50 Americanisms That Brits Apparently Hate

Baneat

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Scotch is a weird one.

You will never have a legitimate reason to use the term.

Scot- or Scottish, and it's called Whiskey.

I really, truly have heard "Scotchland"

No, really.
 

Mr. Brightside

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Baneat said:
Scotch is a weird one.

You will never have a legitimate reason to use the term.

Scot- or Scottish, and it's called Whiskey.

I really, truly have heard "Scotchland"

No, really.
It's actually called Whisky ;)
 

qeinar

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hmm deplane.. i'll have to start use that one. xD Also is getting out of a car decaring?

Not american or british, liked the article, some of them were overreactions though. words like winnigest though just sounds like something a child would say.
 

Baneat

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Mr. Brightside said:
Baneat said:
Scotch is a weird one.

You will never have a legitimate reason to use the term.

Scot- or Scottish, and it's called Whiskey.

I really, truly have heard "Scotchland"

No, really.
It's actually called Whisky ;)
It's irrelevant as it's a phonetic translation of the gaelic word. They're pronounced the same in both EIRE and the Highlands.
 

Canid117

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If the Brits dont like it then they can just stop coming to America and consuming our media. Simple as that. Also I'm American and I have never heard about a third of those so called "Americanisms" used. Maybe we should start using them to piss these whiners off?
 

Mr. Brightside

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Baneat said:
Mr. Brightside said:
Baneat said:
Scotch is a weird one.

You will never have a legitimate reason to use the term.

Scot- or Scottish, and it's called Whiskey.

I really, truly have heard "Scotchland"

No, really.
It's actually called Whisky ;)
It's irrelevant as it's a phonetic translation of the gaelic word. They're pronounced the same in both EIRE and the Highlands.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_whiskey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_whisky
 

Baneat

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Mr. Brightside said:
Baneat said:
Mr. Brightside said:
Baneat said:
Scotch is a weird one.

You will never have a legitimate reason to use the term.

Scot- or Scottish, and it's called Whiskey.

I really, truly have heard "Scotchland"

No, really.
It's actually called Whisky ;)
It's irrelevant as it's a phonetic translation of the gaelic word. They're pronounced the same in both EIRE and the Highlands.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_whiskey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_whisky
And?
 

Rex Fallout

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Shaoken said:
o_O

Some of those people are morons. Especially 36 and 38.

My most hated Americanism is really one that encompases them all; the fact that it seems like most Americans are completely incapable of understanding alternative ways of saying the same thing. For instance while my family was living in the states for three years, she was ordering food from a resturant to bring back home, but the cashier couldn't understand what she meant by "take away." She had to spend so much time explaining the entire concept of it until stumbling across the words "To Go" at which point the girl finally understood what she was trying to say.
I think you may have just run across a bit of a blonde. If I was a cashier and heard someone say they were taking their food away, I might raise an eyebrow but I would probably reply simply with, "Ok." It's not that complicated. People I am around don't talk like that but that doesn't mean I don't understand you.

To be honest a lot of these seem stupid. The language has changed over the years. And because you're nation was once an empire that covered A LOT of the world, now A LOT of different parts of the world are evolving it in different ways. I'm sure their are Africanisms. And Indianisms. But the US kind of replaced you in the, 'our influence covers the whole world' area, so maybe you just see us a lot more than anyone else.

And by the way NONE of you are speaking old english. King Arthur would be ashamed.
 

scott91575

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Wow, horrible list. Many of them are not American. Even more are simply wrong in the context they are stating them, or just bad grammar that is not an American thing. Add in the ones that I haven't even heard, and there is maybe a handful of things in there with any validity.
 

Jnat

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It depends on where you grew up and stuff but here's what I think. From sounding worst to sounding best: "zee" isn't how I learned english, so I think "zed" is the least worst option. :)
 

Sean951

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Mr. Brightside said:
I think winning-est comes from sports-commentators does it not, eg. the winning-est team of the year?
Yup, it's used pretty much exclusively in the sports world. Winning-est coach/team/player. I thought it sounded made up when I first heard it, but I've come to accept over the years.
 

JaceArveduin

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I have a legitimate question:

How the fuck do you get "kernal" out of "colonel". I know it might not be pronounced like that everywhere, but I'm rather curious to see if any of you know, and how that bit ended up in the language to begin with.
 

ImSkeletor

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Mibelle816 said:
How do you think we pronounce H? Aitch is what I would say. I live in Michigan, however, and cant speak for the south.

Hey, did you know that in the South they call all soft drinks "coke"? I guess I shouldnt complain because we call it "pop" here.
I know I can't speak for everyone in the South but where Im from and everywhere else in the south I have been it is called Soda. We only call the brand coca cola "coke".

OT: This list is pretty nitpicky and pathetic.
 

j0frenzy

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Mibelle816 said:
How do you think we pronounce H? Aitch is what I would say. I live in Michigan, however, and cant speak for the south.

Hey, did you know that in the South they call all soft drinks "coke"? I guess I shouldnt complain because we call it "pop" here.
This regional thing just has a lot to do with the Coca-Cola corporation being such a dominant force in the South. Being from Atlanta, I just default to coke products because that is all anyone serves in restaurants, except in the occasional national chain. I default to coke because that is all I get and all I like drinking. On the rare occurrence that I want a soda that is not a coke product, I say, "soda".
Want a couple of other fun colloquialisms in America?
The rainbow things you put on ice cream? Sprinkles of Jimmies?
When ordering said ice cream, is it a scoop or a dip?

I used to have a longer list that I collected when I worked in downtown Atlanta and met a lot of out of state people who were in town on business.
 

scott91575

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JaceArveduin said:
I have a legitimate question:

How the fuck do you get "kernal" out of "colonel". I know it might not be pronounced like that everywhere, but I'm rather curious to see if any of you know, and how that bit ended up in the language to begin with.
It is sort of a strange thing. When the word first appeared in English it was spelled coronel (not sure why). So it was pronounced similar to the spelling. Yet there were more formal writings that used colonel, which is closer the the origin of the word (Italian colonnella based on the latin word for column). Eventually colonel won out as the correct way of spelling it, but the pronunciation never changed.

Now, coronel wouldn't exactly come across as kernal either, but it explains the r. I believe at one it was closer to the phonetic sound (I know I have heard similar to that used today), but eventually became kernal.
 

Mr0llivand3r

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JacobShaftoe said:
Mr0llivand3r said:
JacobShaftoe said:
Mr0llivand3r said:
uh... alright. I've lived in America my entire life and the majority of those I've never heard. it sounds like those british guys just heard some the phrases on a television program and they instantly thought that they were American phrases that people use every day.

i've never used nor heard the term "winningest" in my life. whoever said that word out loud needs to be tied to a mast and whipped.

"shopping cart", "leverage", "a half hour", "train station", "issue"

honestly what's wrong with those phrases?
a cart is a cart. it carts things around.
leverage is just a difference in pronunciation.
a half hour... is a half of an hour.
a train station is a station for trains.
an issue is a dilemma.

why are those so wrong, Captain Brit? do they ruin your jolly good, time ol' chap?


one thing I will say is I'm glad that "soccer" is not on this list, because as much as Brits bag on us because we us the term "soccer", they fail to realize that "soccer" was derived in Britain.

don't believe me, here's some websites that can help explain why:

http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/news/its-football-to-you-soccer-to-me--fbintl_ro-soccervsfootball070110.html
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~pstone/why.html


I personally hate how we Americans have bastardized the English language, but to my brothers across the pond, let's be fair here. I don't speak English. I speak American, and it's sad that the division in our countries is only further widened by our difference in speaking patterns.

I'm sure if you came to America and started to chin wag with one of your mates, you would sound pretty shit too. Right oh'.
Methinks my fellow colonial descendant has missed the point here. They were talking about these words being used on their side of the pond by people who, ostensibly, speak the Queens English. As I said in my post, it's akin to having someone arbitrarily and randomly reassigning values of mathematical symbols. I'm sure you'll agree that British English and American English have vast grammatical differences? Assuming so, I'm sure you can see how using one within the other can only lead to confucion, chaos, and ultimately a fish in a bear suit terrorising downtown.
ahh i see. see, I'm american which automatically makes lazy. i didn't read the entire article i only read the list. if i had read the article i'm sure i would have noticed that detail.

and yes i whole-heartedly agree that English (I.E. what people in Europe speak) and American (the bastardization of said language) are dramatically different in both grammar and vocabulary usage, and they shouldn't mix because that just creates a cluster-fuck for everyone involved. but it still pains me that we as people are so similar and yet are cast apart by our differences, exemplified and personified simply by our language.

there are many British people who expect all Yanks to think and behave like George Bush, just as there are many Americans who expect all Brits to behave and think like either the Royal Family or David Copperfield.

although I must admit I would love to witness The Queen and Bush having a conversation together. that would be hilarious.
Playwright George Bernard Shaw claimed that "England and America are two countries divided by a common language." Couldn't agree more. A far better and easier to understand version of this issue is on http://www.riverdeep.net/current/2001/03/032001_language.jhtml . Gets the poit across a lot better than this one sided list, which shows people complaining without explaining the complaints to those who have no reason whatsoever to understand them. Easy to see how it could lead to some confusion.

As for being a lazy American, I'm reasonably sure it's purely my national pride saying this, but as an Aussie, I believe we collectively trump you guys on the laziness front. Either that or apathy. Not that I care...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IzDbNFDdP4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xle3UpK5bq8

enough said.

(i just wish the guy in the second video was less pretentious)
 

DarkRyter

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Where are they getting these?

Who the fuck says "deplane"?

Say what you will about us Americans, we are well aware that the de- suffix and plane are incompatible.
 

Sean951

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JaceArveduin said:
I have a legitimate question:

How the fuck do you get "kernal" out of "colonel". I know it might not be pronounced like that everywhere, but I'm rather curious to see if any of you know, and how that bit ended up in the language to begin with.
How do you get "leftenant" out of lieutenant?