50 Americanisms That Brits Apparently Hate

Nov 12, 2010
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Heh, not all of the e-mails are from Brits, some even come from people in the states.

Purists, purists be, but a language is in a perpetual state of change, whether you like it or not. All of the natural languages had evolved from the tongues and dialects that came before them, except perhaps for the elusive "ultimate" proto-language and even that one evolved from the most basic forms of communication.

I see nothing wrong of the Americanisms per se, even though I still prefer a more elegant British equivalent (I am nor a Brit, nor an American, mind you).
 

Mr Companion

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Jul 27, 2009
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Goldeneye103X2 said:
Riiiiight....

English people are just xenophobic. Nothing new. And most of them tend to be quite elitist about which country is better. Quite scary.
Yes clearly racists represent the majority of us, just like how Americans are all fat. Taking this silly report as an indication of anything is as silly as taking that youtube video of American pedestrians being interviewed on trivia as proof that Americans are somehow stupid, unlike what we is right? Cause they are different and things yeah? Cause we got this tiny island full of Big Brother fans who talk gangsta cause they wish they was black which is somehow better ok?
 

xPixelatedx

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Jan 19, 2011
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Of course the British would know, they use 100% accurate and perfectly sensible sounding phrases and words like Blimey, bloody.... ohhhhh

oooooohhhhhhh....... You almost had me going there, I thought this was serious for a second.
 

Sizzle Montyjing

Pronouns - Slam/Slammed/Slammin'
Apr 5, 2011
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JaceArveduin said:
Unless I'm mistaken, it is "shopping cart"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopping_cart

I know, cause the man who invented it lived in Oklahoma, and being a high school student from said area, they decided to make that one of the things you had to read for one of the end of year tests. One of the others was about Chuck Norris, I kid you not, who also happens to be from Oklahoma.
IT'S TROLLEY!
SHOPPING TROLLEY!

Anyway, some of those are absoultely ridiculous.
Other than the 'could care less' one (at the bottom)
I have a viideo for that.
And i've probably been ninj'd but i don't care!
 

TheScientificIssole

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Jun 9, 2011
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Wait a second! I disagree with 50. Other peers and I seem to use the phrase "I could care less" in a sense of shrug it off or I suppose I'll get to it.
 

Proverbial Jon

Not evil, just mildly malevolent
Nov 10, 2009
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I am a Brit, a rather fussy one who likes to keep his country free from the taint of America! I kid, I kid... but really I think we should be aware of these culture slippages. Anyhoo this is what I think:

Shock and Awe said:
4. Using 24/7 rather than "24 hours, 7 days a week" or even just plain "all day, every day". Simon Ball, Worcester
Wow, EVERYONE and his dog uses this phrase. I have no problem with it. Do you REALLY want to say the whole thing?

Shock and Awe said:
8. Dare I even mention the fanny pack? Lisa, Red Deer, Canada
Really? What's the alternative? BUM BAG, that is what we call ours.

Shock and Awe said:
14. I caught myself saying "shopping cart" instead of shopping trolley today and was thoroughly disgusted with myself. I've never lived nor been to the US either. Graham Nicholson, Glasgow

40.I am increasingly hearing the phrase "that'll learn you" - when the English (and more correct) version was always "that'll teach you". What a ridiculous phrase! Tabitha, London

44. My brother now uses the term "season" for a TV series. Hideous. D Henderson, Edinburgh
I too find myself using American terms at some points, it's unavoidable when we're surrounded by so much of the US culture. I try to always use "Season" when referring to US TV show but stick to "Series" for our own TV programmes, you know, out of respect. I actually prefer to say "Elevator" instead of our own "Lift" and occassionally I've said "garbage/trash" instead of "rubbish" as well as "Hood/Trunk" instead of "Bonnet/Boot"... Ahh well, I guess that'll learn me :)

Shock and Awe said:
21. A "heads up". For example, as in a business meeting. Lets do a "heads up" on this issue. I have never been sure of the meaning. R Haworth, Marlborough
Heads up always said to me that you gave someone an advanced warning, like, "Hey, thanks for the heads up!" I've never heard it used in a business sense, that just worries me slightly.

Shock and Awe said:
22. Train station. My teeth are on edge every time I hear it. Who started it? Have they been punished? Chris Capewell, Queens Park, London
I don't really get this one... my dad's always going on about it. So what we just use "Station" now? In Britain we have Train Stations, Bus Stations, Police Stations, Power Stations, Petrol Stations... So "Hey mum, I'm just going down the station," doesn't seem to cut it any more.

Shock and Awe said:
29. I'm a Brit living in New York. The one that always gets me is the American need to use the word bi-weekly when fortnightly would suffice just fine. Ami Grewal, New York
This always confused me too. Surely Bi-Weekly should mean TWICE a week?

Shock and Awe said:
36. Surely the most irritating is: "You do the Math." Math? It's MATHS. Michael Zealey, London
This irritates me in a way I can't describe. What use is there for dropping (or adding) the s? I don't know why but it always feels like you should pronounce the s.

Shock and Awe said:
50. "I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less" has to be the worst. Opposite meaning of what they're trying to say. Jonathan, Birmingham
Yeah, one of my friends argued black was white that "Could care less" was more powerful than "Couldn't care less." I had to point out that if you "Could care less" then the ability to care was evidently still inside you and therefore your entire point is moot.

Sizzle Montyjing said:
I have a video for that.
And i've probably been ninj'd but i don't care!
You sir, just ninja'd me! Thank you for that! I Love David Mitchell! Demonstrating here that, if there is anything Brits can do better than anything else, it is be sarcastic in order to get our (superior) point across.
 

Rutskarn

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Feb 20, 2010
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UberaDpmn said:
JaceArveduin said:
Unless I'm mistaken, it is "shopping cart"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shopping_cart
The ignorance is strong in this one.

The Wikipedia page you linked but didn't actually read said:
A shopping cart (trolley, carriage, buggy)
And just because Americans say it, doesn't make it right.
The point was that shopping carts are an American invention, so if there is to be a "correct" way of referring to them--which is perfectly absurd--then it would be by the American title.

Again, it's ridiculous to claim that since they're invented in America the American term's the only proper one, but I'm pretty sure the poster's point was that it's doubly ridiculous to claim that a term coined across the pond after the cart's invention is the only correct one.
 

Tdc2182

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May 21, 2009
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I don't think grammar Nazis are even that precise.

A few of those things aren't even grammatically correct.
 

SL33TBL1ND

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Nov 9, 2008
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I agree with a few, the most obvious being the math one. Due to the word Mathematics ending with an s it only makes sense to shorten it to a word with the same ending.
 

Lukeje

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Feb 6, 2008
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PureChaos said:
someone doesn't like train station? what else could it be?
Railway station. At least according to google. Though train station makes more sense really.
 

Ron Cuthbert

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Jul 21, 2011
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I just love how many American's are responding to a silly little article with racism. That's a GREAT way to make your point...

Clearly, all the examples (that are actually from the UK) are from upper class morons and are hardly representative of the entire populace.

The train station thing...I've lived in Scotland my entire life and I have never ONCE heard of a train station being called anything other than a train station.
 

Owyn_Merrilin

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May 22, 2010
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tharglet said:
Varitel said:
Also, what the hell is a "regular Americano?
The coffee chains over here call a regular coffee an "Americano". Why I don't know, but there you go. They have fancy-pants names for the rest of them so "regular coffee" prolly had to go :p
It's actually a European term, which goes back to American soldiers serving in Europe during World War II. Technically, an Americano is a watered down Espresso -- American GIs liked coffee, but they didn't want it distilled into rocket fuel. The term "americano" evolved to describe coffee prepared in the way American soldiers liked it. In the US it's just called "coffee," by the way. source

I think that about sums up the ignorance shown in the linked article; when one of your "Americanisms" was actually coined by a European to describe something that Americans like, you might have a problem with facts.
 

monkey jesus

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Jan 29, 2009
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Please don't take this too seriously, its only the opinion of 50 UK nationals.

There are at least 57 people currently resident in the UK.

So that's 7 folk unaccounted for, I did the MATHS!
 

SyphonX

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Mar 22, 2009
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I've come to the conclusion that there is really something wrong with Brits and their obsessive compulsive nature on nitpicking grammar differences. People have different versions of the same expression in various parts of the world.

I mean, if you're nitpicking with sarcasm and having a laugh, that's fine, but if you're nitpicking because you are quite literally annoyed or frustrated, well that's kind of sad. It's like people fail to realize that common courtesy is more important than faking it with perfect grammar and structure. If you get in someone's face for using a slightly different version of a common expression, then you are the asshole.

In reality, I know this doesn't represent Brits, but oh my do I get tired of people going ballistic over things that don't matter.
 

Plinglebob

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Nov 11, 2008
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Because I can't resist, lets have a look at some of the more entertaining ones:

24/7 - No issues wiith this, though sometimes I think its a bit of a weird phrase to use, but then I'm pedantic.

Wait On - I've heard this and yes its stupid.

Fanny Pack - Hee hee, fanny.

Shopping Cart - I'll stick with Trolley as its more fun to say.

Bangs - I'm against this because its such a stupid word. Why use a sound effect to describe your hair?

Take-out - No real issues, but Take-away's better and you know it.

A Half-hour - Half an Hour is itself a shortening of "Half of an Hour" so I've no real issue with shortening it more.

Train Station - While Railway Station sounds nicer, I've no problem with this. Personally I just use Station.

Alphabetize - Too long to make use of the Z in a Scrabble game so switch it with an S and I won't mind it.

Bi-weekly - Ok, this one confused me. I've always taken Fortnightly to mean "Once every 2 weeks" and Bi-weekly to be "Twice a week". If I've just been an idiot (which is more then likely) and they mean the same thing, I'll stick with fortnightly as its a nice word.

Hike a price - I hike both up and down hills.

A million and a half - Mathmatically incorrect, and "One point five million" is much easier to say.

Math - Mathmatics is always said as a plurel so its abbreviation should follow the same rules.

Period - No real issue with the word, but prefer full stop.

TV Season - I'm just going to keep using series to confuse people.

Z - Yeah, we're right, you're wrong and the rest of the world backs us up :D

I got it for free - No real issue as I see how it comes about.

I could care less - Whoever says this needs a slap.

To those complaining about why this was done, its fun in the classic British sense. The only time you will ever get Britons to agree is when we're collectively bashing someone else. The Americans are the same, but we use words rather then an army :p
 

Volkov

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Dec 4, 2010
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Stalk3rchief said:
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I'm obviously American, and I'm also from the south. This article brings me the realization that if I were to talk to an English person, they would instantly hate me. The English I was raised on is very far from "proper".
As was theirs, for the most part. The uptight dumbasses surveyed in the article above are pretty far from the average brit.
 

Eclectic Dreck

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Dagny" post="18.301867.12048124 said:
I agree with some of these, but others seems like overreactions. I can understand getting annoyed over alternate vs. alternative, or wait on vs. wait for, because they actually affect the meaning of the sentence; but I don't get the issue with "24/7" or "half hour."[/quote

This is true. It is sad that semantics is the only way to parse meaning out of a sentence. If only we had some other piece by which to judge what people mean when they say something. Now if we included syntax and context when judging meaning, then we might be able to eliminate confusion.

But, in all seriousness, the problem is often that that critical context might not be obvious to an outside observer without some assistance. While I have no trouble understanding the meaning of the word "boot" with respect to the storage space in a car, such a word seems remarkably strange. By contrast, calling that same space a "trunk" makes more sense given that a trunk might also refer to a box with a hinged lid used for storage. And while I certainly understand what a British person asking for a torch probably does not want a flame on a stick but rather a flashlight, and though I am well aware that the function of the primitive flame-stick was eventually filled by the flashlight (and the former is rarely used, at least I assume), it seems strange there would be no effort to use a new word.

Several of the entries on this list simply demonstrate that some people seem to misunderstand a common trait of a living language. Words and phrases that are commonly used are eventually shortened. The most used words in a language tend to be shortest, both in terms of writing and speaking. "Twenty Four Hours a day, seven days a week" expresses the same idea as "24/7" but the former uses 38 more characters and 8 extra words. Even a few decades ago there would be no need for such truncation given that one would rarely have cause to say such a thing but now, in the US at least, I can find dozens of places to eat and shop that only close on Christmas. The same can be said of many other businesses and activities.