50 Americanisms That Brits Apparently Hate

[randomrob]

This is amusing? I see various people complaining about the British use of English and I don't really see how this is much different.

It's different because it's our bloody language, If you're going to use it, use it correctly.

 

[Pietho]

Many of those phrases I have a problem with as well. By the way, I'm an American; but I'm fluent in English as well.

What the list did show me was that the differences between American and English phrases is one of TIME and LIMITS. All the phrases that were "corrected" set limits; "I couldn't care less" stating that there is no way that the speaker would possibly care less about whatever the subject is. The American version has no limit, "I could care less." Which, between Americans can be interpreted this way; "While I am stating categorically that I do not care about this issue, if you would like, I'll care even less about it. Just for you. *****."

In that same vein we have "least worst option" which says exactly what it means, but for some reason, Brits don't like it. Here is my response to this; "do you want me to cut off your finger or break your foot with a hammer, pick your least worst option." And if you think that's a joke, you obviously have never heard of what happened to cheaters who got caught in mafia run casinos in Las Vegas.

English phrases tend to be very wordy; American phrases not so much because we're too busy communicating to waste time on talking.

 

[Pietho]

This is amusing? I see various people complaining about the British use of English and I don't really see how this is much different.

It's different because it's our bloody language, If you're going to use it, use it correctly.

It's not your language any longer. We took it from you along with the colonies. We now use a dialect of the English language, called American. We haven't spoken the "old tongue" in centuries, get over it.

 

[Aurora Firestorm]

Brits being elitist about the English language? Someone call the press!

Seriously, everyone loves to hate on America, but every language variant has its own foibles. For one, I hate how British English puts useless silent U's in things. Colour. Favourite. This does not contribute to the sound of the word, and it looks pretentious. Get rid of it.

No one dialect is superior to another. Yes, American English is a dialect of English, just like British English. Just because theirs is older, doesn't mean ours is any less valid. It's like evolution; when you separate two cultures by an entire freaking ocean, you're going to get variants in the way people speak. It's not uncultured, and it's not slang, and it's not invalid. It's just different.

 

[fredster117]

im british and i dont think the change in the way people speak is bad
i accept it but please people dont think that all british people hate it and dont mock us

 

[Uszi]

My first thought: Wow, British people being smarmy about language? SHOCKING!!!

Then I read the replies. People need to chill the out. If this were an article on "African American Vernacular that Annoys White Americans," I would have been twice as smarmy as the Brits. I'm pretty sure everyone thinks everyone else speaks their language improperly.

Fact of the matter is I would genuinely laugh if I heard someone refer to a shopping cart as a trolley. Then, I imagine, I would come to an inner acceptance of a fact I already knew: British people speak strangely.

But I wouldn't flip out and get angry over the internet, to the mantra of, "America! Fuck yeah!"

 

[randomrob]

This is amusing? I see various people complaining about the British use of English and I don't really see how this is much different.

It's different because it's our bloody language, If you're going to use it, use it correctly.

It's not your language any longer. We took it from you along with the colonies. We now use a dialect of the English language, called American. We haven't spoken the "old tongue" in centuries, get over it.

Well then call it American then and abandon all pretense of speaking our language.

 

[DrJapple]

Seriously, everyone loves to hate on America, but every language variant has its own foibles. For one, I hate how British English puts useless silent U's in things. Colour. Favourite. This does not contribute to the sound of the word, and it looks pretentious. Get rid of it.

"Color" and "favorite" just look ugly and lazy to me. It also changes how I read the word, as color becomes "co-law" instead of "cul-ur".

I don't think this dislike of Americanisms is due necessarily to the view that the phrases are wrong (because it's still the same language), but more that it's a perceived invasion of American culture.

It's also in nature of British people to complain about stuff like this. They've become a pretty conservative nation that is opposed to change.

 

[mega48man]

lol, i never pronounce leverage "lev-er-ig" ever since i saw pirates of the carribean so many years ago i've always said "Lee-vrig"

 

[Pietho]

This is amusing? I see various people complaining about the British use of English and I don't really see how this is much different.

It's different because it's our bloody language, If you're going to use it, use it correctly.

It's not your language any longer. We took it from you along with the colonies. We now use a dialect of the English language, called American. We haven't spoken the "old tongue" in centuries, get over it.

Well then call it American then and abandon all pretense of speaking our language.

Why would we do that when this is far more entertaining?

 

[funguy2121]

my 'hot headed country man' didn't feel the need to call people 'fucking twats' or insult a nationality. They simply said that they strongly dislike (aka 'fucking hate') people using the term 'gas' for petrol. You however, felt the need to reply to them with insults based on the people behind the terminology rather than the terminology itself. And i assure you I am aware of abbreviations and words with multiple meanings, the point of my post was not to discuss the word 'gas' and all its possible meanings; the point of my post was to point out that you are being unnecessarily not very nice. Admittedly you may have interpreted the original post as them hating the people who use the term (rather than hate towards the use of the the term, which is how i read it), but if that were the case you still shouldn't go around throwing insults back.

I have nothing against either word 'petrol' or 'gas', although i personally say neither. I say 'fuel'. But you won't catch me insulting you or your country for your choice of wording, I may perhaps voice my distaste about the choice of wording in question, but never about the person who uses said words. I can only hope that you remember to do that as well.

"I fucking hate you" is not an insult? Apparently you aren't aware of abbreviations and multiple meanings since gas is short for gasoline and in no way implies that it is in a gaseous form. If you refuse to acknowledge my earlier post, wherein I stated that I wasn't attacking any one of any nationality and that I think both of you should grow a sense of humor (and again, of irony), then the only logical conclusion is that you want me to repeat myself. Consider it done.

I won't, however, repeat everything I've said on the matter. You do have a back button, you know, and it's clear that you either haven't read my responses or have chosen to ignore some. Enjoy your imagined high ground.

 

[funguy2121]

This is amusing? I see various people complaining about the British use of English and I don't really see how this is much different.

It's different because it's our bloody language, If you're going to use it, use it correctly.

I'd like to see someone resolve this with the assertion made earlier that I, being of Irish, French-Creole, Gypsy and German descent, am actually none of those things since I live in the States. I mean, if you can "own" my language since people who lived and died eons before you were born and conquered the world before your more recent ancestors lost it and my more recent forebearers stole it while riding on the backs of literal slave labor, which I admit is shit syntax, then why would you not want to own my blood? Don't you want my blood? It has antigens, and is HIV- and MRSA-free!

Take my blood, please!

Seriously, though, tell me in what wars you fought for British expansion and I'll honor your assertion that it's your language. And since every time I post in this thread the response seems to come from someone who lacks intuition and dozes off to TL;DR land when I mention that I've already said it:

No, I don't hate British people. But you are not Orwell.

 

[JaymesFogarty]

We Brits pronounce 'Z' as 'zed' because that's close to how we pronounce it in words. 'Zebra' as opposed to the American 'Zeebra'. It makes sense for us to call it different things; we do pronounce it differently.

what is Canadians' excuse then? Dependency issues?

Probably.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Bleh, Americans butcher the language. What's new? Stop overreacting and let our language be ruined.

We aren't butchering anything.
OP: Did they have nothing better to do? No dialect is inherently superior to any other.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

This is amusing? I see various people complaining about the British use of English and I don't really see how this is much different.

It's different because it's our bloody language, If you're going to use it, use it correctly.

That is funny. How do you own a language anyway? You know whose language it is? Anyone who speaks it. I don't have to use anything "correctly".

 

[DSQ]

Shopping trolly? I thought a trolly was sort of like a train or a subway sort of thing.

And if there are no train stations in England where do the trains stop? Or don't they for lack of a proper noun to use for describing a place for a train to stop?

I also noticed a lot of these complaints are even about improper use of English. I don't like it when I have to explain to a British family that in America biscuits are soft flaky portions of overly buttered bread and not sweet crunchy deserts. Which we call cookies. Something I'm sure disturbs them greatly. We don't have scones because advertising a sweet that sound a lot like the word 'stone' is impossible.

Oh well, if I were to go to Europe England would be the last country on the list of places to go. Every one there seems way to up tight for me.

I think the person is complaining about the double negative. If the building is a station of course trains stop there. So the word train is not needed. It is like saying ATM machine.

I can't help you about the biscuits thing tho. Maybe I can comtact the goventment to start a campain to change the meaning of the word over here so that I can aliviate your minor annoyance? (I kid, i kid xD)

England is pretty nice, i would recomend going there, people just like to complain but they are friendly to tourists.

 

[KoalaKid]

I like some British television shows like Doctor Who or the IT crowd, but I still have a hard time listening to the characters speak or taking the characters seriously (especially the bad guys). I could easily compose a list of British sayings that are equally annoying. for example I have never understood calling an elevator a lift, unless of course British elevators don't go down.

Because going down is being 'elevated'? I don't think either name covers both directions, but 'box that goes up and down' doesn't really roll off the tongue. "Lift" just has fewer syllables, so it wins

You know your right about the elevator thing; I don't know why I didn't think of that. maybe we could call it the vertical motion machine, a carrier, or a go-box?

 

[KoalaKid]

I like some British television shows like Doctor Who or the IT crowd, but I still have a hard time listening to the characters speak or taking the characters seriously (especially the bad guys). I could easily compose a list of British sayings that are equally annoying. for example I have never understood calling an elevator a lift, unless of course British elevators don't go down.

Because 'elevate' implies going down so well?

your right, so I suggest we call it a go-box, carrier, or a vertical motion machine.

 

[KoalaKid]

I like some British television shows like Doctor Who or the IT crowd, but I still have a hard time listening to the characters speak or taking the characters seriously (especially the bad guys). I could easily compose a list of British sayings that are equally annoying. for example I have never understood calling an elevator a lift, unless of course British elevators don't go down.

You can lift something down, you can't elevate something down

I think lift implies upward motion, but your right that "elevator" isn't really any better. I suggest we think of something entirely different to call it. here are a few suggestions: the vertical motion machine, a carrier, a go-box.

 

[randomrob]

This is amusing? I see various people complaining about the British use of English and I don't really see how this is much different.

It's different because it's our bloody language, If you're going to use it, use it correctly.

No, it isn't. That's really nationalistic nonsense. You should feel ashamed.

Who are you to tell me how I should and shouldn't feel? Isn't that a bit Fascistic? If you are going to assert that it is nonsense, explain why. If people are making stupid alterations to the language of my ancestors I think I have a right to be pissed off. If you disagree, ask yourself this, do you think the Americans own their flag? If America made a colony and that colony rebelled and stole the stars and stripes, would you be angry? Would you be more angry if they started making tiny alterations to it?