These words aren't slang at all, Kim!  But thank you, anyway.

Thank you for your response, Michael. That's really interesting. Of the three words always described as 'British' in the supposed great US v GB divide, one you use habitually, one jokingly, and one with a slightly different meaning. This shows that the supposed differences between British and American usage are nowhere near as clear-cut as people think.

I'm particularly interested by what you say about the use of 'rubbish' as opposed to 'trash/garbage'. This is the mirror image of how these words are often used in the UK. 'Rubbish' is the standard term here for household refuse, while 'trash' has taken on the extended meaning of something worthless. We might describe a poorly written romantic novel as 'trashy', example. It seems that the more words we have at our disposal, the more uses, meanings and sub-meanings we devise.

Thank you also for your comments, Tak Wind. If all three of these words are used to some extent by people in the US, this also shows that the language divide is nothing like as black and white as it is said to be.

And thanks, Mimi. Yes, you do have to be careful with 'pants', and all sorts of words which have different meanings in different places.

I use the word autumn almost every time that I am referring to the season. In fact, my daughter's name is Autumn.

I would only use the word "trousers" in a joking way. To me it seems antiquated.

I hardly ever use the word "rubbish" and only then as a way to describe something that I think is of questionable value, not as a substitute for the words "trash" or "garbage". Something like "That article I read yesterday was rubbish". I don't know where I picked that up from, probably from an English tv series. It is not a commonly used word in the USA but people know what it means.

I was just about to say the same thing! They aren't slang, just different words to express the same idea. I guess 'rubbish' is commonly used in an informal way in addition to its usage to mean things that are thown away i.e. 'what a load of rubbish' to describe something that isn't very good. But still, it isn't slang.

<em>Autumn</em> is pretty common. I use it, and other people use it, when we want a word in a higher "register" (word I learned on this website). Oh, the fall leaves are pretty! Oh, the autumn foliage is so beautiful!

Now that I think of it, it might be a colocation with "leaves." There is of course (?) a famous popular song, "Autumn Leaves," a well-known "standard" with lyrics by the U.S. lyricist Johnny Mercer.

<em>Trousers</em> is interesting. It is one of a number of words that is such a comfortable part of my passive vocabulary that I'm just not sure whether it is U.S. active vocabulary or not. I think that like <em>autumn</em> it is active vocabulary in a higher registers. I'm going to check it out now by seeing what word is used on the Brooks Brothers website, referring to the pants in a men's suit. Brooks Brothers is a somewhat upscale mens' clothier. 

http://www.brooksbrothers.com/Suits-Sport-Coats/1800,default,sc.html?lid=topnav-menu

Yes, they refer to the pants as "trousers."

Right now I am wearing comfortable corduroy pants, but my interview suit has a pair of trousers.

I think <em>rubbish</em> is in my active vocabulary, with a rather specific use. Our household refuse is either "trash" if it's dry, or "garbage" if it's moist. We don't put out "rubbish" and we don't have "rubbish bins."

Nevertheless, I think I use the word "rubbish" to refer to "useless clutter that <em>should</em> be thrown out in the trash."

"Can't we just clean out the attic? There's nothing up there but a bunch of old rubbish, we're never going to use any of again."

"Good riddance" is a familiar U.S. idiom, but I'm not sure if we ever say the full saying--"good riddance to bad rubbish"--or whether that's British.