Americans 'can't believe' common phrase all Brits use that lad claims is ‘strictly forbidden’ in US

American lingo is a little bit different to our side of the pond - they call our beloved chips 'fries', our rubbish 'garbage' and sweets 'candy', but we let them get on with it.

However, Yanks don't seem to share the same sentiment as us lot when it comes to our dialogue though, as one of our country's most popularly used phrases is apparently unspeakable in their book.

A Brit who used to live in America has revealed that a term which is slipped in millions of sentences each day without most of us even batting an eye is 'strictly forbidden' in the States.

Josh Cauldwell Clarke, better known online as @imjoshfromengland2, shared a TikTok explaining that he had been met with outrage from his US audience after posting a video which included this particular four letter word.

"America officially came for me," he told social media users while discussing the backlash he had received.

Although your head is now probably swirling while you try and decipher what British slang Josh had used which was deemed so insulting, I'll put you out of your misery - it was merely a pet name.

In a recent video, which he captioned 'I can't believe this', the content creator explained: "Okay America, you have officially educated me. Something that is totally fine to do in the UK... turns out it is strictly forbidden in America.

"So, I made a video - in the UK - of me calling another woman - in the UK - 'love'. And America officially came for me."

It's something everyone in the UK is accustomed to - it rolls off the tongue of strangers, shopkeepers, bus drivers and our relatives and is usually meant as a term of endearment.

Although it can be regarded as patronising, the country as a whole generally stands by the term - but using it in the US is apparently asking for trouble, according to Josh.

He continued: "I have now officially been informed that if you were in America and you were to call a woman 'love', you would be called to HR. You would be sacked from your job, you would be in trouble!

"In the UK we call everyone 'love', 'darling', 'sweetheart'. It is not derogatory in the UK. Turns out if I went to America and started calling women love, it would not go down well.

"We don't mean anything bad by it in the UK, we just mean to be like polite and nice! What do you say in America?"

Signing off the short clip, he described the revelation as a 'big culture difference between the UK and the US'.

Josh previously told how Yanks don't understand why we refer to randomers as 'mate' even though they're really not our friends either, so he's dug himself quite a hole with Americans on social media lately.

But it was the 'love' debate which has really taken the biscuit, as he started a right discussion in the comment section.

One person claimed: "A principal in my town got fired for saying 'hello ladies' in an email."

Another wrote: "The US needs to take some lessons from the UK!"

A third added: "For me it depends on the tone of voice when being called those names. It doesn't bother me if it's not meant to be derogatory, you can tell by the tone."

Somone else commented: "It's just more of an intimate thing to say here. Nothing wrong with it, but we tend to say it to our other half or relatives."

And a fifth chimed in: "Depends on the area, in the South we call anyone honey, hun, sweetie, sweetheart, love, etc. It's so ingrained it just slides out."