Americanisms and British...isms?

[Agent_Jayden]

Well first off, welcome to the Escapist, enjoy your time here and DO NOT go into the basement.
Someone will be along shortly to properly welcome you, probably.

Secondly, I'm pretty sure most words are allowed on here, like "fuck" and whatnot, and I'm sure the c-word is allowed because it IS in Zero Punctuation a few times, but I just don't feel comfortable typing it. So, you can swear all you wish, pal. Just don't be using swear words as an insult against someone, otherwise you might disturb the mighty banhammer.

Thank you for the welcome! And, I will take your advice and try to avoid the basement.

So, is that the welcoming party who has just arr... (*thunk*)

 

[MorganL4]

I know that what we call a cigarette you would call a term I can not type because it is considered a slur.

Yes it's quite funny when some people say "I'd love to have a fag right now".

i got a box of 20 fags this morning! =D

yeah, it was hilarious to read this one British site I saw once where it said " 30 million cartons of fags are imported to Great Britain every day." I read that, and had to stop for a second and remember the difference in meaning.

 

[Nerf Ninja]

I went the longest time without knowing how British people pronounce the letter "H" by itself. The first time I heard a person say it like that, I thought he just talked strangely.

American pronunciation: "Eych"
British pronunciation: "Heych"

Oh yeah, and the letter "Z" too...

American pronunciation: "Zee"
British pronunciation: "Zed"

...right...?

Actually it's bad English to pronounce the H in H. (Although I do it a lot myself)

How do Americans actually pronounce Twat? I've heard it pronounced as twot and to me that sounds daft.

 

[Danzaivar]

Before you leap onto a table, fire a few party poppers, and loudly explain exactly what you were talking about!

No?

[sub]No.[/sub]

Going a bit off tangent here... I have a question.

A 'cracker' here (U.S.) are basically a hard (kind of flat) piece of bread, or a racial slur. In the U.K., a 'cracker' is something that two people can pull on (kind of like a party popper) but with a gift inside...

So, in the U.K., is a 'cracker' (hard piece of bread) still a 'cracker'? Or does it have a different term? (Thanks in advance to anyone who answers this. I have to go offline for a while...).

Cracker can be the bready thing you speak of or the pully-explody things (They're actually 'Christmas Crackers'). It can also mean a white person but I'm pretty sure that's just an Americanism from the cinema we get drenched with seeping back into the UK.

 

[w@rew0lf]

British = I couldn't care less (right context - you really could not care less)
American = I could care less (wrong context - you could care less, so you care to some degree)

There's a good book about how phrases and words have changed over the years called 'P.O.S.H' but I forget the authors name, but it emphasises how different countries end up with similar phrases or words which are intended to mean the same thing.

It explains why Americans are the only people in the world to call 'Aluminium', 'Aluminum' due to poor transcripts and general acceptance over many years. I think up until the early 20th century, Americans were on the whole still calling it aluminium. And before Americans dispute this, 'Aluminium' is the accepted IUPAC spelling and it was originally named by a British chemist.

I am an American and I agree. I see peoples names and places every day that are obviously spelled incorrectly from a proper word 100 years ago or more, when the average American was about as literate as a one year old. Hell the term OK was created by an American GENERAL in the army that thought it was an acronym for "All Correct" because he spelled it "Oll Korect".\

Woah woah woah...woah....Woa- Excuse mr.american it is YOUR incorrect modifications that corrupt the language, not the other way.

Your statement is full of bullshit. Their is no "incorrect modification" to a language. Connotation, dialect and word usage all change over time. Factor in the different influences that Britain and America grew under and the differences grow more pronounced.

Plus if you really want to get into who speaks the "purer" version of English the answer every time would be America. Our language is still similar to what was spoken during the 1700's. Unlike Britain which heavily borrowed from France in the 1800's both culturally and intellectually making the English spoken in England today have a strong foundation in the French language.

/edit: Damn someone ninja'd my second half already.

 

[w@rew0lf]

The ise (UK) and ize (US) difference. It gets really annoying when this site tries to constantly correct me when I use any word the ends with ize.

IE:

The way we Americans spell it:
realize
visualize
tantalize
organize

The way the site wants me to spell it:
realise
visualise
tantalise
organise

 

[Shoqiyqa]

Oh, another one... in the US, lieutenant is pronounced 'lootenant', whereas in the UK the correct pronunciation is 'leftenant'.

The name derives from the French lieu - "place" and means someone who occupies the place of another. In the Army he's typically occupying the place of a Captain.

It's alyoominiyum here.

Your posterior is your arse, and arse may also mean a person acting in an unintelligent manner, a silly arse, or be an active intransitive verb followed by a preposition, arsing around or arsing about, to mean wasting time frivolously or a transitive verb with up after the object, arsing {something} up to mean making a mess or an arse of something or a reflexive verb in the negative: can't be arsed.

It's also definite with two is and no a, and women is plural.

"Pissed" (or "Pissed up" or "Pissed as a rat") in the UK means drunk. "Pissed" in the USA means angry, which over here we'd call "pissed off".

The sidewalk in the USA is a pavement in the UK and pavement in the USA is the tarmac surface of the road. They call it macadamised, rather than tarmacked. Tarmac and Macadam are both derived from Tar Macadam or some such proper name.

Then there's that tubular thing on the end of a rifle that makes it quieter. Your government calls it a firearm. Ours calls it a simple courtesy to the neighbours.

In the US, a tractor-trailer road haulage vehicle is called a semi-truck. In the UK it's an articulated lorry.

In the USA, they call that stuff beer. Here, we call it cat-piss.

In the USA, the warm, padded layer on top of the bed that makes it a lot warmer in it and feels rather heavy is a comforter. Here it's a quilt.

The USA has bars. Britain has pubs. They're not the same thing. We do have things like US bars and some of them are even called bars these days, but properly we have pubs. It's short for public house, and you'll see them marked on maps as PH in rural areas.

Your TV has shows. Ours has shite.

You get the mail. We get the post ... delivered by the Royal Mail.

 

[Shoqiyqa]

Woah woah woah...woah....Woa- Excuse mr.american it is YOUR incorrect modifications that corrupt the language, not the other way.

Your statement is full of bullshit. Plus if you really want to get into who speaks the "purer" version of English the answer every time would be America.

The correct and pure spelling is Whoa.

 

[w@rew0lf]

Woah woah woah...woah....Woa- Excuse mr.american it is YOUR incorrect modifications that corrupt the language, not the other way.

Your statement is full of bullshit. Plus if you really want to get into who speaks the "purer" version of English the answer every time would be America.

The correct and pure spelling is Whoa.

Wait wha...? I think you quoted the wrong person.

 

[Guitar Gamer]

Well, having recently had a guy from Colorado stay with me, I can reel off some, English first:

Chips - Fries
Crisps - Chips
Lift - Elevator
Toilet - Bathroom
Trousers - Pants
Jam - Jelly
Tap - Faucet
Garden - Yard
Pound - 1.52 Dollars


There were a few others but I can't think of them right now. There was a group of us and we discussed this stuff a lot.

Well aside from the dollar and metric system Canada's and America's "ism's" are basically identical so I think I can post here right?
........................no?
anyways I actually had no idea about the "lift-elevator" one.
or the "chips,chrisps,fries" thing either.
Faucet isn't actually as popular around here (Canada that is but I really doubt they get much different down south) as you may think.

 

[w@rew0lf]

one, 'To Let' in America is 'Rent'.


also, no matter what people might say, 'y'all' is NOT proper english even for America, I am Texan, yes, and I hear that word often and it fills me with boiling rage.


but I cant really think of much else that hasnt been said here yet.

oh, Americans drive on the right side of the road as opposed to the left since it was custom for farmers walking horses to be on the left side of the horses, why I dont know, but it translated to cars since Americans were more accustomed to being on the right side.


also, Colonial Britannia jokes are often in poor taste in several ex-colony provinces/countries like India and parts of Africa. #LFMF

With it's massive use it will only be a matter of time before it does become a word. Just like ain't. If you didn't know already. Yes ain't IS now considered a word. At least in America.

 

[Hurr Durr Derp]

My favorite ones are pants and vest.

A person wearing pants and a vest in the UK is wearing something quite different than a person wearing the same in the US.

 

[Shoqiyqa]

Before you leap onto a table, fire a few party poppers, and loudly explain exactly what you were talking about!

No?

[sub]No.[/sub]

Going a bit off tangent here... I have a question.

A 'cracker' here (U.S.) are basically a hard (kind of flat) piece of bread, or a racial slur. In the U.K., a 'cracker' is something that two people can pull on (kind of like a party popper) but with a gift inside...

So, in the U.K., is a 'cracker' (hard piece of bread) still a 'cracker'? Or does it have a different term? (Thanks in advance to anyone who answers this. I have to go offline for a while...).

The pulled things are specifically Christmas Crackers, and have a small firework inside that is supposed to go crack when they're pulled.

A cracker here can also be a particularly fine example, often of womanhood.

In food terms, a cracker is an incredibly dry and brittle sort of baked flour item, eaten with cheese by some people. It's a bit like flaky pastry without the softness, moisture or sweetness. You probably think that sounds rather dull. You're right. They really are rather dull.

We also have biscuits, which tend to be crumbly or crunchy and sweet. The two best examples are McVities HobNobs and the loaf-section-shaped Hovis biscuits that are always the first to go when people are having cheese.

Then there are cookies, which are more moist and chewy than biscuits and often sweeter.

Then there is the rather curious object called a Jaffa cake.

Then there are brownies, which is definitely an imported term. The British Brownie is to Girl Guides what a Cub Scout is the Scouts, i.e. a small girl in a yellow and brown uniform.

Then there is cake.

Then someone says the cake is a lie.

 

[mcgroobber]

Well, having recently had a guy from Colorado stay with me, I can reel off some, English first:

Chips - Fries
Crisps - Chips
Lift - Elevator
Toilet - Bathroom
Trousers - Pants
Jam - Jelly
Tap - Faucet
Garden - Yard
Pound - 1.52 Dollars


There were a few others but I can't think of them right now. There was a group of us and we discussed this stuff a lot.

the jam - jelly one pisses me off, they arent the same

 

[Pariah87]

Registration Number(UK)= Liscence Plate.
-.-

Most of us here in England just call it a number plate

That's the one, I was at a bit of a loss as to what we call it, I just knew it wasn't liscence plate. Well now I feel slightly stupid, heh.

 

[Berethond]

one, 'To Let' in America is 'Rent'.


also, no matter what people might say, 'y'all' is NOT proper english even for America, I am Texan, yes, and I hear that word often and it fills me with boiling rage.


but I cant really think of much else that hasnt been said here yet.

oh, Americans drive on the right side of the road as opposed to the left since it was custom for farmers walking horses to be on the left side of the horses, why I dont know, but it translated to cars since Americans were more accustomed to being on the right side.


also, Colonial Britannia jokes are often in poor taste in several ex-colony provinces/countries like India and parts of Africa. #LFMF

With it's massive use it will only be a matter of time before it does become a word. Just like ain't. If you didn't know already. Yes ain't IS now considered a word. At least in America.

I have always considered "ain't" a word simply because spelling am not in such a way would be stupid, yes hypocrisy, but still.

while on the subject of inter-American-isms, Menudo in Texas and other south-western states is a spicy stew that kicks ass on cold days when you might or might not have a hangover.

elsewhere though, its crap.

no, really, in Oregon 'menudo' is almost just a crab stew with little to any spices added in.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menudo_%28soup%29

Real menudo is made from tripe.
TRIPE.

 

[ad5x5]

one that really, really, really annoys me (mainly because its occasionally seen on packaging now), is the American spelling of sulfur which should be spelt sulphur.

I do love being Scottish. Even when I speak to non-Scottish people, the vocabulary I use is vastly different to theirs. Though I tend to only slip into using Scots when I'm speaking in real life, as opposed to on here. Hence why most of you can understand what I type.

I've never found Scottish idioms to be that difficult, though I must admit to enjoying toying with you Scots a little bit by using a dense yorkshire accent and yorkshire idioms whenever I go up to wee bonnie Scotland.