In England “creek” is a tidal inlet, in America it covers all manner of streams. An adjective is turned into a noun — “rapid” into “rapids.” “Bluff ” is an American coinage to describe broadfaced cliffs. “Rattle snake” and “cottonwood” are examples of the way two English words could combine forces in the face of new material. “Elk” is one of the words imported from England but applied to a different beast. “Buffalo,” oddly, had been an English word for two hundred years, imported from a Portuguese book about China. And American buffaloes are bison.
