How many different names are there for a USB stick? I can think of:
USB stick ( British, mainly in usage)
Memory stick ( British, mainly in usage)
Flash drive ( American, mainly, in usage)
Jump drive ( American, mainly, in usage)
Memory pin ( British, mainly, in usage)
Thumb drive ( American, mainly, in usage)

Its a drive in the States and a pin or stick in the UK!

That's not as strange as calling 'fish fingers' 'fish sticks'. OK, so fish don't have fingers - but fish sticks is not very appealing is it? And they're grey pasty disgusting things too - not like our beautiful white fingers.

Pen drive...
Widget...
Thingamejigg..
Keeper of all known stuff...

It's funny you should say that because I paused to decide which option to go use before writing 'USB stick' in a previous post.

I prefer 'drive' though. I think I'll use that from now on - it sounds more dynamic.

Pen Drive seems very popular in British usage.

I say Memory Stick...usually followed by 'where the f*ck did I leave it?'.

@Smilodon...finger sticks...yuk...I hated those. I used to sneak them into my napkin when served them as a child and then flush them down the toilet!

I mean...fish sticks!

Has anyone seen the BBC article on how to speak in an American accent? Its all to do with the placement of the tongue in the mouth, or somesuch, but there were examples given of how to say the American a such as in bath...or the sound of "L", which I guess is not the same in the UK as in the US, though to be honest its not a difference I have noticed.

Can't find it Olivia, have you got a link? Could be useful for me....

Thanks

I mainly use usb stick or usb drive, so a mixture of the 2, don't know why.

I first came across them at work in Italy where they are called a little key "chiavetta" and I was convinced that they were called a key in English too. No wonder no-one knew what I was talking about

Here is the link to the American accent article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7509572.stm

Why do we call it a pen drive, when it has no ink?

Perhaps you mean "pin drive" rather than "pen drive"?

I've never heard of "pen drive". It's a flash stick as far as I'm concerned!

My dad's American ex-wife would say she was "p*ssed", meaning annoyed. But in the UK she was telling everyone that she was drunk (which she usually also was, but that's beside the point).

i nearly died laughing when I was told what a "bum-bag" was called in the US.