Some More Differences Between British English and American English - Idioms・イギリス英語とアメリカ英語のいくつかの違い ー イディオム インクル子ども英会話浜松市

英語のブログ

インクル英会話のネイティブ先生のブログから英語を勉強しましょう。

In this post about differences between British English and American English, we will look at some idioms which mean the same thing but are said in a slightly different way.
If you haven't seen the other posts about the differences between British English and American English please find and read them here and here.

British EnglishAmerican English
not touch something with a bargepolenot touch something with a ten-foot pole
sweep under the carpetsweep under the rug
touch woodknock on wood
see the wood for the treessee the forest for the trees
put a spanner in the worksthrow a (monkey) wrench in(to) (a situation)
put (or stick) your oar in
but it won't make a ha'porth of difference
to put your two penn'orth (or tuppence worthin
to put your two cents (or two cents' worth) in
skeleton in the cupboardskeleton in the closet
a home from homea home away from home
blow one's own trumpetblow (or toot) one's own horn
a drop in the oceana drop in the bucket
flogging a dead horsebeating a dead horse
haven't (got) a cluedon't have a clue or have no clue (the British forms are also acceptable)
couldn't care lesscould care less or couldn't care less
a new lease of lifea new lease on life
lie of the landlay of the land
take it with a pinch of salttake it with a grain of salt
a storm in a teacupa tempest in a teapot (rare)
slowcoachslowpoke

If you're unsure about the meaning of these idioms try searching for them using google or this collection of idioms. Try using the British and American versions of these idioms and see which you prefer. Use them when speaking English to make your speech more interesting!