9. British and American vocabulary

American and British English are similar but not identical – for instance, there are differences in vocabulary. Substitute the British English words for the American ones (in italics) in these sentences:

1. You go into a hotel and see this sign: “The elevator is out of order.”

2. You go into a bank and see this sign: “please stand in line until a cashier is available”.

3. You see this sign in the street: “Please walk in the sidewalk.”

4. An American friend says:”I’ll meet you at a quarter after six.”

5. An American goes into a clothes shop and says: “I’d like to buy a pair of pants.”

6. And he also says: “And I’d like to buy a bathrobe as well.”

10. The adjectives in the left-hand column were used to describe Yankees. Match each adjective with the best phrase from the right-hand column.

People who are:

Independent	Do not talk a lot
Honest	Do not cheat other people
Shrewd	Have strong ideas about what’s right and what’s wrong
Realistic	Use money and other things carefully
Untalkative	See things as they really are
Thrifty	Don’t let other people cheat them
Principled	Do things themselves instead of asking others for help

11. Complete the saying.

^{Benjamin Franklin was known for his humour and common sense. Here are some sayings that he made up. Match the two parts of the sayings together and say whether there are sayings with similar meanings in your language.}

Remember	That help themselves
Little strokes	But fools will learn in no other
God helps them	That time is money
Experience makes a dear school	Fell great oaks

12. What do you understand by these slang phrases? Match each sentence with its correct meaning.

He’s round the bend	Very depressed
She’s over the moon	Very happy
He’s up the creek	Given up alcohol
She’s down in the dumps	Mad
He’s over the hill	Recovered from a serious problem or illness
She’s gone to the ground	Too old for something
He’s out of the wood	Hiding / not coming out in public
She’s on the wagon	In serious trouble

13. People who became words.

An eighteenth-century English aristocrat, the Earl of Sandwich, was fond of playing cards. He used to play cards night and day and hated to interrupt the game for his meals. Me ordered two slices of bread with meat or cheese or ham inside so that he could eat during the game without stop­ping and without soiling his fingers. It is because of the Karl of Sandwich that today we call sandwiches 'sandwiches'.

In each of the following sentences you can find a word that comes from a person's name. Find these names.

1. The workers are boycotting the company because their wages are not high enough.

2. The crowd got furious and lynched the suspected murderer.

3. Smoking is harmful because tar and nicotine are dangerous substances.

4. I saw the silhouette of the tower against the dawn sky.

5. The blind are taught to read braille.

6. In Britain, people who are noisy and violent at football matches are called football hooligans.

7. This factory is going to produce a new model with a diesel engine.

8. Our headmaster was a bit of a sadist; he loved to keep us waiting outside his office in fear.