So Rory, aka, A Guy Called Bloke, came up with this game where we are supposed to “look at each of the word pairs below and say which word you use and why your choice of word is better than the other word.”
Then Rory said to nominate between 1 – 3 bloggers of our own to play the game and to explain why you have chosen that blogger.
But wait, there’s more. He wrote, “Additionally, add two of your own words that you may have confusion with.”
Rory tagged Melanie, aka, Sparks From a Combustible Mind, who then tagged me. Why did she tag me? She said she tagged me because I am “another wordsmith” and she thinks I “might have fun with this.” Then she said something about me being a nude skier. Don’t ask!
Anyway, here are Rory’s original word pairs. But before I get into saying which is “right,” let me say that I’m an American and most of the “which is right” choices are choices between the American word and the British word. So, of course, to me, the American word is right.
Mine = Herbs/Yours = Erbs
I’ve never seen the word “erbs” in writing or in print. In fact, my autocorrect keeps trying to change it to “webs.” Herbs are plants with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume. Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is supposed to have 11 herbs and spices. So is the choice really more about which word is correct or which pronunciation is correct? In America, the “h” in “herbs” is silent, so it’s pronounced like “erbs.” I’m not sure if, in the Queen’s English, the “h” is pronounced. They do strange things with h’s and with u’s across the pond.
Mine = Socks/Yours = Sox
The article of clothing you wrap your feet in is a sock. The baseball team that won this year’s World Series is the Sox — the Boston Red Sox.
Mine = CV/Yours = Resume
Either is right. Many job openings for positions in science and technology call for the submission of a CV (curriculum vitae). But it’s much more common — and less pretentious — in the States to use the word “resume.”
Mine = Ring Someone/Yours = Call Someone
When you want to get engaged or married, you give them a ring. When you want to talk on the phone, you call them. Period. End of discussion.
Mine = Rubbish Bin/Yours = Trash Can
I call it trash, because to me, “rubbish” is a synonym for “bullshit.” That said, when I put my trash by the curb for the weekly collection, I put it in trash bins.
Mine = Secondary School/Yours = High School
I went to an elementary school (not a grammar school), a junior high school (not a middle school), and a high school (not a secondary school). So there you go.
Mine = Lift/Yours = Elevator
“Lift” is a verb meaning to raise up, haul, heave, elevate. An “elevator” is something you step into to move from one floor to another in a multi-story building. So when in America, you use an elevator, not a lift. But I guess something can lift you up or can elevate you.
Mine = Ground Floor/Yours = First Floor
In many buildings, the ground floor and the first floor are the same, but in some buildings, the ground floor is below the first floor. For example, the ground floor of an office building could be comprised of a lobby and perhaps some retail stores or cafés, while the offices start on the floor above and it’s referred to as the first floor. So both could be right.
Mine = Holiday/Yours = Vacation
Christmas is a holiday, as is Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, and other such days. When you go away from home for a week or two, you’re going on vacation. Simple, right?
Mine = Post Code/Yours = Zip Code
In the U.S., we have zip codes. Canada has postal codes. Both are right, depending upon where you live or where you’re mailing something to.
Mine = Jumper/Yours = Sweater
A “jumper” is someone who is standing on the roof of a tall building or on a bridge and is considering jumping in an effort to take his or her life. A “sweater” is something you wear, either for fashion or to keep you warm. Of course, a “sweater” could also be how you might describe someone who sweats a lot.
Mine = Lorry/Yours = Semi
I don’t use either. I use the word “truck,” and, for a large truck, I call it an “18-wheeler.”
Mine = Crisp/Yours = Chip
Bacon can be crisp. Cold air can be crisp. But a wafer-thin slice of potato that is fried or baked and eaten as a snack is a chip. And unless they’re stale, potato chips should be crispy.
Mine = Chips/Yours = Fries
Chips are wafer-thin slices of potatoes that are fried or baked and eaten as a snack. Fries are potatoes cut into strips and deep-fried. You may order fish and chips or a burger and fries, but no matter what you call them, they are fries.
Mine = Courgette/Yours = Zucchini
Zucchini. I’ve never heard the word “courgette.”
Mine = Aubergine/Yours = Eggplant
This is an eggplant emoji, not an aubergine emoji. ‘Nuff said.
Mine = Football/Yours = Soccer
Soccer is a sport that uses a round ball ⚽️ and where you can’t use your hands unless you’re the goalie. A football a prolate spheroid shaped ball 🏈 and the sport is much less boring than soccer.
And here are the ones Melanie added:
Mine = cookie/Yours = biscuit
In the U.S., a cookie is a small, typically round, flat, and crisp (but could be soft) baked good. A biscuit is a small, typically round cake of bread leavened with baking powder, baking soda, or sometimes yeast. I’d rather have a cookie than a biscuit, but I prefer biscuits in gravy to cookies in gravy. I’m just saying.
Mine = time off/Yours = leave
Both are correct, but to me, time off is shorter term, like from a few hours to a few days. But leave is longer term, as in I need to take maternity (or paternity) leave.
And here are my two adds:
Mine = Soda/Yours = Pop
Mine = Sub/Yours = Hoagie
I’m not tagging anyone in particular. If you want to play, please feel free to do so.
This, That, and the Other 
Thoroughly enjoyed. Your and mine! As they say divided by a common language!!!😂
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Also…
In the United states, a jumper as an article of clothing isn’t an ordinary sweater if a sweater at all. Our word jumper in that sense is a dress (not necessarily knit) that is put over another shirt underneath or is “sleeveless” and possibly over some pants like leggings or over tights or a skirt or something.
I went to three elementary schools (not because of moving), all in the same general area. The first one was also called a “day school” — that was a private school — for my first and second grade years. I then went to a public school (3rd through 6th), after which I had to go to a different school because that school didn’t continue beyond sixth grade and the public school kids were switching to junior high.
For seventh and eighth grades, I went to another private elementary school (but this one wasn’t called a day school, even though it included kindergarten through eighth like the one I went to for my first and second grades starting after “nursery school” — and no kindergarten — at a whole other [4th] private institution).
Public schools in the city at that time also went from kindergarten through eight grades, whereas the public schools in St. Louis county, where I was, did not continue elementary education up to eight grade — rather, segregated seventh and eighth (and sometimes ninth) graders unto themselves. But private schools could differ.
Then I transferred to (the private) high school along with the kids with whom I’d attended school for junior high (even though it wasn’t a junior high school, while we did have our own wing/two halls for the junior high level); some of my classmates had, and some hadn’t, been there to attend earlier (in the other wing/halls).
In the upperclassmen years, I began hearing the term “secondary school” for high school. This was about the time that some school districts developed what they called “middle” schools. [Since then, I’ve continuously seen reconfiguration of who is in middle school.]
I sometimes wore jumpers (sometimes have as an adult too).
I like the color aubergine; I didn’t learn that designation until I bought some pantyhose under that labeling — after I graduated high school, but sometime before I was twenty. Hardly anyone wears pantyhose anymore (including myself). But tights and leggings are good. And football cheerleaders would look smarter with leggings than they do keeping pantyhose companies in business on cold days. Sometimes, lately, what is sold as aubergine has a bit more red in the mix than the real color of eggplant. (I like both versions.)
My middle son, who has lived in New Zealand for some years, has taken to calling trash rubbish — despite his good training here in The States.
Pop is for rocks (as in candy… or music that is related to rock).
I know what a hoagie is, but I’d call it a sub or a poor-boy sandwich (which is passe).
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Mine = Soda/Yours = Pop and Mine = Sub/Yours = Hoagie — These are all regionalisms. What it’s called depends on where you come from. They all mean something bubbly. Sometimes, per New York, it’s also soda. In NY, it’s a sub. In Massachusetts, it’s a hoagie OR a sub because a lot of people from here come from there. In New Jersey, it’s a grinder.
Mine = time off/Yours = leave — I think of “leave” as a longer period taken for illness, the birth of a child, more a prolonged period of absence from work. Time off is a vacation, however brief.
Mine = Ground Floor/Yours = First Floor — If you’ve been in a hospital lately, the whole which floor is which thing is completely random. We enter the building on the Main (first? lobby? ground?) floor and take elevator B to floor A which is below the lobby, listed on the elevator as “L” because no one actually knows which floor is which. Lord knows I am at a complete loss.
Mine = Chips/Yours = Fries — My mother called them chips, whether it came from a bag or was what we call a fry. She said the word seemed to have changed during the 1940s.
Mine = Ring Someone/Yours = Call Someone — This is another one that morphed. When I was a kid, it was common to say that I’ll give you a ring because telephones RANG. Now, they make all kinds of weird noises but a ring is usually not one of that. That changed during the cell phone era.
Mine = Socks/Yours = Sox — I have plural vs. singular issues with this one. If you have more than one Red Sox, are they Soxes or just Sox (like fish and fish, sheep and sheep)?
Mine = Rubbish Bin/Yours = Trash Can — I think of rubbish as the same as junk, but you can throw it in the Bin. We have two bins and one is for recycling, so the whole issue has gotten a little weird. Now there is a third bin for garden trash. And be careful. You gotta put in in the RIGHT bin!
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We have 3 bins: trash, recycling, and compost. I thin the plural of “Sox” is “Sox.” And yes, hospital floor designations are crazy.
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And I was right. You DID have fun with that (apparently). And in Utah? It’s a “coke”, not a soda nor pop, although soda pop is used as a term for a carbonated beverage. But if one is buying one of those, they usually say “Hey? Wanna coke?” Whatever happened to ‘garbage” for trash/rubbish? Utah uses “garbage” (as mentioned in my long winded post). And I have two ‘bins’ – one for garbage and one for ‘recycling’… rural Utah is catching up, finally.
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What if someone in Utah wants a Pepsi instead of a Coke? Or a root beer, ginger ale, 7-Up, or Dr Pepper? We have a third bin: compost.
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Great responses. I’ve watched too much British TV. I’ve picked up a lot of the lingo and so has my son lol. I am often found calling it rubbish, trainers (tennis shoes), holiday, and lifts. I have gone to an elementary school and a grammar school, junior high and middle school, high school and secondary school. They have flip flopped what to call things a lot lol.
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Cheerio, pip pip. I think that’s all the “British” I know.
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Acorn TV. It ruins you.
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lol. I’ve watched some form of British TV since I was eight.
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So you use them interchangeably?
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Which of “them” do you mean. I mostly use the American words.
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This was interesting! I recall a story from a friend who went to London (I believe) and met a guy who told her he would “knock her up” in the morning. After being mortified she learned it was to wake someone up.
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Ha. That’s funny.
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