John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints

American English to British English Dictionary - P

PA

Pennsylvania.

Pacific, Pacific Time, Pacific Standard Time, Pacific Daylight Saving Time, PST, PDT

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

Pacific Northwest

See separate article.

Pacifier

A baby's dummy.

Paddle

A table tennis bat.

PAI

Personal Accident Insurance.

Palmetto State

South Carolina.

Panhandle

See separate article.

Panhandler

An aggressive beggar who approaches people asking for money. Rarely found outside the big cities.

Pantihose or Pantyhose

Tights.

Pants

Trousers, not underpants.

"Paper or Plastic?"

An inquiry at a supermarket checkout, asking whether you would prefer your purchases put in a paper or plastic sack, i.e. a paper or plastic bag.

Paraffin

Paraffin wax. Liquid paraffin is called kerosene in American English.

Parallel

Line of latitude. For example, the fortieth parallel is the 40o North line of latitude.

Pardon Me

The most common meaning is a request to repeat something not properly heard, in which case it is asked as a question, "Pardon me?".

Parentheses

Round brackets, "(" and ")".

Parfleche

According to one source the word parfleche means rawhide (untanned leather). Another source describes it as meaning a dried skin, usually of a buffalo, and also says that the word is of French-Canadian origin.

Parish

  1. See separate article.

  2. The word also has the same meaning in connection to a church as in Britain.

Park

A park can be a small park in a town or city, or a huge National Park.

The word "park" is also used sometimes to mean a large, flat valley surrounded by mountains or hills. This meaning is often applied in place names.

Parka

According to one source this term is still used in American English to refer to an anorak (the garment, not a type of person). In British English the word was in common use for a particular style of child's anorak sold in the early 1970's but has long since passed out of general usage.

Parkade

In Canadian English, a multi-storey car park.

Parking Brake

The handbrake of a car.

Parking Garage

Multi-storey car park.

Parking Lot

Car park.

Parking Stall

Parking bay. A space for one vehicle in a car park.

Parkway

See separate article.

Party

A group of people. For example, at theme parks assistants loading people onto rides will often ask "How many in your party?" so that you will be seated together and a similar procedure frequently occurs at waitress service restaurants.

Pass

  1. Overtake. The road sign "Do not pass" means "no overtaking", and not "no entry" or "do not proceed beyond this point" as you might perhaps think.

  2. Mountain pass.

  3. A narrow channel of water between two pieces of land, for example Deception Pass State Park in Washington State's San Juan Islands.

Pastor

A minister of religion, rector or vicar.

PATH

Port Authority Trans-Hudson. PATH operate a subway (underground railway) line with the same name in the New York City area. See also BMT, IND, IRT and NYMTA.

Paved Shoulder

Hard shoulder (of a road).

Pavement

In American English the pavement is the road itself, which vehicles drive on. The path alongside the road where pedestrians walk, that the British call the pavement, people in the USA call the sidewalk. The road sign "Pavement Ends" means that the road you are on is about to change to an unpaved surface.

PB and J

Jim Collins kindly sent me this definition:
The common abbreviation for that All-American delicacy that generations of schoolkids have lunched on (including yours truly) - the Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. Ideally with Grape or Raspberry Jelly....

PD

Police Department.

PDT

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

PDX

Airport code for Portland International Airport, Portland, Oregon.

PE

Prince Edward Island. PEI is also commonly used, but PE is the official abbreviation.

Peace Garden State

North Dakota.

Peach State

Georgia.

PED XING

This seemingly mysterious road sign doesn't indicate that you're approaching Chinatown! In fact, it means "Pedestrian Crossing".

PEI

  1. Prince Edward Island, a Canadian province. PEI is commonly used but PE is the official abbreviation.

  2. Personal Effects Insurance.

Pelican State

Louisiana.

Pelota

See Jai Alai.

Pemmican

See Jerky.

Penitentiary

Prison.

PENNDOT

Pennsylvania Department Of Transportation Driver And Vehicle Services.

Pennsylvania Dutch Country

See separate article.

Penny

A one cent coin, in both the USA and Canada (although the coins differ slightly in design).

Period

Full stop (the punctuation mark).

Permissive Mode

A term used in US highway traffic engineering. See separate article.

Personal Accident Insurance

See separate article.

Personal Effects Insurance

See separate article.

PETA

An organisation called People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals.

Petroleum

Crude oil. Refined oil for use in motor vehicles is called gasoline or gas in American English.

PHL

Airport code for Philadelphia International Airport, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Phonograph

Record player. Up until audio CD players became universal, the word phonograph was still in common usage in the USA.

PHX

Airport code for Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix, Arizona.

Pickle

Gherkin.

Piedmont

See separate article.

Pig Pile

See Dogpile.

Pike

A road or highway. This term is especially common in Pennsylvania. It may be an abbreviation for turnpike (i.e. a toll road) or "shunpike" (roads built to avoid having to use turnpikes). I believe that most if not all of Pennsylvania's Pikes are not toll roads now.

Pilot Car

A vehicle, most commonly a pickup truck, which other vehicles must follow through a road construction area.

Pine Tree State

Maine.

Pinto Beans

 A Mexican food item.

Pinto beans, often just called pintos, are a type of baked bean served as a paste which can be used as a dip.

PIR

See Property Irregularity Report.

Pit

  1. Seen in expressions such as "sirloin pit", meaning a sirloin restaurant. The word presumably indicates the method of cooking.

  2. A stone in a fruit such as a peach.

  3. A derogatory expression, as in "that place is the pits".

PIT

Airport code for Pittsburgh International Airport, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Pita (or Stuffed Pita)

 Pita bread, folded into a U shape and filled, like a taco shell (except that a pita is soft whereas a taco is crisp). The filling is usually a salad, in some cases with pieces of chicken. In Wendy's you keep the pita in its foil wrapper while eating and peel the wrapper back as you go.

Pitcher

Jug.

Pizza Styles

 John Bergmayer kindly emailed me the following descriptions:
There is New York style, which is more common - thin crust. Chicago style, which has a thicker crust. In the northeast you may encounter Sicilian which is square with a very doughy, thick crust. Then there are the many variations - such as Stromboli which is a folded over pizza with all the contents inside.

Placer

The prefix "Placer" in town names such as Placerville comes from the word meaning a superficial deposit of sand or gravel from which gold or some other mineral can be washed - an indication that such activity took place in the area. My English dictionary says that placer is the Spanish word for sandbank and also suggests a possible connection with the Spanish word plaza, meaning place. However, my Spanish - English dictionary quotes the meaning of placer as pleasure, and plaza as square, market, job or position.

Plain Vanilla

The simplest, least expensive, no frills option. From the flavours of ice cream.

"Plastic or Paper?"

An inquiry at a supermarket checkout, asking whether you would prefer your purchases put in a paper or plastic sack, i.e. a paper or plastic bag.

Plastic Wrap

Clingfilm.

Play Hookey

To play hookey is to truant from school.

Po' Boy

A long sandwich on French bread, usually filled with oysters, shrimp or roast beef. A dressed po' boy comes with mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato, A variant on the submarine sandwich theme.

Pocket Book or Pocketbook

Wallet. Also called a billfold.

Podiatrist, Podiatry

Chiropodist, chiropody - terms relating to medical disorders of the foot and toes.

Pogey

A mildly insulting Canadian word for welfare or unemployment insurance.

Poindexter

An egg-head or a nerd. From a cartoon character of the same name.

Polliwog

According to one source this word is sometimes used to refer to a tadpole.

Pollock

 A fish of the cod family, which looks and tastes somewhat similar to cod. I'm not sure whether "Alaskan Pollock" is exactly the same or not.

Pony Up

 To make a payment (to pay up). I think this expression may be used in the context of paying extra in order to receive something of higher value, or possibly only when the money is owed. (By the way, in British English a pony is a slang expression for twenty-five pounds but this meaning does not apply in American English.)

See also Ante Up.

Pooch

Dog. I think this word is more likely to be used to refer to a toy breed dog kept as a pet.

Pool

A game of the same family as billiards and snooker.

Pop

See Soda Pop.

Pop Quiz

A pop quiz is a quick, informal quiz given to school pupils by their teacher to test their knowledge, without prior warning. However, the results of a pop quiz are normally formally recorded. (My grateful thanks to Major Jim Collins of the USAF for confirming the contents of this entry.)

Tom Showalter kindly sent me this additional explanation:

Pop quizzes are graded and recorded; they are formal quizzes, but are unannounced (they "pop" out at you). I've never had one that wasn't graded.
By extension, the name "pop quiz" may be given to any similar informal quiz in a training or learning situation.

Despite the name, a pop test is not a test of the pupils' knowledge of pop music.

Popsicle

Frozen lolly.

Pork Rinds

Pork scratchings.

Port of Entry

See separate article.

Postal Code

The term used in Canada for what in Britain would be called a post code and in the USA a ZIP code.

Postal Outlet

A sub post office in Canada, located in a shop which sells other goods.

Posted

  1. The word "posted" normally refers to a notice having been displayed in public, put on a notice board, etc. The word "mailed" is normally used to mean that a letter has been sent.

  2. Tom Wrona kindly supplied this additional meaning:
    If land is said to have been "posted" it means the owner has posted signs on its perimeter warning hunters that hunting on the property is prohibited (without prior consent, or totally).

Poster Putty

Blue-Tac. The sticky plasticine-like substance used to fix posters to walls, to make screws stick to the ends of screwdrivers, etc.

Pot Holders

Oven gloves.

Pot-Boiler

Originally a book but now any product produced for the express purpose of making money, rather than for any artistic or technical merit.

Potato Chips

See Chips.

Pound Sign

Some people in the USA and Canada incorrectly call the hash sign or number sign symbol, #, a Pound sign.

The Pound sign is of course actually written £.

The confusion may have arisen from many typewriters and early computer keyboards and printers having the hash sign and the Pound sign on the same key, the actual result on the screen or on paper depending on what mode the device was in (US mode producing a hash sign and UK mode producing a Pound sign, for example). However, Major Jim Collins of the USAF informs me that the error pre-dates the use of keyboards. The confusion was perpetuated by the US and UK keyboard designs and keyboard mapping options on the IBM PC and all its subsequent clones. Even now one symbol can be changed into the other when it is transmitted in an email message etc.

Apparently this mistake now extends to the occasional use of the hash sign in shops to mean a Pound unit of weight (which should be indicated by "lb").

Another area where you may encounter the mistake is in instructions for responding to automated telephone inquiry systems, where the hash button may sometimes be incorrectly referred to as the Pound button.

What effect the possible British adoption of the Euro in the future as its national currency will have on all this confusion can only be guessed...

Poutine

Amy Skopik of Saskatoon kindly sent me the following:
Poutine is an appetiser/snack food from Québec consisting of French fries (chips) deluged with brown gravy and with cheese curds (or just grated cheese) melted on top. Not healthy, great with beer.
According to another source, poutine is the only food dish ever invented in Canada - which may be somewhat of an overstatement.

Powder Room

Yet another euphemism for a toilet.

Powdered Sugar

Icing sugar. Also called confectioner's sugar in the USA.

PQ

 The 1998 edition of the Rand McNally road atlas quotes the official abbreviation for the Province of Québec as being PQ.

However, according to Canada Post (the Canadian Postal Service), the official abbreviation for the Province of Québec is QC. In addition, several official web sites associated with the Province of Québec have the domain name .qc.ca.

It would seem that PQ is the old abbreviation which has now been replaced by QC and I received an email message from Kate McDonnell of Montréal confirming this fact.

Prairie State

Illinois.

Pre-Columbian

Prior to the discovery of America by Columbus.

Pre-Natal

Ante-natal. Medical services for women who are pregnant.

Precambrian Shield

See separate article.

Precinct

A police district, usually in a large city I believe. (In Britain, a precinct is a shopping centre.)

Predicated

Dependent. The following example comes from a NASA statement: "The Pegasus XL launch vehicle is ready for ferry to Kennedy Space Centre on the Orbital Sciences L-1011 aircraft but is predicated on the prior arrival of the spacecraft at KSC". I don't think normal people would use this expression.

Preserves

Jam, particular high quality jam with a high fruit content and/or recognisable pieces of fruit. Low grade jam is called jelly in American English.

Presidio

Spanish for fort or fortress. Many presidios were built by the Spanish when they ruled the southwest of the USA and Mexico. Some of these have been preserved, for example the Presidios of Monterey, Santa Barbara and San Francisco.

PRI

Public Radio International.

Price Gouging

Charging excessive prices and making excessive profits. Also sometimes just called gouging.

Primary, Primaries

A type of election in the USA. An early stage in the selection of the President, I believe.

Principal

The head teacher of a school.

Private School

Public school. In American English parents pay for their children to attend private schools and public schools are free state schools funded by taxation. In British English public schools are private fee charging schools.

Pro-Life

Anti-abortion. Abortion is a highly emotive subject in the USA.

Proctor

Invigilator. A person who supervises candidates sitting an examination.

Professor

Any university or college lecturer. In British English the term is reserved for senior lecturers.

Prohibition

The legal ban on the manufacturing and sale of alcohol in the USA between 1920 and 1933.

Project

An area of public housing, similar to a British council house estate. Also called a housing project.

Prong

A pin or connector in an electrical plug, particularly the flat blades in US and Canadian mains plugs.

Property Irregularity Report (PIR)

 The claim form that you should fill in should your checked baggage suffer loss or damage during an airline flight. Be sure to check your baggage and if necessary report any loss or damage and fill in a PIR before leaving the baggage reclaim area.

Pros From Dover

A slang term for outside consultants who are brought into a business to troubleshoot and solve problems. From M*A*S*H.

Protected Mode

A term used in US highway traffic engineering. See separate article.

PST

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

  2. Provincial Sales Tax. A form of sales tax in Canada. See the Sales Tax page for details.

PTA

  1. Parent-Teacher Association.

  2. Passenger Transit Authority - the body responsible for a city's public transport. Tom Wrona EMailed me to point out that PTA is not a universal term and in some cities names such as RTD (Rapid Transit District) or MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) may be used instead.

Public Lands

 In the USA, the term "public lands" refers to land owned by the federal government, other than the National Parks, the National Monuments and other National Park Service areas, the National Forests, the National Wildlife Refuges and a few other areas. The Bureau of Land Management is responsible for the administration of public land, which amounts to some 425,000 square miles (about 11.7% of the land area of the USA). Most of this land has never been privately owned, and most of it is in the west and in Alaska.

See also Government Owned Land.

Public School

State school. In the United States the term "public school" refers to a state school which does not charge fees but is funded from taxation. In Britain it means the exact opposite, a private school which does charge fees.

Pudding

Blancmange, Instant Whip, Angel Delight, etc.

Pulloff or Pullout

Lay-by. By law slow moving vehicles must use pullouts when they have more than a certain number of vehicles behind them.

Pump

According to one source, a type of women's shoe.

Pumpernickel (bread)

See separate article.

Pure Laine

French Canadians who can trace their ancestry back to colonial New France. From the French words for "pure wool". Since the term has connotations of racial purity it is often considered mildly offensive.

Purse

A woman's handbag.

Push The Envelope

To go to the limit of performance. From the use of envelopes (lines on graphs) to indicate the safe working conditions for aircraft.
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Most recently modified 29-Dec-05