50 Americanisms That Brits Apparently Hate

[Danny Ocean]

Hmmm. It's a real word according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gotten

There's no chance I'd teach it to my English students, and neither would the other teachers here. It's too irregular an irregular. It would confuse them to no end, just as teaching them any other kind of redundant slang would. They can get by perfectly well with have and got.

Incidentally, the amount of American rage in this thread is both hilarious and exasperating. Only an idiot would feel roused to anger by this list.

 

[Fooz]

im english and some of those were just plain stupid, how could they annoy anyone, like the regular coffee thing, who cares?

but some i most certainly agree with

 

[Bobbity]

Haha, not all of these are necessarily even American; some of them are just prevalent there. Seems like it's just an excuse to *****.

 

[snowpuppy]

Yeah.... this video sums up my thoughts on the issue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om7O0MFkmpw

 

[SoulSalmon]

Also, I don't really understand:

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

What else is it supposed to be called? Just....a station? I don't know...

This, I cannot fathom what else you want to call it...
And searching Google for "what's wrong with saying Train Station" brings up this thread and a tentative explanation of "Railway Station"... what? for an area that stations railways?
A Train Station stations trains, railways are what they travel on...

Edit: Also can we stop with the hate for "I could care less"? Some of us legitimately COULD care less when we use the damn phrase, meaning if I don't care at all, I would say something different.
In fact, by so much as GIVING a response I have already shown some level of giving a damn, if I didn't care at ALL, I wouldn't be replying.

Besides, it's mostly the tone of voice that gives away the intention, words alone aren't the be-all and end-all of communication.

 

[HHammond]

I'm pretty sure this is meant to be tongue-in-cheek. The American language has always been a bit of a joke in England.

The only two things I dislike is when you take a word with an already valid pronouciation and just butcher it (PATRON-ise? WHAT!?) and your inability to use the letter u. What's wrong with u? What did u ever do to you?

 

[Scarim Coral]

I guess those people in the list must of been to the US alot for I have no problems mention in the list (I hven't met any US people since the last time I went over there any years ago).

 

[Ris]

Well, the article is about Americanisms seeping into our language here in the UK. They're not whining at Americans, they're whining at Brits who seem to think they're American; and in that, I agree.

You guys can say whatever you like, but when one of my fellow countrymen tells me that they "guess it's time to go" I want to hit them about the head with my shoe, yelling "You SUPPOSE! SUPPOSE SUPPOSE SUPPOSE!"

 

[LordFisheh]

As a Brit, I'm absolutely fine with most of these...

Er, I mean... I say! How dreadfully common!

 

[Gromril]

Fuck me guys, im from worcester and I use some of these, we are a nation of accents for shits sake

 

[Dalek Caan]

Funny read. On other note I don't like it when someone with a heavy American accent says quid. Sorry but it just sounds a bit wrong. Stick to pounds, you can do that.

"17. "Bangs" for a fringe of the hair." That is thee best one there.

 

[Scrustle]

Some of these I feel the same about, especially the last. Some are totally fine, they're not really Americanisms at all as far as I'm aware (yes, transportation and physicality are actually words). And others I've never heard of, but if I did hear them I think I would be equally disgusted. I mean "deplane"? Who could ever listen to someone say that and think "yes, that sounds like a real word" when they hear it, regardless of where they are from?

 

[Dense_Electric]

Pretty stupid list to be honest (and yes, I get that it was supposed to be at least partially satirical). Most of them are either grammatically incorrect things that people don't even say here ('here' being the US) or things that simply have different names in different parts of the world. It really doesn't bother me when Brits say "maths" instead of "math," or "full stop" instead of "period." Different part of the world, different terms for different things, cry me a river.

 

[Jim 028]

Britain has a lot of vocal pedants when it comes to language, people who complain that a '9 items or less' line in a supermarket should read '9 items or fewer' or rage against the use of the greengrocers' apostrophes. It is usually these same people who complain about the use of Americanisms.

Language is about communicating and making yourself understood, and every Americanism that I have noticed taking root in the British version of English has won its place on the merits that as a statement it is clear and direct and understandable.

Yes deplane is a made up word and we already have disembark, but you know who else made up a lot of new words and phrases? William Shakespeare, many of which are still in use today.

Spoiler

all that glitters isn't gold
barefaced
be all and end all
break the ice
breathe one's last
brevity is the soul of wit
catch a cold
clothes make the man
disgraceful conduct
dog will have his day
eat out of house and home
elbowroom
fair play
fancy-free
flaming youth
foregone conclusion
frailty, thy name is woman
give the devil his due
green eyed monster
heart of gold
heartsick
hot-blooded
housekeeping
it smells to heaven
it's Greek to me
lackluster
leapfrog
live long day
long-haired
method in his madness
mind's eye
ministering angel
more sinned against than sinning
naked truth
neither a borrower nor a lender be
one fell swoop
pitched battle
primrose path
strange bedfellows
the course of true love never did run smooth
the lady doth protest too much
the milk of human kindness
to thine own self be true
too much of a good thing
towering passion
wear one's heart on one's sleeve
witching time of the night
accommodation
aerial
amazement
apostrophe
assassination
auspicious
baseless
bloody
bump
castigate
changeful
clangor
control (noun)
countless
courtship
critic
critical
dexterously
dishearten
dislocate
dwindle
eventful
exposure
fitful
frugal
generous
gloomy
gnarled
hurry
impartial
inauspicious
indistinguishable
invulnerable
lapse
laughable
lonely
majestic
misplaced
monumental
multitudinous
obscene
palmy
perusal
pious
premeditated
radiance
reliance
road
sanctimonious
seamy
sportive
submerge
suspicious

Language evolves and changes constantly. Stephen Fry said it best.

 

[Versuvius]

I agree with the list. Stop butchering my language like you butcher my media! Who saw the US IT Crowd? Or the US Red Dwarf pilot? It's that! But with language.

 

[blasmeister]

For the Americans wondering about the shopping trolley thing, we don't use trolley to mean those electric bus-type things on rails, we call them trams, so there's no ambiguity when we refer to trollies, we mean the thing you put your shopping in.

A bit like the jam/jelly/jello distinctions - makes communicating across the pond a little difficult at times. And it makes 'peanut butter and jelly' sandwiches sound rather less tasty to us than it would to you

And I'm glad someone posted the David Mitchell youtube link already, as I have no clue how to embed the darn thing could care less??! *minirage*

 

[Odbarc]

There should be a list of things Americans hate about Canada.

 

[Rofl monsta]

I hope Europeans don't see the populace of America by television, and for these grammatical mistakes, it's just what we've been raised hearing, so it's all we know.

 

[Versuvius]

So i found a quote from the Queen: "Dear Mr. Jobs: There's no such thing as 'american english', just english.... and mistakes"

 

[THE_NAMSU]

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.

That isn't because their American, that's because they're mentally retarded.