Things that American people need to know before they write fanfiction about British characters

deductism:

moraniarty:

benedictatorship:

conflicts:

ipraytocas:

benedictatorship:

justbeencumberbatched:

deastrumquodvicis:

ununpentium:

-we use electric kettles
-we don’t have air conditioning in our houses
-usually we keep washing machines in our kitchens and don’t use laundrettes

File under: things I needed to know (the ac thing mostly)

Also:

Sidewalk – Pavement

Cell phone – Mobile Phone

Pants – Trousers

Shop or Supermarket not Grocery store. We generally don’t say we’re off to get groceries either it’s usually “off to do the shopping”. 

also arse not ass although that’s debatable.

shopping centre not mall

Also medicines are not branded here so we don’t have advil or tylenol or whatever. For a simple painkiller stick with “paracetamol” or “ibuprofen” & for headaches “aspirin”.

adverts not commercials – also on this note, we don’t have political adverts on TV in the same way as you do, nor do we have adverts for prescription drugs, only over-the-counter stuff. Smoking adverts are also banned.

shopping trolley not cart

Also on shopping – we tend to pop out to the shops to get things quite often as opposed to buying in bulk. Be careful with branded food as they’re mostly called different things here too. For the most part we don’t have such large fridge freezers as you do!! 

motorway not highway

UK chips = US fries

UK crisps = US chips – also on that note, Lays are called Walkers here.

aaannnnd that’s all I can think of for now but I’m sure there are more xP

Also, most of us don’t call our mothers ‘mom’. Usually, it’s mum, mam, or mother. (I say most, because they are always exceptions) 

And we don’t have a Walmart, sadly. We do have Asda and Tesco though!

And most of us don’t go to high school, but secondary school and sixth form. 

And we say ‘uni’ or ‘university’ instead of college.

Also car boot, not trunk

Tank tops are generally referred to as vests

Handbag not purse – purse is always a coin purse in British English

Nobody says restroom or washroom, toilet or perhaps bathroom and informally loo are used the most

Cling wrap, not saran wrap

^^^ THIS

Although I say cling film personally XD

Other things:

tap not faucet

bin not trash can

PARTICULARLY RELEVANT TO SHERLOCK: JUMPER. NOT. SWEATER.

The one mistake I’ve seen over and over again in fics is hospitals and medical treatment.

Remember:

• NHS. We don’t have to pay for hospital care.
• Private hospitals do exist but they’re pretty rare.
• Usually people would be put in wards not private rooms, even if you’re in intensive care. Unless its really bad or you’re highly contagious or something.
• Dentists are both private and publicly funded, but it’s difficult to get an NHS dentist so often Adults have to pay for dentistry care.

On the subject of English schools:

• Primary (4-11 years) and Secondary (12-16) school. Secondary school is also called Senior school
• Private schools are called Public Schools in the UK. They are also called Private schools, and prep schools. 
• Private schools usual go from 4-16 but it depends tbh.
• We call them GCSEs and A Levels, not finals. SATs are for children aged 11-12.
• Education from 16-18 years is called Sixth Form if it’s part of a school or a College if not.
• 99% of schools have uniform policies, sixth forms (and some alternative private schools) do not, however.
• The word “kindergarten” is not used in the UK really, instead Pre-school, or Nursery school.

Also, completely irrelevant: Junction, not intersection.

The insults/curses we tend to use (though it may vary depending on the person):

• Prick
• Bastard
• Sodding
• Bugger
• Bollocks
• Cock
• Balls
• Slag
• Twat
• Wanker
• Nob/Nobhead
• Skank