Americans seem to be very bad at spelling their own language…just sayin’
I also recall how I was asked by my high school principal to prepare the speech to be given at our graduation because I was poised to be the Valedictorian of my class. I did get an “A” in the final exam but received a “B” as a final grade which knocked my class standing to fourth in the class. When I asked the teacher why he gave me a “B” he replied that in the 30 years he had been teaching he had never given an “A” to a student who had an accent. 50 years later I still have an accent and I value it, celebrate it and I am proud to have it.
Several terms and expressions may cause confusion and are therefore best avoided, or at least used with care and perhaps explained. They include:
Black: in Britain, in the black means in profit; in other places it can mean making losses.
Federalist: in Britain, someone who believes in centralising the powers of associated states; in the United States and Europe, someone who believes in decentralising them.
Liberal: in Europe, someone who believes above all in the freedom of the individual; in the United States, someone who believes in the progressive tradition of Franklin Roosevelt. Such is the confusion that an article on America’s Supreme Court in The Economist of July 2nd 2005 had Anthony Kennedy as a conservative (meaning favourable to displays of the Ten Commandments on government property) on one page and a liberal(meaning favourable to big government and big business) on the next. The following week liberal was used in an article on Germany to mean favourable to labour-market reform, indirect taxation and cuts in subsidies.
Moot: in British English, this means arguable, doubtfulor open to debate; in the United States, it means hypothetical or academic, ie, of no practical significance.
Offensive: in Britain, offensive (as an adjective) means rude; in America, it tends to mean attacking. Similarly, to the British anoffence is usually a crime or transgression; to Americans it is often an offensive, or the counterpart to a defence.
Public schools: in Britain, the places where fee-paying parents send their children; in the United States, the places where they don’t.
Quite: in America, quite is usually an intensifying adverb similar to altogether, entirely or very; in Britain, depending on the emphasis, the tone of voice and the adjective that follows, it usually means fairly, moderately or reasonably, and often damns with faint praise.
Red and blue: in Britain, colours that are associated with socialism and Conservatism respectively; in the United States, colours that are associated with Republicans and Democrats respectively.
Social Security: in America, Social Security means pensions; elsewhere it usually means state benefits more generally, which are called welfare in the United States.
Table: in Britain, the act of bringing something forward for action; in the United States, just the opposite.
Transportation: in the United States, a means of getting from a to b; in Britain, a means of getting rid of convicts.
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