50 Americanisms That Brits Apparently Hate

[Stefan van der Wal]

Hmmmm I'm probably guilty of at least 20 of these, but since i'm originally dutch I can't be arsed to make a problem out of it. :O

 

[Cazza]

Two not on this list

Cell phone - Mobile phone
Airplane - Aeroplane

When I hear a phrase I don't use like "do the math". I just change it in my head to what I use.

 

[Exosus]

I feel like this was a joke for most people. 99% of them don't even make sense...

 

[Macrobstar]

I like some British television shows like Doctor Who or the IT crowd, but I still have a hard time listening to the characters speak or taking the characters seriously (especially the bad guys). I could easily compose a list of British sayings that are equally annoying. for example I have never understood calling an elevator a lift, unless of course British elevators don't go down.

You can lift something down, you can't elevate something down

 

[Macrobstar]

For real. Americans need to quit messing with English.

It's 'thou', not 'you'
It's 'ioy', not 'joy'
And who gave you the right to get rid of æ and Þ?

We haven't used those since the middle ages, long before america was colonised by brits

 

[EmzOLV]

I hardly think this would be a real list of mannerisms or 'americanisms' which Brits hate. Especially as I don't really feel bothered by any of them.

It's a list compiled of random people selecting one phrase they can't seem to stand. That one person is hardly representative of the rest of the UK (in my opinion).

But whatever, the list seems stupid to me! I'm sure there are a lot of things that we Brits say that the US can't stand. Or any other country for that matter.

I only just read this thread so I'm probably way behind but seemed like I wanted to get involved haha.

 

[Macrobstar]

1. If Steve has a more efficient way to ask casually I'd love to hear it.

4. This is a useful contraction. Simon needs to relax.

5. I've never heard this before, but disembark sounds like a good alternative to me

6. This is also a contraction designed to sound casual- and less pretentious than most of these complaints.

10. Yes, physicality is a real word. Outside of France language is dynamic.

11. Transport is usually used as a verb; transportation is always a noun. My opinion is that transport acts as a very awkward noun, the same way that forks make poor spoons.

12. You say poh-tay-toe, I say po-tahh-toe, now let's all get along!

14. Relax, not everyone is as pretentious as Graham is.

15. It's a word that people say when they want to sound casual, and not like a stiff-necked English teacher.

16. Again, a variant for sounding relaxed, rather than formal. It's called dialect.

17. The term originated in the 1950s, as a hairstyle called the "bang-off"s. It is nothing new. Even the Beatles referred to themselves as having bangs.

18. Sure, why not? I mean, limiting the variability of language is double-plus ungood!

21. A heads-up is what you offer someone you care about when a piece of news might clobber someone if they contemplate their navel when it arrives. If you didn't care about their wholeness of body you might think the collision looked pretty funny.

22. Do you have another suggestion? I didn't think so.

23. Again, a useful contraction. Chris needs to smoke a bowl.

24. Again, somebody young wants to sound casual and friendly rather than stiff-necked and formal. Relax Simon.

29. Fortnightly? Really? In your world has King Henry the 8th divorced his first wife yet?

36. You're assuming "maths" is an appropriate contraction of "mathematics". Not all contractions retain the character of their parent words. Again, dialect.

37. An Americano is a cup of water percolated through espresso coffee grounds; what you want is a cup of water percolated through non-espresso grounds. When you say that you hate having to order this way it is better to say that you hate your own ignorance.

40. This can be obnoxious if the corruption is intended; common nomenclature uses it ironically. In the latter case it can feel friendly and funny. But I sympathize with you in the former circumstance.

41. I remember a friend of mine told me he once dated a Newfie. He was headed out for awhile, and she asked him, "where you to?" He replied, "I'm right f*n here!" (paraphrased for the forums)

42. Yeah, no thanks. Assuming you mean this in terms of rhetoric, period is a concise, definitive method for delivering emphasis. "Full stop" is rhetorically weaker.

44. Any other ideas to describe a program with a definite, recurring frequency with intermittent variability? Then why is a metaphor that compares that program to a physical phenomenon a bad thing?

45. This is only a problem because pervasiveness has rendered "issue" a cliche. With an articulate orator it can still be funny.

48. Actually, I would say it that way. Otherwise the sentence fragment lacks the complex predicate. Maybe your dialect is just more casual than mine?

49. Uhh, what? You have a problem with an impatient imperative?

50. This sentence fragment is meant to be ironic; you even explained that in your criticism, Jonathan. A person says they could care less when she actually couldn't, and that she cares so little that she won't even articulate herself properly. Do you listen when other people speak?


Honestly, most of these complaints are bad.

The bad because there not to be taken seriously, britain is the land of the politically correct you really think we'd get away with writing a list that slanders an entire nation? on the BBC?

 

[Swny Nerdgasm]

Deplane?

I have never heard someone say deplane ever, anywhere.

Hervé Villechaize

 

[MrFluffy-X]

I just hate when americans ask me to speak english...¬¬

 

[E.Blackadder]

We need to end this now. GUYS. Stop taking it seriously and laugh at it.
Don't argue about your laughing either.

 

[BNSNightshade]

some of these are kind of true, but most of them are quite funny overreactions xD

 

[Chris8016]

I think the Brits just don't like us butchering their precious language...

Which is ironic as Americans use language that is more similar to old English than us Brits. So it is in fact us that have butchered our language.

 

[Moeez]

Has anyone posted this?

Stephen Fry is clearly against all this pedantic bullshit, and as a Brit I feel ashamed that these idiots take so much umbrage with words most Americans never even use e.g. "ridiculosity".

 

[Zagzag]

About half of these do genuinely annoy me. Does that make me a bad person?

 

[Chris8016]

I agree with Fry, if you're the type of person that has to complain about language in this way, then clearly you're too stupid to have developed the supposedly instinctive ability to understand language based around the context of its use.

 

[Fig_Hunter]

And people continue to feed the trolls. Again, let them vent, people, all that can really be said on this topic has been said already.

 

[pilf]

Wow, I'm British and I find a lot of these ridiculously stupid. It just shows the problems English faces in this coutry from overly prescriptive users of the language.

 

[fragmaster09]

They missed the worst one of all.

"I'm sick." when they mean "I'm ill."
Sick means sick in the head, twisted, mentally disturbed. As in the sentence: "You kill kittens for fun?! You're a sick person!"

No exceptions. Ever.

37. I hate the fact I now have to order a "regular Americano". What ever happened to a medium sized coffee? Marcus Edwards, Hurst Green
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14201796

I fail to see how this is a problem that Americans caused. Nobody calls coffee "Americano" in America

I work for Starbucks, a global company, and an Americano is a shot of espresso diluted with water, not bean coffee.

Yes, because as everyone knows espresso is made from the coffee fruit.

also, in british slang, 'sick' means 'great'/'awesome', ah well...

 

[fragmaster09]

I don't know what the hell's wrong with saying "train station."

that's been used since i was born, i was taught it, 99.99% of us use it, i thought of it as regular english, one of the many things that the F***ING CULTURES SHARES... but some idiots decided to whine to the bbc, who wasted tax-payers' money making an article about it...

 

[fragmaster09]

I agree with Fry, if you're the type of person that has to complain about language in this way, then clearly you're too stupid to have developed the supposedly instinctive ability to understand language based around the context of its use.

i can turn that instinct off... like when an american says 'bucks', i feel the need to act all innocent and ask them why hey are using shotgun cartriges as money