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We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language.
Oscar Wilde

England and America are two countries separated by the same language.
George Bernard Shaw

How true this is!  Trust me when I say that I've put my foot in it several times in the past.  Below are not only  examples of some of the blunders I’ve made, but other terms that cause confusion.

Suspenders:  Men’s suspenders (as Americans called them) were very popular in London’s financial district in the 1980s.   However, I made the mistake of going into a gentlemen’s clothier to buy a pair of suspenders for my husband as a birthday present.  The big-eyed clerk hastily told me that theirs was respectable establishment and walked away in a huff.   What I should have asked for was braces.  They are the things that hold up men’s trousers.  Suspenders, on the other hand, hold up ladies stockings.

Pants:  My mother-in-law nearly fainted when I told her, in a recent discussion about laundry, that I didn’t wash my husband’s pants after every wear. I meant his chinos. She, on the other hand, actually thought I was sending him to work wearing unwashed underwear.

Knickers:  In a conversation about 1970s fashion, I waxed lyrical about a really cute pair of denim knickers that I wore in high school.  They came below the knee a la Benjamin Franklin.  This brought a barrage of questions:  Denim knickers?  Wasn’t that horribly uncomfortable?   What would you wear with it?  My answers:  Yes, no, and that I usually wore them with a white blouse.  This was followed by blank and/or horrified stares.  How was I to know that knickers are what they call ladies underpants?  I’m not sure if they were more horrified by the thought of denim panties or the fact that they thought I was discussing my undergarments in public.

Biscuits:  I made biscuits and stew for dinner the other night and realized that there is no word for American biscuits in British English.  If asked, I guess I could describe biscuits as somewhere between a dinner roll and a savoury scone.  In the UK, a biscuit is a generic name for a cookie.

Pudding/dessert/afters:  All can mean the sweet course at the end of a meal, but the most commonly used is pudding.   Pudding in the generic can mean cake, ice cream, or a pudding.  A pudding, however, is not the creamy dessert made famous by Jello (that would be a blancmange, custard, mousse, or soufflé).  Instead, a pudding is a type of heavy steamed cake.  Think of Christmas or Plum Pudding.

Nought:  Used mostly in the North, it means nothing – as in “I know nought about it.”

Mince: can either be ground meat (beef, lamb, or pork) or can be the raisin filling for a pie, also nice for pudding.  Mince pies and sherry are the traditional goodies left out for Father Christmas.

Father Christmas:  Santa Claus

Bap: A large roll; also the name of the sandwich made on a bap.

Jacket potato:  A baked potato usually topped with things like tuna salad (called tuna mayonnaise), baked bean and cheese, or prawns (small shrimp) with Marie Rose sauce.

Marie Rose sauce:  Mayonnaise and ketchup mixed together.  Sounds awful, but is actually wonderful with prawns.

Take-away: A take out.

Nappy:  A diaper.

Jumper:  A ladies sweater.

Pram (short for perambulator):   A traditional baby carriage.  This is the big four-wheeled thing you see often see nanny’s pushing around in the US.  They used to be popular, but now nearly everyone uses a pushchair, which is a stroller.

Jumble or jumble sale:  A flea market or white elephant sale

Car boot:  The trunk of a car.  Also another term for a flea market.

Bonnet:  Car hood

Full stop:  Period; as in the sentence ends in a full stop.

Flat: An apartment

Puncture: a flat tire

Fixtures list:  A sports schedule.  When looking on a team's website you generally won't find the team schedule; however, you will find when they are playing on the fixtures list.

Post:  Mail.  This can be used as both a noun and a verb.  Did the post come yet?  I need to post this letter.

Sponge: a cake, as in a Victoria Sponge, excellent for pudding.

If you can think of others, feel free to add to my list!