Cats always understand each other. Humans don’t, even when they speak the same language.

Here are a few examples of things people in the US and UK call by different names:

US: Elevator UK: Lift

US: Sneakers UK: Trainers

US: Fries UK: Chips

US: Stove (kitchen) UK: Cooker

US: Closet UK: Wardrobe

US: Cabinet UK: Cupboard

US: Trash/Garbage UK: Rubbish

US: Subway. UK: Underground “the tube”

Here’s an interesting one: “bin”. In the UK, it’s a verb and a noun. If you bin something, it means you don’t need it anymore and threw it away (US) or tossed it out (again US). Americans rarely use the word “bin” as a verb. In the US a “bin” might be something you put the garbage in to, but it can also just be a place to store things you want to keep and use later. Cats can hide in bins.

There are so many of these and you can find lots of good guides to the differences between American and British English.

I’ll cover some differences between US and Canadian English in a future post.

Oh, and one more important difference: American’s take vacation. British people take a holiday.

Cats take naps everywhere.