Americanisms and British...isms?

[S.Vimes]

They're only called Walkers in the UK for some reason. Like Opel cars are Vauxhall. And German Shepherd dogs are Alsatians, though that comes from the anti-German policy of the World Wars, like our royal family going from Sax-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor.

The strange thing is, officially the company is called Walkers, not Laysand GM who make Vauxhall, call them Vauxhall and not Opel. Also, the dogs name was changed to Alsations because people were abandoning and killing them because they believed they were associated with Germans

I think, at least with Vauxhall anyway, they were a company before they were bought out by GM, and they just renamed them for different markets of the world, but kept the Vauxhall name in the UK.

Vauxhall was an English company that originally competed against the likes of Bently and Rolls Royce for sales, I don't know much about their history but eventually they along with Opal and Saab where bought out (along with others probably over the years) and became Divisions of General Motors all making practically the same cars (at least the Saab's look a little different combared to the Vauxhall/Opel's obvious similarities).

OT. I'm surprised no one's mentioned more on the products marketing/names side about the Snickers vs Marathon argument. I may have to edit this after actually looking up what happened as I only have comedic jokes to go on but didn't the name change due to some advertising decision or something when they decided to try and sell the bars in America that annoyed a generation of chocolatebar eaters?
Oh and yay I finally stopped lurking on the forum's like a... lurking thing...

 

[Slash2x]

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.

*rereads post* yeah........ that is what I said........ thanks for agreeing so strongly.

 

[Slash2x]

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.

So spelling Oll Korect is a valid "change" to the language? DAMN! *Goes to bookshelf and lines through Websters spelling* I knew that stupid book was never korect.

 

[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.

So spelling Oll Korect is a valid "change" to the language? DAMN! *Goes to bookshelf and lines through Websters spelling* I knew that stupid book was never korect.

Oll Korect transformed into OK/okay so Yes. (Oll Korect would be a change to the language if people actually used it. It spawned a change it did not become one. Stop trying to unsuccessfully strawman me.) That is a valid change to the language. Are you telling me that you'll never say OK/okay ever again just because you know the origin of the word? I'd hope not beacause that would make you extremely anal. Plus I highly doubt that OK/okay is the only word in our language that has a semi-retarded history. e.g. ain't.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Heres a good one, not American-English though. More Australia-Everywhere else i think. Maybe not New Zealand.

We call these thongs, you don't make that mistake twice overseas.

Here in the U.S. we usually call them "sandals" or "flip-flops". Typically flip-flops is reserved for the cheap beach sandals like you've pictured here, and sandals is for open-toed regular footwear. Believe me, plenty of the people on the beach who wear thongs (Austrailian meaning) aren't the kind of people you want to see wearing thongs (American meaning).

I wouldn't mind it if an Aussie explained to me where the expression "Bob's your uncle" came from.

 

[quiet_samurai]

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

That's from way back during the revolutionary war days when we were separating ourselves from the red coats.

Yes this. That is one of the main reason English an American language is so differeant sounding. The revolutionaries purposedly did this for many many thing.

 

[Canid117]

Americans call a biscuit a cookie.

Likewise their biscuit is what we call a scone.

That confused the hell out of me when I got a McDonalds there years ago.

I dread to think what their scones look like.

They are little baked triangular things with fruit in them. Douchey John Mayer and Beatnik types eat them with their morning espressos.

 

[ottenni]

.

I wouldn't mind it if an Aussie explained to me where the expression "Bob's your uncle" came from.

Look no further than Wikipedia my friend.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob's_your_uncle

EDIT: the link wont work but there is a page with that as the URL, so just copy paste

 

[jamesworkshop]

One of my buddies told a British military guy that he "could not answer that question without potential punishment of military courts" when he asked if he "wanted to step outside for a quick fag" I laughed so hard I almost fell off my seat.

The American TV show "Arrested Development" played up these differences hilariously in one episode! They showed a flashback of a British soldier speaking to his lady love and he told her when he was lonely, "I'll put a fag in my mouth, and think of you." Then she said, "Oh, Reggie, you're such a pussy!" Because of the different meanings here, the TV station actually bleeped out fag and pussy, though!

OT: So yeah, "pussy" is another word with different connotations. In the US, it's calling someone a very weak man, as well as crude slang for a vagina. While, I believe, in England it means someone who is sweet, like a pussy cat.

No pussy means the same in uk

 

[Irony's Acolyte]

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.
Seriously? "Oll Korect"? Are you being serious?

That has actually shocked me into submission. That puts a whole new argument forward for why (most, but not all) Americans seem a bit dim to Brits...

There are alot of cases in the English language in both the American and British dialects where different words were created or spelled a particular way because of the way they sounded. The English language was originaly writen phoentically if I'm not mistaken so two people could write down a word but spell it two different ways.
As for the American v. English terms, I know that it's been mentioned that what the British (and for that matter the rest of Europe) consider a bathroom only consists of rooms that contain a bath or shower while Americans use the term bathroom to also refer to restrooms. (You do call a room with just a toilet in it a restroom right? Otherwise I think I just inadvertantly stumbled upon another dialect difference) As for adding new content to this forum: I know that other parts of Europe use the term "water closet" to refer to restrooms and was wondering whether the Brits use it as well. (Sorry if someone already cleared this up. I'm too lazy to read ALL of the replys made in this thread)

 

[Sporky111]

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

Yeah, the "twot" pronunciation sounds normal to me. I don't think I've ever even heard it pronounced the other way.

We Britishers pronounce it with an A all the time. It also means to hit, as in:

"let's get out there and twat it!"

Or:

All I said was have you seen the singing detective? and she twatted me with a kidney dish!

I'm Canadian, and to me twot and twat are two totally different things, and separate from what you've said. A twat (pron: TWAT) is an idiot, a twot (pron: TWAHT) is a vagina (used in the same context as pussy and ****).

Of course, that could just be me picking up things from other dialects and not due to my Canadian-ness. I'm very receptive to new terms and learn to use and understand them very quickly. I don't usually notice differences because they don't seem so different to me.

Gas (short for gasoline, in case you didn't know) = Petrol
Apartment = Flat
Soccer = Football

What seems strange to me is that Fish and Chips (what you would call chips in the UK) is still called Fish and Chips over here, even though it doesn't have our kind of chips (your crisps). Most people don't even make the connection.

 

[Terminal Dogma]

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

Dirty pun alert!

I bought some fags today too. When I walked into the corner store they were just sitting there, behind the register. As soon as I got outside is stopped and put one in my mouth, just like that. It had been too long since the last time. As soon as I took a lighter to it, it went wild. I think it singed my lip before I managed to spit it out. Much aggrieved, I went in and told the store owner that there was something wrong with my fag, but he just shrugged. He said "I don't know what you were doing with it, but it can't have been kosher" Ah well, at least they were cheap...

 

[Cid Silverwing]

I know what Americans call gas (for cars) the British call petrol.

I never understood why they call it gas, for it isn't a gas... Does anyone know where the term came from?

It is a gas, technically. When they distill it from crude oil, it's in gas form because it's been boiled out of the oil.

It's short for gasoline.

 

[Wadders]

I think most of them have already been covered, but I've got a (kind of) rare one.

Americans call Shotgun ammunition Shells. In the UK the proper name for them is cartridges instead.

I have no idea why though, as shells are explosive munitions, like artillery rounds for example.

Well yes you could say that, but then again, a magazine could contain either text or ammunition. Also, normally it is the uneducated that call them "shotgun shells" when there are two types of the ammunition; buckshot and slugs. I normally just call them "buckshot rounds" and the same with slugs.

Even then, they don't call them "shells" but rather "shotgun shells" to be more specific.

True, although there are many different types of shotgun ammunition, birdshot, buckshot, slugs, sabot slugs to name but a few. I just mean as a generic coverall name for shotgun ammo, people over here call them cartridges as opposed to shells.

 

[Shoqiyqa]

French? So you guys don't call cow "beef" or sheep "mutton" over there, then?

That puts a whole new argument forward for why (most, but not all) Americans seem a bit dim to Brits...

A Deadly Ingredient in a Chicken Dinner [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/25/AR2009062503381.html]

Most people don't know that the chicken they eat is laced with arsenic. The ice water or coffee they enjoy with their chicken may also be infused with arsenic. If they live on or near a farm, the air they breathe may be infected with arsenic dust as well.

Why do our chicken, our water and our air contain arsenic? Because in the United States, most major poultry producers add an arsenic compound known as roxarsone to their chicken feed. Inorganic arsenic is a Class A carcinogen that has been linked to heart disease, diabetes and declines in brain function. Recent scientific findings show that most Americans are routinely exposed to between three and 11 times the Environmental Protection Agency's recommended safety limit.

The poultry industry has been using the feed additive roxarsone -- purportedly to fight parasites and increase growth in chickens -- since the Food and Drug Administration approved it in 1944. Turns out that the arsenic additive promotes the growth of blood vessels in chicken, which makes the meat appear pinker and more attractive in its plastic wrap at the grocery store, but does little else. The arsenic additive does the same in human cells, fueling a growth process known as angiogenesis, a critical first step in many human diseases such as cancer.

In 1999, recognizing that any level of inorganic arsenic in human food and water is unacceptable, the European Union outlawed its use in chicken feed.

In addition to the arsenic Americans consume at the dinner table, American broiler chickens generate billions of pounds of animal waste each year -- more than 1.2 billion pounds annually in Maryland alone -- causing significant runoff of arsenic into soils and surrounding waterways. The dangerous levels of arsenic in chicken manure ultimately contaminate crops, lakes, rivers and fertilized lawns, and it may even reach drinking water.

 

[Camembert]

French? So you guys don't call cow "beef" or sheep "mutton" over there, then?

That puts a whole new argument forward for why (most, but not all) Americans seem a bit dim to Brits...

A Deadly Ingredient in a Chicken Dinner [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/25/AR2009062503381.html]

Most people don't know that the chicken they eat is laced with arsenic. The ice water or coffee they enjoy with their chicken may also be infused with arsenic. If they live on or near a farm, the air they breathe may be infected with arsenic dust as well.

Why do our chicken, our water and our air contain arsenic? Because in the United States, most major poultry producers add an arsenic compound known as roxarsone to their chicken feed. Inorganic arsenic is a Class A carcinogen that has been linked to heart disease, diabetes and declines in brain function. Recent scientific findings show that most Americans are routinely exposed to between three and 11 times the Environmental Protection Agency's recommended safety limit.

The poultry industry has been using the feed additive roxarsone -- purportedly to fight parasites and increase growth in chickens -- since the Food and Drug Administration approved it in 1944. Turns out that the arsenic additive promotes the growth of blood vessels in chicken, which makes the meat appear pinker and more attractive in its plastic wrap at the grocery store, but does little else. The arsenic additive does the same in human cells, fueling a growth process known as angiogenesis, a critical first step in many human diseases such as cancer.

In 1999, recognizing that any level of inorganic arsenic in human food and water is unacceptable, the European Union outlawed its use in chicken feed.

In addition to the arsenic Americans consume at the dinner table, American broiler chickens generate billions of pounds of animal waste each year -- more than 1.2 billion pounds annually in Maryland alone -- causing significant runoff of arsenic into soils and surrounding waterways. The dangerous levels of arsenic in chicken manure ultimately contaminate crops, lakes, rivers and fertilized lawns, and it may even reach drinking water.

My God, I severely hope farmers are not that stupid in the UK (though they are apparently still stupid enough to feed cows' brains to other cows).

 

[Dahni]

There are alot of cases in the English language in both the American and British dialects where different words were created or spelled a particular way because of the way they sounded. The English language was originaly writen phoentically if I'm not mistaken so two people could write down a word but spell it two different ways.
As for the American v. English terms, I know that it's been mentioned that what the British (and for that matter the rest of Europe) consider a bathroom only consists of rooms that contain a bath or shower while Americans use the term bathroom to also refer to restrooms. (You do call a room with just a toilet in it a restroom right? Otherwise I think I just inadvertantly stumbled upon another dialect difference) As for adding new content to this forum: I know that other parts of Europe use the term "water closet" to refer to restrooms and was wondering whether the Brits use it as well. (Sorry if someone already cleared this up. I'm too lazy to read ALL of the replys made in this thread)

Perhaps this is different in other parts of the UK, since even within the UK, there's massive dialect differences between Scottish & English, but I call any room containing a toilet, "a toilet". So, if I say I'm going for a shower, I say "I'm going to the toilet for a shower". That probably sounds weird but that's how everyone I know says it. In formal situations, in fancy restaurants and stuff, if I need to 'go', I ask for the bathroom, but I'm rarely in that situation.

You're correct about other parts of Europe calling it the water closet. In French, a room with just a toilet in it is "le WC". I have no idea about the rest of Europe.

 

[open trap]

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.

Eh the Garden Yard thing can go either way, in America the Garden is the part of your yard where you have planted many flowers and other plants which are not grass.