I found a number of differences in terms used whilst living in different locations in the UK, so I'm not overly suprised to find that I don't know all of these items.

I've not heard of buffet or plant in that sense. I've never heard anyone use the word pelmet even though I think we've got something of that nature at my parents house. We tend to just refer to that bit as part of the curtains. Perhaps I'm just uneducated...^_^

I couldn't think of any immediate alternatives off-hand but then when I googled pelmet I found that apparently the American term for it is a valance. This rang a bell and I remembered that my mum referred to it as a valance.

I've come across people using variants of the American terms in other parts of the UK. e.g.

pouffe or foot stool instead of foot rest (or buffet).
face cloth instead of wash cloth.
cough sweets instead of cough drops, which, to me would be hard things you suck whereas pastilles are chewy.
plaid - I always thought this was a fabric pattern.

You man find this interesting

Hmm...I've heard of a flannel and catarrh pastilles (anything that Americans would call a "lozenge" is a "pastille") but the others pretty much not.

I knew all of these except buffet. Plant is a Welsh language word, rather than being some weird slang. But I'm sure you guessed that. :)

Well, "camber" is an engineering term:
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=define%3Acamber&btnG=Search&meta=

So these aren't signs themselves so much as they're signs warning drivers that the road isn't cambered the way one would expect. "The road is cambered adversely" sort of thing, as in: not to your benefit.

I'm curious about flannel... I don't know if this is a Canadian colloquialism but usually flannel would indicate a type of fuzzy, warm material. E.g. "There's nothing nicer on a cold winter night than flannel pajamas and jumping into a set of flannel sheets". Oddly enough I don't think I've ever seen wash cloths ever made from flannel! Wash cloths are usually more of a cotton/polyester type material, no?

The "plant" one is funny, maybe it *stems* from the old adage that "the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree"!
:-)

It strikes me as strange that you have not heard flannel or buffet before--I could swear I have heard Colin use both of those in conversation (though I must say that, though I knew a flannel meant a cloth, I always thought a buffet was a table, not a stool). I could be mis-remembering, however.

Just thought id make a comment to you to tell you that a buffet is not a foot rest, a foot rest is called a pouffe and a buffet is a selection of food laid out for guests at parties. Hope this helps you.