Make Yourself at Home: US vs. UK Household Vocab
If you're British, living with Americans isn't always easy.
No, that's got nothing to do with personality — it's just because they use different words for everyday objects around the house!
If you're cleaning up at home in the US, you might put things you don't need in the "trash can" or "garbage can."
That's the place where "trash" or "garbage" goes. But in the UK, they call the same waste "rubbish," and they put theirs in the "bin."
And when you want to put that waste outside, people in the UK take it out to the "dustbin." But people across the Atlantic will still just call this a "garbage can," or maybe a "garbage bin."
These might be stored in the "garden" in the UK, or the "yard" in the US.
In the UK, the word "garden" is often used to talk about all of a house's outside space, while in the US the word "yard" is preferred — and a garden would just be a smaller part of the yard that has flowers or vegetables.
And Britons think of a yard as a hard area of concrete or stone, while an American yard will often be grassy.
Americans will also probably go outside if you ask them to use the "grill," or "barbecue."
However, in the UK, many people think of the "grill" as the upper part of the oven, where you might cook sausages or some traditional cheese on toast!
After you're done with the cooking, it's time to "wash up" in the UK — or "wash the dishes" in America.
And do you get your water from the "tap," or the "faucet"?
In the UK, you turn on the "tap" so water can flow into the sink — but in the US it's often called a "faucet" instead.
