more words the british think i don't know

08 Jul, 2026

weather: ☀️🌫️ smoky
critters: swallowtails, dragonflies, bluebirds

in honor of the friends twisting my arm to get mad at england for soccer reasons, here's the sequel to my first post about britishisms the british think i don't know

chips. i know the british know that our chips are their crisps and their chips are our fries--but i'm starting to think the british don't know that we know this. we have never called it "fish and fries"

fairy lights. many of us know what these are because it's a cute name that sticks in the mind. i like that it's less holiday-specific than "christmas lights," which is what i end up calling them regardless of occasion. we should have adopted this term long ago

shambles. we already have this word, but the british can and should take credit for "omnishambles," which is art

maths. one should assume that pluralizing something does not automatically make it confusing to someone who uses the singular. i'm more confused that i keep hearing it pronounced as "maffs"¹

bookshop. we do usually say "bookstore," at least in my neck of the woods, but we all know what a "bookshop" is: the only physical place in town where you can get a mystery box toy, a handmade italian leather notebook, a bar of fancy chocolate, and notes from underground in the same transaction

bread. the british seem to believe we only have wonderbread² and that they have to specify when they say "bread" they mean, uh, bread. for some inscrutable reason they also get kinda mad when we say "croissant" instead of ✨cwassão.✨ my brethren i have heard how you pronounce "guacamole," we all have an accent

cheese. relatedly, the british believe we only have kraft singles and ingots of velveeta.³ this is sort of like if americans believed the british had no access to meats other than the clown bologna

football. self-explanatory