Resource of the Week #27: Saying Things in British English and American English

Hello again. Many of us want to communicate well with users of both British and American English. So, this week our resource post focuses on 2 resources in this regard.

Recently, when drafting some instructions, I wrote, in American English, “Check the box”. I thought that, to be clear to users of British English, I should also say “Tick the box”. But I wasn’t sure.

To make sure, I did 2 things. First, I looked at instructions that a British colleague had written. I also searched the Web for resources on British versus American wording.

One resource that I found was The Best of British: The American’s Guide to Speaking British. This site, which contains more than 1,000 words and expressions, can help in “translating” American to British English (and the reverse). It’s also fun to read.

Also, an article that I’ve long liked summarizes some main differences between British and American English. It also lists resources at the end.

The article appeared in the Word Hawk series in Science Editor magazine. If you like this article, I encourage you to search online for others in this series. They’re now openly accessible.

Until the next post— Barbara