American English to British English Dictionary

F - J

FAA

Federal Aviation Authority (USA). The body responsible for the regulation of passenger air travel in the USA, including air navigation beacons and (I believe) air traffic control.

Facecloth

Face flannel.

Factory Outlet

A factory outlet is a shop supposedly selling goods "direct from the factory" at a discount. Such shops usually only sell the most expensive brands and their prices are usually far in excess of those found in the discount department stores such as K-Mart and Walmart, even for those brands. In my opinion, they exploit the gullible and are best avoided.

An Outlet Mall is a collection of such shops.

Faculty

The teaching staff at a university.

Fajita

A fajita, pronounced "fa-heeta", is a Mexican food item.

The fajitas that I've seen, as sold in McDonald's and Taco Bell, are very similar to burritos or enchiladas, in that they consist of a soft flour tortilla wrapped around its contents. The difference lies in the contents and the flavour of the sauce.

However, I have received an EMail message from Jon Harrison who lives in the town of Harlingen near Brownsville in the southernmost part of Texas. Jon tells me that the dish originated in southern Texas, and that the Spanish word fajita means "beef skirts". He says that the word refers to the cut of beef, which he describes as being a thin, tough cut of beef which was inexpensive until it recently became popular. To make it editable, it is tenderised by marinating in a highly-spiced sauce. It is then barbecued (usually cooked over an open fire) and served with more hot sauce or "pico de gallo" (a fresh mixture of chopped peppers, onions, garlic, tomato and as Jon nicely puts it, other quasi-secret ingredients. Jon says it makes truly excellent eating, but is nothing like a burrito. Jon goes on to stress that a fajita is a piece of meat, like a steak is a piece of meat. He says you could eat a fajita by wrapping it in a tortilla, and most people do, but the tortilla is not part of the fajita.

Fall

Autumn.

Faucet

Water tap.

FBI

Federal Bureau of Investigation (USA).

FDA

Food and Drug Administration (USA). The body responsible for the public safety of food and medicines.

Fender

The wing or bumper of a car.

FIL

Father-in-law.

File Tape

Library pictures. A "file tape" caption is used in television news bulletins when old, only vaguely related footage is being shown.

Fire Truck

Fire engine.

First Nation

On a road sign at the start of a town in Canada, "First Nation" indicates that the town lies in an Indian Reservation, or that it is an Indian (Native American) settlement.

Flagman

A person at a road construction site who controls the flow of traffic.

Flashlight

Torch.

Flea Market

An organised sale of secondhand and cheap goods, either on a regular or one-off basis, similar to a jumble sale or a car-boot sale. Flea markets may take place under cover or in the open. Open air sites tend to cover a large area.

Floors

In the USA and Canada the first floor is the ground floor. In motels with more than one floor, the normal method of numbering is that the rooms with numbers in the range of 100 to 199 are on the ground floor, those in the range of 200 to 299 are on the second floor (one floor above ground) and so on, although of course there will usually be far fewer than a hundred rooms per floor.

Football

By default, "football" is always taken to mean American football in the USA. European-style football is called soccer to distinguish it from American football.

Forty-Niner

A participant in the California goldrush of 1849.

Fries, or French Fries

Chips.

Frontage Road

A relatively minor road running alongside a main highway, for local traffic.

Fronton

Place where the game of jai alai is played.

Frozen Yoghurt (US spelling Yogurt)

Frozen yoghurt has the appearance, texture and taste of ice cream. I assume it is a less fattening alternative.

FTC

Federal Trade Commission (USA). I believe that this body is roughly analogous to Britain's Monopolies and Mergers Commission and Office of Fair Trading.

Gap

Mountain pass.

Garage Sale

A sale of unwanted items by a household, perhaps because they will shortly be moving.

Gas

Gasoline, i.e. petrol.

Gas Pedal

Accelerator.

Gas Station

Petrol station.

Gateway

See Hubs and Spurs.

Gearshift

The gear lever of a car.

GOP

Grand Old Party - the Republican Party.

GPO

Government Printing Office. Similar to the Stationery Office (ex HMSO) in the UK.

Grade Crossing

Level crossing (a place where a railway and a road cross without a bridge).

Greenbacks

US Dollar notes of any denomination; money; US currency.

Ground

Earth, in electrical and electronic circuits.

Gumbo

A Cajun dish. A gumbo is a thick, spicy soup prepared with ingredients such as rice, sausage, chicken and okra.

Gyros

I think Gyros are an American fast food adaptation of Greek food. They usually consist of grilled beef and melted cheese with grilled onions and peppers wrapped up in a flour tortilla-like bread.

[Many thanks to John Hayes (jnhayes@austin360.com) for contributing this entry.]

Subsequently I've obtained various other descriptions of gyros:

Greek spiced beef and a yoghurt garlic sauce on pita bread, sometimes with lettuce and tomato.
A pita stuffed with meat or chicken, often using a lot of garlic.
The best gyros are made from chunks of lean pork pressed on the single skewer of a specially designed vertical rotisserie-like device. The cooked meat is then packed into a pita along with a yoghurt, cucumber and garlic spread, tomatoes and onions. However, cheap gyros are made using ground meat.
Gyros are similar to doner kebabs.

Most people pronounce the word "gyro" as it is spelt, but I'm told that the correct pronunciation rhymes with "hero".

Hamburger, Beefburger, Cheeseburger, etc.

These words have exactly the same meaning in the USA and Canada as in the UK, but are perhaps worth explaining here.

A beefburger is beef alone (no bun, no salad, no sauce).

A burger or hamburger is beef (not ham!) in a bun, usually together with some form of salad and some kind of sauce.

A cheeseburger is a hamburger with not only meat, salad and sauce but also a layer of cheese.

There is one additional term used in the USA and Canada: you often see "hamburger meat" on sale in supermarkets.

See also Sandwich

HBO

Home Box Office. A cable/satellite television channel which mainly shows films and sporting events.

Hero

Another name for a submarine sandwich.

Hiatus

In the USA and Canada, the word "hiatus" is often used to refer to any break in continuity, interruption, interregnum, respite and the suchlike, without the overtones of the break being chaotic as in general British usage of the word.

Looking at the dictionary, it would appear that the American and Canadian usage is the more correct.

Hike

As well as its normal meaning, "hike" can also refer to an increase, usually in prices or wages. This meaning is often used as a media cliche term. For example, a headline might read "Teamsters Go For Pay Hike", meaning that lorry drivers are asking for a pay rise.

Hispanic

A person of Spanish-American origin, in other words Mexican or Puerto Rican.

Hoagie

A variant on the submarine sandwich theme.

Hockey

By default, the word hockey is always taken to mean ice hockey in the USA and Canada.

Hog

Pig.

Hogan

A traditional circular house with a conical roof, built by the Navajo people. Although modern housing is available on the Navajo Reservation, many Navajo still prefer to live in hogans.

Hole

A wide flat valley surrounded by mountains, for example Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Homemaker

Housewife.

Homer

Imbecile, buffoon. From a character in "The Simpsons" cartoon series.

Homestead Association

The name given in Louisiana to what is generally known elsewhere in the USA as a Savings and Loan Association.

Hood

Bonnet (of a car).

Hot Wings

See Buffalo Wings.

HR

See Human Resources.

Hubs and Spurs

The system used throughout the USA and Canada whereby airlines have a relatively small number of major hub airports, at which their routes (and presumably their maintenance and other facilities) are concentrated. Long haul flights connect hubs, while numerous short routes radiating out from each hub service the smaller local spur airports. In order to fly from one local airport to another remote local airport you will need to take a short flight to the nearest hub, a long flight to the remote hub, then a local flight to the final destination. While inconvenient to travellers, this is really the only practical method of organising airline routes over such a large region.

The "gateways" where each airline's flights across the Atlantic land in the USA and Canada are almost always the same as their hubs.

Different airlines have different hubs, although many hubs are shared by several airlines. A quick look at an airline's route map will identify their hubs immediately.

Human Resources (HR)

A company's Personnel Department.

Any company which calls its Personnel Department "Human Resources" is surely revealing a great deal about how it regards and treats its employees.

ID

Idaho (the state).
Means of identification - driving licence, etc.

Intersection

Road junction.

Inuit

The politically correct name for Eskimos.

IRA

Individual Retirement Account, a personal retirement savings account on which income tax is deferred. The amount of contributions are deducted from a person's current taxable income, then the income tax is paid on the payments made from the scheme after the person retires. Such schemes are popular, especially with people who cannot benefit from a company pension scheme. Many thanks to Edmund Szamborski [sysop@locnet.com] who provided the information for this entry.

The British meaning of "IRA" is also widely understood in America and Canada.

IRS

Internal Revenue Service, the government department responsible for the collection of Income Tax, equivalent to the UK's Inland Revenue. In the USA a self assessment system is operated universally, with tax being collected annually. Companies such as H and R Block provide a tax preparation service.

Jai Alai

A game played in some parts of the USA, somewhat similar to tennis, squash or pelota. The game is of Basque origin and involves the use of scoop shaped wicker basket called a cesta strapped to the player's wrist instead of a racket. Jai Alai is played in a fronton, the court is called the cancha and the ball is called the pelota. Jai Alai can be played by two opposing individuals or teams.

Jambalaya

A spicy Cajun dish always made with rice and combinations of seafood, chicken, turkey, sausage, peppers and onions.

JCT

Junction. This abbreviation is commonly used on road signs.

Jet Stream

A current of fast moving air in the upper atmosphere. The jet stream over North America is often marked on weather maps in the USA and Canada, but its effect remains a mystery to me.

John Doe

A person of unknown identity, for example a dead body or a suspect to a crime. The female equivalent is Jane Doe.

Joint

A derogatory reference to an establishment such as a cafe or a bar. For example, "What's new down at Harry's joint?"

Language Differences

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