SOME BRITISH WORDS FOR MY AMERICAN FRIENDS

 

 

Page 8Countdown – This is a neat game show that involves words and numbers (my two favorite things). You don’t have this one. We borrowed it from the French a long time ago and it has been on TV here for over 20 years.

 

Page 9Form teacher – this is a school teacher who looks after a class all year, takes attendance and sorts problems.

 

Page 20£2 Coins – coins worth about $2.77 each in your money. You might see £20 note or other amounts, other places. You can just Google Pounds to US dollars for fun and see what it says.

 

Page 21poppet – an affectionate term for a child.

 

Page 27secondary school – what you guys sometimes call elementary school (which is pretty cool).

 

Page 27Child Catcher – Did you see the movie ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’?

 

Page 28saddle – in this case, what you call the seat on a bike.

 

Page 29Celebrations – it’s a variety bag of Mars candy bars; the little mini ones.

 

Page 30 (and others) – year 11 – in your part of the world that’s 15-16 years old. If you see year 9, that’s 13-14 years old, and I am 12 which is year 7.

 

Page 31Jammy Dodgers – simply too amazing to describe here. Closest you can come to them are shortbread cookies with jam in the middle.

 

Page 32pants – British slang. Not good; total crap; nonsense; rubbish; bad.

 

Page 53WPC – Woman police constable, which you call police officer.

 

Page 61fete – it means a celebration, over here it is usually an outdoor charity event.

 

Page 77Ribena – is my country’s original brand of blackcurrant-based uncarbonated and carbonated soft drinks.

 

Page 78Sellotape – you call it Scotch tape.

 

That’s about all I have. If you find some others, you can add them in the space below or write them down or put them in the notes app on your phone and share with friends.