Tea or Hamburger?
40 words to check whether you’re American or British
Ghent University, in Belgium, studies the English language and their vocabulary study found 20 words known mostly by Americans and 20 words known mostly by British people.
Each word shows the percentage of Americans and British participants who knew the term and is followed by the Oxford Dictionary definition.
On which side of the Atlantic do you belong?
American words
Rutabaga (85% US, 30% UK): “a large, round yellow-fleshed root which is eaten as a vegetable”
Acetaminophen (92% US, 36% UK): “a synthetic compound used as a drug to relieve and reduce fever, usually takenin tablet form. American term for paracetamol.”
Sassafras (92% US, 35% UK): “a deciduous North American tree with aromatic leaves and bark. The leaves are infused to make tea or ground into filé.”
Flub (89% US, 31% UK): “a thing badly or clumsily done; a blunder. the textbooks are littered with flubs.”
Coonskin (88% US, 31% UK): “the pelt of a raccoon.”
Tamale (92% US, 35% UK): “a Mexican dish of seasoned meat and maize flour steamed or baked in maize husks.”
Charbroil (97% US, 39% UK): “grill (food, especially meat) on a rack over charcoal. charbroiled steak.”
Arugula (88% US, 29% UK): “the rocket plant, used in cookery.”
Cilantro (99% US, 40% UK): “coriander used as a seasoning or garnish. sour cream and chopped cilantro.”
Goober (96% US, 37% UK): “a person from the south-eastern US, especially Georgia or Arkansas.”
Boondocks (96% US, 37% UK): “rough or isolated country: this place is out in the boondocks, you’ll never get here by bus.”
Staph (86% US, 25% UK): “a bacterium of a genus that includes many pathogenic kinds that cause pusformation, especially in the skin and mucous membranes.”
Provolone (97% US, 36% UK): “an Italian soft smoked cheese made from cow’s milk and having a mellow flavour.”
Hibachi (89% US, 27% UK): “a portable cooking apparatus similar to a small barbecue.”
Sandlot (97% US, 32% UK): “a piece of unoccupied land used by children for games.”
Crawdad (86% US, 20% UK): “a freshwater crayfish.
Kwanza (91% US, 24% UK): “a seven-day holiday that pays tribute to the cultural roots of Americans of African ancestry”
Kabob (98% US, 29% UK): “a dish of pieces of meat, fish, or vegetables roasted or grilled on a skewer or spit.”
Manicotti (90% US, 15% UK): “large tubular pasta shapes.”
Garbanzo (91% US, 16% UK): “a chickpea.”
British words
Gormless (26% US, 96% UK): “lacking sense or initiative; foolish. a constantly grinning, rather gormless boy.”
Gunge (19% US, 89% UK): “an unpleasantly sticky or viscous substance.”
Invigilator (22% US, 92% UK): “supervise candidates during an examination. during exam week, all she had to do was invigilate.”
Bodge (18% US, 89% UK): “make or repair (something) badly or clumsily: the door was bodged together from old planks.”
Abseil (15% US, 87% UK): “descend a rock face or other near-vertical surface by using a doubled rope coiled round the body and fixed at a higher point: facilities for abseiling and rock climbing.”
Brolly (24% US, 96% UK): “an umbrella.”
Perspex (22% US, 94% UK): “solid transparent plastic made of polymethyl methacrylate (the same material as plexiglas or lucite). The scratched perspex in the windows. A clear perspex plate.”
Chiropody (20% US, 93% UK): “the treatment of the feet and their ailments.”
Escalope (17% US, 91% UK): “a thin slice of meat without any bone, typically a special cut of veal from the leg that is coated, fried, and served in a sauce.”
Plaice (16% US, 91% UK): “a North Atlantic flatfish which is a commercially important food fish.”
Kerbside (23% US, 98% UK): “the side of a road or pavement that is nearer to the kerb. he pulled up the van at the kerbside.”
Naff (19% US, 94% UK): “go away: she told press photographers to naff off” and “lacking taste or style: he always went for the most obvious melody he could get, no matter how naff it sounded.”
Judder (19% US, 94% UK): “(especially of something mechanical) shake and vibrate rapidly and with force: the steering wheel juddered in his hand.”
Yob (22% US, 97% UK): “a rude, noisy, and aggressive youth.”
Korma (20% US, 97% UK): “a mildly spiced Indian curry dish of meat or fish marinaded in yogurt or curds. a chicken korma.”
Dodgem (17% US, 94% UK): “a small electrically powered car with rubber bumpers all round, driven in an enclosure at a funfair with the aim of bumping into other such cars. he wanted to go on the dodgems.”
Chipolata (16% US, 93% UK): “a small thin sausage.”
Tombola (17% US, 97% UK): “a game in which people pick tickets out of a revolving drum and certain tickets win immediate prizes, typically played at a fete or fair. entrance includesa tombola and raffle. traditional games such as tombola or bingo.”
Biro (17% US, 99% UK): “a kind of ballpoint pen.”
Tippex (7% US, 91% UK): “a type of correction fluid.”
