50 Americanisms That Brits Apparently Hate

[Mr. Brightside]

Maybe he calls it La Gare.

 

[remnant_phoenix]

As an American secondary teacher of English and History, I completely agree with the frustrations regarding butchering the language in the ways that are grammatically wrong, especially "I could care less." I really hate it when people say that...and even I catch myself saying it at times because I'm surrounded by it! Grrr...

On the other hand, hating the difference between "zed" and "zee," or "shopping cart" and "shopping trolley"? These things inspire hate?

They're just cultural quirks like chips/fries and crisps/chips, and are really not worth getting worked about about.

 

[Mr. Brightside]

Maybe this is a Scottish thing, but people saying "I'm not caring" really annoys me, like you missed the bus "oh, I'm not caring" it's just really lazy and wrong.

 

[Loop Stricken]

It must be a railway station he calls it, but that makes even less sense than train station :S

Well, it's the station containing the railway tracks. Makes sense but still.

As an American secondary teacher of English and History, I completely agree with the butchering of the language in the ways that are grammatically wrong, especially "I could care less." I really hate it when people say that...and even I catch myself saying it at times because I'm surrounded by it!

Funnily enough I haven't seen this video posted yet...

Spoiler: Good ol' David Mitchell

 

[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.

 

[skitzo van]

First off, this was funnier than hell because I often thought Brits just had a stick up their asses whenever they got pissed off at something for being American, now I know it's just elitism (not all are elitists, although most that I've encountered on the Escapist are). This is stupid to see that one culture doesn't accept another culture's speaking of a language, so now should Spain get pissed at Mexico for not using "vosotros" quite as often? Plus it's insanely funny how some of these responses appear to be some sort of intellectual crusade against the lumbering idiotic beast destined to destroy us all known as "AMERICAN ENGLISH". Bravo, I'll sure to leave my shopping cart in the train station, where it should be along with all the other trollys.

 

[Sikratua]

And, of course, the Merriam-Webster is 100% correct?

Well, considering that the Merriam-Webster Dictionary's etymology for the word is as close as makes no difference the exact same as the first part of the OED etymology, I would say so, in this case. Unless, of course, you'd like to throw the OED under the bus, which would make me laugh, to be frank.

No. All it says is that it comes from French and Latin. Of course it comes from Latin nearly every fucking word does.

Bollocks. See? I put a slight bit of British flavor there, just for you.

English is a Germanic language. As such, German accounts for about 25-26% of the English language. Certainly, Latin accounts for more than that, but not as much as you might thing. It only accounts for about 30% of English words. As anyone who can do even the slightest math,(which was a word for 70 years before "maths" came about, so the Brits can blow me on that one) can figure out, 30% is not "nearly every."

"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.

"Gotten" is the past participle of the word "Get." Seriously, to what degree does basic grammar elude people? To use the word "gotten" in a sentence, "Grammar on the internet has gotten worse."

 

[marco75]

This topic reminds me of the preface to 'Pygmalion' by George Bernard Shaw.

"An english speaking person cannot open their mouth without incurring the contempt of another english speaking person. There is no agreed-upon way to pronounce the wretched language, as written English uses a latin script in which none of the letters have a predictable phonetic value." (meaning you can't tell how to pronounce an english word even if you know how it is spelt)

 

[Double A]

What's amusing is reading this list as though it were a conversation between two elderly British women. While they're sipping tea.

And played by John Cleese and Terry Jones.

 

[drisky]

seems like a over reaction to a language that has evolved in to different ways over the course of over a thousand years and hasn't become an issue until the globalization of the internet. I mean words like take-out, bangs, and train station are just plain silly to complain about. It might as well be complaining that we speak a interlay different language, because the fact is almost all European languages are just the misuse of Latin anyways. Deal with it already.

 

[Loop Stricken]

It might as well be complaining that we speak a interlay different language...

I hope that was intentional.

o_.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Coincidentally, some of those are things I don't like about the language when used by Brits. The ones that are horrible mutations of the language should be put down, however. Winningest is a prime contender for first taste of the peppermint-flavored shotgun shells.

 

[Tentickles]

As a Texan, I find this list hilariously funny.

This topic reminds me of the preface to 'Pygmalion' by George Bernard Shaw.

"An english speaking person cannot open their mouth without incurring the contempt of another english speaking person. There is no agreed-upon way to pronounce the wretched language, as written English uses a latin script in which none of the letters have a predictable phonetic value." (meaning you can't tell how to pronounce an english word even if you know how it is spelt)

The English language is a mis-mash of at least 7-10 distinct languages. From Latin to French to German to Spanish... it goes on.

and yes. It is confusing.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
Peter piper picked a pack of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did peter piper pick?
Many an anemone sees an enemy anemone.
Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.
A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.

 

[Loop Stricken]

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

African or European?

 

[drisky]

It might as well be complaining that we speak a interlay different language...

I hope that was intentional.

o_.

No I guess I typed it wrong and didn't catch the autocorrect. I have never been a good speller and I would be lost with out wavy red lines. That has nothing to do with the different ways people speak though.

Edit: Happy Birthday by the way.

 

[rancher of monsters]

Gotten? But it's such a woody word. gooooooootten.

 

[Blemontea]

My only question is on number 11. Transport instead of Transportation? Transportation sounds more proper and dignified than transportation. It is certainly one of the black sheep of the list.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I live at the opposite side of England from a friend and we argue on how to pronounce 'grass' and many other words. I think I can give Americans some leniency.

[small]although 'aluminum' and 'nucular' make my eye twitch...[/small]

So the BBC found nearly 50 grammar nazis and asked them about inconsequential common-use phrases, pronounciations and other assorted bullshit nobody with a sensible head cares about in daily use?


And here I thought the Beeb didn't trouble themselves with such petty stories...this is something I'd half-expect Fox to do.

They often do random silly little stories to cheer people up. We do live in the dark greyness of Britain after all