Of course, when I arrived and saw the woman at the end of the platform wearing a red sweater, I understood my mistake. Playwright George Bernard Shaw claimed that "England and America are two countries divided by a common language." For most of us, the differences between American and British English are amusing but of no real consequence, except to make us hesitate when we go traveling (or is it travelling?). That may not always be the case, since sometimes individuals fall into the "vocabulary trap."

My neighbor is an Australian, married to an American. Every time her husband wrote "jelly" on the grocery list, she came home from the supermarket with a small box of fruit-flavored gelatin powder. She couldn't understand why he wrote "jelly" on the list when they already had six similar boxes in the cabinet. He couldn't understand why there were still no jars of jelly in the cabinet, since he was sure that he had put "jelly" on the list. See, vocabulary differences can lead to marital conflict.

There are other cases where the difference can have serious consequences. Consider this example: in American English, one billion = 1,000,000,000, or one thousand million. In British English, one billion = 1,000,000,000,000, or one million million. What the Americans call a billion, the British call a milliard. Imagine an American investor speaking to a British CEO: "I think we can manage a $1.5 billion investment in your company." The British CEO is going to be very surprised when the check has 3 fewer zeroes than expected!

Differences in spelling can also cause trouble, especially for the scientific community. Noah Webster, of American dictionary fame, changed the British spelling "sulphur" to "sulfur" centuries ago. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) officially adopted the "sulfur" spelling in 1990. Standardization is important for communication purposes, especially in areas like database searches.

• Open a popular Web browser, such as Yahoo! or Excite. Do a search for "sulfur" and note the results. Then do a search for "sulphur" and again note the results. What are the major differences?

The IUPAC does not arbitrarily favor the American spelling. Instead of the American "aluminum," the organization adopted the British spelling "aluminium," which is consistent with the 55 other elements ending in "-ium."

Read the following passage:

I put on a jumper and raced to catch a lift. Once outside, I discovered it was dark and I was feeling mad. "I should have brought a torch," I thought. At the underground I bought a return ticket. "How am I going to get a rise from my boss?" I wondered.

You do not know if the author of the passage is American or British. Fill in the following table. If you need help, you can consult the English to English site or the The American British/British American Dictionary.

• How does the tone of the passage vary if the author is American or British?
  
  
• If the author of the passage is American, can you determine the author's gender? What if the author is British?
  
  
• H.L. Mencken, author of The American Language (1936), wrote that "When two-thirds of the people who use a certain language decide to call it a freight train instead of a goods train, they are 'right'; then the first is correct usage and the second a dialect." British lexicographer Ernest Gowers believes that the British were the first to speak the language, so their usage is definitive. Which approach do you agree with and why?

There is plenty of shared ground between American English and British English, but there are significant differences:

1. Spelling
The differences in spelling can be pinned on a single individual—Noah Webster. Webster believed that a distinct American language would help merge the 13 colonies into one nation. In compiling an early American dictionary, spelling book, and basic reader, he simplified British spelling. His legacy is seen in the American spelling of words like color (vs. colour), center (vs. centre), and civilization (vs. civilisation).

2. Pronunciation
Differences in American and British pronunciation go deeper than just accent. When my cousin told me I could buy theater tickets at "Leister Square," I couldn't find it on my map of London. How was I to know that "Leiscester" has so many silent letters?

3. Grammar
The differences in grammar are subtle, something that many people hear but cannot explain. Here are some examples:

4. Vocabulary and Idiom
The most obvious and entertaining difference between the two English languages are in the area of vocabulary and idiom. An idiom is an expression with its own grammatical structure. For example, when getting off the New York subway, one should "Watch your step," but when disembarking from the London underground, a recording warns "Mind the gap."

In areas of technology that developed before the British settled "the colonies"—for example, sailing—the differences in vocabulary are minor because the new settlers brought the language with them. Technologies developed throughout the nineteenth century show the greatest vocabulary differences. For example, the vocabulary for rail and automative transportation varies significantly: a car has a hood versus a bonnet, a trunk versus a boot. By the twentieth century differences in vocabulary concerning modern technologies—e.g., aviation and computers—again became minor, due largely to the World Wars and America's dominant entertainment industry.

Learn More

• Learn more about Noah Webster in particular and dictionaries in general in the Riverdeep Today article, "From A to Zyzzogeton."
  
  
• Read how translating movies also leads to interpretation of English in the Riverdeep Today article, "When Hollywood Goes Global."
  
  
• Find an online dictionary and other useful writer resources at Riverdeep's Editor's Desk.

Related Resources

• Divided by a Common Language: A British/American Dictionary Plus, by Christopher Davies and Jason Murphy, provides a practical and historical look at the differences between British and American English.
  

Author Sue Reiss is a native of San Antonio and believes that Texan English should be the arbiter of English usage. Don't y'all agree?