50 Americanisms That Brits Apparently Hate

[Mr0llivand3r]

uh... alright. I've lived in America my entire life and the majority of those I've never heard. it sounds like those british guys just heard some the phrases on a television program and they instantly thought that they were American phrases that people use every day.

i've never used nor heard the term "winningest" in my life. whoever said that word out loud needs to be tied to a mast and whipped.

"shopping cart", "leverage", "a half hour", "train station", "issue"

honestly what's wrong with those phrases?
a cart is a cart. it carts things around.
leverage is just a difference in pronunciation.
a half hour... is a half of an hour.
a train station is a station for trains.
an issue is a dilemma.

why are those so wrong, Captain Brit? do they ruin your jolly good, time ol' chap?


one thing I will say is I'm glad that "soccer" is not on this list, because as much as Brits bag on us because we us the term "soccer", they fail to realize that "soccer" was derived in Britain.

don't believe me, here's some websites that can help explain why:

http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/news/its-football-to-you-soccer-to-me--fbintl_ro-soccervsfootball070110.html
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~pstone/why.html


I personally hate how we Americans have bastardized the English language, but to my brothers across the pond, let's be fair here. I don't speak English. I speak American, and it's sad that the division in our countries is only further widened by our difference in speaking patterns.

I'm sure if you came to America and started to chin wag with one of your mates, you would sound pretty shit too. Right oh'.

 

[Mr0llivand3r]

...What the hell do they call train stations in Britain, then?

AND HOW THE HELL DO THEY PRONOUNCE 'Z'.

"tube stations" i believe.

and they pronounce the letter Z as "zed".

don't ask, i have no idea why they try to sneak in a "d" in the pronunciation.

 

[UberFische]

They have a problem with "Gotten"
Well, sorry to say it but even old Will Shakespeare used that word.

"He was gotten in drink." - The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1. 3

44. My brother now uses the term "season" for a TV series. Hideous. D Henderson, Edinburgh

Like a sports season, it makes sense

And the Zed thing is just a remnant of when France did some touring of the British Isles way back when. They just couldn't flush out all the French from their alphabet.

 

[Loop Stricken]

...What the hell do they call train stations in Britain, then?

AND HOW THE HELL DO THEY PRONOUNCE 'Z'.

Personally I've always used train station. Or railway station when I was little but I decided it was too cumbersome.

And 'zed'. The proper way.

 

[MellowFellow]

This is hilarious, lmao!

I'm an American, and I was curious when I saw the thread title to see what Americanisms they hated. After reading this list, all I can do is laugh.

My favorite is the guy who hates 24/7, haha.

 

[Loop Stricken]

"tube stations" i believe.

The Tube is a London-specific thing. Don't make the mistake of conflating London with the rest of Englans.

 

[TheMann]

In other news, science has discovered 50 Brits who nit pick and whine about American vernacular in a vain attempt to assert some manner of smug superiority.

CAPCHA: klatu berada nikto um nickle?... necktie? Definintely an N-word. Klatu berada n*chough*.
Never miss an opportunity to make an Army of Darkness reference.

 

[UberFische]

if "Zed" is the proper way, then why aren't you speaking French?

 

[Neverhoodian]

And now a rebuttal from Stephen Fry:
It was an entertaining read, though some of them are simply absurd. For example, I have never heard anyone use "deplane" at any point in my entire life.

 

[Gutkrusha]

I don't mind 'I could care less.' because it's true. If I couldn't care less, then I never would have responded to whatever you just said in the first place.

Also, it seems like the majority of these people are extremely uptight.

 

[Mr0llivand3r]

"tube stations" i believe.

The Tube is a London-specific thing. Don't make the mistake of conflating London with the rest of Englans.

ah ok well i've only ever heard it used in reference to london subway systems

 

[Lawlhat]

Some of them seemed to be legitimate complaints, while others seemed so contrived that their complaints about the phrases make me want to complain about the complainers.

 

[Ultrasnail]

I've heard maybe 4 of those. Who says these things?
Is it Americans or am i being lied to?

Is it just me or do half of them sound made up? Winningest, i don't believe anyone says that.

Also why do us Brits hate Americanisms? Doesn't language evolve?

 

[DirgeNovak]

Complaining about 24/7, shopping cart, take-out, season and issue is just stupid.
And seriously, fortnightly?! What is this, the 1500s?

 

[BrailleOperatic]

I disagree with most of those. There's no problem in a ridiculous majority of them.

But there was one that bothered me most, because yes, 'physicality' is a real word. It's how one conducts themselves physically, and how expressive one is with their body.

 

[xXAsherahXx]

Well the Brits say lift instead of elevator, which is retarded to me. We say a lot of dumb things over here in the U.S of A, but "lift" annoys the hell out of me.

 

[SadisticBrownie]

Surely the most irritating is: "You do the Math." Math? It's MATHS. Michael Zealey, London

What is this I don't even...



Wow, seriously this list is extremely hilarious. I've never even seen half these phrases used and the other half is really funny overreaction.

"Maths" or "math" if you must is an abbreviation of "mathematics". Stands to reason that the shortening should be plural too.

 

[Ryu-Kage]

4. Using 24/7 rather than "24 hours, 7 days a week" or even just plain "all day, every day". Simon Ball, Worcester

You have a problem with shorthand?

5. The one I can't stand is "deplane", meaning to disembark an aircraft, used in the phrase "you will be able to deplane momentarily". TykeIntheHague, Den Haag, Holland

I have NEVER heard this one before. Where did you hear this?

7. "It is what it is". Pity us. Michael Knapp, Chicago, US

And that's all that it is.

11. Transportation. What's wrong with transport? Greg Porter, Hercules, CA, US

One of those is used to refer to the object that is transporting, as opposed to the actual act.

13. Does nobody celebrate a birthday anymore, must we all "turn" 12 or 21 or 40? Even the Duke of Edinburgh was universally described as "turning" 90 last month. When did this begin? I quite like the phrase in itself, but it seems to have obliterated all other ways of speaking about birthdays. Michael McAndrew, Swindon

"Becoming" 23 just doesn't have the same ring. Any ideas?

14. I caught myself saying "shopping cart" instead of shopping trolley today and was thoroughly disgusted with myself. I've never lived nor been to the US either. Graham Nicholson, Glasgow

It seems awfully small to be considered a trolley. And it actually looks like a basket (or cart) on wheels.

18. Take-out rather than takeaway! Simon Ball, Worcester

I haven't heard "takeaway" either, but at least this one sounds about as sensible as "take-out". You are taking it away from the restaurant (or taking it outside the restaurant).

22. Train station. My teeth are on edge every time I hear it. Who started it? Have they been punished? Chris Capewell, Queens Park, London

Probably not, because I haven't heard a place where trains become stationary be called anything else (other than "platform", which to me sounds even dumber than station).

29. I'm a Brit living in New York. The one that always gets me is the American need to use the word bi-weekly when fortnightly would suffice just fine. Ami Grewal, New York

I know what fortnight means, but it doesn't make a lot of sense if you don't know its origins (which I don't, actually).

32. Going forward? If I do I shall collide with my keyboard. Ric Allen, Matlock

So, going forward with your life can only mean actual movement? Not progression?

38. My worst horror is expiration, as in "expiration date". Whatever happened to expiry? Christina Vakomies, London

Expiry? Again, never heard of that word. Even once. It's "expiry" must've been before I was born.

42. Period instead of full stop. Stuart Oliver, Sunderland

So, does that mean sentences should end with a "full stop" mark? It sounds more like a definition of "period" rather than a replacement word.

44. My brother now uses the term "season" for a TV series. Hideous. D Henderson, Edinburgh

So, what should people call a "full stop" of time when something occurs?

48. "I got it for free" is a pet hate. You got it "free" not "for free". You don't get something cheap and say you got it "for cheap" do you? Mark Jones, Plymouth

No, but I don't hear people saying that they "got it nothing", either.

49. "Turn that off already". Oh dear. Darren, Munich

Uh... I have to hear some reasoning for why this is so bad. Otherwise, Darren, you do sound a bit daft.

In short, I think a lot of the ones on this list, even ones I didn't list, sound kind of whiny or nitpicky. Full stop.