John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints

American English to British English Dictionary - M

M & M's

A type of sweet somewhat similar to Smarties - chocolate with a hard sugar coating.

MA

Massachusetts.

Magnolia State

Mississippi.

Mail Slot

Letterbox.

Mailbox

See separate article.

Mailman

Postman. I suspect that the word postman is also used in American English.

Main Drag

A main street, especially in a small town which only has one main street.

Maize

Sweetcorn, corn-on-the-cob.

Make

Often used in the USA when describing turns on a road journey, for example "make a left turn", or often just "make a left".

Mall

Shopping mall. A large enclosed building containing a large number of shops. Pronounced "maul".

Manifest Destiny

The belief, widely held during the nineteenth century, in the inevitability of the western expansion of the United States across North America.

Manual Transmission

Manual gearbox, in a car or other road vehicle.

Marble Rye (bread)

See separate article.

March of Dimes

A charity, founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938 and supported by donations given by the public to its volunteer collectors. The March of Dimes was originally set up to provide funds for eradicating polio, and now supports efforts to prevent birth defects, reduce infant mortality, avoid low birthweight and improve prenatal care.

Marker Shield (Highway Marker Shield)

See separate article.

Maritimes

See separate article.

MARTA

The underground railway system in Atlanta, Georgia. I guessed that the initials stand for Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority and Mark Baxter kindly sent me a message to say that this is indeed the case.

Masa

A form of dough, made from dried corn which is soaked in limewater and then rinsed and ground. Masa is used to make corn tortillas and tamales.

Mason-Dixon Line

See separate article.

Mass Transit

Public transport.

MasterCard

Access (the credit card company).

Math

Maths, mathematics. In both American and British English the term is increasingly being used by the ignorant to refer to elementary arithmetic calculations, or even the mere memorisation of the multiplication tables, to the utter dismay of anyone with even the slightest amount of true mathematical knowledge or interest.

MB

Manitoba.

MBA

Master of Business Administration, a type of university degree which teaches everything about management and nothing about leadership.

MBTA

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the organisation responsible for public transport in the Boston, Massachusetts area.

MCI

Airport code for Kansas City International Airport, Kansas City, Missouri.

MCO

Airport code for Orlando International Airport, Orlando, Florida.

MD

  1. Maryland (the state).

  2. Medical Doctor.

MDT

Mountain Daylight Saving Time. A time zone in use in parts of the USA and Canada.

MDW

Airport code for Chicago Midway Airport, Chicago, Illinois.

ME

Maine.

Mean

Unpleasant or bad tempered (rather than tight-fisted as in Britain). "He was a mean dude" almost certainly means that the person referred to was a villain.

Meat Grinder

Mincer.

Median

  1. The central reservation of a divided highway (dual carriageway). Also often called the median strip.

  2. The word median is often used in US newspapers etc when quoting statistical information. In the academic study of statistics, the median is strictly defined as being the middle value of a set of values arranged in numerical order. However, I suspect that the general US usage of the word median tends to be sloppy and in most cases actually refers to the arithmetic mean. There is a somewhat similar situation in Britain where the word average, which can have any one of several different technical meanings to a statistician, is always taken in general usage to refer to the arithmetic mean.

Medicare

In the USA, Medicare is the senior citizen public health insurance. It is administered in a similar way to Social Security and provides many basic healthcare benefits for people aged over sixty-five. For more information, visit the Medicare and United States Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) web sites (external links checked Sep-00).

Megan's Law(s)

The commonly used name for a law (or laws?) which require a community to be notified when a high-risk sex offender moves to their area. The name comes from that of a highly publicised victim, a New Jersey girl who was murdered in 1994.

Mellow Yellow (or Mello Yello?)

A brand of soft drink.

MEM

Airport code for Memphis International Airport, Memphis, Tennessee.

Memorial Day

 A legal public holiday throughout the whole of the USA, held on the last Monday of May, in honour of US armed service personnel killed in wartime. Memorial Day marks the start of the summer season, when many seasonal tourist attractions open after the winter.

See also Labour Day.

Mesa

A flat topped mountain. The word comes from Spanish. Due to erosion over geological time a mesa becomes a butte, then a spire, and eventually disappears.

Metro

  1. The name of the underground railway (subway) system in Washington DC.

  2. The name of the public bus system in Seattle, Washington State (and in a number of other US and Canadian cities, I suspect).

  3. Short for metropolitan, as in "metro area", meaning a city and its suburbs.

Metro Rail

The Los Angeles (California) area subway/light railway/tram system. See also Metrolink.

Metrolink

The Los Angeles (California) area commuter railway system. See also Metro Rail.

Metrorail

The Washington DC subway system.

MH

Motorhome, a type of RV (recreational vehicle) - see RV America's RV Types (external link checked May-00).

MI

  1. Miles

  2. Minutes.

  3. Michigan.
In driving directions, assuming a speed of around 55mph, it doesn't really matter much whether MI means miles or minutes. But in the specification of the length of a hiking trail the ambiguity is of course rather more serious.

MIA

Airport code for Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida.

Micky D's

A nickname for McDonald's.

Microbrew, Microbrewery

Matt Hungerford of San Francisco kindly sent me this comment:
This is a fairly important food development sweeping the country, especially in the West - California, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado. The microbreweries are pub-like breweries that craft their own high quality beers. There has been a big shift in parts of the country away from the light mass produced beers (i.e. macrobrews) in favour of the microbrewery. The microbrewery often includes a restaurant that serves better than average food.

Mid-Atlantic States

See separate article.

Midwest

See separate article.

MIL

Mother-in-law. (This is almost certainly an Internet abbreviation and not in common use.)

Mile High City

See separate article.

Military Time

The 24-hour clock system.

Milk

Milk in the USA labelled as being "2%" or "low fat" is equivalent to British semi-skimmed milk. American "skim milk" is the same as British "skimmed milk".

Milk in coffee is always called cream in the USA.

Milkshake

If you think of a milkshake in its traditional British form, as whipped flavoured milk to be drunk out of a glass, then you will be in for rather a shock the first time you encounter a milkshake in a fast food restaurant on either side of the Atlantic, because they are very thick, almost soft ice cream, and sucked up with a straw. On a hot summer day they are highly recommended.

Mimosa

Bucks Fizz, the drink - champagne and orange juice.

Mini-Motorhome

A type of RV (recreational vehicle) - see RV America's RV Types (external link checked May-00).

Miniseries

Mini-series. A short television series, often a serialised version of a best selling book. When glanced at casually the unhyphenated word can easily be mistaken for "ministries".

Miranda Rights

The rights of people interrogated by the police in the USA. By law the police must read these rights prior to commencing interrogation. Miranda Rights are very similar to the caution read by British police.

The Miranda Rights are: You have the right to remain silent; Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law; You have the right to have an attorney present now and during any future questioning; If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you free of charge if you wish.

The police can arrest a person and ask questions in order to determine their identity without reading them their Miranda Rights.

The name comes from the case of Ernesto Miranda who was originally arrested in 1963 in Phoenix, Arizona for stealing $8 in cash. During subsequent police interrogation Miranda confessed to kidnapping and raping an 18-year-old woman some days earlier, for which he received a twenty year prison sentence. Miranda's lawyers eventually succeeded in an appeal based on his not being read his rights prior to interrogation. Miranda was granted a new trial but he was once again convicted. Ironically, in 1976 Miranda was stabbed to death in a fight. Police arrested a suspect who, after exercising his Miranda Right of silence, was released.

Misdemeanour

A minor crime. A felony is a serious crime.

MIT

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts. External link checked Aug-99.

MLB

Major League Baseball.

MLK

Martin Luther King.

MLM

Multi-Level Marketing, in other words a pyramid selling swindle. This abbreviation is often seen on the Internet; I don't know if it is in common use in the USA in other contexts.

MLS

Major League Soccer.

MMS

The United States Minerals Management Service, an agency of the Department Of The Interior.

MN

Minnesota.

MO

Missouri (the state).

Mobile Home

Caravan.

Mobile Lounge

One of a fleet of bus-like vehicles used to ferry passengers between planes and airport terminal buildings at Washington DC's Dulles Airport. The same system may also be employed at some other airports but I do not know of any. The mobile lounge is raised and lowered so as to connect with the doors of the planes and the terminal buildings. Each mobile lounge has a large fin on its roof, presumably to make it clearly visible above plane fuselages. I'm not sure if "mobile lounge" is the official name for these vehicles but it does seem to be commonly used.

Modified American Plan

 A term used in very expensive hotels in America, meaning that breakfast and dinner are included, but not lunch. Also called demi-pension.

Some motels in the USA and Canada offer free continental breakfasts but otherwise no meals are included.

See also American Plan and European Plan.

Mojave Desert

See separate article.

Mojo

Voodoo, lucky charm, magic. A word often found in the lyrics of blues music.

Momentarily

My thanks to Mark Baxter who contributed this entry:
In my experience, people in the USA use this differently to us [in Britain]. Take the phrase "I will be there momentarily". In the UK, that means "I will be there for a moment". In the US it seems to mean "I will be there in a moment".

Monkey Wrench

 Definitions of this term vary.

Lisa Fournier of Columbus, Ohio sent me this definition:

A four-armed spanner is more specifically called a "monkey wrench". The word "wrench" can also refer to a pipe wrench or a socket wrench.
Elizabeth Fox of San Francisco sent me a message saying that a monkey wrench is an adjustable spanner.

Tim Showalter sent me this definition:

A monkey wrench is a spanner; a four-armed spanner is a lug wrench. (If I understand the use of spanner correctly.)
Gene Johannsen sent me this explanation:
Here's a little more info about that ever mysterious monkey wrench. As far as I know (born and living in America for 30+ years now) there is only one kind of tool known as a monkey wrench. It is a type of spanner with one fixed jaw and one adjustable one at a 90 degree angle from the handle. They can come in a wide variety of sizes (some quite large and suitable for home defence), but almost always in the same basic design (and colour - almost all I can remember that still had their paint were painted red or orange). My impression is that they are almost always used for plumbing or working with pipes, but this could just be my lack of experience with them.
"To throw a monkey wrench in" has a similar meaning to "to break", or "to disrupt", for example "Bill's code changes threw a monkey wrench into the new software."
Confused? I was already!

Monticello

Monticello is the name of the house built by Thomas Jefferson in Virginia. It is also the name of various towns in the USA. The word is Italian and means "hill" or "small mountain".

Mopery

An obscure word, with the same meaning as loitering.

Mormon State

Utah.

Mortician

  1. Undertaker.

  2. A worker in a hospital morgue.

Most Valuable Player

 Man of the match (the player judged to have made most the greatest contribution to a team game sporting contest).

Mother Lode

See separate article.

Mother Road

Route 66. See separate article.

Motor City

See separate article.

Motorhome

A type of RV (recreational vehicle) - see RV America's RV Types (external link checked May-00).

Mount Rushmore State

South Dakota.

Mountain, Mountain Time, Mountain Standard Time, Mountain Daylight Saving Time, MST, MDT

A time zone in use in parts of the USA and Canada.

Mountain Dew

A brand of soft drink.

Mountain State

West Virginia.

Movie Theatre

Cinema.

Moving Company

Removal company. A moving van is a removal van.

Moxie

See Soda Pop.

Mr Pibb

A brand of soft drink, similar to Dr Pepper.

MS

Mississippi (the state).

MSP

Airport code for Minneapolis/St Paul International Airport, Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota.

MST

Mountain Standard Time. A time zone in use in parts of the USA and Canada.

MSY

Airport code for New Orleans International Airport (Moisant Field), New Orleans, Louisiana.

MT

Montana.

MTA

In Los Angeles and New York City, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, organisations responsible for public transport systems such as subway (underground railway), light railway and bus services. Strictly speaking these should be known as LAMTA and NYMTA respectively but the LA and NY prefixes are usually omitted where the meaning is obvious. In New York City there are additional subway systems, including PATH. In other cities the M might stand for Mass, the T for Transit and the A for Administration, in any combination, but the meaning remains the same: an organisation responsible for public transport. In yet other cities different names are used for public transport services, for example BART, CalTrain and MUNI in San Francisco, California. In Baltimore, Maryland MTA stands for Maryland Transit Administration.

Muffin

 Seth Verdot of Jefferson City Missouri kindly emailed me the following:
I don't know about British use of the term "muffin" but an American muffin is a sweet bread baked in a cup (different from a cupcake), in flavours ranging from tooth-slaying chocolate to intestine-scouring bran muffins with whole wheat kernels and almond slivers. English muffins, on the other hand, are flat, chewy rolls with large air bubbles inside - they come ready-split to fit in a toaster.
An Egg McMuffin, one of McDonald's breakfast menu items, consists of two halves of an English muffin with a layer of poached egg and a slice of ham (or in the case of the Sausage McMuffin, sausage meat) sandwiched between them.

Muffler

  1. Exhaust system (of a car), or possibly only the silencer.

  2. Mark Baxter kindly sent me a message saying that he thinks the word can also refer to a scarf. I received a message from another visitor to this site confirming this fact but saying that its use is very rare.

MUNI

See separate article.

Mush
  1. According to a question on a television quiz show, porridge oats is called "mush" in the USA. It wasn't clear whether this was just a nickname. I would welcome any comments.

  2. Seth Verdot of Jefferson City Missouri kindly sent me this additional meaning:
    In the South there's a traditional staple food called "hominy". It's a variety of maize with pale, oversized kernels, and almost no flavour. It's most commonly eaten as a porridge known as "grits". In the South it's a breakfast standard - "would you like toast or grits with your ham and eggs?". The same stuff can be fried into bland cakes, which are then known as "fried mush" - I'll leave the rest to your imagination.
  3. The word can also be used to describe any undesirable food.

Musical Notes
Name In The USA And Canada Name In The UK
Double Whole Note Breve
Whole Note Semibreve
Half Note Minim
Quarter Note Crotchet
Eighth Note Quaver
Sixteenth Note Semiquaver
Thirty-Second Note Demisemiquaver

Muskeg

A sphagnum bog. Found throughout the Canadian Shield area.

Muskoka

See separate article.

Mustang

A small, semi-wild horse. Also called a bronco or a cayuse.

MUTCD

The United States Federal Highway Administration's Manual On Uniform Traffic Control Devices (external link verified Jul-02), which offers guidance on all aspects of road signs, traffic lights and similar matters. Although the MUTCD is intended as a national standard, most states publish a supplement listing their own variations. This abbreviation is not used on road signs, nor is it likely to be understood by the general public. However, it is very frequently used in relevant documents available on the Internet.

Mutual Fund

Unit trust.

MVP

  1. See Most Valuable Player

  2. Marketing Vice President (in a company). This usage is far less common.

  3. Most Valuable Professional. This meaning is sometimes used within Microsoft, the computer software company.
Numbers A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

American English to British English Dictionary

Home | States/Provinces | Subjects

As with all the other pages on this personal web site, all the information on this page is solely the opinion of the author, who has no connection whatsoever with any of the companies and organisations mentioned other than as an actual or potential customer.
About this personal web site JohnCletheroe

EMail me

Most recently modified 5-Jun-05