I know there have been previous threads on Mudcat about British and American linguistic differences and I don't want to rehash all of this, BUT, I would like to know, what the most persistent home-grown usages are , both for Brits in America, and even more interesting, (for me at any rate) for Americans in Britain.

Let me give you an example of what I mean. I have just about got a grip on the American language. I walk on the "sidewalk", I buy my groceries at the "store", and I put "gasoline" in my tank". So far so good. All these usages are second nature now.

But the one thing that is not second nature is the American use of "rent", where the British would say "hire". Now, I am well aware of the difference, but the other night, I was discussing having my carpet cleaned, and I was saying I would hire a cleaning machine and the other person was saying, No, you can do it yourself, and for thirty seconds we were talking at crosspurposes until the penny dropped..

(For the benefit of British Mudcatters, Americans "rent" cars, tools, carpet-cleaning machines etc. etc.) . They only "hire" labor.

For the benefit of American Mudcatters, in the UK we only " rent" land or property. Tools, cars and machines are "hired".

All this preamble brings me to my question. For those of you who have lived transatlantic, what has been the most difficult "foreign" linguistic usage to adjust to?

Murray