An omnium gatherum -- Oh no -- that's a party (with martinis? if you ask for a gin and French). Anyway a collection of some 2500 entries of Britishisms for those ""up against the barrier of a common language"" (Dylan Thomas) or as Russell Baker said -- ""One of the hardest languages for an American to learn is English."" All this from Mr. Schur's pleasant introduction to his ""Transatlantic Dictionary for the Confounded"" which will help you find the real meanings to these idiosyncratic, idiomatic forms which will have suffered sea change once you get over there. It's a clinking (damned good) book to have about.