50 Americanisms That Brits Apparently Hate
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strobe said:
Bizarre.... because my spell check has red wavy lines under both of those. However, sulfur and aluminum are red wavy line free!
Apparently, you also spelled IUPAC wrong
Or so my spell check says.
Obviously someone is still irritated that we broke off from their country a few hundred years ago. I'd like to remind everyone that if you look up a list of world languages you'll see British English and U.S. English. As in two DIFFERENT languages. You don't have to talk the way we do, and we don't have to talk the way you do. I'm fluent in Brazilian Portuguese. Do I go to Portugal and except them to talk as I do? Claro que nao. As for the list, morons talk with those phrases. Except for #50, that one can be found anywhere.
Probably been said, but I've just gotta add... as much as I'll give the Brits crap for little language nit-picks like this, there's one thing they did very right.
The whole egg on fried toast thing ... that is freaking delicious.
I personally like to make it right after bacon. Toss a slice of bread in the grease left behind from cooking bacon. Cook that up on both sides, and put an over-easy egg on top. Hell yeah
The whole egg on fried toast thing ... that is freaking delicious.
I personally like to make it right after bacon. Toss a slice of bread in the grease left behind from cooking bacon. Cook that up on both sides, and put an over-easy egg on top. Hell yeah
This is pretty funny, to be fair. I'm British and I don't really have a problem with the way Americans speak... there are a couple that bug me, though. "Mom" instead of "Mum". From what I've heard, they pronounce it "Mum" anyway. When an American says "Mom" it doesn't sound like it's spelt. The only other thing is "Pants" instead of Trousers, but that works both ways... we call underwear Pants sometimes.
But let's not forget how the Britishisms are considered annoying in America. We call cigarettes, in england, Fags. which could be seen as slightly offensive in America.
"I'm just popping out for a quick fag."
I do want to say that not all British people are like that.
Most of them just think Americans are fat, ignorant and backwards (especially anyone from the southern states) but then again... that's what most countries sterotype Americans at.
But for some reason, it's really bad in England. I guess it's because we're a stupidly ignorant country ourselves.
But let's not forget how the Britishisms are considered annoying in America. We call cigarettes, in england, Fags. which could be seen as slightly offensive in America.
"I'm just popping out for a quick fag."
I do want to say that not all British people are like that.
Most of them just think Americans are fat, ignorant and backwards (especially anyone from the southern states) but then again... that's what most countries sterotype Americans at.
But for some reason, it's really bad in England. I guess it's because we're a stupidly ignorant country ourselves.
46) How the fuck are you supposed to pronounce Z?!
It's "zee"!
I never knew the Brits hated our mannerisms so much, when in all reality, the British actually changed the language more than we did..
It's "zee"!
I never knew the Brits hated our mannerisms so much, when in all reality, the British actually changed the language more than we did..
What about "you can't have your cake and eat it too.". It should be "eat your cake and have it too.". Dudley Moore pointed this out in a movie once.
To be honest I'm having a hard time thinking of many more words begining with Ze. Zenith? The English pronunciation uses a Zed. I don't know how American's pronouce it. I don't think Zeppelin counts though since it's a German word for a specific vehicle which we would call a Blimp.SFR said:
True enoughLokiArchetype said:
It's the same with English, only that emphasis results in Zed*-bra (silent d). I guess I'm barking up the wrong tree though. There must be a reason for this though, unless the language is so mongrel that there aren't any consistant rules.LokiArchetype said:
Math / Maths... both are short for mathematics. In other words...
I could care less.
Also, what's the British alternative for "train station?" Because, I mean, a train station is a place where trains remain stationary.
EDIT:
I could care less.
Also, what's the British alternative for "train station?" Because, I mean, a train station is a place where trains remain stationary.
EDIT:
Zero? Zee-row.Djinn8 said:
It seemed like only some of these were about the differences between UK and US English. Most of them were about things that neither side considers correct (like 15) or are intentionally improper slang (like 2). Number 19 gets it!
36 makes me cringe. I know "maths" is acceptable UK English, but this is one that drives me crazy. Both "math" and "maths" are abbreviations for mathematics, and as abbreviations neither one is more "proper" than the other, but "maths" makes my skin crawl.
36 makes me cringe. I know "maths" is acceptable UK English, but this is one that drives me crazy. Both "math" and "maths" are abbreviations for mathematics, and as abbreviations neither one is more "proper" than the other, but "maths" makes my skin crawl.
Is anyone else here british and not giving a damn about any if those? The only one I do care about is not in there and that isn't a peeve of sorts, its just a technicality. Its the whole football/soccer thing which has been gone over already.
But im sensing this thread is a 'we hate america' thread with a new lick of paint. Let's just drop it, they have their own culture and are entitled to their own neologisms and idiom. If we are going to be pedantic, im sure the germans and italians would have a lot to say about the english language, since thats where we derived our language from. Swings and roundabouts in the end.
But im sensing this thread is a 'we hate america' thread with a new lick of paint. Let's just drop it, they have their own culture and are entitled to their own neologisms and idiom. If we are going to be pedantic, im sure the germans and italians would have a lot to say about the english language, since thats where we derived our language from. Swings and roundabouts in the end.
chris_ninety1 said:
Except that fair comes from the word "faire", as in renaissance, as in a gathering of novelties, its not an abbreviation for fairgrounds.
And won't is a contraction, not technically an abbreviation... plus won't is "will not", not "would not" which is wouldn't. So that's an "ill" being replaced with an o for no reason, but English in general is stupid like that.
Actually yeah, now that I think about it, you would say mathematic as an adjective.
Doesn't change the fact that it makes no sense to me, or any American I'm sure. It's not spelled "math s ematics"
I'm an American and I also hate when people say "could care less" when they mean the opposite. I couldn't care less about Battlefield 3 but I could care less about Skyrim. I could care a LOT less about Skyrim but, I don't.
Ugh, grow up. Pulling out an historical event as some kind of trump card, like it's worth a shit anymore in the present, is just the height of both ignorance and stupidity. You weren't even alive during WWII, so stop acting like you were and realise that you can't judge an entire country with an entirely new generation of people for past events. You're the exact kind of person that fuels American stereotypes in the first place! Good Lord.superdelux said:
Actually on TOPIC: I'm English, and wow is that a stupid list. Some of them are justified -- I mean, the "could care less" thing is a real annoyance to a lot of people here on The Escapist -- but 24/7? And what is the alternative for a train station?! So stupid, especially when it makes no difference (e.g. grammatically or definition-wise) what you say, like Sidewalk = Pavement: we all know what we mean when we say either. You'd think the BBC had better things to do.
You're all missing the point entirely. The people in this list don't care how you Americans talk, they're annoyed at British people using Americanisms over here, confusing other British people.
In my opinion, the word "math" versus "maths" implies different properties.
"Maths" implies a collection of separate fields or techniques.
"Math" implies a substance with no well-defined features.
I personally am more comfortable with "math" but can imagine using "maths" to specify variety or specialty.
"Maths" implies a collection of separate fields or techniques.
"Math" implies a substance with no well-defined features.
I personally am more comfortable with "math" but can imagine using "maths" to specify variety or specialty.
Shut your MOUF, sir. Yes, Americans find that mispronunciation annoying as well.3AM said:
I would say the list is 50 percent overreacting to real grammatical errors, 50 percent taking issue with valid uses of words and phrases that happened to start in other regions.
FYI: Gas is an abbreviation of gasoline. Gasoline is a derivative of naturally occurring crude oil, AKA petroleum. Gasoline is the liquid car fuel, meaning that the two are in fact, different. Sorry if that sounded aggressive, but America seems to be in the right this time and some Brits should not be correcting them.