50 Americanisms That Brits Apparently Hate

[Lord Penney]

Since when was the word "Mathsematics" spelled with an "s" after the "t" ?

It's an abbreviation, like you said, so the s should be understood and abbreviated.

Accentually, old bean, it is ALWAYS "maths" or "mathematics" across the pond.

OT: This list is rather accurate (accept for the fellow on 22, he needs a good hiding!), I must admit that number 50 does test the stiffness of my upper lip!
Furthermore, what about 'erb? I'm surprised that didn't crop up.

 

[Mikodite]

ON 44.

A TV 'series' refers to all the episodes long term TV show (with a series being longer term whereas a miniseries is only one season long). A 'season' refers to the regular episodes within a given year, named for the habit of rotating TV viewing along seasons of the year so the TV viewing audience always has something new to watch and not always reruns.

So I would be right to say the first 'season' of Matt Smith in the Doctor Who TV 'series' was the fifth one in the reboot, and 'series' to not confuse it with TV specials outside of the regular seasons, a TV made movie, and whatever horrible book series with bullshit extended universe no one cares about.

Ok, that out of my system, I should point out that 24/7 is shorthand for '24 hours a day, 7 days a week' and 'taking it out' versus 'taking it away' mean the same fucking thing.

Jesus, focus on the ones that are blatant lacky-speak, like 'irregardless'.

 

[Herbsk]

I have to say I have never heard the word MATHs used in my life - it seems wrong for some reason to even see it in print...

 

[Speedwagon]

I don't think I understand #46.

 

[Platypus540]

As an American, I can tie most of the bad ones to a few causes:
1) American kids/teenagers are really f*cking stupid. Seriously. It's embarrassing.
2) Politicians and corporate bigwigs never, ever say anything normally. Their words are completely replaced with mindless jargon.
3) A couple of those are used in a tongue-in-cheek manner or are just American words.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

So much comme

 

[QuietBrilliance]

I'm English and I think I speak for the majority when I say that none of the things on that list really bother me, in fact I'm guilty of at least 20 of those things myself.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Meh, Apple Pie and Baseball were invented in England. England's favourite dish is Chicken Tikka Masala, which is Scottish. The French have le shopping and le parking.

It's all just cultural differences. It's only offensive when you use one culture's values for describing anothers.

 

[0986875533423]

Holy shit. I'm like, england's biggest pedant and even I think a few of these are a step too far.

Okay, agree with 1, 2, 3...

4. Using 24/7 rather than "24 hours, 7 days a week" or even just plain "all day, every day". Simon Ball, Worcester

Not really, that doesn't bother me very much.

5. The one I can't stand is "deplane", meaning to disembark an aircraft, used in the phrase "you will be able to deplane momentarily". TykeIntheHague, Den Haag, Holland

I have never ever heard this used, but it sounds utterly moronic.

agree with 6, 7 is not misleading but is redundant and silly-sounding, 8 is unfortunate (because fanny means something much ruder here) but you can't really blame them for that. I have no idea what 9 means but I hate it. 10: Yes it is, but an ugly and unnecessary one.

11. Transportation. What's wrong with transport? Greg Porter, Hercules, CA, US

THIS. Also causation, taxation and advancement. All stupid. All redundant.

12. The word I hate to hear is "leverage". Pronounced lev-er-ig rather than lee-ver -ig. Gareth Wilkins, Leicester

That's a problem with the pronunciation of its root word lever isn't it? But yes, irritating.

Haven't really noticed 13 that much. Agree with 14.

15. What kind of word is "gotten"? It makes me shudder. Julie Marrs, Warrington

Unfortunately, a perfectly respectable and actually quite archaic one. The Americans seem just to have dredged it up, liked it and put it back into common use. It's still there in phrases such as "Ill-gotten gains" though.

16. "I'm good" for "I'm well". That'll do for a start. Mike, Bridgend, Wales

Technically yes, but I think you're being a little too picky here.

Agree with 17, 18, 19 is silly. 20 is annoying but tolerable.

1. A "heads up". For example, as in a business meeting. Lets do a "heads up" on this issue. I have never been sure of the meaning. R Haworth, Marlborough

Neither have I. I imagine it's a sporting reference we don't get.

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

I don't think that's an Americanism. Yes, I would prefer if people called it "Railway Station" but I can live with "Train station" quite happily.

Agree with 23, 24 is very annoying.

25. "Normalcy" instead of "normality" really irritates me. Tom Gabbutt, Huddersfield

Agreed. There was no reason for this word to be created at all, however long ago that was, it's ugly and it needs to die.

Agree with 26, 27 (though uncommon), disagree with 28, I think that sounds quite civilised.

29. I'm a Brit living in New York. The one that always gets me is the American need to use the word bi-weekly when fortnightly would suffice just fine. Ami Grewal, New York

Agreed, but bear in mind they've removed "fortnight" from their lexes so it's not surprising (although they are the only english-derivative language country to do this so the Aussies will also give them strange looks, among others.)

30. I hate "alternate" for "alternative". I don't like this as they are two distinct words, both have distinct meanings and it's useful to have both. Using alternate for alternative deprives us of a word. Catherine, London

Yes. Collapsing variety of meaning is never a good thing.

Never heard of 31, but it sounds stupid. Not sure what 32 is on about. 33 is more of a business attitude problem than a language one.

34. The most annoying Americanism is "a million and a half" when it is clearly one and a half million! A million and a half is 1,000,000.5 where one and a half million is 1,500,000. Gordon Brown, Coventry

A technicality, but sloppy speech nonetheless.

Agree with 35.

36. Surely the most irritating is: "You do the Math." Math? It's MATHS. Michael Zealey, London

YES. It's MATHS. The full word is MATHEMATICS, which is plural, hence the short form should be as well.

37 is a problem with the coffee culture and taste-dead morons who drink coffee, not language. 38 is stupid.

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

I'd like to point out that even though he's right about the language use, the Scots and the Irish have invaded and occupied each other so much that they are essentially the same race. So it is possible, but is so insignificant that only an American flaunting their above-average geographical knowledge a bit too much would actually say it.

40.I am increasingly hearing the phrase "that'll learn you" - when the English (and more correct) version was always "that'll teach you". What a ridiculous phrase! Tabitha, London

I'm not entirely sure this is an Americanism. It sounds like a Londoner phrase to me. In any case, it's sloppy grammar.

Agree with 41 and 42, what the fuck is 43, never heard that and don't want to. I never use "Season" for a TV series myself but I don't object if others do.

45. Having an "issue" instead of a "problem". John, Leicester

Yes, this is wrong. "Issue" does not mean "problem", it means "neutral topic of discussion". I solemnly believe that this misuse has been started entirely by the leaders of weight loss groups for the terminally insecure.

46. I hear more and more people pronouncing the letter Z as "zee". Not happy about it! Ross, London

Don't worry, we still have the New Zealanders and the Canadians' relaxed manner on our side. Zed is not gone yet.

Never heard of 47, but it's stupid.

48. "I got it for free" is a pet hate. You got it "free" not "for free". You don't get something cheap and say you got it "for cheap" do you? Mark Jones, Plymouth

I don't think this is an Americanism, I think it's just a regional difference. I always learnt (eh? eh?) that "Free" was the Americanism.

Fuck 49, that needs to die. And:

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

I do wish Americans would remember why this phrase has become like that (hint: It's a story about laziness) and fix it.

Oh and for those 'merkins wondering, the reason we hate it when you do this is because we used to be the strongest colonial power in the world quite recently, which means a lot of our culture is still built around that. Because of that we can detect imperialism in others quite quickly, and are extraordinarily resistant to it.

I mean seriously, if you want a go at building an empire because you didn't get a turn last time that's fine, but fucking SAY SO. None of this pervasive brainwashing media shit, start marching into people's countries and saying "we live here now", give us something concrete.

As long as our respective media keep believing that English and American are compatible languages, we will hate you and your culture.

 

[C.G.B.S]

Not really an Americanism but what irritates me is when people pronounce often as "off Ten" when it should be pronounce more like offen.

 

[Sprong]

Dear every American ever,

You cannot do one mathematic. It's always plural. MathS. MATHSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Ahh, I'm glad to get that out of my system.

OT: Many of these seem needlessly pedantic to me, but THIS one is my sworn enemy:

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]

I'm so, so glad to hear this one pointed out - it's really the only one that actually annoys me, because it really does mean the exact opposite of what the person is trying to say. It just shows that the speaker is clearly putting no thought into the actual meaning and sense of their words ...

 

[fragmaster09]

what annoys me when i say it is English English, but i say it out of necessity because the majority of the people on here are American and so class American English as 'english', which also annoys me...
ah, well... i'll carry on so as not to confuse people with my English English... damn

 

[SanguineScale]

Does Britain have anything to do with making both of sentences gramatically correct?:

The data is correct.
The data are correct.

As a practitioner of math and science, I come across the latter quite often and have slowly made it seem correct in my mind, but it took quite a while

 

[macfluffers]

24/7 has 4 fewer syllables than "twenty-four hours, seven days a week". Chalk this one up to Americans being lazy or wanting to be efficient. Take your pick, according to your bias.

Also, "bi-weekly" is a wonderful phrase that makes sense and doesn't sound like it would only be said in a Shakespearean play, unlike some words I know.

Admittedly, the last one is indeed backwards. I don't know when the "not" got dropped from the phrase.

But, I've noticed that some Brits assume that since English was born in England, their forms are the only correct ones. American English has actually in many ways been more conservative in its grammar and lexicon, maintaining many original constructions that were lost in British English. This happens often when dialects arise following the spread of a language...I am told Quebec French is the same way as compared to the French of Europe.

I like you.

 

[Barley Seed]

A reasonably good list. Wish those silly Yanks wouldn't butcher our glorious language so much.

 

[-Dragmire-]

I'm an American and I hate the phrase "I could care less" too.. I couldn't understand it when I was little because it means the opposite of what it says.. -_-

I've said an expanded version of that.

"I could care less, but at this point, it would take alot of effort due to how little I care right now."

oh, and when you ask people to clarify what they mean, usually the answer is "You know what I mean!", as if it's your fault.

 

[Sprong]

bi-weekly - I woulda though that meant, twice a week, but it means once every two weeks?

It can mean either. Dumb, eh? That's why "fortnightly" is awesome ? if you're consistent, you can then use bi-weekly to mean "twice a week" always, and be clear about it. Other people might not notice (or care), but I know I'm doing my bit for the clarity of the English language. *contented sigh*

Captcha: two cents worth. Hah! Although it should be "two cents' worth". I think I can excuse a captcha its punctuation ... this time.

 

[Poisoni]

"That'll learn you" is not a Americanism. 'T'is t' standard in t'north to butcher t'language.

 

[BoogieManFL]

Several I've not even heard of myself, being a 31 year old American. Many others I've rarely witnessed. Most are just complaining because it's different. different. Well, we're two different countries there are bound to be differences.

And as for shopping cart, that's the proper usage. They ARE carts. They are NOT trollies. Look up the meaning of the words. Quite a few of those are just phrases or idioms and are situational, as such aren't meant in the strictly literal meaning of the words. It's based on the context of the sentence/discussion.

 

[macfluffers]

A reasonably good list. Wish those silly Yanks wouldn't butcher our terrible language so much.

I fixed that for you.

In all seriousness, English is a terrible language in all forms by all measures. The Romantic languages are much more intuitive, and Far Eastern languages are much better at compressing text. English? That's a mishmash of Germanic, Norse, and Celtic languages, with borrowed phrases and words by the truckload from Latin and Greek. It's a total mess with inconsistent rules and no advantages over other languages, except that it unfortunately is the most widely spoken tongue in the world.