This is my ongoing project to spot which US products or brands are like which UK products or brands, because it has never been done before anywhere, in slim humorous books or elsewhere. These are my observations as and when I think of them, so don’t expect completeness or accuracy, or indeed entertainment. Keep your expectations low, is what I’m saying.
(* includes bonus reactionary curmudgeon entries! No prize if you can spot them!)
(This information was originally in these three posts: 1, 2, 3. I wanted to add some and expand it, so I’ve made it a single page.)
Type of thing US UK
Food 3 Musketeers equals Milky Way
Store 7-Eleven equals Londis / Wavy Line (as was)
Store ??? equals WHSmith (I'm still looking)
Store Albertsons equals Asda (I think you know what I mean)
Object Bank Routing Number equals Bank Sort Code
Object blanket equals duvet / quilt
Person Brian Williams similar to Zeinab Badawi
Person Bro-Magnons similar to Townies (i.e. collars flipped up)
Food Caramel equals Caramel
Food Cider equals Apple Juice
Product Cif kitchen cleaner equals Cif, which used to be called Jif
Product Clorox equals Domestos
Object comforter equals thin duvet
Store CVS equals Boots
Food dessert equals Pudding
Food English Toffee equals A crunchy kind of butterscotch stuff, usually covered in chocolate and chopped nuts. Like a Dime bar with nuts on.
TV / Radio Family Feud equals Family Fortunes
Object fizzy sweet powder equals Sherbet
Food flan equals Creme Caramel pudding like what used to make me cat up when I was a kid.
Store Gelsons equals Waitrose
Person Glenn Beck / Sean Hannity similar to Richard Littlejohn / Peter Hitchens
Food Good Humor ice cream equals Walls ice cream (same logo)
Food Hard but chewy caramel equals toffee
Food Hard Cider equals Cider
Food Hershey's chocolate does not equal chocolate
Product Jif equals a brand of peanut butter
Person Larry King equals Michael Parkinson (i.e. sycophantic but with a delusion of being a hard-hitting interviewer)
Person Larry King does not equal Jeremy Paxman (no matter what Larry thinks)
Food Lays potato chips equals Walkers crisps (same logo)
Food Milky Way equals Mars
TV / Radio NPR and its local affiliates KPBS, KPCC, KQED and KALW etc similar to BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service
Food Nyquil equals Night Nurse
Food open topped sweet or savory pie equals flan (e.g. cheese flan, strawberry flan)
Object pavement equals road surface
Product Pine-sol similar to Dettol
Food pudding equals Blancmange
Object quilt equals thin quilted cover with design on it like they used to make.
TV / Radio Reno 911! kind of equals Operation Good Guys
Person Rick Warren equals Rowan Williams
Store Rite Aid equals (a slightly shabby) Boots
TV / Radio Sanford & Son equals Steptoe & Son
Object sheet equals Sheet
Food sherbet equals Sorbet
Object sidewalk equals pavement
Phrase smoke a cigarette equals smoke a fag
Phrase smoke a fag equals shoot a homosexual dead
Food Snickers equals Marathon*
Food Starburst equals Opal Fruits*
Store Target equals what Woolworths could have been
Object Trailer (as in Trailer Park) equals Caravan
Store Vons equals Sainsburys / Tesco
Store Walgreens equals Boots
Store Macys equals Debenhams
Store Nordstrom equals Nordstrom
Store Walmart (clothes only) equals Primark
Store Victoria's Secret equals La Senza