Difference Between American and British Keyboards

America and Britain are called ” two lands divided by a common language”, though we do not know the exact source of the saying. The English spoken in both lands is the same, but still different. There is a minor change in terms of vocabulary and spelling that sets them apart, thus they are distinguished as American English and British English.

Though minor, these differences are considered major by the respective speakers, and to such an extent, their keyboards are also different.

In this article let us look at some of the differences in their respective keyboards.

Did you ever realise that your keyboard has two separate layouts, one for the United States and one for the United Kingdom?

You can select this option while purchasing your computer.

Minor changes between these keyboards make a significant difference when typing a message on them.

Some of the more visible modifications are listed below.

• The currency symbols £ (Pound) and € (Euro), which are ubiquitous in the UK and Ireland, are not available on the US keyboard. While the $ symbol is more commonly used in the United States and nations where the American English standard keyboard layout is used as the common working language, such as Australia, Canada (English speaking areas), Pakistan, India, and New Zealand.

• There is an extra key in the UK keyboard that includes the ‘#’  and is found immediately next to the Enter Key.

• The place of ‘@’ and ” as well are swapped in the UK keyboard.

• The ‘\’ key is moved to the left of the ‘Z’ key in UK keyboard

• The Enter key is spanned for two rows and it is not named but is replaced with a symbol in the UK keyboard.

Now take a look at your keyboard and see if it is a UK or US-based keyboard.

Stay tuned for part two…