Misunderstandings can happen. Passing through security at EWR one night the x ray man asked me what I had in my briefcase. I listed a few things and said the word torch, torch he yelled and suddenly I had two serious guys either side of me guiding me around a screen. My briefcase appeared and I opened it producing the torch, I was told "That isn't a torch, it's a goddammed flashlight !"
If i recall correctly it ended in amusement on both sides, but the fact is that in the USA a torch is an incendiary device and in the UK it is a flashlight.