Lee Special - English but not English

"We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language."

Oscar Wilde

It is common knowledge that our American cousins speak a sometimes-strange dialect of English known as American English. Having been to the States many times before, we were fully aware of most of these differences, but some were new to us.

Below is a summary of some of the differences we came across during our road trip. This list isn't meant to be exhaustive, representative of the whole of the US, or ground-breaking insight for our British readers. It is just a random list of differences we have picked up along the way, and remembered to jot down.  

American English	English
Scallions	Spring onions. This was a new one for us, requiring the help of Google.
Growler	Refillable glass 64-oz container for take-out beers. Throughout the whole of the road trip, asking at bars whether they could "fill my wife's growler up" and letting them know "it was a bit dirty and would probably need a rinse" would never fail to make me giggle - much to the confusion of the bar staff. Apart from one lesbian, who said she "most certainly knew what a growler was!"
Windshield	Windscreen. Two words so similar, yet the English version might well have been Chinese.
Fanny Pack	Bum bag. Yes, your bottom is still your fanny.
Mums	Chrysanthemums
Y'all	You. Equally at home being used to address a single person, it seems.
Yep	You're most welcome. This can come across as being quite rude until you get used to it. There's me being all polite and saying "Oh, thank you very much" to which I'd get an abrupt "Yep!"
Excuse me	I'm sorry
I'm sorry	Excuse me
Run that	Take payment on this credit card, please
Cheque	The bill, as in a restaurant
Bill	A bank note
Fall	Autumn
Autumn	Autumn. I was surprised to learn that Americans do know what "autumn" means and they are happy to use it in conversation
Parking lot	Car park
Garage	Car park
Elevator	Lift
Line	Queue
Sidewalk	Pavement
Pavement	Road. We were initially confused when seeing a sign saying that vehicles should stay on the pavement.
Truck	Articulated lorry
Tractor	The front portion of an articulated lorry, comprising the cab and engine
Trailer	The back portion of an articulated lorry, containing the goods being transported
Semi	A lorry comprising of its front portion and a semi-trailer, the latter being a trailer with no front axle which is usually attached to the front by a "fifth wheel" coupling.
Cart	Trolley, as in "shopping cart".
Rubber	Condom. Our friend Cheryl told us a story about a young English boy asking for a rubber at school, much to the horror of the teacher and the rest of the class!
Eraser	Rubber
Camping	Any form of outdoors recreational living, whether that be in a tent or in a 16-wheel Class A Mega RV (recreational vehicle).
Tent camping	Camping
Buffalo	Misnomer for bison. Buffalo are found in south Asia and Africa.
Bison	Bison
Porta potty	Portaloo
Football	American Football
Soccer	Football
Hockey	Ice hockey
Field hockey	Hockey
Laundry	Washing. I know we call it laundry to, but I don't think you'd ever hear Americans "doing the washing".
Arugula	Rocket, as in the peppery green salad leaf
Collard greens	Not sure really! They are some kind of broad-leaf cabbage, common in Southern US cooking.
Flash light	Torch
Trunk	Boot (of a car)
Hood	Bonnet (of a car)
Panties	Knickers
Pantyhose	Tights. Also used when warning someone "not to get their pantyhose in a twist"
Rental	Hire, as in rental (hire) car. We soon learned to use the term "rental car" after getting a whole array of blank looks when talking about our hire car.
Vacuum	Hoover
Hushpuppy	A small deep-fried ball of corn-based batter. Most definitely not footwear.
Pint	473ml, or about 83% of a proper pint.
Gas	Petrol (i.e. gasoline).