英美同義不同字造成的誤會/笑話 - 故事

前一篇文章 英美發音不同處，你唸對了嗎？發音對聽力口說影響為何？ 提到英、美同個單字因為口音而發音不同的情況，這篇要跟大家分享一個故事來說明英美兩國對於某些相同概念的事物，使用的詞彙完全不同 (同義不同字，也不同音)。所以你要買東西時，用錯字的話，店員可能會給你不一樣的東西喔。例如，你其實想買長褲 (在美國是說 pants)，但你在英國說要買 pants，店員會給你看內褲 (又稱 underpants)，是不是令人噗嗤呢？

這故事描述一個英語學習者，因為英美用字不同所造成的誤會。請大家讀讀看以下的故事，並找出哪些字是英式用字 (BE)、哪些字是美式用字 (AE)？或者，哪些同一個概念的物品，英式及美式的不同說法你知道嗎？

如果你不想看文章，想看影片聽聽發音，請點擊這支 YouTube 影片 (後面有說明) 喔
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(以下故事開始)

apartment

Picture this: There's this American English learner, who was super pumped to check out London, you know? He wanted to dive into the local scene and have a blast. One day, he's like, "Yo, I wanna rent an apartment in this cool neighborhood." So, he walks up to this building and asks the British landlord, "Hey, is this the apartment building?"

The landlord, looking kinda confused, goes, "Nah! This is a block of flats! Welcome to London!"

movie theater

But our American dude isn't fazed by the mix-up. He's like, "All right, gotta catch a movie now." He spots this person on the street and asks, "Yo, where's the closest movie theater?"

The British person smiles and says, "Sure thing, mate! You're looking for the cinema. Just walk down this pavement, take a right, and you're good to go."

cookie

Getting a bit hungry, our dude hits up a café and says, "I’d like a cookie, please."

The server, trying to be helpful, goes, "Oh, you mean a biscuit! We’ve got some tasty ones right here."

sidewalk

Later, our dude wants to take a stroll and check out the city sights. He spots this couple on the sidewalk and asks, "Yo, where's the nearest sidewalk to the Big Ben?"

The couple cracks up and goes, "Haha, you mean the pavement! Just follow this path, and you'll be on the right track."

fries / elevator / garbage can

As our dude continues his adventure, he keeps bumping into more language hiccups. He asks for fries and gets a plate of chips, wants to find the elevator and is directed to the lift, and even asks for a garbage can, but gets shown a dustbin.

Seems like every word has a British cousin, man. It's all good, though. Our dude can't help but laugh at these funny language hiccups. 'Cause, hey, even though the words might be different, the thrill of exploring and soaking up a new culture stays the same. It's all about the good vibes!

大家找到了幾組同義不同用字呢？ 想知道答案的話，請點擊這支 YouTube 影片的說明喔。

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