One language separated by an ocean. English spoken in the UK and the US is not only separated by geography, but also 400 years of history. Dr Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of 1755 was one of the first codifications of English in the UK and helped standardise the language across the country. However, English in the US continued in its original form and developed in its own way until Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language in 1828. Therefore some of the words used in the US today may have come from dialects in the UK, but have fallen out of favour.

As an UK ex-pat living in the US, and someone who loves cooking, there have been challenges while shopping, eating in restaurants or just discussing food. It is sometime like learning a new language. As well as new words and phrases, even the cuts of meat are different, and not just the names. See for “What’s your beef?” for diagrams.