CHAT: Trans-oceanic word differences // was Education words in various English dialects

John Cowan wrote, quoting myself:

> > I mention this because it's another education word, but of course there
> > are many trans-oceanic differences/overlaps, even among such seemingly
> > innocent words as "shed", "lemonade" and countless others.
>
> What's the "shed" problem?  I know about "lemonade",
In both countries, a shed is a storage place. However ...

I'm told that in America, if you say "shed" without a qualifying
adjective, people will assume you mean a garden shed - a little building,
big enough for one person to stand up in, for storing garden implements.
We have them too, but we usually require the qualifying adjective.

In Australia, a shed is usually something much bigger. "Shed" is the word
used for the buildings that house farming implements such as tractors.
Also, we rarely say "garage", generally preferring "car shed" (or just
"shed" when the context is established). It's only a garage if it's
physically attached to the house.

> the American hackish expression "go root" (= "assume super-user capability
> on a Unix system").
Oh, I've never seen /that/ cause a problem because computing
students/professionals are generally mature enough to hardly notice. The
really celebrated difference is in the American use of "root" to mean
"barrack" (= to cheer a sports team).

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