Etsy's Handmade Blog
Seller How-to: International Tagging, Yeah Baby!
Story by scatterboxoriginals
Published on June 17, 2008 in How-To 		Photo by

Sweeetnothing

How can thousands of items boost their visibility? Why would most British men steer clear of your handmade suspenders? Why is my mother blushing at your listing for a fanny pack?

scatterboxoriginals, one of Etsy’s growing number of international members, invites you for tea, cucumber sandwiches and a lesson in the wonderfully weird world of British English…

International tagging, yeah baby!

When I first started selling on Etsy, as a Brit trying to reach a predominantly American market, I thought translating my descriptions and tags into American English would be easy as pie. After all, I was partially raised by Elmo and the cast of Friends, I like to think I speak pretty fluent American. But, in the two years I’ve been here, I’ve learnt a lot and I’d like to return the favour (or, indeed, favor).

Since Etsy began, many British sellers and customers have signed up, and right now, the UK stands as the third largest group (after the US and Canada, and followed up by Australia). Etsy's popularity continues to spread around the world, but English speakers are predominently the audience right now. All those potential customers! You want to be sure they can find your items too, right? Or maybe you’re a Brit like me, still getting your head around the linguistic differences.

Here are a few hints that you might not be aware of.

Vocabulary is a useful thing to be aware of while you’re tagging and describing your listings. For instance, what we Brits call a purse isn’t a bag; it’s a wallet or coin purse. If you’re selling one of those bags you clip on around your waist, very handy for keeping change in at craft fairs … please be aware that fanny means something a bit different, and quite a lot ruder in Britain. We call them bum bags (‘bum’ meaning posterior, not hobo — though hobo is also a type of bag). We also often refer to backpacks as ‘rucksacks.’

One of my favourite colours is a sort of deep purple – I know it as aubergine, you may know it as eggplant (both referring to the same food). Today, typing eggplant into the search gives 588 results, while aubergine gives 146. Only 35 items are using both tags and maximising their potential to show up in a search.

There are also a few odd differences in names for clothing. What Brits call braces, Americans call suspenders, while what Brits usually call suspenders, Americans call a garter (that’s one I learnt from being on Etsy, not from Elmo). We call sneakers trainers, sweaters jumpers, sweater vests tank tops and tank tops are vest tops. Confused yet? Now you know how hard it can be for a non-American customer to find what they’re looking for.

It’s not just an international issue: there are various words that have more than one commonly used spelling in English speaking countries. Brits generally spell ‘gray’ with an ‘e’ - ‘grey.’ At the time of writing this, there are 7906 items on Etsy tagged ‘gray’, but not ‘grey.’ 10369 items are tagged ‘grey’ but not ‘gray.’ Only 3283 items tagged both ‘grey’ and ‘gray.’ Thousands of listings could be missing out on being found here; you can’t be sure your potential customer will think to search with both spellings.

British English also loves to add extra letters – e.g. ‘jewellery,’ ‘aeroplane,’ ‘moustache.’ Try using alternative spellings if you have tags to spare — you may be able to check using your word processing software’s spell-check by changing the language setting.

The exchange rate between British pounds and American dollars is great for British customers right now, so a lot of Brits are looking at buying from America. It doesn’t mean you have to talk like Austin Powers through your whole listing (in fact, please don’t) — just bear in mind while you’re listing your item what else it might be called and try adding in the alternative words in your tags or description.

Don’t forget Etsy’s many other international members — Canadian English and Australian English have their own differences too. There are numerous resources on the internet that you can use to find out alternative words, or perhaps you can ask someone who’ll know. You could see an increase in views, hearts and sales – groovy, baby!


Celebrate the differences!


American English – British English

Gray – grey
Eggplant – aubergine
Fanny pack – bum bag
Suspenders – braces
Tank top – vest top
Sweater vest – tank top
Sweater – jumper
Jumper – pinafore or pinny
Sneakers – trainers
Airplane – aeroplane
Jewelry – jewellery
Pillow – cushion
Purse – handbag
Candy – sweets

 


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Tags American, bilingual, British, cultures, England, English, Gotta Travel On, How-To, HOW-TO, international, keywords, language, Seller Handbook, selling, tagging, UK, vocabulary, wording, words
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47 comments     Login to add your own!

June 17, 2008 at 12:30 p.m. Yarnigans

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.

June 17, 2008 at 12:45 p.m. ebbandflo

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

June 17, 2008 at 12:51 p.m. ZsBcreations

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.

June 17, 2008 at 1:12 p.m. Galeana

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.

June 17, 2008 at 1:16 p.m. ScarletBeautiful2

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

June 17, 2008 at 1:49 p.m. TheHouseOfMouse

very useful! Thank you for this article!

June 17, 2008 at 1:57 p.m. littlepurls

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!

June 17, 2008 at 2:09 p.m. Mephala

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

June 17, 2008 at 2:23 p.m. davaeva

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

June 17, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. scatterboxoriginals

Thanks so much for the positive response, folks.

Davaeva, we call them rugs in England too :)

June 17, 2008 at 7:24 p.m. gorjuss

wonderful article, very well written well done :)

June 17, 2008 at 7:24 p.m. gorjuss

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

June 17, 2008 at 7:58 p.m. eclipse

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".

June 17, 2008 at 8:16 p.m. SupernovaDesigns

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

June 17, 2008 at 10:16 p.m. jellibat

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.

June 17, 2008 at 10:18 p.m. jellibat

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

June 18, 2008 at 2:52 a.m. scatterboxoriginals

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! :)

June 18, 2008 at 3:13 a.m. scatterboxoriginals

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

June 18, 2008 at 4:54 a.m. crochetgal

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

June 18, 2008 at 5:14 a.m. hannahfaerie

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

June 19, 2008 at 12:28 a.m. anandi

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!!

June 19, 2008 at 3:03 p.m. threemusesart

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

June 19, 2008 at 3:27 p.m. fauxbrit13

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"!

June 19, 2008 at 3:46 p.m. Sneddoniart

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?

June 19, 2008 at 5:24 p.m. SkyBox

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

June 19, 2008 at 7:28 p.m. craftychris

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!

June 19, 2008 at 7:59 p.m. bridbird

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!

June 19, 2008 at 8 p.m. scatterboxoriginals

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!

June 19, 2008 at 11:28 p.m. meeabee

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".

June 20, 2008 at 12:35 a.m. knittingmette

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...

June 20, 2008 at 10:23 a.m. dvinegifts

I found this wonderful website and thought that I would add it to such a wonderful article.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Atlan...

Thank you and blessings to all in the new found adventures in International selling.

June 21, 2008 at 12:22 a.m. AshleySpatula

Crazy! I never even thought of that!

June 21, 2008 at 8:59 a.m. TerraMadreSoap

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.

June 22, 2008 at 4:08 a.m. PrairiePrimitives

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!

June 23, 2008 at 2:23 p.m. Odds

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!

June 24, 2008 at 5:16 a.m. JaneGallagher

"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.

June 24, 2008 at 1:01 p.m. whatkatiedoes

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

Dec. 11, 2008 at 7:12 p.m. brehanclaire

so helpful thanks.

Dec. 26, 2008 at 12:42 p.m. ExoticFlavour

Great tips! thank you :)

Jan. 7, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. etincelledesign

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 ?)

Feb. 21, 2009 at 10:25 p.m. FashionTouch

Very interesting and useful info! Thank you!!!

May 23, 2009 at 4:15 a.m. zunebest

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!

May 29, 2009 at 9:59 p.m. SANSHELLEdesigns

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!

June 2, 2009 at 9:01 a.m. esmeraldadesigns

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

Sept. 15, 2009 at 11:20 a.m. jpgallery

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!

Sept. 15, 2009 at 10:06 p.m. TheAntiquePalette

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!

Nov. 8, 2009 at 1:45 a.m. laureljeansiler

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...

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