Similar to, different from, same as...

[moocowmoo]

Can you say something is "different to" something else? I was taught that it has to be "different from". My husband claims he has never heard of this rule in his life and I have also noticed people using "different to". What is the rule? (Apologies if this has been done many times before.)

Different to makes no sense whatsoever. You are pointing out the differences therefore the comparison must be from. Different to is an Americanism that is, like so many others, creeping into everyday language over here.

I was just going to say that your title was correct! 'Different to' is horrid and whenever I hear anyone saying it I can 'hear' my mother shouting 'different from' from when I was a child - it's stuck! The funny thing is, now I do it!

One of my pet hates. "Different to" heard all the time on TV, even on the Beeb. Apparently it's OK to say "different than" but I'm not condoning that.

i think different than is US english - they use both.
in UK english, it's always different from.