John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints

American English to British English Dictionary - W

WA

Washington State. Not to be confused with Washington DC.

Walker

Zimmerframe.

Wall To Wall Carpet

Fitted carpet.

Wallet

Purse.

War Between The States, The

This name is sometimes used in the South for the American Civil War. The Great Unpleasantness is another alternative. I'm informed that some Southerners refer to it as the War of Northern Aggression.

Warning

When prefixed by "tornado", "flash flood", etc, a warning is an indication that the event is actually occurring and that everyone should take appropriate measures. A watch indicates that conditions are right for the possible development of the event and that people should start to make suitable preparations and be on alert.

Washcloth

Face flannel.

Washroom

Toilet. I'm informed that the word "washroom" is used more in Canada than in the USA.

WASP

White Anglo-Saxon Protestant.

Watch

When prefixed by "tornado", "flash flood", etc, a watch is an indication that the conditions are right for the possible development of the event and that people should start to make suitable preparations and be on alert. A warning indicates that the event is actually occurring and that everyone should take appropriate measures.

Water Heater

Immersion heater.

Wayside

A place to stop along the road, maintained by a state, a county or a town, etc. Waysides provide less facilities than State Parks - usually just somewhere to park and perhaps a public toilet. There is usually no entrance fee for waysides. There are a large number of waysides, along with State Parks, along the Oregon Coast. Waysides are often marked on maps by means of the picnic table symbol. Waysides are very similar to rest areas.

Weed Eater or Weed Wacker

Strimmer.

Welfare

Social security, benefit allowance or tax credit.

West

Road number geographical direction suffixes (North, South, East or West) on signposts and highway marker shields, and in instructions giving directions to destinations, always refer to the direction of travel. For example, "I-80 West" means I-80 westbound.

West Point

  1. The United States Military Academy in New York State, on the west bank of the Hudson River about eighty miles north of New York City.

  2. A town in Mississippi.

Wheat (bread)

See separate article.

Wheel

In television programme listings "Wheel" means "Wheel Of Fortune", which has been broadcast on US television every week day for many years.

Where's The Beef?

What's your point? What's the heart of the matter? Where is the most important or most valuable aspect of something? From a phrase used in television advertisements for the Wendy's Hamburgers chain by its founder, Dave Thomas.

White Bread

Anything which is bland and boring. Sometimes used to refer to white middle-class culture.

White-out

Tippex or correcting fluid.

Whole Milk

The name in the USA for homogenised milk. Also called homo milk in the USA.

Whole Nine Yards

The whole of something. To give the whole nine yards is to complete something. Idiom Site offers an explanation of how the term came to be used (external link verified Dec-02).

Whole Note

See Musical Notes.

WI

Wisconsin.

Wild Rose Country

Alberta.

Wildcard

A joker in a pack of playing cards, which can be used in place of any card. By extension, in computer technology wildcard characters can be used to mean "any character", for example "?" means any one character, "*" means any number of any characters and "x" means any digit. For instance, "Win9x" means Windows 95 or Windows 98, the x being a wildcard.

Wilderness Areas

 Wilderness areas are specially reserved tracts of land where man is a visitor. No roads, buildings or other man-made structures of any kind, permanent or temporary, are permitted in wilderness areas. Backpackers - hikers carrying their own camping equipment - are permitted, but they must carry in and carry out everything they need.

American states with wilderness areas include Alaska, California (in several National Parks), Florida (in the Everglades), Idaho, Michigan (Isle Royale National Park), Montana (in Glacier National Park), Minnesota (in Voyageurs National Park) and New Mexico (Gila Wilderness and Leopold Wilderness).

Canadian provinces with wilderness areas include Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Québec (Ungava) and Saskatchewan.

See also Frontier Counties.

Windshield

Windscreen (of a car or other road vehicle).

Windy City

See separate article.

Winnebago

A manufacturer of motor homes. Many British sources seem to think that people in the USA and Canada use the word "Winnebago" as a generic term to refer to motor homes but that is not the case. In fact, they use the term "recreational vehicle", often abbreviated RV.

Winningest

Most successful. Often used to describe the coaches (team managers) of the most successful sports teams. Please don't blame me for this revolting word, I didn't invent it, I'm only reporting it.

Wire

Telegram. Now an obsolete term in that sense. In old films you hear expressions such as "I'll wire Chicago".

WMATA

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. The organisation responsible for public transport in the Washington DC area, including the Washington DC Metrorail subway system.

Wolverine State

Michigan.

WOT

War On Terrorism. The United States' response to the terrorist attacks of 11-Sep-02.

WPA

Works Progress Administration, later renamed Work Project Administration. A federal agency set up as part of the New Deal during the Great Depression, to provide unemployed people with work on public projects. Terminated in 1943. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) served somewhat similar purposes.

WR

Wild River.

Wrap

 Melissa Hutchins kindly emailed me this definition:
A wrap is basically any sandwich type food you want to put in a round piece of bread that rolls up.
It is therefore a term closely related to burrito, fajita and pita. Tim Showalter sent me a comment suggesting that "wrap" is more a marketing term than a real word.

Wreck

A car crash, or a crashed car.

Wrench

Spanner. Lisa Fournier of Columbus, Ohio sent me an email saying that the word wrench can also refer to a pipe wrench or a socket wrench.

See also Monkey Wrench.

WSJ

Wall Street Journal, the newspaper.

WSR

Wild and Scenic River.

WV

West Virginia.

WY

Wyoming.
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Most recently modified 19-Mar-04