|
English UK
(UK to US in yellow) |
English US
(US to UK in blue) |
| Fairy cakes |
Small plain UK sponge cupcakes, (Varying opinions
on whether or not they're frosted) |
| Faggot and mushy pea batch (Northern) |
Meat ball in hamburger buns with mushy peas applied
like gravy. |
| Faggots |
Meat balls. 'Real' ones contain Pig offal - hearts,
lungs, spleens and livers in addition to the usual pork, onions, apples,
bread, herbs, salt, pepper, and are baked. (see Meatball, US version) |
| Broad bean |
Fava bean |
| Bottle of scotch, vodka, rum,
etc., about 11/3 pints or 3⁄4 litre. |
Fifth (of a gallon) |
| Fig biscuit |
Fig newton (they now come in other flavors &
fat-free versions- none of which are nice) |
| Fish fingers | Fish sticks |
| Fish slice | Closest US equivalant is either a spatula
or a pancake turner. (Pancake turner closer in actual shape, but when
used figuratively as in 'scraping someone off the wall' spatula would
be used.) |
| To prepare (as in' fix a meal') |
Fix |
| Fizzy drink |
Soda, pop (regional), soda pop, coke (cola), soft
drink |
| Cutlery |
Flatware |
| French bean | Green bean (French style or Frenched is slivered) |
| French loaf sandwich |
Hero sandwich, Grinder, Hoagie, Hoagy, Submarine
or Sub (Sub is most common)a Poor Boy is a Southern variant, sometimes
on toasted bread roll, Poor Girl, smaller version of that |
| French stick |
French bread |
| Fried grated potato |
Hash browns |
| Garibaldi biscuits |
Slightly soft raisin cookie AKA ' squashed fly
biscuit' |
| Gateau |
Layer cake (which in US would mostly be just 'cake') |
| Non-alcoholic sweet/tart fizzy
drink also often used as a mixer for alcoholic drinks (not sure what
gives it the flavor- it doesn't taste like the spice Ginger and
it certainly doesn't taste like ale) |
Ginger ale |
| Ginger beer shandy |
Shandy but made with ginger beer in place of lemonade
(Is ginger beer alcoholic?) |
| They hold a national cookie
sale by the girls every Autumn, to help fund the organisation. The cookies
used to be expensive but good. They're still expensive. |
Girl Scout cookies |
| Golden Syrup |
Golden syrup is a by- product of sugar refining
(as is molasses). It has the consistency of corn syrup (Karo syrup), but
a golden color. It tastes different from either light or dark corn syrup
or molasses. The closest US substitutes would be 2 parts light corn
syrup and 1 part molasses or equal parts of honey and light corn syrup.
|
| Gnat’s piss |
Weak, or otherwise bad tea or beer AKA horse piss
(which is not unknown in the US, although impolite) |
| Gobstopper |
Jawbreaker, hard candy, all day sucker, sour ball
(There is a Gobstopper brand hard candy.) |
| Gold Top |
Bottled unpasteurized milk with a gold top indicating
rich milk about 5% fat (Doubt Fed. regulations allow the commercial sale
of unpasteurized milk in the US) |
| Goosegog |
Gooseberry |
| A semi-sweet biscuit,
similar in texture to a light Digestive biscuit, and eaten as is, or dunked
in milk also often crushed (with sugar added) to make a pie crust. |
Graham Crackers |
| Grease-proof paper | Wax paper |
| Green grocer |
Shopkeeper of fruit and vegetable store (US supermarkets
have driven most of them out of business, but there may still be some in
large city neighborhoods) |
| Green grocer's |
Fruit and vegetable store |
| Greengage |
Green plum |
| Grill |
Broil (generally broiling is inside an oven, and
grilling either on a stove-griddle or a rack above a charcoal fire) |
| Gripe water (from brand name) |
Carminative for baby colic (what's a carminative?) |
| Sliced American cheese between
2 slices of buttered white bread, grilled til the cheese melts (sometimes
has sliced tomato) if sliced ham added it's a Yumbo |
Grilled Cheese sandwich |
| (Southern dish) Ground maize-
not sure but I think it's boiled first, like oatmeal, then fried, generally
served at breakfast. |
Grits |
| Groundnut | Peanut |
| Grub |
Food (also used in US as inelegant reference to
ordinary food, mildly annoying to the cook) |
| Dip made from mashed avocado
plus one or more of diced onions, jalapeños, garlic, tomatoes, and
seasonings (or just lemon juice & salt, which is how I made it) |
Guacamole |
| Haggis (Scottish) |
Oatmeal, onions, and suet mixed with minced sheep’s
offal and boiled in its maw (stomach?) |
| Hamburger bar |
Generic name for a burger place |
| Head waiter |
Maître d (both used in US, Headwaiter in
a less prestigious restaurant, Maître d in expensive places) |
| High tea |
Main evening meal, which would include bread and
butter, and tea, |
| Hob |
Rangetop, stovetop, cooktop (varies according
to region & personal preference. I'd call it a stovetop.) hotplate
(this is a separate flat cooking surface, generally used where there is
limited kitchen space) |
| Hock |
White German Rhine wine |
| Hovis |
Brown bread |
| HP Sauce |
Barbecue sauce, similar to A1 sauce |
| Humbug |
Hard, mint flavored candy |
| Hundreds and thousands |
Sprinkles (multicolored), spreckles (I never heard
that one), jimmies (chocolate, usu.), hundreds and thousands usu. silver
(or gold) |
| Usu. an 'Italian ice'- mainly
sugar & fruit juice frozen very hard, so you scrape it to eat it. |
Ice |
| Ice |
Snow cone, sherbet, sorbet, or ice cream |
| Fridge |
Icebox/ Fridge/ Refrigerator |
| Ice cream with Chocolate flakes |
Possibly with sprinkles, or bits of chocolate
candy ? |
| Ice lolly |
Popsicle |
| Icing |
Frosting / Icing used interchangeably |
| Icing sugar | Confectioner's sugar |
| Indian |
Indian - Indian food (curry, etc), used in the
same way as ‘Chinese’ |
| Irish stew |
Lamb stew with onions, potatoes, etc. |
| A kind of chili pepper in many Mexican dishes, ranging from mild to hot. | Jalapeño |
| Jam |
Not quite the same as jelly- Preserves probably
closer, as jam contains pieces of fruit, roughly chopped and cooked, with
sugar as preservative. |
| Rice dish made with heavily
seasoned meat or seafood, particularly in Louisiana |
Jambalaya |
| Jaffa cakes |
LU Pim’s orange fancy cookies |
| Jam Butty |
Jam sandwich |
| Jam tart |
Jelly pie (See Bakewell tart) |
| Jello made with vodka AKA
jello shooters, jello poppers, atomic jello |
Jello shots / Slimers |
| Jelly (Can be Fruit, Milk, etc.) |
Jell-O (the brand-name isn't in England) |
| Jelly Babies |
Gummi (or Gummy) Bears, (Also Worms & others) |
| Swiss Roll |
Jelly Roll |
| White salad vegetable (root)
crisp like a radish. |
Jicama |
| Coffee (slang) |
Joe |
| Joint of meat | Cut of meat (A joint would be a roast, probably) |
| Kedgeree |
Breakfast dish with kippers, the main ingredient
is rice |
| Kettle |
Often an electric kettle, hence “turn on the kettle”
rather than “put the kettle on” (US- kettles are almost always 'whistling
teakettles' to use on stovetop) |
| Made from lmes grown in the
Florida Keys like a lemon meringue pie only sweet lime flavored. |
Key Lime Pie |
| Kipper |
Smoked herring. |
| Knickerbocker Glory |
Type of sundae in a tall glass. |
| Citrus fruit like an ovoid
miniature orange, the inside is tart like a lemon and the rind is sweet. |
Kumquat |
| Traditional Lemonade (not
exactly the same, as it may be carbonated, but it does have bits of lemon) |
Lemonade (Sugar, water and
lemon juice) |
| Lager and lime |
Lager mixed with lime (Rose’s lime juice) popular
as a drink in hotter weather |
| Lager shandy |
Shandy made with lager instead of beer |
| Larger top (sure that's not a typo?) |
Lager topped with lemonade (or bitter) |
| Larder |
Pantry (larder is also used & would be understood) |
| Lemonade |
Soda, similar to 7-up or Sprite, but without the
lime |
| Lemon Curd | Yellow lemon-flavored paste, comes in jars &
is spread on/in desserts like icing or on bread or toast |
| Liffey water |
Guinness (brewery is on the R. Liffey, which flows
through Dublin) |
| Light and bitter |
Usu. a pint of half light ale and half bitter ale |
| Spirits |
Liquor |
| Liver sausage |
Liverwurst, braunsweiger |
| Lolly | Popsicle (sometimes called an Ice-Lolly) Also
a lollipop |
| Sweet, greenish-yellow fruit
the size of a small plum that tastes a bit pear-like, and contains two
very large seeds. |
Loquat / Chinese plum |
| Smoked salmon, ‘lox &
bagels’ is the only way I've heard it |
Lox |
| Madeira cake | Pound cake sprinkled with candied lemon peel |
| Maize |
Corn as in corn-on-the-cob (Maize is rarely used,
& when it is, it usually refers to decorative, multi- colored varieties
of 'Indian Corn') |
| Mange-tout (French -eat all) |
Snap pea, sugar (snap) pea, snow pea |
| Mangelwurzel |
Large coarse yellow-orange beet used for cattle
fodder. A jocular term, especially in ref. to country folk |
| Marathon bar |
Similar to Snickers bar |
| Tequila and lime cocktail. |
Margarita |
| Marmite |
A sharp-flavored yeast extract spread.Very 'meat'
tasting. |
| Marge (colloquial) |
Margarine |
| Marmalade |
Jam made from citrus- usu. Seville oranges (which
are bitter). US marmalade exists, but is generally not bitter. |
| Marrow | Squash, comes in different varieties, can be extremely
large |
| Marrow Jam | Jam made from marrows, although marrow is usu.
used as a vegetable. |
| Mars bar |
Milky way bar (the US candy- not sure of this one) |
| Marzipan |
Sweetened colored almond paste used as a cake frosting
(never seen it used to frost a cake in US, but in fancy bakeries, it's
possible) |
| Mash (colloquial) | Mashed potatoes |
| Mash (Northern-colloquial) |
Tea |
| Mayonnaise (hold the mayo
means not to put it on a sandwich) |
Mayo (abbrev) |
| In addition to animal meat,
this also means the kernel of a nut |
Meat |
| Ground beef, mixed with egg,
breadcrumbs, Italian spices (garlic & oregano mostly) browned in oil
in skillet, then put in spaghetti sauce to complete cooking (family recipe,
may differ slightly from restaurants) |
Meatballs |
| Mincer (also used colloquially,
as in 'I'm so tired, I feel as if I've been put through a meat grinder'.) |
Meat grinder |
| Melton Mowbray pie |
A kind of meat pie |
| Meths |
Methylated spirits, and also the so addicted bums
(doesn't belong as a Food, as it actually is a poison) |
| Methylated spirits |
Denatured alcohol (not drinkable) |
| To knock out by surreptitiously
spiking someone’s drink (chloral hydrate commonly used) |
Mickey , slip a (give a) AKA
Mickey Finn |
| Mif (acronym- reverse is Tif) |
Milk in First (I'm a Tifts myself, Tea in first,
then sugar) |
| Milk top | Foil top (or cap) on milk bottles. Gold - full
milk, silver - lighter, red - low fat. Children might stamp them flat to
use as game tokens. |
| Milky bar |
Three Musketeers candy bar (the original 3 Musketeers
was 3 separate bars, 1 chocolate, 1 vanilla, 1 strawberry- long before
my time, I hasten to add.) |
| Small family owned restaurant
/ business |
Mom and pop diner / store |
| Minced meat |
Hamburger meat, ground beef, (& used colloquially,
'To make minced meat of him'-In the US, the phrase 'to make mincemeat of
him' exists but it is old-fashioned, you can use 'hamburger' much the same
way) |
| Mincemeat (dried fruits, etc. very like the US version
I believe) |
Mincemeat (almost never encountered in the wild,
but often cans are available around Christmas to make into pies) |
| Mince |
Minced meat (mince is only in common US use inMincemeat
pie- a rather out of fashion traditional holiday dessert containing dried
fruit- the original recipe did include meat) |
| Mix (beer) |
Brown and bitter |
| Mollusc | Mollusk |
| Combination of chocolate,
marshmallow sauce and something akin to Graham crackers (sounds like 'Sweet
Death') |
Moon pie |
| Muesli |
Granola-like, but usu. raw ingredients rather than
toasted. (there is a Muesli cereal, but I think part of it is toasted) |
| Muffin -AKA bread roll, teacake, bap, oven bottom,
breadcake, etc. (regional names ) |
Bread roll, savory (not sweet), slightly larger
& flatter than the normal roll. |
| Mum |
The person who is to pour the tea at tea. (Not
often heard, but the variant 'I'll play mother, shall I?' does
exist in the US.) |
| Mung beans |
Bean sprouts (sometimes called Mung beans) |
| Mushy peas (Northern) |
A starchy pea cooked to the consistency of porridge |
| Muslin |
Cheese cloth - Muslin is a more sturdy fabric,
not used in cooking & is usu. unprinted, bleached white or unbleached
natural color. Brightly printed cotton fabrics are calicos. |
| Mustard and cress |
Sprouts (in the US alfalfa sprouts would be the
closest thing) |
| Napkin |
Table napkin, also diaper. Serviette would only
mean table napkin, but isn't as commonly used. So long as you aren't setting
the table and diapering the baby at the same time, napkin will probably be
understood in context. |
| Neat (Liquor) |
Straight, straight-up (neat is also used in exactly
the same way in the US) |
| Neep (Scottish and Northern) |
Turnip - I think that's the yellow root US calls
'Rutabaga', not the white thing US calls 'Turnip' |
| Nosh |
Food or to eat (Uncommon, but we use it in my family) |
| Nosh-up |
Big meal or feast. |
| Noshery |
Snack bar, eatery |
| Off-Licence or Offie |
A liquor store. Alcohol bought there must
be drunk off the premises, hence the name |
| Okra |
Gumbo (Okra refers only to the Okra itself in the
US, ) gumbo in the US is a thick stew with okra-regional or ethnic dish |
| Opening time |
When the pubs open |
| Orange Squash | Orangeade (which is a soda pop with artificial
orange flavor, not like lemonade which should be made from real
lemon juice) |
| Chocolate biscuits with creamy
filling (now also available in Double-stuff & recently around St.
Patrick's day the filling is green, around Easter pastel colors &
around Halloween it's orange- usually the strange colors do not sell well) |
Oreo cookies |
| Eggs fried both sides but
without cooking the yolks. |
Over Easy |
| Eggs fried both sides and
with the yolks slightly cooked. |
Over Medium |
| Oven cloth | Pot holder. |
| OXO |
Buillion cubes-Beef flavor. They do make a veggie
one, also. |