What a great and helpful article! I had been wondering what people meant by "jumper" forever-- the only thing I call a jumper is one of those skirts with suspenders that babies wear.

.... and canadians, "anything tagged "cottaging" is not safe for family use in the UK

Great article, very useful and helpful! I am not a native English speaker, and we learned British English, as did many other (Continental) European etsy sellers.

Wow! I was aware of the alternate spellings, but not all of the other terms! It's always fascinating to learn the many different ways of naming things.

if you think of anymore different terms I would love a follow up article!!! :)

very useful! Thank you for this article!

wow! very helpful article! interesting stuff. and i'm glad i'm not the only one confused on how to spell 'gray'...er...'grey.' thanks!

Here in Singapore, we call the eggplant "brinjal". :) Although we went to school learning British English here, a lot of the words used are actually American. In the list, only the last 4 British versions are commonly used. Then again, there is brinjal. :D

this was so helpful! Thanks for the great info. now can you tell me what rug is in translation?

Thanks so much for the positive response, folks. Davaeva, we call them rugs in England too :)

wonderful article, very well written well done :)

tho u did make me blush at f*nny pack !

Americans say "pants" and mean jeans, trousers or slacks. Brits say "pants" and mean underpants, or slang for rubbish, something bad. Brits call long pants "trousers".

what is an American "jumper" called in the UK?

In Australia we have a lot of word useage thats the same as UK, as talked about in the article though we also know a lot of Americanisms, but a few other things may help sweeties/candy = Lollies (A chocolate bar is called "chocolate bar", and not usually called a lollie or candy) A baby onsies (US for an all in one suit) are called a gro suit or a romper here. a jumper (sweater) that undoes completely down the front is called a cardigan. though usually applies to knitted/crochet items it can be made from any fabric. A "hoodie" can also be called a hooded jumper . sneakers/trainers are more commonly called runners or joggers here.

thats should be grow suit :] though gro suit is a brand name I think.

Interesting to hear the Australian versions too :) In the UK, pants does generally mean underpants, but in the north (where I grew up) it's used to mean trousers, same as in the US. Another slang term for trousers is kecks. Panties are known as knickers, panty hose are tights. Onesies are called baby-grows here. Like in Australia, a sweater with buttons is a cardigan or cardi. We could do a whole dictionary! :)

From what research I've done, it looks like the nearest English equivalent of a jumper is a pinafore.

Wonderful article. Both humourous and informative at the same time. Love it! Every Etsian should read this.

Don't forget we Aussie's call flip-flops thongs! I love that one.

Oh wow, this is fascinating. And Mephala, re: eggplant = brinjal, it's an Indian word - maybe Hindi? That's what my parents call it :) I had no idea that tank tops had another name in the UK :) What an awesome article!!

I learned a couple of terms from my international buyers... like "bespoke" instead of "custom", and "mounted" instead of "matted". Thanks!

I am loving this article! As an "american girl now living in the UK", learning that the differences between the "englishes" extended way beyond "accents/pronunciation". Now I try to spell and "talk" in the Brit way. Yes, the dilemma begins when tagging/describing your items for both sides of the Atlantic :) Biggest hit for me is "jewellery vs jewelry". I could go on and on (aluminium vs aluminum)! And am not even mentioning the "cockney rhyming" idioms heard so often! 3 cheers (xxx) for this "i'm so loving it" article! Was "spot on"!

Thanks so much for this article scatterboxoriginals! Like crochetgal says, it's "Both humourous and informative at the same time." Absolutely :D There are so many words you could mention, like the obvious spelling differences such as colour/color and jewellery/jewelry. Kecks can also mean knickers, but that might just be Scottish? Also, am I right in thinking that a tap is a faucet(sp?) in America?

Thank you for the educational article! It's really cool that you took time out to write it to help out your fellow Etsians!

I thought a pinny was an apron? The full apron type? I watch alot of BBC (mostly comedies, Are You Being Served?, Waiting For God, Keeping Up Appearences) and I still get to where I have to look certain words up. Never MIND what Mrs. Slocumb calls her cat!

i'm from northern ireland but now living in australia. i've found a few differences that confused me at first. uk - australian duvet - doona mange tout (the green pea in a pod) - snow pea corgette - zuchini pepper (like a red pepper) - capsicum a hoover - a vacuum cleaner lorry - truck and this one i really don't understand.. bed linen - manchester i find australia sort of half way between uk and america. i love it here!

Craftychris, it can mean both: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinny Other things to add to the list Cell phone = mobile phone Truck = lorry Eraser = rubber (yes, another one to make you blush!) Diaper = nappy Trash = rubbish Pacifier = dummy Turtle neck = polo neck Galoshes = wellies I could go on and on!

I loved this article. I am a New Zealander living in Japan. We Kiwis have our own brand of English too, probably more similar to Brit English. I've had to learn how to spell "American".

thx! great aticle! I'm a Dane in Italy...! understand? we are not mothertongue so our problems are bigger than yours! rofl to tag or not to tag, that's the question..... how to tag or how not to tag...

I found this wonderful website and thought that I would add it to such a wonderful article. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Atlantis/2284/ Thank you and blessings to all in the new found adventures in International selling.

Crazy! I never even thought of that!

The thong comment was kinda funny, I grew up in Texas (US) and that's what we called them, my children (Minnesotans) find that hilarious.

Great suggestions! I'm wondering how important it is to provide metric measurements? I'm in the U.S. and don't speak anywhere near fluent metric, but I've taken the time to look up the metric equivalents for many of my measurements. I'd love to know if Etsy shoppers find this useful. (Convos regarding this topic are welcome, as I may not find my way back here.) Thanks!

I love this article! I'm so glad someone has addressed this issue. I'm an American, but have a lot of friends and family throughout Europe and Asia. It makes me happy to see people are opening their eyes to the differences and making changes!

"It doesn’t mean you have to talk like Austin Powers through your whole listing (in fact, please don’t)" - very funny! The 'jewellery' one is quite a biggy I think seeing that it's such a big area on here.

a small one - USA buttons = UK pin badges i tag with pinback, button, and badge just to be sure!

so helpful thanks.

Great tips! thank you :)

so true ! the jewelry/jewellery combo really helped me find my uk customers. I had presumed that the etsy search "knew" the two are the same and incl the latter would be redundant but that is not the case (maybe with recent search updates it will be ?)

Very interesting and useful info! Thank you!!!

I learned a couple of terms from my international buyers... http://www.cddvdripper.com like "bespoke" instead of "custom", and "mounted" instead of "matted". Thanks!

I LOVE England and have dear friends there. My 'favourite' use of the language is generally the British spellings though I am American. This is a good reminder for me to use 'both' in tags. Thank you, and CHEERS!

wow, so useful! Much thanks for taking the time, now I am off to tag my jewelry with jewellery:b

Excellent advice! I'll be sure to pay much more attention to my tags now - especially colors, as I use those frequently with my paintings. Thanks!

3 more off the top of my head: Washcloth - flannel garage - GAR-ej Car trunk - boot bathrobe - dressing gown but these aren't related to selling here are they? I'm married to a guy who was born in Australia of British parents who lived there for 3 years... don't we have fun with language!

This is a great article... Canadian friends were once very quick to point out that Napkin is not the same thing in the US as it is in Canada (I don't think Canadians would ever use a "napkin" to wipe their mouth...), I wonder if this is the same with British/Australian peeps... Slang is confusing for everyone. Even within the US there are different terms for the same thing in different regions of the country. Pop? Soda? Coke? Yeah, all the same thing...

I use the tag "pinafore" quite a lot. I never knew it meant anything other than a sort of apron. Thanks for the great info!

imagine how hard is for me, finding rights tags!...Have you got some suggestion also for italian people...

craftychris - lol Mrs Slocumb! I love that show! Great info here, very entertaining, Fanny pack will always amuse me :o) Thanks for taking the time to share this with everybody. I've had quite a few laughs explaining different meanings to American friends as well as having to explain sarcasm! Nothing beats my US friend though, who came round my house and asked me what my tumble-dryer was! She didn't realise what it was because it was 'sooo small!' lol

This is very helpful, thanks.

Thanks for the info! Kind of glad that I don't sell clothing, though... Lots of potential confusion! ( :

Washcloth - flannel - and in Australia - face washer. we put nappies on babies, use sanitary napkins, and use a serviette to wipe our mouth. American English drops letters, British English doesn't add them - it was British first ;) Most non-Americans would list with measurements in both metric and imperial. It would be lovely if Americans would do the same :)

Another great article in helping sellers here internationalize our stores. Thanks! Lots of interesting (and sometimes funny) differences in the English language. Although I'm still blushing, as I looked up what the UK term cottaging meant!

GREAT - THANKS A WHOLE LOT ! What about this: pin back - badge ?

Thanks, gives me a lot to think about. When I search tags I've used I just seem to come way down the list. Need to find some more tags.

Thank you, I was wondering about Jewelry – jewellery now understand

I found this article quite amusing!! I love all the diiferent says and words. I am from Canada but have been living in the UK for the last 5 years. I still want to call crisps chips and a nappy and diaper and a buggy a stroller lol I've never thought about using both words in tags. great idea. I'll be checking my tags now:)

Your article is timely, and I already include metric measurements with my product. Lets start an Etsy international "tag" dictionary for other popular languages as well........... Convo me if u need help with the Portuguese ! x0x0

Great article. It really helps to clear up the word differences. I will never forget when I first saw the word jewellery. I wrote to shop owner about her misspelling. She politely informed me that it was how they spelled the word in her country.

LOL! Thanks for a good laugh! :D Does anyone know if Etsy has adjusted the search function yet, so that 'jewelry' and 'jewellery' are both interchangeable? I know from a virtual lab session last year it was in the pipeline. It seems such a waste of a tag for a basic, but important thing. :-)

I MUST DO THIS!!!!!! YES YES,THANK YOU!

How can I translate my shop into French and German and then promote my site in the international edition??? Help I'm a new shop and need some guidance.

I love that the Brits call vacuum cleaners "Hoovers!" I'm live in North Canton, OH, the city where the Hoover company originated, but we certainly don't call vacuum cleaners "Hoovers!"

Very useful indeed!