17 New Words And Expressions and Customs I Learned When I Came From England To B.C.

1.  In England we said, "I puttered about all morning," whereas in B.C. we said, "I pottered about."

2.  In England there were lorries, and in B.C. there were trucks.

3.  In England sometimes people push into a queue (or barge into a queue),  whereas in B.C. sometimes people budge into a line.

4.  In England we have problems, whereas in B.C. we have issues and concerns.

5.  In England people eat courgettes (small) and marrow(big), and in B.C. we eat zucchini (big or small).

6.  In England we eat aubergine, and in B.C. we eat eggplant. 

7.  In England we visit the W.C., or better still we go to see a man about a dog, and in B.C. we visit the washroom.

8.  In England the police are sometimes called coppers and in B.C. they are sometimes called cops.

9.  This is not a new word or an expression, but another funny thing I found out when I moved here, is in England if you cry for a minute, someone hugs you and you get better in a minute and go on, whereas in B.C. if you cry for a minute they give you a pill and you're classed as sick (manic depressive) for years.  

10.  In England, children have Mummies and in B.C., Moms.

11.  In England we put the luggage in the boot of the car and in B.C., it goes in the trunk.

12.  In England there are bumps in the road to get you to drive slowly called "sleeping policemen" and in B.C. they are called "speed bumps".

13.  In England nursing a baby includes breastfeeding, bouncing him or her or your knee etc. whereas in B.C. it strictly means breastfeeding.

14.  In England the customs officials joke a lot, at least in the past, whereas in B.C., they prefer not to joke.
15.  In England some babies suck on a dummy and in B.C. the same thing is called a soother.
16.  In England they have au pairs, women who come from foreign lands to learn English in classes, and who look after the children for part of the day, and have part of the day off to go to class.  In B.C. I have never heard of an exact equivalent, although they do have homestay students.
17.  In England they have red double decker buses for the cities and towns and green line buses for the countryside.  In B.C., although they do have red double decker buses for tourists, they have buses for the city and the country that look the same except for smaller ones for little used routes.