Here are two common colloquialisms that divide Americans from their English-speaking cousins across the pond.

Last week, after news of her older brother’s stroke made headlines , Reba McEntire took to her social media channels to thank her fans and friends for their support: “We really appreciate all your thoughts and prayers. We will keep you all posted. Keep sending your prayers! Thanks a bunch!” Those last three words of gratitude from the American country singer were straightforward in their meaning. Reba was saying “thank you” with the most heartfelt sincerity.

But those words might have landed strangely on British ears, especially in that context. For those across the pond, “thanks a bunch” is a well-used tool of irony: it means, quite simply, the opposite of thank you. “I wish you hadn’t done that!” or “what the bloop were you thinking?” is what’s conveyed by the British bunch of gratitude. Appreciation there is not.

“Thanks a bunch, you baby boomers” was the headline opening a recent article in the British Financial Times, which sought to blame “that blessed generation” born just after the second world war — “who exude the smug self-assurance of those who feel entitled to have it all” — for the woes of our time. “Global warming, economic collapse, moral and social decay. Hell knows, the world is not short of problems; finding out how we got into this mess and – more importantly – someone to blame, is a more fiddly business.” The irony of the headline’s first three words is lost on no-one here. Whenever words of thanks come in British bunches, there isn’t an ounce of gratitude to be found.

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“What’s up?“* your American neighbor might ask — or “wassup?”, as the teenager texts. Don’t worry: it’s a rhetorical question — a benign greeting that begs little more than a smile or a nod in response. “What’s up” is basically “hi” in a U.S. nutshell.

But when a Brit asks you “what’s up?”, you’d better be ready to explain why you look so glum — or why you’ve been whinging and whining, bitching and moaning. “What’s up?” in Blighty means there’s something up, and an explanation is usually in order.

But when an American in London asks you what’s up, she’s not expecting to hear your tales of woe. Just a “hi there” will do.

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* This isn’t to be confused with “What’s up with (something or someone)?” In this case the Americans join the Brits in asking a genuine question about what the problem is with a third party.