Jachinthe got their homepage at Neopets.com

Introduction

Have you ever...
...looked at an item on Neopets and wondered what in Fyora's name a courgette, a sweetie, or a nappy is?
...wondered why "biscuit" pets on Neo look distinctly as if they should be called "cookie" pets?
...been talking to someone from the UK on the Neoboards, or even by Neomail, and found yourself unable to understand some of what they were saying, but too embarrassed to ask?

British English is a strange phenomenon to those of you brought up on the other side of the Atlantic. Our cookery items are bizarre, our clothing is confusing, and at first sight it might seem we're entirely loopy. Yet British English is the native dialect of Adam Powell and Donna Williams, the founders of all Neopia. Adam and Donna are long gone, but as a mark of respect for their original work, the site has never (well, almost never) deviated from its British linguistic origins. Strange items of vocabulary and peculiar spellings still show up daily.

So what is the confused American (or American-English speaker) to do? Well, one solution is right here at the tip of your mouse. As a Brit myself, I've put together a list of all the UK words that I've ever seen Americans puzzled by, with definitions.

Definitions? Yep. I'm aware that there are American equivalents for many of these words. I'm also all too aware from involved Neoboard discussions that it's impossible to get all the Americans on Neo to agree on what those equivalents are. (The debate about baked goods, back when I first built this page, ended up taking fifteen pages without any sign of a resolution.) So, for now, the best option seems to be describing the British item in question and letting you decide for yourself what it's called where you come from. ;)

This page is not intended to insult the intelligence, or the language, of either Brits or Americans. All images are approximate, and for some words there is no appropriate Neopian image. Sorry. Now let's get on with it, shall we?

Eating and Drinking

Aubergine	A chubby vegetable with a deep purple outer skin. A key ingredient in moussaka.
Biscuit	A flat baked item, usually sweet. Thinner and crisper in texture than a "cake".
Blancmange ("bla-MONJ")	A dessert similar to jelly, but made with milk where jelly has hot water. Once a favourite at children's parties, the recipe has died out somewhat. They are NOT generally as vicious as the example to the right.
Brown Sauce	A sauce made with tomatoes, vinegar and spices among other ingredients, with a distinctive taste. It is sometimes considered lower-class due to being popular in chip shops and motorway service stations, where it is sold in small sachets.
Bun	A small iced cake, sometimes known as a "cupcake" or a "fairy cake". A "butterfly bun" is a small cake topped with a blob of icing and two small pieces of cake that stick up like wings.
Bubble and Squeak	Cooked vegetables, generally potatoes and cabbage, fried together.
Buttie, Butty	A sandwich, usually made quite roughly and without much regard for presentation. Can be filled with unconventional things such as chips.
Candyfloss	A very sweet, fluffy material made out of sugar, with something of the texture of cotton wool and usually bright pink. Traditionally served at fairgrounds and circuses.
Chips	A side dish: fried slices or chunks of potato, served hot. Often served with fast-food such as burgers.
Cookie	A type of biscuit, softer and chewier than usual, often filled with chocolate chips. Generally thought of as American.
Courgette	A green vegetable, similar in appearance to a cucumber, but not generally served cold. Often found in pasta and vegetable dishes.
Crisps	Thin, crunchy potato snacks sold in foil packets. Popular crisps include Pringles and Monster-Munch.
Crumpet	A heavy bread-like baked snack, firmer and less cake-like than a scone, and full of holes. Served toasted, with butter. Also, for some reason, a jokey term for an object of affection.
Ice Lolly	A water-based frozen treat attached to a flat wooden stick. Popular with children in summer.
Golden Syrup	A very sweet, gold-coloured, sticky substance that comes in tins. Often used in baking.
Jelly	A wobbly dessert popular at children's parties. In Neopia, a cheap and tasty food that provides two meals for a hungry pet. The source of an unfounded urban legend about a whole world made of the stuff, which of course is nonsense.
Jam	A fruit preserve that can be spread on bread or toast. Generally sold in glass jars. Orange or lemon jam is known as marmalade.
Porridge	A hot breakfast dish made by gently boiling oats with milk and water. Can be bought in instant microwave sachets these days, but many people (including me) still make their own.
Pudding	Generically, a catch-all name for desserts of any kind. More specifically, hot desserts such as sponges, cooked in ovenproof bowls and often served with custard. Not to be confused with Yorkshire pudding (below), which, while also cooked in the oven, is quite different.
Salad Cream	A dressing made with mustard, vinegar, cream and eggs.
Scone	A small, breadlike baked item, less sweet than a cake and sometimes even savoury. There are many varieties.
Squash	Although the internationally known meaning of this word, as the name for a vegetable, is also becoming well-known in Britain ("butternut squash" seems to be the trendy vegetable of the moment), squash is also the term for a non-fizzy soft drink made up from a concentrate by adding water. Blackcurrant seems to be the most popular flavour, with orange squash also commonly available. Often containing little or no fruit juice, they are sometimes frowned upon by conscientious parents for taking all their flavour from artificial sources and providing little nutritional value.
Swede	No, we are not so barbaric as to eat the citizens of the country of Sweden. A swede is a winter root vegetable similar to the turnip.
Sweets, Sweeties	Items of confectionery.
Tea, Teatime	A meal served in the evening, as well as being the name for a drink.
Yorkshire Pudding	Not unlike an inflated savoury pancake, this side dish is made from eggs, flour and milk cooked in a very hot oven with a little oil or cooking fat. When stuffed with sausage, it is commonly called Toad in the Hole, no actual toads being involved.

Brand-Name Treats
I *believe* all these are unique to the UK, or at least not found in America. Some items by the same names exist, but the recipes are sometimes different. If you think otherwise, let me know.

Jammy Dodger	Two round biscuits sandwiched together with sticky jamlike syrup. Also a slang term for a lucky person, generally said with a mixture of admiration and frustrated disbelief: Third FFQ in six months? You jammy dodger!
Jaffa Cake	A type of soft, spongy biscuit covered with an orange filling and dark chocolate.
Love Hearts	Hard discs of compressed sugar with a slightly sherbety fruit taste. There is a heart design and a random message printed on each one, like "Be Mine", "Call Me", or "Dream On".
Lucozade	The original "energy drink" before the invention of things like Relentless, this sticky, fizzy drink is basically liquid glucose and a dash of caffeine. With bubbles in it. Does wonders if you're sick, though.
Marmite	A savoury spread made out of yeast extract, often favoured as a topping for toast. Advertised with the slogan "You either love it or hate it", which is fairly accurate.
Mars Bar	Soft nougat and a layer of sticky caramel, coated in thick milk chocolate.
Milky Way	Like a Mars Bar, but without the caramel layer and with thinner chocolate. Used to be promoted as a slightly healthier chocolate bar due to the light whipped nougat filling and the small size of the bar.
Ribena (tm)	A common brand of fruit drink made with blackcurrants. Comes in handy cartons, so often given to children despite its being notoriously bad for their teeth.
Smarties	Chocolate beans in a brightly coloured sugar shell, similar to M-and-Ms but flatter, more delicate and slightly less shiny. The orange-coloured ones taste like orange as well as chocolate.
Snickers	Soft nougat, caramel and chopped peanuts coated in milk chocolate. Basically a Mars Bar with peanuts. Older Brits remember when these used to be called Marathon Bars.
99 (ice-cream)	A vanilla ice-cream cone with a stick of crumbly chocolate (known as a flake) stuck into it.

Clothes and Accessories

Bowler Hat	A black hat with a rounded, shiny top, as sported by the Thompson Twins in the Adventures of Tintin and by comedy characters the world over.
Cardigan ("cardie")	A warm woollen top with sleeves and having buttons or a zip fastener to fasten it at the front.
Dressing-Gown	A long robe of thick warm fabric, often worn over pyjamas to keep warm, or just after a bath.
Jumper	A warm woollen top, usually worn over a tee-shirt or blouse. No buttons or zip fastener.
Nappy	An item of clothing worn by babies, traditionally made from white flannel and fastened with a safety pin, but often now disposable.
Pants (pair of)	Undergarments for the lower body. In Neopia, for some reason, stolen by the appropriately named Pant Devil.
Trainers	An abbreviation for "training shoes", these sturdy items of footwear were originally designed for sporting activities but have now become widespread among the general public. They are generally white, and made with synthetic materials rather than leather.
Trousers (pair of)	A garment for the lower half of the body, with two separate legs. Originally worn only by men but now popular with everyone. Similar to jeans, but made from non-denim fabric.
Waistcoat	A sleeveless button-up garment worn on the top half of your body, often with formal wear.
Wellies, Wellington Boots	Rubber-coated boots made for walking in the rain or mud. Water-resistant and easily washable.

Around the Home

Duvet	A thick, soft, airy blanket for a bed, generally wrapped in a fabric cover.
Flat	A home that occupies only one floor of a building. Generally cheaper to buy or rent than a house.
Lift	A moving box in a shaft that transports people between floors of a building. The most well-known lift on Neopets is in the Virtupets Space Station, and has been closed off for some years now.
Loft	The uppermost room in a house, built beneath the roof.
Postcode	A code of six or seven numbers and letters that identifies where in the country an address is located. The first part identifies the area, and the second the individual street.
Terrace (housing)	A row of houses where each is joined to the next, rather than being separate buildings. If only two houses at a time are joined to one another, they are referred to as semi-detached.

Everyday Items

Cling Film	A clear film of plastic, mainly used for wrapping up food.
Clothes Peg	A clip used for holding washing on clothes lines.
Drawing Pin	A pin with a broad, flat blunt end, for sticking into pinboards with a press of one finger.
Dummy	A plastic item with a suckable rubber teat given to babies, both on Earth and in Neopia.
Hob	The source of heat on top of a cooker.
Plaster, Sticking Plaster, Elastoplast	A plastic adhesive strip with a soft pad attached to the sticky side, used to cover and protect cuts and scratches on the skin. Kikos have plasters on their foreheads; no-one seems to know why.
Pram	A wheeled cot with a hood, used for transporting young babies (and in Neopia, also Petpets) from place to place. A popular pastime among little girls is to push a baby doll in a pram.
Rubber	Not what you're thinking. An item of stationery used for rubbing out mistakes written in pencil. There was a brief vogue for scented ones when I was in middle school.
Rubbish	Waste, things thrown away. Also, as an adjective, awful or ridiculously incompetent.
Skip	A large metal receptacle for rubbish. Typically people who know they're going to undertake a large project (like clearing out a house and replacing the fixtures) hire a skip rather than having their own, as they're rather unwieldy.
Spanner	A metallic tool with claw-shaped ends, used for the removal of nuts from bolts. The tool most often brandished by workmen in comedy sketches.
Stabilisers	Extra wheels added to a bicycle to help a child or learner to balance.
Torch	Not the flaming kind. A portable lamp with a beam that shines forward, battery-operated.
Zimmer Frame	A walking aid, mostly used by elderly people. A metal frame that can be pushed, often on wheels.

Things From Earth

Biro	The name of a type of ballpoint pen.
Bonnet (car)	The panel on the front of a car that you lift up to see the engine.
Boot (car)	The lockable rear compartment of a car, in which luggage may be stored and thriller heroines kidnapped. A car boot sale is a large outdoor jumble sale involving whatever will fit in the boot of any given seller's car. They are frequently stalked by antique hunters.
Cats' Eyes (traffic)	Small reflectors on the edges and at the centre of roads, which reflect headlights at night and so mark out the road in the darkness.
Caravan	A one-floor house on wheels, with the rooms you would expect from a small home. A caravan can be attached to the back of a car and towed along roads, although some people prefer to take holidays (q.v.) in caravan parks, where many caravans are permanently stationed.
Economy Class	The cheapest type of fare on an aeroplane; travelling without extras or perks.
L-Plate	A large sticker placed next to a car's number plate, showing an enormous red letter L, this warns others that the driver of the car is still Learning, and may act unpredictably. Optionally, the red L may be replaced with a green one, or a P (for "Passed Test") once the driver has officially passed his/her test but is still a novice.
Ladybird	A type of beetle, with a red or orange wing casing (yellow ones are rarer) dotted with black spots. Beloved of children because of the pretty patterns, and of gardeners because they eat greenfly. There is a nursery rhyme: Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home-- your house is on fire and your children have flown, all except one, and her name is Ann, for she hid under the frying pan.
Lollipop lady/man	A worker employed by the local council who helps children to cross busy streets during peak traffic hours. S/he wears a high visibility jacket and carries a large sign on a pole reading "stop", which looks, from a distance, like a lollipop.
Lorry	A large motor vehicle used for the transportation of items, a front "cab" attached to the box-shaped rear. Larger than a van, lorries may have a larger number of wheels and are forbidden to travel in dangerously high winds. Lorry drivers are dedicated people who often have to sleep in their lorry cabs.
Mobile phone, Mobile	A telephone that can be carried wherever the user wishes. The only one existant in Neopia belongs to Nigel Chia of the Neodaq, and it remains a mystery whom he calls.
Motorway	A multi-lane road with the highest legal speed limit. Generally you can't park on the sides unless you've broken down.
MP	Member of Parliament: a politician. Each region in Britain has its own MP.
Number Plate	The number and letter sequence with which a car is registered. Different for every car. On modern cars, the first two letters indicate where the car was registered.
Pavement	The part of a street used by pedestrians, as opposed to the road and the bike lane.
Petrol	The most common type of fuel used in cars. Used to come in leaded and unleaded varieties, but the former has been phased out for the most part.
Roundabout (traffic)	A circular loop of traffic with several exits. Generally with chevrons around the inside, and something large (statue? tree?) at the centre so it can't be driven across.
Tarmac	A black rubbery substance, used to cover the surface of roads. May "melt" slightly during severe heatwaves, becoming sticky and pliable.
Tippex	Quick-drying white fluid for painting over mistakes when handwriting. There is an enduring joke about the ditzy secretary who covers hir computer monitor with the stuff.
Trolley	A wire basket on wheels, used to carry shopping in supermarkets.
Zebra Crossing	A strip of black and white stripes painted on a road, where cars stop to let pedestrians cross. Some use traffic lights to achieve this purpose, others (particularly in quieter areas) just mark the crossing with lights and rely on the goodwill of the drivers.

Miscellaneous

Boffin	A person who is very intelligent, even to the point of being slightly ridiculous, usually in the field of science.
Chav, Charva	Slang term: a young lower-class person of poor manners and intelligence, often found wearing designer labels, excessive jewellery and/or tracksuit trousers. Intimidating when in groups.
Chemist (chemist's shop)	A shop selling medicine, and usually other items related to health and hygiene such as combs, toothpaste and thermometers.
Flog	To sell.
Football	A competitive sport with 11 players per team, one white ball with black patches, two goalkeepers, and a rule against touching the ball with your hands. By extension, the type of ball used for said game.
Fortnight	A span of two weeks.
Fringe	The hair that hangs across your forehead.
Holiday	A period of time spent away from work or school. Also, a trip to an unusual location taken during such a break.
Maths	An abbreviation for mathematics. The study of numbers.

Culture Snippet: School

Schools in the UK have much in common with their counterparts all over the world. However, there are differences both in vocabulary and in systems that may prove interesting to non-Brits. (I'm using English schools as my model for most of this-- Scots are welcome to contribute if you're reading!)

Children in England start nursery school at the age of three, but these part-time sessions of play, song and reading are not just to teach them, but also to get them used to the idea of school. After this, children attend school both morning and afternoon, Monday through Friday.

The majority of school systems in England are divided into primary schools, for children between four and eleven, and secondary schools up to the age of sixteen. Classes are divided by age group and numbered: Year 1, Year 2, et cetera. The 16-18 age group is commonly known as sixth form (based on an older system where students were divided into six broad groups).
Children advance automatically at the end of each year; except in special circumstances (usually related to illness, disability, or the student's own desire to retake exams), British children do not normally repeat school years.
The minimum age for leaving school is sixteen; a high proportion of students stay on into sixth form to increase their job and further education prospects.

At several points in their education, students receive SAT Exams, measuring progress in English, maths and the sciences. While students are given their own individual grades for these, their primary purpose is to assess how well the school is doing. Unfortunately, these exams have created something of a culture of "teaching to the test" where the primary criterion is not how thoroughly a student has learnt a skill, but how that skill needs to be displayed on the SAT.
GCSEs are the first important exams, and normally take place when the student is fifteen or sixteen. Most students take a wide range of GCSEs on subjects that include English, maths and science (these three are compulsory), foreign languages, humanities, art or music, and often design technology of some kind. The exams are graded from A* (the best) to G (technically the worst, although a paper so badly written as to be Unclassifiable is often marked with a U).
AS and A2 exams take place during sixth form, with the student being expected to choose about three to five subjects that personally interest him or her. They are graded from A to G (there is no A* grade at this level). These grades are often used as selection criteria by universities.