50 Americanisms That Brits Apparently Hate
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I've lived in the U.S. for my entire life, and I've never even heard of half of those sayings.
But it looks like everyone here is just being intolerant. both American and British sayings are both equally right. You might as well just say that all languages that aren't the original are wrong. I don't see anything wrong with "train station." I mean, it's a station where trains stop. Whatever British people call it is probably fine, but I don't see how they can complain about train station.
Okay, look, I can do what they're doing (don't take this seriously.)
"Oh god, I can't stand when they call cookies 'biscuits.' It just makes my skin crawl!"
"Why do they call gas 'petrol?' it's obviously gas, duh."
"When they call fries 'chips' and chips 'crisps,' are they telling some kind of joke? that's just stupid!"
But it looks like everyone here is just being intolerant. both American and British sayings are both equally right. You might as well just say that all languages that aren't the original are wrong. I don't see anything wrong with "train station." I mean, it's a station where trains stop. Whatever British people call it is probably fine, but I don't see how they can complain about train station.
Okay, look, I can do what they're doing (don't take this seriously.)
"Oh god, I can't stand when they call cookies 'biscuits.' It just makes my skin crawl!"
"Why do they call gas 'petrol?' it's obviously gas, duh."
"When they call fries 'chips' and chips 'crisps,' are they telling some kind of joke? that's just stupid!"
You make a good point. I can try to explain the exact terms of it...Kyoufuu said:
Consonants generally make a 'solid' sound, in which your mouth / lips / tongue come to a full stop. Unfortunately, on their own (pronouncing the letter) some of the above (Y, H) aren't a full stop; make a "yyyyyyyyyyy" sound, and you're not making a stop. (How do you know? Well, you can't make a "dddddddd" sound.). I'm sure someone tried adding simple vowels to the "Y" sound, but "ay" "ey" "oy" aren't very recognizable nor representative. So "why" is used, so it's a recognizable sound that sounds similar to its usage in words.
R follows the same pattern, so I don't know what you mean..."Arr." Vowel + consonant.
As I said once elsewhere...I won't try and explain double-U. I just think they couldn't think of a good pattern-following method like Y that actually made it sound like what it is. If we followed the Canadian / British method for it though, we might say "Wud".
Feels weird writing so much on individual letters...I don't know if I helped make it any clearer, or convinced anyone, but either way I think I'm done talking about it.
Or a river if you are a part Timelord baby. Yay obscure reference!Actual said:To be an arse; it's an ocean, not a sea.EClaris said:
Or a pond if you're British.
Nor have I, but I did hear something very similar once on a train in Australia, and it sounded just as ridiculous.Easton Dark said:
"This train terminates here. All passengers please detrain."
yeah... That's not a completely bizarre statement in the slightest. >_>
I'm quoting you due to the sheer awesomeness of this video. Really, everyone ought to see it. Stephen Fry's word is law, so we are clearly no longer allowed to be grammar Nazis.Moeez said:
Unless, of course, someone uses "there" instead of "their" or "they're". Because that's just silly.
I'm still trying to figure out what you could possibly call a train station besides "train station".
A large portion of those phrases are considered to be grammatically incorrect in (North) America in the first place. I wish more of them focussed on slang terms and the like. I quite enjoy the differences between British and American English, but not when it comes to such silly things as the difference between zed and zee, for example.
Something I, personally, never understood is the significance of dropping the u in "colour" or other such words. I always wondered why. It doesn't bother me at all, though, just curious.
Something I, personally, never understood is the significance of dropping the u in "colour" or other such words. I always wondered why. It doesn't bother me at all, though, just curious.
Well, if you insist...Marik2 said:Damn this thread is close to a 1000 posts....
Make it happen people
/shameless thread bump
A lot of Americans in this thread seem to be missing the point. The article isn't about the Brits hating it when Americans use those phrases, it's about them hating it when other Brits use them. Brits in general couldn't care less how Americans talk in their own country.
What it stems from is a general dislike of America and American culture. British people get American culture shoved down their throats every day whether they like it or not. American TV, America films, American brands and products, American food, American news, American ways of thinking, American everything, to the point where they have to cling to their own culture in order to maintain their national and cultural identity. Unfortunately, America does not carry positive connotations with a lot of British people, so this Americanisation is unpopular with some. When the rest of their country is being "infected" by American culture, it irritates them when even their own people start acting and sounding like Americans. They reject words and phrases not necessarily because they are "wrong", but because they sound "too American".
I imagine Americans would hate to have another culture forced upon them on a daily basis. Oh and Zee only sounds better to Americans because of their accent.
What it stems from is a general dislike of America and American culture. British people get American culture shoved down their throats every day whether they like it or not. American TV, America films, American brands and products, American food, American news, American ways of thinking, American everything, to the point where they have to cling to their own culture in order to maintain their national and cultural identity. Unfortunately, America does not carry positive connotations with a lot of British people, so this Americanisation is unpopular with some. When the rest of their country is being "infected" by American culture, it irritates them when even their own people start acting and sounding like Americans. They reject words and phrases not necessarily because they are "wrong", but because they sound "too American".
I imagine Americans would hate to have another culture forced upon them on a daily basis. Oh and Zee only sounds better to Americans because of their accent.