sleeping and messing facilities is painted red and has a sort of H-shaped chimney, a guard's van does not.
cadaver	corpse	A dead body. AE seems to increasingly reserve the word "cadaver" for medical and forensic use.
cafeteria	canteen	Place, especially in a factory or school, where meals are served. BE also uses "canteen" for a small water bottle used by soldiers and campers and also for a collection of cutlery.
candy	sweet	The word "candy" refers to a particular crystallised sugar confection in British usage.
canine cookie Obs	dog biscuit
car	carriage, truck	A railway vehicle for carrying passengers (carriage in BE) or freight (truck in BE). On the road its a "car" in both BE and AE.
caravan obs	convoy	Group of vehicles travelling together. The American usage "caravan" is rare/archaic except when the vehicles are camels. In BE a "caravan" is a mobile home or trailer. A correspondent has told me that American estate agents (Realtors) refer to groups of viewers of properties as "caravans".
carnival	travelling fair or circus	In British usage a carnival is a period of widespread public celebration often associated with street processions, this also applies in a few American cities such as New Orleans. A fair is travelling entertainment with sideshows and rides such as dodgems, ferris wheels, helter-skelters etc. A circus has seating round a ring (or several rings) where clowns and animals perform. The tent covering the ring of a circus is called the "big top".
carousel	merry-go-round	Fairground ride consisting of wooden (or plastic) horses on poles which rise up and go down as the whole rotates. I have seen examples with up to five rings of horses.
carpenter's level	spirit level
cart	trolley	Shopping. BE does not use the word "cart" in this context reserving it for a wheeled trailer pulled by a vehicle or horse.
casket	coffin	The American style casket looks very elaborate and in rather poor taste to British eyes. Coffins are invariably very plain affairs.
cattle guard	cattle grid
cell phone, cellular phone	mobile phone	Often just called "the mobile" in BE and "cell" in AE.
check US	cheque	Banking. Same pronunciation, different spelling. CE as BE.
checkers	draughts	Board game.
checking account	current account	Banking. The American facility is technically called a "demand deposit account". It is called a "chequing account" in CE.
cheesecloth	muslin
chesterfield	settee	See entry for "couch".
chicken wire	wire netting
chicory	endive
chief executive officer (CEO)	managing director (MD)	Head of day to day operations of a commercial organisation. The American usage is creeping in in the UK.
chifforobe *	gentleman's wardrobe	A wardrobe with hanging space on one side and drawers on the other.
chips	crisps	Thin fried slices of potato usually sold in bags as snacks or "nibbles". According to a correspondent there is now US legislation requiring that the word "crisp" be used to describe those made from moulding chopped potato.
chorizo		See entry for blood sausage.
cilantro	coriander	herb
city	town	In American usage "city" is used for any "incorporated" area, which seems to mean that it has some form of local government, as such the population may be only a few hundred. There are state-by-state regional variations in the precise meaning of the American term. In British usage an urban area is only a city if it has a cathedral or has a royal warrant saying it's a city. If it isn't a city it's a town (or a village). My own city, Wolverhampton, has a population of about 250,000, a bishop, a university, a main-line railway station, trams and over a thousand years of history but it didn't become a city until December 2000.
closet	fitted wardrobe	Especially a walk-in wardrobe or small storage room that is a permanent fixture not a piece of furniture.
closing out	closing down	Sale of goods when shop or company ceases regular trading. AE also uses this to refer to stock clearance of particular lines of merchandise.
clothes pin	clothes peg	Holds washing on a line.
coach	economy	Inexpensive class of accommodation on a train or aeroplane. In BE a "coach" is a single decker bus like vehicle that carries booked passengers or is booked for a party of passengers, unlike a 'bus' it does not stop to pick up custom at the roadside.
collect call *	reverse charge call	Telephone.
comfort station Obs	public convenience, toilet	See discussion under "washroom". I have also seen "comfort house" applied to a portable toilet on a building site. A correspondent reports "port-a-potty" for temporary facilities. This would probably be called a "portaloo" in BE, although this is a proprietary term. According to a correspondent this term has re-appeared in AE as a fold-down table for changing a baby's nappy.
comforter	quilt, eiderdown, bedspread	Warm covering on top of bed that is made up traditionally using sheets and blankets as distinct from a duvet.
concert master	leading or first violin, leader	Orchestra.
condominium, condo *	block of flats	Both BE and AE use "condominium" to refer to a territory governed jointly by two nations. In referring to a block of flats BE does not distinguish between rented flats and individually owned flats. "condominium" usually means that the flats are individually owned rather than rented.
conductor	guard	A railway official. In London, buses have both a driver and a conductor whose job is to sell tickets.
consignment *	second hand goods	The American term refers to goods sold on commission, a concept unknown in the United Kingdom.
cookie	biscuit (sweet)	In British usage "cookie" is sometimes used to refer specifically to a biscuit with chips of chocolate included known, I believe, as a "chocolate chip cookie" in AE.
cooler	cool box	a well insulated box used for food etc., Both BE and AE also use "cooler" as a slang word for a detention cell.
cord	lead, flex	Flexible electrical cable joining an electrical appliance or telephone to a socket. For power connections British practice uses the same colours as are used in Europe, brown for live, blue for neutral and green with yellow stripe for earth. Older British practice still used for permanent cables is red for live, black for neutral and green (or bare copper) for earth. American practice is black for live, white for neutral and green for earth, although it is not normal for the cord from the outlet to the appliance to have colour coded wires.
corn	sweet corn, maize, corn-on-the-cob	In British usage "corn" is used fairly generically to mean "wheat" or "oats".
corn starch	corn flour
cotton batting obs	cotton wool
cotton candy	candy floss
cotton swab	cotton bud	Q-Tip is a proprietary US term.
couch	settee	An upholstered seat for two or more people. BE has several variants with no specific words for two or three seated versions. A "chesterfield" has buttoned leather upholstery. "Sofa" is a fairly common alternative. A "chaise longue" has an arm at one end only so you can lie down on it. In BE a "love seat" has two seats side by side but facing in opposite directions in a sort of "S" shape, suitable only for the most chaste amatory activities. "couch potato" means the same in BE as AE.
county		American usage would, typically, be "Orange County". Apart from "County Durham" the word would not be used in referring to a British administrative division, the suffix "-shire" means that it's a county anyway. The use of the word "County" is normal in referring to Irish administrative divisions. They're called "parishes" in Louisiana, in British usage a "parish" is the lowest level unit of government (rural areas only) or ecclesiastical organisation. There are no standard geographical subdivisions between the nations of the UK and the counties. Unlike the states of the USA and the provinces of Canada there are no standard postal abbreviations for British counties, and their names are frequently omitted from addresses, a practice that is accepted by the Post Office if a post code is included.
cow pie	cow pat	Something you don't want to put your foot in.
coworker	workmate	"coworker" is also understood in BE as a slightly more formal term. BE also has "Workmate" as a proprietary term for an adjustable workbench.
crackers	biscuits	In British usage "cracker" can refer to a particular type of biscuit used with cheese or the usage "crackers" can imply that somebody is mentally deranged. BE speakers would be unaware of any racially offensive connotations.
crane fly	daddy-long-legs	Insect with long legs (Tipula Maxima). [My dictionary suggests that AE uses daddy-long-legs to refer to something called a harvestman (Order Opilones) that lives in leaf litter and is a sort of spider with very long legs.]
crawl space	under floor void
crazy bone *obs	funny bone
cream of wheat	semolina
creek	stream, brook	in British usage a "creek" is a small inlet of the sea. I am told the American word can also be spelt "crick", reflecting common pronunciation, although this would be considered uneducated.
crosswalk	pedestrian crossing	Specially marked part of roadway used by pedestrians crossing the road. The British usage "zebra crossing" is obsolescent. Many such crossings are controlled by traffic lights, some are still uncontrolled but indicated by large orange globes on striped posts known, after the presiding minister who first installed them, as Belisha beacons.
cuban	no equivalent	Floridan term for a sandwich with roast pork, ham, and swiss cheese.
cuffs	turn-ups	At bottom of trouser legs. Shirts (with long sleeves) in both AE and BE have cuffs.
cupcake	fairy cake	Small individual cake.
custom made	bespoke, made to measure	This refers to clothing, otherwise "custom made" is normal British usage. BE also has "bespoke software" (for computers).