Cartoon hands holding flags, US vs UK
Americans can struggle to know which sayings will land with their UK colleagues and what can lead to blank stares.
  • Knowing the right thing to say to colleagues can be hard even in your native country.
  • Americans who've moved to the UK share the phrases that have caused miscommunication while abroad.
  • "Pants" isn't an appropriate word for the office, and "quite nice" could offend someone.

Even though Americans and Britons speak the same language, there are certain phrases and words that Americans use when living and working in the UK that don't translate.

Insider spoke with four Americans who moved to the UK about instances in which their colleagues had been confused, amused, or even annoyed by uniquely US idioms that just don't make sense in a British workplace. From jobs in finance to medicine, transatlantic misunderstandings prevailed.