British English And American English Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Where does a true-blue BE-speaker find the engine of his car (assuming it is a standard model and not, for example, a Volkswagen)?

Answer: under the bonnet

The boot would be the trunk for an AE speaker. Dutch would be motorkap, which is not too remote from the non-existent engine 'cap'.

2. What would a Brit use to remove his erratic pencil scribblings?

Answer: a rubber

No erazors either in British or in American usage. Eraser is now common British usage just as well as rubber. A wiper can be found on a windscreen or in the US, the windshield. No 'gummers', though in Holland a gum might be an eraser. When Americans mention rubbers, well, it tends to be an altogether different type of erasing they have in mind.

3. What part of the street do pedestrians walk on from the BE perspective?

Answer: the pavement

Kerb walking is not what the average pedestrian will do. Kerb crawlers are NOT pedestrians.

4. How does a BE-speaker get from one side to the other side of a busy square if he wants to be 100 percent safe from road surface traffic?

Answer: via a subway

In British usage either subway or underpass could be used, but not a bypass.
A bypass is a road built around a town or village so that traffic does not need to travel through it.An underpass is a road that passes under another, or a crossing of this kind.It allows vehicles or people to go from one side to the other.
Via foottunnel you can cross the Thames at some places, but tunnels are longer passages than you need to get to the other side of a square.
The underground or tube is not really required to get to the other side of a busy throroughfare.
Brits use short subways to bypass busy intersections when they are in pedestrian mode. A subway in the US normally refers to the entire underground train system.

5. Which of these terms occurred in British English and still occurs in some British dictionaries as the predecessor of "escalator" for a means to get from the first floor to the second floor in a department store?

Answer: moving stair

The average claustrophobic certainly avoids lifts (BE) or elevators (AE).He might use the moving stairs or escalator(a term also used in AE, and now possibly more frequently used in BE than moving stairs). Rolling-stairs is what a Dutch speaker might be looking for.

A roll-on roll-off system is one of the few things they might NOT have at Harrods. By the way if a BE and an AE speaker make an appointment on the first floor of Harrods, they may never meet each other, as the AE-speaker will be looking around on what is for the BE-speaker the GROUND floor. Next to moving stair the New Shorter Oxford Dictionary, strangely enough, also mentions moving staircase.

6. What does a BE-speaking housetrained dad help to change?

Answer: baby's nappies

Napkins are square pieces of cloth or paper used while you are eating for protecting your clothes. Occasionally the word is also used for sanitary towels, but in that meaning it occurs most frequently in the abbreviation nappies.The nap is the surface of a piece of cloth such as velvet or suede consisting of short threads which have been brushed in one direction. No 'nappers' yet in BE.

7. What does the traditional BE-speaker ask for at the end of his meal in a restaurant?

Answer: the bill

The modern BE-speaker asks for the bill and as chequebooks are out of fashion, he gets his credit card ready. What AE-speakers mean by a pocketbook is probably a mystery to him, but in normal circumstances he will not require his wife's handbag or purse, except if he suddenly had discovered that his bank account is in the red.

8. What does a civilised BE-speaking football fan eat while he is watching his favourite football team on the telly?

Answer: crisps

Though his crisps actually ARE potato chips , he prefers to use the word chips when referring to such British delicacies as French fries, or even more succulent: fish and chips. Though he may like all kinds of savouries, the TV-session is probably not the right moment for Bombay duck and other salty imports.

As to the possible difference between French fries and chips, it should be mentioned that in Belgium the term French fries is considered erratic as the 'frites' are considered a Belgian product rather than a French. And within Belgium there is a distinction made between 'frites' you prepare at home or get at the restaurant and the true 'frietkot frites' which you buy in the streets from 'frites stands'.

It should also be noted that in the neighbouring provinces of Holland the superiority of 'Flemish frites' is implicitly recognized by their ads claiming they sell 'Vlaamse friet'.

By the way the quality of frites is a hotly disputed topic locally. Possibly more so than Belgian beers, chocolates or waffles.

9. Which of these meanings of the word engineer will the typical BE-speaker not be familiar with?

Answer: an engine driver

Engineers originally were not just the builders of military works but also the designers of them. A great military engineer was the Frenchman Vauban.

10. Which of these words is British English for a now somewhat old-fashioned and cumbersome baby-vehicle and literally suggests the idea of walking around with that baby?

Answer: a pram

She might have heard of the American terms baby-carriage and the baby-buggy but if she is true blue British she may consider those words as vile Americanisms. After all weren't the Founding Fathers revolting Britons from HER point of view ? Note: pram is short for perambulator. Baby-carriage and baby-buggy are falling in disuse however, and the buggy is the new term in U.S. Stroller is a popular term for pram, too.

Source: Author flem-ish

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor LadyCaitriona before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

For students of English who are neither British nor American it's often confusing to be told: this is British ('BE' in this quiz)..this is American ('AE' in this quiz). This quiz is an attempt to tell the two apart. Always use the most British option.

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