Americanisms and British...isms?

[Kiriona]

There's one thing I've learned through my dad about Americans and British. (He used to live in the UK) Never tell a British person that they need to learn how to speak English.

Aside from that, some of the things the British say make more sense. Like how Eddie Izzard put it: "you say 'erb' and we say 'herb' because there's a fucking 'h' in it."

...Damn, now I'm hungry for chips. The American chips, I mean.

 

[kurupt87]

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.

Personally I don't see the problem with "y'all". It uses the apostrophe exactly right, to condense two words into one with the exclusion of a letter or two. I'm assuming y'all means "you all", if it doesn't then what the hell does it mean?
As for ain't, I have never understood where that came from. It should be amn't, I know it doesn't fit/sound right, but if we'd all been saying it then it would be fine.

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

Pussy is an old English way of saying sweet, one that has been totally overridden by the american meaning. To say the same thing now would be to say, "he's a pussy(cat) really".

Football is a favorite of mine, can any Ammerican honestly claim the sport they call "football" is not massively misnamed in comparison to football(soccer)?

Actually, no. Soccer, rugby, gaelic (Irish football)and American football. Are all forms of football. I think soccer is just generally accepted as "football" because it's the most common game. What American football is however, is rugby for pussies. Just kidding, those guys would beat seven kinds of shite out of me and I know it.

The problem with American football is that it has such an unimaginative name. AsSOsCiation Football became Soccer; Rugby Football became Rugby or Rugger. American Football is similar to Australian Rules Football (Aussie Rules), except there's no shortening of American that has ever been succesfully coined. The closest I can come up with would be Yankee Rules.
That said, I truly believe that football(soccer) has the right to its name, it's the most popular sport in the world and is played predominantly with the feet.

... what's an actual penny?

100 pence in a pound. 1 pence is a penny.

 

[ace_of_something]

Jell-O! Or is that a brand name?

Yeah our Jam to them is called Jelly and our Jelly to them is called Jello
But on 'Friends' Monica goes through that Jam phase and it looks just like British Jam which made no sense to me cos surely she should have called it Jelly... could any Americans out there clear this up for me? It's bugging me now

Jam has semi-solid pieces of fruit or preserves in it.
Jelly is pretty much more of a liquid with no solid bits in it.

Jell-o is a product that is basically sugar water/fruit flavoring. (Gelatin is the proper term)
Calling something Jell-o is like calling all hamburgers 'whoppers'