50 Americanisms That Brits Apparently Hate

[tavelkyosoba]

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?

 

[Sandernista]

Most of these are just nit-picking, and being overly stubborn, but the only one That would actually bug me is number 39.

39. My favourite one was where Americans claimed their family were "Scotch-Irish". This of course it totally inaccurate, as even if it were possible, it would be "Scots" not "Scotch", which as I pointed out is a drink. James, Somerset

As someone who lives on the island of Ireland it is very annoying when Americans (It seems to be only Americans, I've never encountered anyone else from another country who claims to be Irish, or indeed a different nationality other than the one they are currently living in!) fail to distinguish between their ancestory and their nationality.
You are American. You live in America, are grounded in American culture, read the American papers, listen to the American news, are ruled by American laws, etc. etc. You may have Irish/Italian/Maori Tribesman/whatever ancestory, and that's fine, in fact it's pretty cool if your relatives used to live in Ireland, Obama's part Irish, who would have thought it? but as much as you want it to that does not make you Irish.

Just a pet peeve of mine, I know there are many people who don't really care, but when you've lived all your life in Scotland, are visiting America and are told by someone who has never left America, and knows nothing about life in Scotland other than what pop-culture and Braveheart have told them about it that they are more Scottish than you because their Granmother emigrated from Scotland. (This actually happened to a friend of mine.) Then it gets a bit ridiculous.

Oh, and "could care less" No, that just doesn't make sense America. Argh!

Ethnicity is really important in American culture. Irish immigrants have been historically discriminated against.

Spoiler

The way certain ethnic groups have been separated, and discriminated against, is remembered. That's why many American's value knowing, and stating, where their ancestors came from. I'm Irish, Filipino, and Lithuanian. My nationality is American, but my ethnicity matters just as much.

 

[E.Blackadder]

I think rather than calling it British or American english we should say 'so and so's use of english'. It has yet to develop into two separate languages.

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.

The very idea of 'British English' disgusts me, english is english, you can have 'American English' but other than that english is english.

How can you have American English but just plain old English any other time? New Zealand English has it's own little quirks, as does Australian.

 

[Raykuza]

If it's not train station, then what is it?
Train town?
Train land?
Train world?
The train zone?
The trainery?
Deadly Rails: Revenge of the Trains?
Platform 9 3/4?
Oh, it's platform isn't it? I literally just figured that out.

Can I just say that I find the word "snogging" to be an absolutely vile word that is in no way indicative of its meaning?

 

[GigaHz]

I'm neither American or British and I like the fact that there are different takes on the same language. To say that one is more 'proper' than the other is absolutely pointless. You could make up grammatical arguments, syntax arguments, and any other language focused criticism, but it ultimately boils down to aesthetics and cultural bias.

I think it's silly that some Americans pronounce Roof (Ru-OOF) as (RUH-FF), simply because 'oo' should never sound like an 'uh' to any degree. But I doubt that those who are guilty of doing it would ever change their manner of speaking. I also think its silly that Brits say 'Coupe' as 'Coupé' whether or not the accent is present. The proper french way would be to pronounce 'Coupe' as (K-OOP) and 'Coupé' as (K-OOP-AY). But good luck getting the brits to change their ways as well.

It's all semantics and both sides are just as guilty at butchering their own, and borrowed language. You can get off your high horses now.

 

[WhySoElitist]

Some of them seem to be a bit over-reactive to small phrases. So what, you said cart instead of trolley once, how is that a reason to be digusted with yourself?

That's the problem with us Brits, we over-react

On Topic- I agree with a lot of these like Alluminium is not alluminum etc. But i couldn't care less if sombody says "I got it for free"

i got it for free makes more sense anyway, you wouldn't say i got it $4.50 you would say i got it FOR $4.50.

 

[dashiz94]

"Gotten" is a real word though? It's the past participial of got.

38. My worst horror is expiration, as in "expiration date". Whatever happened to expiry?
This made me die of laughter. I facepalm'd myself when I read this. They mean the same thing but different ways of saying it. (Right? I hope.)

"Gotten" isn't a word. To use it in the past you would have to say "I just got etc."

And really, it's an awful word to hear. (This coming from an American.) Seriously, say it out loud. I feel literally dumb when I say it.

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

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

Well I'll be damned. It just sounds weird because, from what I gather, it's one of those Shakespearean words that just sounds silly when used today. Then again Merriam-Webster added "meh" to the English vernacular so I will still consider "gotten" to not be a word.

 

[strobe]

Some of them I actually agree with, because they're grammatical errors (regardless of the region). The rest, though, is more "It's OUR language, they should have to talk like us!".

I think we stopped using "fortnight" over here in the US by the end of the 19th century; the same as "score" (twenty). And "maths"? Isn't that a plural?

Yes, yes it is. I reckon "maths" should be a plural because it's an abbreviation of "mathematics" which is an abbreviation of "mathematical sciences". Took this from my experience but I probably have more than most. Oh, here's an irrefutable source too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematics

Yeah well ... I don't like that they weasel an extra letter into aluminum.

Aluminum isn't a thing, its definitely not a metal that people make foils out of. Hell I'd be happy to spell sulfur incorrectly (that's what is accepted internationally [by the IUPAC]) if the USA would spell aluminium correctly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium

(I love this spell checking because it agrees with sulphur and aluminium)

 

[Declaro]

The one I seriously don't get is 40, because the way the people around me use it, the joke is that it's grammatically incorrect.

Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if some dumb asses say it thinking it is correct...

 

[Kukakkau]

Lot of these are valid but some are jsut stupid "24/7" is fine and easier, "can I get a" is fine, it's polite and "train station"... there isn't an alternative for that. Unless it was London in which case it's the "tube station"

Gift certificate instead of gift voucher annoys me, especially when it takes 10mins to explain to the shop worker the simple concept for him to finally understand... Then say they have family from somewhere in Scotland too... they live in Wales

 

[WhySoElitist]

I think rather than calling it British or American english we should say 'so and so's use of english'. It has yet to develop into two separate languages.

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.

The very idea of 'British English' disgusts me, english is english, you can have 'American English' but other than that english is english.

How can you have American English but just plain old English any other time? New Zealand English has it's own little quirks, as does Australian.

it is called english because it is from england. "american english should be called american.
captcha: befflehem exorcismic

 

[Something Amyss]

Some of them seem to be a bit over-reactive to small phrases. So what, you said cart instead of trolley once, how is that a reason to be digusted with yourself?

It's kind of like when you say "the worst" to something trivial. "Stubbing your toe is the worst."

I know cancer survivors who would disagree.

Not only is the list nitpicky, but not all of them are really Americanisms. I've heard too many Brits say "wait on" to take the blame for that.

 

[Alexnader]

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".

parcell, gon' say del go up de saw say

 

[Febel]

Oh look, british people writing into a newspaper to complain. *Yawn* Most of these are overreactions but in their defense if I ever heard someone say "deplane" I'd be forced to punch them in the neck. On principle.

 

[Moeez]

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[/spoiler]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14201796

Time to bring this graph out to explain:
http://25.media.tumblr.com/b9vfl4b63qupdex5jxaD3wEMo1_400.jpg

 

[Arafiro]

AND HOW THE HELL DO THEY PRONOUNCE 'Z'.

Zed.

Complaining about 24/7, shopping cart, take-out, season and issue is just stupid.
And seriously, fortnightly?! What is this, the 1500s?

Bi-weekly just sounds silly, why wouldn't you say fortnightly?
Also, I've pretty much never heard anyone call a trolley a "shopping cart" and would be confused if somebody did. Same with take-out, if somebody said "I'm going to go get a take-out" I'd be rather confused at first.

But, just to reiterate, it's a bloody shopping trolley. It's not a cart.

 

[GigaHz]

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[/spoiler]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14201796

Time to bring this graph out to explain:
http://25.media.tumblr.com/b9vfl4b63qupdex5jxaD3wEMo1_400.jpg

This response wins.

 

[DJ_Bunce]

Bless you guys - I'm a Brit, teaching English as a foreign language, and while we cringe at spelling "colour" without the "u", you will do the same reading it with the "u" in.

If you guys wanna say "my bad", you go crazy. If we wanna say "i'm goin chippy", then let the northerns saying it go crazy.

We really don't care all that much - in my experience its the Americans that seem to be irked by it the most. I can't go anywhere without SOMEONE taking the piss out of my diction or dialect.

Relax people, diversity happens. Live with it

 

[GigaHz]

AND HOW THE HELL DO THEY PRONOUNCE 'Z'.

Zed.

Complaining about 24/7, shopping cart, take-out, season and issue is just stupid.
And seriously, fortnightly?! What is this, the 1500s?

Bi-weekly just sounds silly, why wouldn't you say fortnightly?
Also, I've pretty much never heard anyone call a trolley a "shopping cart" and would be confused if somebody did. Same with take-out, if somebody said "I'm going to go get a take-out" I'd be rather confused at first.

But, just to reiterate, it's a bloody shopping trolley. It's not a cart.

This has been discussed in the thread.

Bi-weekly is twice a week. Fortnightly is once every two weeks. Completely different definition, both are appropriate for their given context.

Take out and Take away both convey the same meaning. You are taking OUT the food to eat it away from the restaurant, or at home. You are taking AWAY the food for the same purpose.

Funny that if you google trolley definition, the second meaning below the first result is 'Shopping cart'. Explain that one haha.

 

[rreetteepp]

I would just like to say as a british person i have no problem with any of those... well the "i could care less" thing is a bit odd but i wouldent get angry about it. its not british who are saying these things its finikey annoying people who just happen to be british lol