style guide: Atlanticisms

Atlanticisms are American and British dialect words that are understood on both sides of the Atlantic:

• ad
• add up
• air matress
• attic
• autumn
• ballpoint pen
• Band-Aid
• bar – not pub
• bell-boy
• big spender – not high roller
• bill – not check (restaurant)
• billboard – not hoarding
• bird-watcher – not birder
• blackboard
• blackjack – not pontoon (card game)
• bleach – not Clorox
• blue-collar
• boarder – not lodger
• bring up – not raise (a child)
• broke – out of money
• broken – not busted
• bulrush – not cattail
• cafeteria
• call – not ring up (telephone)
• can opener
• capital letters – not block letters
• chickpea – not garbanzo bean
• chief of police – not sheriff
• cigarette butt
• cinema
• coffin – not casket
• cop
• cottom swab – not Q-Tip
• crayfish
• crematorium
• cupboard
• cupcake
• curse – not cuss
• curt – not snippy
• curtains
• dad
• deadlock – not stand-off
• dessert
• dishcloth
• drainpipe
• drinking fountain
• dress – not frock
• dressing-table – not vanity
• dump – not landfill
• evening shift – not swing shift
• extra-large – not outsize
• fabulous – not royal
• failed – not bombed
• field – not pitch (sporting term)
• fill out – not fill in a form
• fire engine
• firefly – not lightning bug
• fire station
• foot-and-mouth disease
• funny-bone
• glasses – not spectacles or eyeglasses
• green thumb
• grill
• gnat – not midge
• goose bumps
• gutters
• guy – male only
• hamburger
• handbag
• heap – old car
• hideaway
• high-rise (building)
• hike – not ramble
• house painter
• icing
• idiot
• imagine – not guess (as in “I guess so”)
• immediately – not straight away
• jam – not jelly
• jerk
• label – not tag
• lavatory – not bathroom or rest room
• lawyer – not attorney, solicitor or barrister
• life jacket
• lollipop
• lonely – not lonesome
• lout – not oik
• magician
• mail
• measuring cup
• minister – not vicar
• mongrel – not mutt
• nail polish
• napkin – not serviette
• newspaper clipping
• newsstand – not news agent
• nuts – not crackers
• nutty
• pack of cards – not deck of cards
• pantry
• parka – not anorak
• paper-wasp – not yellow jacket
• patch together – not cobble together
• pawn – not hock
• pedestrian crossing – not crosswalk or zebra crossing
• pharmacist
• pharmacy – not chemist or drugstore
• physiotherapist
• plasterboard – not Sheetrock
• play hookey
• plum pudding
• police line up
• porch – not stoop
• prison – not penitentiary
• public swimming pool
• pushups
• quarter – not fourth
• quotation marks
• racecourse
• rattle on
• reform school
• relic – not holdover
• rubber boots
• rummage sale
• rumpus – not ruckus
• running shoes – not sneakers, trainers or tennis shoes
• Santa Claus
• scuzzy
• seesaw
• senior citizen – not pensioner
• shopping bag
• shopping cart – not trolley or buggy
• shopping centre – not mall or shopping plaza
• shoulder – not verge (of a road)
• slash – not oblique or stroke (the “/” symbol)
• slice of bacon – not rasher
• somewhere – not someplace
• smitten – not besotted
• sofa
• soft drink
• soil – not dirt
• stands – at a sporting event
• sticker – not decal
• stockings – not hose
• stopover – not layover
• stove
• stuffing – not dressing
• sucker – not patsy
• supermarket – not grocery store
• sweater
• swimsuit
• tarpaulin – not tarp
• tasteless – not tacky
• theatre programme – not Playbill
• thermos
• timetable – not schedule (for buses and trains)
• toll-road – not turnpike
• tone-deaf – not have a tin ear
• tramp – not hobo or bum
• travelling salesman
• trunk – not steamer trunk
• TV
• usual – not regular
• vacuum cleaner – not Hoover
• vending machine – not slot machine
• waiter – not server (restaurant)
• walking-stick – not cane
• wary – not leery
• wedding ring
• wharf – not quay
• while – not whilst
• wrench – not spanner
• yell – not holler
• zero – not nil

See also:

• style guide
  • dialect
    • Americanisms
    • blackisms
  • troublesome words
• Transatlantic accent
• International English
• Standard English
• my own rules for writing