You say sidewalk, I say pavement

[adderslj]

As I work through these redlines, I can't help but be amused at the differences between British and American English. Often it's in phraseology as much as word choice. After four or five years of getting redlines from Americans, it still makes me smile.

There was one particular occasion when a developer was really sarcastic about something I wrote that made perfect sense in the Queen's English. I got a particularly satisfying apology for that once the misunderstanding became clear.

Comments

[maliszew.livejournal.com]

Is "pavement" the standard UK English expression? I ask because it's mostly a regionalism in the US compared to the more common "sidewalk." In Baltimore, my hometown, pavement is what is most common, although in the local patois it's pronounced "pay-ment." Don't ask.

[adders.livejournal.com]

Pavement is universal in the UK. No-one uses sidewalk.

[eynowd.livejournal.com]

Just to further muddy the waters, we use neither here in Australia.

It's called a "footpath."

[adders.livejournal.com]

Footpath is occasionally used here, but more often it refers to a path through a woods, field or up a hill.

[point5b.livejournal.com]

In the US (or at least Texas), a footpath is either the usage Adders describes or a path through a garden.

[jfs.livejournal.com]

Well ... where I was brought up, no one would use pavement. We'd say path (and with a short-a at that.)

But then I have a funny feeling that pavement / path is one of Nancy Mitfords (?) U / non-U signifiers.

[adders.livejournal.com]

Sssh. Don't confuse the Americans any further.