"Perhaps" or "Maybe"?

As a non-native speaker of English, I was once told in London by a learned British man that I should not use 'maybe' for 'perhaps' in the UK, as by doing so, I'd be following an American usage (so I'll be recognized as not speaking really 'British', but mixing things up, which is never good, he insisted).

Is it indeed American to use maybe for perhaps, or is just a matter of formal vs. informal (or less formal)?

Solution 1:

Self-explanatory:

AmE-2009, maybe, perhaps

BrE-2009, maybe, perhaps

English, maybe, perhaps

English Fiction-2009 maybe, perhaps

It appears that perhaps has always been more common, in AmE as well as BrE, though maybe seems to have become somewhat popular.

The trend in "English Fiction" shows that maybe is prevalent in informal writing (?because of use in speech) more than perhaps.

Even here, since 2005, maybe has been losing ground in written use.

I would believe the British are more "formal" even speech, whereas in the US, formal language appears only in serious writing.