50 Americanisms That Brits Apparently Hate

[megamanenm]

The chips vs fries and chips vs crisps thing irritates me to no end. Damn Americans can't even get that right.

Nobody is getting anything wrong, they're just differences. Why can't people understand that differences between English dialects (or any language) aren't good or bad?

I refer you back to an earlier quote of the Queen. "Dear Mr. Jobs: There's no such thing as 'american english', just english.... and mistakes"

I refer you back to the post I made before this. Language evolves, it doesn't devolve, that's would make no sense, is the English of the 13th century wrong? Which "version" of English is best? No version is the best, and here we can back to the word "different".

Because America is bastardising the language in illogical ways. Should it not be up to ENGLAND (And possibly the british isles if they want to join in) to evolve the language? Not colonists who didn't like our taxes and dumped tea in the ocean? I mean the Boston Tea Party by law means that the US has no right to actually evolve a language they just borrowed because lets face it, it is the best.

... wow. I really hope you're trolling here. Do you think that people sit around a table and decide how language evolves or something? Of course not, it just happens. When a group of people split off, they evolve their languages in different ways, this is how dialects arise. It happens to Dutch (Afrikaans) and it happened to Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese for example). And grammaticality isn't based on "logic" in any language, if you want logic then use math, if you want to communicate then use language.

Its 50/50. Yes i believe language should evolve but i do find americanisms infuriating, coupled with the godawful, ear raping accents i feel im obliged to be opposed to this nonsense infiltrating the nation through wank US media. It should evolve. Just not from the US brand of change. I guess i just dont like the US

First of all I never said that language should evolve (that would make the job of linguists SO much easier), I just said that it does. Anyway it's clear that you just hate the US for some unknown reason, and that you are looking for ways to justify that. As long as you understand that change isn't bad (as humans like to thing with EVERYTHING), then my job here is done.

Hip hip for this dude, just jumping on to the bandwagon here to say stuff you Versuvius with your "British Isles can join in if they want." Dude, Scotland (and Ireland and Wales) have just as much claim to English as England. And frankly I think we should all revert to Latin if we're talking about the "best" language (though the number system would need changing up, it lacks a zero) because it definetly seems the easiest language.

Uh, is Latin supposed to be the best language again? What does "best" even mean?

Not too sure what best means, but he was saying that English is the best language and I think Latin is easiest to learn, and frankly that's my only qualification for a good language (also, Latin depends less on finicky punctuation and word order)

The difficulty of a language, isn't absolute, it's relative. There isn't a grammar that would be seen as easiest by everyone, because everyone bases easiness on the similarity to their own language. For example, a Serb would find Russian much easier than say someone who speaks Vietnamese due to the huge difference in grammar.

 

[Kair]

When you have a population of 300 million where a larger than usual proportion of the population are severely unintelligent, you are bound to create many bad lingual habits.

Uh, yeah, that's what we call evolution, which happens to EVERY living language ever. Actually no, there is a type of language that never changes, we call them extinct.

That was not my point. The point was the high degree of change and that the change is not an improvement.

Okay then, how do you improve a language?

By adding universal changes that clarify one's message.

I see your point, but using that rule only we would get sentenced that are paragraphs long if we mention every single detail. Most of the meaning of a sentence is actually left to context, not the words themselves.

But even non-grammatically, the US changes are not an improvement.

 

[fragmaster09]

The difference is local use or slang of a language....even within the US or any 2 parts of any nation you run into different speech patterns and different pronunciations.

I think the article is weak it is just people being upset that different areas in the world pronounce and use language differently....I know that Mass., NJ, PA, and CA use English differently and I'm betting the same people complaining in the article can find similiar types of differences they are whining about in London and Manchester.

This is just people being mad that people are different from them. Pathetic BBC I thought you had more sense then to promote bigoted views.

i can agree with the different accents, DC's accent = i'm fine, nevada = shut up before i gouge out my eardrums with a spoon!

although that was probabaly induced by New Vegas, with everyone shouting 'HOWDY!' instead of 'Hi!' and not a single person with a resonable accent... ah well

 

[megamanenm]

When you have a population of 300 million where a larger than usual proportion of the population are severely unintelligent, you are bound to create many bad lingual habits.

Uh, yeah, that's what we call evolution, which happens to EVERY living language ever. Actually no, there is a type of language that never changes, we call them extinct.

That was not my point. The point was the high degree of change and that the change is not an improvement.

Okay then, how do you improve a language?

By adding universal changes that clarify one's message.

I see your point, but using that rule only we would get sentenced that are paragraphs long if we mention every single detail. Most of the meaning of a sentence is actually left to context, not the words themselves.

But even non-grammatically, the US changes are not an improvement.

You're right actually, they're not. But language does NOT change to clarify meaning, it changes in phonology, syntax, morphology and obviously lexicon.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

This is hilarious. I suspect a good third of them were made up by whoever sent them in, because I've never heard them. Most of the rest of it is mindless bitching about how, shockingly, a language develops differently in two different places. Oh god, stop the presses.

That is pretty hilarious actually. Who the crap says "deplane?" Must be something that doesn't come up in conversation for me.

Shopping trolley my ass! I hope that old man gets trucked by a lorry!

Oh wow, that brings up an Americanism the list has missed...

Anybody notice we use the term "trucked" to imply getting smashed/run over instead of to imply being conveyed by a truck? Does that drive you crazy? I never even thought about it, the phrase has been prevalent since I was in grade school.

I've never heard that. It does sound annoying, though.

Not all of those are British, though it is a British news source so obviously the majority are. But there are also a couple replies from people in the US itself as well as various other countries.

Besides, it was just a lighthearted article. Some people seem to be taking this wayyyyy too defensively. Hell I agree with the last one myself, were I to have sent one in that would have been the one.

"I could care less!"

I've heard it so often and every time I do it makes me wince. Is it really that hard to add a 'couldn't' in there for the sake of, you know, making sense?

Except that they have different meanings. I couldn't care less means that your caring is zero. It is impossible for there to be an amount of caring less than what you currently experience.

I could care less (note the emphasis) has a different meaning. There is, indeed, caring less than what I experience now. That said, it's a very small amount of caring. The caring is so minor, that I'm begrudgingly admitting it's existence.

Most people do use it wrong, but half the time it's mentioned is to go on and on about how it doesn't make sense, which is even more annoying. Oh, congratulations, you noticed a common phrase only makes sense with an emphasis people don't use.

 

[Buzz Killington_v1legacy]

Well, frankly that list makes the British look bad, though I have to agree with the "math" one. Purely because it doesn't make sense, we say "maths" because in full it's "mathematics". But the American version sounds like it should be "mathematic" which is an adjective. I don't boil at it's use, I just wonder about it.

It's because American English treats "mathematics" as a mass noun, while British English treats it as a count noun.

Also, fun fact for the people complaining about "learn" instead of "teach": that's not an Americanism. Shakespeare was using "learn" that way over four hundred years ago.

 

[Phoenix09215]

As someone who is British, I have to say that this is a little over the top but at the same time I had to agree with a few of them. However, I'm pretty sure this works both ways, I've had Americans critisise me over the way I talk and some of the phrases I use even though to me, they are completely normal. Thats just the difference between our English and American English, and does it really matter? I honestly don't care if American's enlgish is different as long as they don't care if mine is too, complaining about this is pointless and retarded because both sides are two stubborn to understand the others arguement or simply don't understand their point because they consider the way they use language to be normal.

 

[Airsoftslayer93]

This is amusing? I see various people complaining about the British use of English and I don't really see how this is much different.

The very idea of 'British English' disgusts me, english is english, you can have 'American English' but other than that english is english.

 

[JaymesFogarty]

I'm Scottish and I have only ever heard people say "train station" I don't even know what else could be used (railway station perhaps, but it is a station for trains not railways.)

Also, it is ZED, end of discussion.

Zebra = Zedebra? Genuinely curious.

All in all that list sounded like a bunch of whining. Grow up and get a hobby if shopping cart really bothers you.

I do agree with the last one though.

We Brits pronounce 'Z' as 'zed' because that's close to how we pronounce it in words. 'Zebra' as opposed to the American 'Zeebra'. It makes sense for us to call it different things; we do pronounce it differently.

 

[tavelkyosoba]

1/4 are stupid business"isms" (ending words in "ism" is also a businessism lol)
1/4 aren't even real things.
1/4 are jaunty turns of phrase
1/4 are people being stupid

 

[pvaglueman123]

Some of them seem to be a bit over-reactive to small phrases. So what, you said cart instead of trolley once, how is that a reason to be digusted with yourself?

That's the problem with us Brits, we over-react

On Topic- I agree with a lot of these like Alluminium is not alluminum etc. But i couldn't care less if sombody says "I got it for free"

 

[tavelkyosoba]

We Brits pronounce 'Z' as 'zed' because that's close to how we pronounce it in words. 'Zebra' as opposed to the American 'Zeebra'. It makes sense for us to call it different things; we do pronounce it differently.

what is Canadians' excuse then? Dependency issues?

 

[Sandernista]

Most of these are just nit-picking, and being overly stubborn, but the only one That would actually bug me is number 39.

39. My favourite one was where Americans claimed their family were "Scotch-Irish". This of course it totally inaccurate, as even if it were possible, it would be "Scots" not "Scotch", which as I pointed out is a drink. James, Somerset

As someone who lives on the island of Ireland it is very annoying when Americans (It seems to be only Americans, I've never encountered anyone else from another country who claims to be Irish, or indeed a different nationality other than the one they are currently living in!) fail to distinguish between their ancestory and their nationality.
You are American. You live in America, are grounded in American culture, read the American papers, listen to the American news, are ruled by American laws, etc. etc. You may have Irish/Italian/Maori Tribesman/whatever ancestory, and that's fine, in fact it's pretty cool if your relatives used to live in Ireland, Obama's part Irish, who would have thought it? but as much as you want it to that does not make you Irish.

Just a pet peeve of mine, I know there are many people who don't really care, but when you've lived all your life in Scotland, are visiting America and are told by someone who has never left America, and knows nothing about life in Scotland other than what pop-culture and Braveheart have told them about it that they are more Scottish than you because their Granmother emigrated from Scotland. (This actually happened to a friend of mine.) Then it gets a bit ridiculous.

Oh, and "could care less" No, that just doesn't make sense America. Argh!

Ethnicity is really important in American culture. Irish immigrants have been historically discriminated against.

Spoiler

The way certain ethnic groups have been separated, and discriminated against, is remembered. That's why many American's value knowing, and stating, where their ancestors came from. I'm Irish, Filipino, and Lithuanian. My nationality is American, but my ethnicity matters just as much.

 

[E.Blackadder]

I think rather than calling it British or American english we should say 'so and so's use of english'. It has yet to develop into two separate languages.

This is amusing? I see various people complaining about the British use of English and I don't really see how this is much different.

The very idea of 'British English' disgusts me, english is english, you can have 'American English' but other than that english is english.

How can you have American English but just plain old English any other time? New Zealand English has it's own little quirks, as does Australian.

 

[Raykuza]

If it's not train station, then what is it?
Train town?
Train land?
Train world?
The train zone?
The trainery?
Deadly Rails: Revenge of the Trains?
Platform 9 3/4?
Oh, it's platform isn't it? I literally just figured that out.

Can I just say that I find the word "snogging" to be an absolutely vile word that is in no way indicative of its meaning?

 

[GigaHz]

I'm neither American or British and I like the fact that there are different takes on the same language. To say that one is more 'proper' than the other is absolutely pointless. You could make up grammatical arguments, syntax arguments, and any other language focused criticism, but it ultimately boils down to aesthetics and cultural bias.

I think it's silly that some Americans pronounce Roof (Ru-OOF) as (RUH-FF), simply because 'oo' should never sound like an 'uh' to any degree. But I doubt that those who are guilty of doing it would ever change their manner of speaking. I also think its silly that Brits say 'Coupe' as 'Coupé' whether or not the accent is present. The proper french way would be to pronounce 'Coupe' as (K-OOP) and 'Coupé' as (K-OOP-AY). But good luck getting the brits to change their ways as well.

It's all semantics and both sides are just as guilty at butchering their own, and borrowed language. You can get off your high horses now.

 

[WhySoElitist]

Some of them seem to be a bit over-reactive to small phrases. So what, you said cart instead of trolley once, how is that a reason to be digusted with yourself?

That's the problem with us Brits, we over-react

On Topic- I agree with a lot of these like Alluminium is not alluminum etc. But i couldn't care less if sombody says "I got it for free"

i got it for free makes more sense anyway, you wouldn't say i got it $4.50 you would say i got it FOR $4.50.

 

[dashiz94]

"Gotten" is a real word though? It's the past participial of got.

38. My worst horror is expiration, as in "expiration date". Whatever happened to expiry?
This made me die of laughter. I facepalm'd myself when I read this. They mean the same thing but different ways of saying it. (Right? I hope.)

"Gotten" isn't a word. To use it in the past you would have to say "I just got etc."

And really, it's an awful word to hear. (This coming from an American.) Seriously, say it out loud. I feel literally dumb when I say it.

Hmmm. It's a real word according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gotten

Well I'll be damned. It just sounds weird because, from what I gather, it's one of those Shakespearean words that just sounds silly when used today. Then again Merriam-Webster added "meh" to the English vernacular so I will still consider "gotten" to not be a word.