I saw a thread last night where there seemed to be a little confusion as to what "Tippex" (whiteout) is. As a British expatriate living amongst our colonial friends in North America, I thought it might be helpful to do something of a language comparison. Because of this is a site for the whole family, I'll keep it from being too raunchy.

Tippex - Whiteout, this has already been covered in another thread.
Cellotape - Scotch tape.
Plaster - Band aid.
Rubber - Eraser, you wouldn't believe the looks I received wondering around the office asking everyone if they had a rubber I could borrow, a simple enough request, or so I thought.
Tramp - Bum.
Bum - Bottom.
Fanny - Not a bottom, this one caused some confusion for me.
Jelly - Jello, so similar and yet so different.
Spirits - Hard liquor.
Solder - Sauder, I thought Americans just had a speech impediment of some kind for a while with this one.
Bog - Bathroom, it also took me some time to learn to stop asking people, "Where's yer bog?".
Bin - Trash Can. Americans seem to understand this one if you repeat it four or five times getting consistently louder each time, they're just not used to hearing it.
Fortnight - 2 weeks. Americans have no idea what this means, making using it when giving estimates for project deadlines a smart idea.
Tea - As with so many of the other finest words in the English language, this can mean more than one thing. It is not necessarily a hot beverage prepared from the leaves of the tea plant, but can also be dinner. It is also nothing to do with odd people having a cup of tea at 4 o'clock with the vicar.

There also seems to be some confusion regarding making a V sign with your fingers. Americans have the notion that if you do it with your palm facing outwards, it means peace, and if your palm faces inwards, it means victory. I was quite stunned to one day turn on the television and see a well know celebrity giving me the v. To English people, if your palm faces inwards when you do it, it's kind of the same as if you were to retract your index finger to leave only a single finger standing, but twice as strong.

That is all I can think of for now. If for some reason that I can't fathom, this thread remains where I can see it, I might provide some updates as and when they occur to me, anyone else who has anything to add is also encouraged to do so, this includes you Australians, you have a far better grip on the English language than our American cousins.

Good day to you,

AJ.