50 Americanisms That Brits Apparently Hate

[Geo Da Sponge]

A few of these I agree with, such as maths rather than math and 'I couldn't care less'. However mostly these are just ridiculous. What on Earth is wrong with train station, you dolt? It is a station for trains!

Having said that, I do remember going a bit berserk when Captain Price said the word 'Lieutenant' the British way in CoD4, and it got subtitled as 'Leftenant', quotation marks and all. Sod off.

 

[Mr. Brightside]

I am also an American from the South. I went to the UK for two weeks last September. They hate us.

Of course, I was doing very little to change their opinion.... Throwing out "Howdy" and "Y'all" at any opportunity was quite entertaining.

Side note- if you ever refer to the British Museum as the "Museum of Rape, Pillage, and Plunder" you will get dirty looks from everyone around you. Especially if you are in the museum.

Wow, you're so edgy!

 

[Griff Morivan]

Iiiii am so happy I work hard to maintain proper English usage.

 

[UberNoodle]

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.

Hmm ... shopping trolley, for me. It's a trolley before it's a cart. But language is all subjective. I currently live in a country where 'blue' and 'green' are often confused, at least that's how I see it. Yet it makes sense to the people here as their definitions for those colours are culturally very specific. And as a teacher of English for the last 8 years, I understand less and less every day why people fight so much over what happens to their language. Half the 'golden rules' in English today are the product of compounded mistakes, erroneous back formations and ill-advised aesthetic movements.

Anyway, you must be proud every day to not only hail from the land which gave us the shopping 'cart', but which also blessed us with The Norris.

 

[Dags90]

Also why do us Brits hate Americanisms? Doesn't language evolve?

What these people really hate is that Americans export way more culture and language to Britain than the reverse. They know that for every American that's grown to use "zed" because of Dr. Who, there are dozens of British people who now say "zee".

 

[Skoosh]

When British people complain about Americans butchering their language, I respond in a Cockney accent, then switch to Southern gentry and it usually shows that all places have beautifully colorful and screechingly bad dialects.

Languages evolve. So long as you aren't confusing your "there/their/they're" type words, it's fine. Let it change! Cart verses trolley? Get over yourself.

 

[TheRenaissanceMan]

I thought that people thought that Americans were intolerant and ignorant. Not saying all of these statements are but some of them are just kind of stupid.

 

[Flig]

46 is making me question the pronunciation of the letter Z. Can anybody explain to me the "proper" pronunciation of it, since this person seems to claim that it isn't "zee." I'm fucking confused here.

Brits pronounce Z "Zed". 99% of differences in language are just taste and circumstance, but throwing in an arbitrary D sound just doesn't make any sense in about the most objective fashion I can imagine.

I don't even...
That doesn't even...
What?
Why?

Please, somebody who is british, explain how the fuck that makes sense. I mean I know it comes from the Greek zeta, so it makes sense based on the origin, but...I don't know, I guess I like my letters to sound like they do in the words they're used in...

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

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.

boom. right there, I am not from oklahoma, but even I knew that one.

also

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/leverage

listen to the fucking recording, its "lever-idge" in the way it's pronounced, so don't tell me i'm damn wrong when dictionary.com has it that way.

Wow that was fun. Not only do half of those not exist, but Britain still loses for inventing the word "burgle." Try explaining that one.

yeah with my previous job that I just quit, I dealt with literally HUNDREDS of people from all over the country (some even international) on the phone and more than half of these mannerisms never showed up, I have NEVER heard the word deplane, nor "winningest"...i mean, what? what the fuck is that..

I swear sometimes every non US citizen seems to take our media/hollywood for exact facts on how everyone here acts/speaks..even then the US isn't one massive blob of sameness, so mannerisms/slang change from area to area all over.

 

[FalloutJack]

The funny part here is that I live in America and some of these I have to agree with.

Some are funny, some are confusing, and some I don't see the point of, but nice list. Incidentally, I think most people born of Britain might hate Pittsburgh then. We have our own language.

Also, why the hell do they say zed? I know it's a unique affectation of their culture, but how did it come about?

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

46 is making me question the pronunciation of the letter Z. Can anybody explain to me the "proper" pronunciation of it, since this person seems to claim that it isn't "zee." I'm fucking confused here.

Brits pronounce Z "Zed". 99% of differences in language are just taste and circumstance, but throwing in an arbitrary D sound just doesn't make any sense in about the most objective fashion I can imagine.

Well, because the British pronunciation of Z within a word is closer to 'zed' but without the d, if you see what I mean. For example the word 'zebra', is zee-bra to Americans (I think ), and for lack of a better better way to write it, 'ze-bra' for the British.

To be fair, the pronunciation of letters as a word of their own can be pretty arbitary at times. See for example 'H' and 'Y'.

 

[Loop Stricken]

Also why do us Brits hate Americanisms? Doesn't language evolve?

What these people really hate is that Americans export way more culture and language to Britain than the reverse. They know that for every American that's grown to use "zed" because of Dr. Who, there are dozens of British people who now say "zee".

Or rising inflections for things that are NOT questions. Oh Lordie, but that's irritating.

 

[Bags159]

I'm Scottish and I have only ever heard people say "train station" I don't even know what else could be used (railway station perhaps, but it is a station for trains not railways.)

Also, it is ZED, end of discussion.

Zebra = Zedebra? Genuinely curious.

All in all that list sounded like a bunch of whining. Grow up and get a hobby if shopping cart really bothers you.

I do agree with the last one though.

 

[EpicPeanut]

I wonder if this is sarcasm. Some of these things are so incredibly minor and insignificant (not to mention "American" things that are universal) that it was made only to serve as trollbait to stereotype Americans.

I can't take that list serious to be honest.

 

[Mr. Brightside]

46 is making me question the pronunciation of the letter Z. Can anybody explain to me the "proper" pronunciation of it, since this person seems to claim that it isn't "zee." I'm fucking confused here.

Brits pronounce Z "Zed". 99% of differences in language are just taste and circumstance, but throwing in an arbitrary D sound just doesn't make any sense in about the most objective fashion I can imagine.

I don't even...
That doesn't even...
What?
Why?

Please, somebody who is british, explain how the fuck that makes sense. I mean I know it comes from the Greek zeta, so it makes sense based on the origin, but...I don't know, I guess I like my letters to sound like they do in the words they're used in...

Well the French letter 'Z' is pronounced 'zed' and they both come from Zeta and then Latin

 

[AkaDad]

As an American, I don't like the use of 24/7, because in most cases, it doesn't make any sense. Saying the Secret Service protects the President 24/7 would be proper, but saying I've been working, partying, reading, gaming, studying, or whatever 24/7 is virtually impossible. Supposedly God couldn't even make it past 24/6.

 

[Mr. Brightside]

I'm Scottish and I have only ever heard people say "train station" I don't even know what else could be used (railway station perhaps, but it is a station for trains not railways.)

Also, it is ZED, end of discussion.

Zebra = Zedebra? Genuinely curious.

All in all that list sounded like a bunch of whining. Grow up and get a hobby if shopping cart really bothers you.

I do agree with the last one though.

No, obviously not. It is not Zeebra, it is Zebra, as in Zed without the d.

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

There should be a list of England-isms, too. I mean, why call it maths if you're only talking about one kind of math?

 

[Composer]

this is just nit picking
half of these are just idiotic.

 

[Nieroshai]

Half of the list I've never heard at ALL uttered by intelligent Americans (no that is not an oxymoron...), the rest are pointless nitpicks and based on the assumption that every phrase ever uttered in English was coined by the Brits and corrupted by the Americans.