50 Americanisms That Brits Apparently Hate
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Nope, "maths" is correct. The full word is "mathematics" after all, not "mathematic". And what's wrong with fortnight? It's a perfectly cromulent word, I use it regularly myself. Here in Australia you'd get looked at like an idiot if you tried to use other terms for a two week time period.The Rogue Wolf said:
A couple of the terms on this list bother me too - in particular,
I had to look this one up online when I kept coming across the word "bangs" in a book I was reading, I had no idea what kind of hair was being talked about. Really, WTF is wrong with saying fringe? "Bangs" just sounds childish and provides no real description of what it's supposed to be. At least with "fringe" you could make an educated guess at the correct meaning even if you'd never seen the word used like that before.
and
This one bugs me too. It's zed, godammit!
ahh i see. see, I'm american which automatically makes lazy. i didn't read the entire article i only read the list. if i had read the article i'm sure i would have noticed that detail.JacobShaftoe said:
and yes i whole-heartedly agree that English (I.E. what people in Europe speak) and American (the bastardization of said language) are dramatically different in both grammar and vocabulary usage, and they shouldn't mix because that just creates a cluster-fuck for everyone involved. but it still pains me that we as people are so similar and yet are cast apart by our differences, exemplified and personified simply by our language.
there are many British people who expect all Yanks to think and behave like George Bush, just as there are many Americans who expect all Brits to behave and think like either the Royal Family or David Copperfield.
although I must admit I would love to witness The Queen and Bush having a conversation together. that would be hilarious.
25. "Normalcy" has been around for at least 80 years, and is an accepted synonym for normality in the US
29. Bi-weekly and fortnightly mean two completely different things. Bi-weekly means occuring twice a week (the same as how bi-annually means occuring twice a year), fortnightly means occuring once every two weeks.
31. Obviously doesn't understand that a word can have more than one meaning. Hike can mean to walk or to pull up.
29. Bi-weekly and fortnightly mean two completely different things. Bi-weekly means occuring twice a week (the same as how bi-annually means occuring twice a year), fortnightly means occuring once every two weeks.
31. Obviously doesn't understand that a word can have more than one meaning. Hike can mean to walk or to pull up.
I am also an American from the South. I went to the UK for two weeks last September. They hate us.Stalk3rchief said:
Of course, I was doing very little to change their opinion.... Throwing out "Howdy" and "Y'all" at any opportunity was quite entertaining.
Side note- if you ever refer to the British Museum as the "Museum of Rape, Pillage, and Plunder" you will get dirty looks from everyone around you. Especially if you are in the museum.
About half of this list reads like it was written by some old man yelling at change. It is the evolution of language. Languages change. This is a prime example of it. Who would say "24 hours a day, 7 days a week"?! It is 10 fucking syllables long! By the time you get to the beginning of the fifth syllable people know what you are going to say anyway so just cut it down to five and save everyone some time.this isnt my name said:
yes, deplane is stupid. Plane isn't even a fucking verb.
What is wrong with that first one? Who cares if someone says something in a different way than you do? That guy seems like a condescending dickhead. "I hate this entire country of people because they say X instead of my clearly superior Y." Fuck that guy, and fuck anyone else who thinks that way. British, American, Haitian, Asian... Haisian... anyone who acts like that needs to grow up.
Physicality is in fact a word.
Okay... wait a minute. Maybe I'm takin' this too seriously, but it looks like that whole article is filled with self-righteous assholes.
Physicality is in fact a word.
Okay... wait a minute. Maybe I'm takin' this too seriously, but it looks like that whole article is filled with self-righteous assholes.
Shopping trolley? Really? A cart is a movable basket. A trolley is a big red public transportation device. Overall, this list is a complete joke. Just more british nitpicking at American culture.
That list is stupid. Most american words sound better that ours. The only ones that I don't like are that they get jam/jelly/jello wrong and calling plasters 'band aids'. And Zee sounds better than Zed. If in war movies/COD they called the LZ and L Zed it just sounds so stupid.
The 'i could care less' thing is stupid but that already been covered. (DM Soapbox)
The 'i could care less' thing is stupid but that already been covered. (DM Soapbox)
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.
Also, it is ZED, end of discussion.
It seems the pole up their asses is affecting their brains.
I have never heard or seen anyone use the phrases "deplane" or "winningest" in my entire life.
Back to sipping tea and clinging to old traditions like a comfort blanket.
I have never heard or seen anyone use the phrases "deplane" or "winningest" in my entire life.
Back to sipping tea and clinging to old traditions like a comfort blanket.
A little evolutionary psychology time, I think.
Language is deeply ingrained into our genetic programing. There is a large amount of common grammar and rules between languages that developed seperately, and even new dialects prove to be consistent with certain rules. But the details of language evolves rapidly. A very possible explanation for this is that a rapidly changing language allows one to easily recognize who is in your tribe, allowing you to shun outsiders, and help and mate with individuals with similar genetic makeup. Language is a great tool for discrimination. Fellow Americans listening to xenophobes will recognize this in the arguments about speaking English in America. So we become attached to out ways of speaking, and when we recognize a language, and feel the kinship that entails, and then hear small differences, we feel betrayed. It happens on a small scale as well: There was a very vocal divide between people at my Collage who felt like the airy, ice-cream like confection should be called Soft Serve, and those who called it a CreeMee. It very nearly came to blows. Were just programed to not accept the language of those dirty outsides, and that programming manages to override even out smarter, modern day brains that dislike racism.
Most of the things on that list were trivial. Many sounded completely backwards to me, and I wanted to fruitlessly argue with the individual. Still more are really just evolutions in language, for good or ill, that are universal and equally annoying for a random Americans, and it gets called an Americanism just because of the pervasiveness of American pop culture.
Language is deeply ingrained into our genetic programing. There is a large amount of common grammar and rules between languages that developed seperately, and even new dialects prove to be consistent with certain rules. But the details of language evolves rapidly. A very possible explanation for this is that a rapidly changing language allows one to easily recognize who is in your tribe, allowing you to shun outsiders, and help and mate with individuals with similar genetic makeup. Language is a great tool for discrimination. Fellow Americans listening to xenophobes will recognize this in the arguments about speaking English in America. So we become attached to out ways of speaking, and when we recognize a language, and feel the kinship that entails, and then hear small differences, we feel betrayed. It happens on a small scale as well: There was a very vocal divide between people at my Collage who felt like the airy, ice-cream like confection should be called Soft Serve, and those who called it a CreeMee. It very nearly came to blows. Were just programed to not accept the language of those dirty outsides, and that programming manages to override even out smarter, modern day brains that dislike racism.
Most of the things on that list were trivial. Many sounded completely backwards to me, and I wanted to fruitlessly argue with the individual. Still more are really just evolutions in language, for good or ill, that are universal and equally annoying for a random Americans, and it gets called an Americanism just because of the pervasiveness of American pop culture.