American uses of English (I-J-K)

American/ Canadian

British

Notes

I
icebox Obs	refrigerator	In BE "icebox" refers to the part of the refrigerator kept below freezing point and a "cool box" is a well insulated box for carrying food and drink. The American practice of garages and supermarkets selling ice to replenish a cool box is unknown in Britain.
ice chest Obs	cool box
incorporated	limited	British firms often have titles ending in "Ltd" meaning limited liability or "Plc" meaning public limited company. "Public" implies that the company's shares are publicly traded. There are also private companies.
industrial park	industrial estate	An unlovely area of factories and other commercial premises. BE also has "trading estate".
installment plan	hire purchase	A scheme for paying for something by a series of payments after you've obtained the item.
instant replay	action replay	Use of video recordings to replay highlights immediately after the event particularly during TV coverage of sporting events.
intersection	cross roads	A place where four roads meet or two roads cross depending on your point of view. See also notes on "four-way".
intermission	interval	Break in performance in theatre, cinema or on TV. "Intermission" sounds rather old-fashioned to British ears.
interstate *US	main road, major road, trunk road	A major highway joining different parts of the country. The usage "trunk road" is largely confined to road planners and road system administrators but most closely captures the meaning of "interstate". The specific usage of "interstate" to mean roads funded under a particular legislative act would be unknown to BE speakers. Interstate highways are arranged in a more or less regular geographic fashion with even numbers for those running east-west and odd numbers for those running north-south. Roads in Great Britain have numbers whose initial digits are based on a radial zone system based on London and Edinburgh A1 - London to Edinburgh A2 - London to Dover A3 - London to Portsmouth A4 - London to Bristol A5 - London to Holyhead A6 - London to Carlisle A7 - Edinburgh to Carlisle A8 - Edinburgh to Greenock A9 - Edinburgh to John O'Groats Roads, for example, between the A1 and A2 all have numbers starting with 1. An initial A means a major road, an initial M means a motorway, an initial B a minor road. A T after the number means a trunk road. An A road number will sometimes have the suffix M, indicating that it has been built to motorway standards. [E.g. A40(T), A1(M)] There is also an extensive network of unclassified roads sometimes called class C roads. Road numbering is unique, the more the digits, the less important the road. Broadly speaking an "A" road (not trunk) is equivalent to a "federal" road, a "B" road to a state road and the others are equivalent to "county" roads. See also entry for "freeway". E numbers are European designations, although many of these have been designated for the UK, they are more or less unknown in the UK.
intimate apparel	underwear
Inuit	Eskimo	Most British people are unaware of the preferred usage and are equally unaware of any negative connotations associated with the word "Eskimo". There are very few Inuit in the British Isles. A Slovak colleague of mine told me that in a recent census in the Czech Republic over 10,000 people described themselves as Inuit so forcing the government to make special provisions. CE prefers "Inuit".

American/ Canadian

British

Notes

J
janitor *	caretaker	BE has no distinction between a "live-in" caretaker and one who comes in on a daily basis.
jack	socket	Connector for telephone. In BE "jack plugs" and "jack sockets" are particular types of multi-pole electrical connectors. See entry for "outlet".
jelly	No equivalent	Spread for toast or bread not incorporating preserved fruit only fruit juice. See discussion under "preserves".
jelly roll	Swiss roll	A sort of cake made by spreading jam on a square cake base and then rolling it up into a cylinder.
Jell-o	jelly	US term is proprietary. A wobbly edible gelatine based substance often flavoured with fruit and used as a dessert. In British usage it is often served with ice cream and is a children's favourite. I cannot resist quoting the following from a correspondent Pudding is in no way related to jello, other than the Jell-O brand makes pudding (which is best described as a kind of down-market mousse that you can make by adding milk to a powder, or buy it premade in little sealed cups). It will often be called jello pudding snacks, just to tell the brand. But jello in general is the gelatin 'jelly,' as you call it. Pudding would never be used to describe the bready dessert thing such as 'christmas pudding'. that would be called fruitcake.
john	toilet	See discussion under "washroom". One correspondent suggested that "the ladies" may be called "the jane" in the interests of political correctness, I'm not sure I believe it.
jump rope US	skipping rope
jumper	short dress	In British usage "jumper" means a sweater.

American/ Canadian

British

Notes

K
kerb side	near side	Side of a vehicle nearest the kerb. In the UK this would be the left hand (port) side. It would still be called the near side if you were standing in the middle of the road when you would be nearest the off side of the vehicle. Sometimes written "nearside" and "offside".
kerosene	paraffin	A flammable liquid. "paraffin" in AE refers to a solid waxy substance known as "paraffin wax" or just plain "wax" in BE and used for making candles etc.
kindergarten	nursery	See discussion under "high school".
Kleenex	tissues	American term is proprietary.
knickers/ knickerbockers	plus fours	Rather old-fashioned loose fitting trousers especially worn by golfers. In BE "knickers" refers to an undergarment covering the body from the waist to the top of the thighs, it can also be used as a slang word implying contempt or annoyance. In BE a "knickerbocker glory" is a rather splendid ice cream, fruit and cream dessert served in a tall glass.