Cultural differences 4: Vexing Vocabulary

 

Wedding anniversaries and their names

In the English language world, all our wedding anniversaries have names. Indeed, in many other cultures, these names are the same - just the translated word is different. But not even we English speakers can remember the names of all these anniversaries: indeed, there are a handful of differences between the United States and the United Kingdom, so here is that list...

 

1st: Paper anniversary (well it is the first year!)

2nd: Cotton

3rd: Leather

4th: Linen, silk (US), Fruit and flowers (UK)

5th: Wood

6th: Iron (US), Sugar (UK)

7th: Wool, copper (US), Woollen (UK)

8th: Bronze (US), Salt (UK)

9th: Pottery (US), Copper (UK)

10th: Tin, aluminum (US), Tin (UK) (Although to be realistic, I haven't met anyone who has celebrated ten years of marriage to be congratulated by someone on their Aluminum or Tin anniversary!)

11th: Steel

12th: Silk

13th: Lace

14th: Ivory

15th: Crystal

20th: China

25th: Silver

30th: Pearl

35th: Coral, jade (US) Coral (UK)

40th: Ruby

45th: Sapphire

50th: Gold

55th: Emerald

60th: Diamond

65th: Blue sapphire (UK)

70th: Platinum (UK)

75th: Jade (UK)

80th: Oak (UK)

85th: Moonstone (US) Wine (UK)

90th: Stone (UK) (Although to our knowledge, no couples have got that far: the record is 86 years)

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