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What's your most irritating 'Americanism'?
35 Answers
What's yours?
Particularly ones that have become embraced by UK.
Mine:
"snuck" as in "He just snuck in" (sneaked).
"dove" - not the bird', but 'dove' (rhyming with 'cove') as in "He stood next to the pool and DOVE in.
"mad" meaning angry - in American English, and "mean" meaning unfriendly - in American English.
(As opposed to 'insane' and 'stingy' in ENGLISH English) both seem to have become accepted as proper definitions by today's youth ...yee-arrgh!
..and now a phrase: "That is SO not good" ...aagh!
Have you heard them say "solder"? there's a good one - hilarious. Just go to Youtube and look it up.
They say "SODDER" - I kid you not (pardon the Americanism) even though they still spell it "solder".
As for the pronunciations of "foreign" car marques, now just don't get me started dudes!
"Hyundai" becomes "HUNDY"
"Jaguar" is "Jag-wire"
Aw, whatever man, I'm outta here.
Particularly ones that have become embraced by UK.
Mine:
"snuck" as in "He just snuck in" (sneaked).
"dove" - not the bird', but 'dove' (rhyming with 'cove') as in "He stood next to the pool and DOVE in.
"mad" meaning angry - in American English, and "mean" meaning unfriendly - in American English.
(As opposed to 'insane' and 'stingy' in ENGLISH English) both seem to have become accepted as proper definitions by today's youth ...yee-arrgh!
..and now a phrase: "That is SO not good" ...aagh!
Have you heard them say "solder"? there's a good one - hilarious. Just go to Youtube and look it up.
They say "SODDER" - I kid you not (pardon the Americanism) even though they still spell it "solder".
As for the pronunciations of "foreign" car marques, now just don't get me started dudes!
"Hyundai" becomes "HUNDY"
"Jaguar" is "Jag-wire"
Aw, whatever man, I'm outta here.
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America has been a separate nation for centuries, so why would they not have developed words in different ways from ours? Lots of our own words have changed over time...twelfth used to be twelft with no final 'h', just as one simple example...so why can't they say dove rather than dived?
Mad was used to mean angry in British English before the Pilgrim Fathers even set sail for America!
The earliest recorded uses of the word, solder, in British English in the 1300s spell it as soudur or sowder...with no letter 'L' at all. Maybe the Americans are - as they frequently are despite British whingeing - closer to being right.
Brits call Volkswagens just that...ie with a 'v' and a 'w' sound, but in German these are pronounced 'f' and 'v' respectively giving, in effect, folksvagen.
In fact, I don't really see that you have a case of ANY sort, Answerprancer.
Mad was used to mean angry in British English before the Pilgrim Fathers even set sail for America!
The earliest recorded uses of the word, solder, in British English in the 1300s spell it as soudur or sowder...with no letter 'L' at all. Maybe the Americans are - as they frequently are despite British whingeing - closer to being right.
Brits call Volkswagens just that...ie with a 'v' and a 'w' sound, but in German these are pronounced 'f' and 'v' respectively giving, in effect, folksvagen.
In fact, I don't really see that you have a case of ANY sort, Answerprancer.
-- answer removed --
> In fact, I don't really see that you have a case of ANY sort, Answerprancer.
I couldn't agree more. American English is, generally speaking, much closer to the English spoken in Elizabethan England. And, in my experience, Americans tend to have a much higher standard of literacy than Brits, especially the young. E.g. you're unlikely to find an American who can't tell the difference between your / you're, there / their / they're, its / it's etc.
However, what really does wind me up is their extremely irritating habit of preceding (almost) every verb with 'go ahead and'.
I couldn't agree more. American English is, generally speaking, much closer to the English spoken in Elizabethan England. And, in my experience, Americans tend to have a much higher standard of literacy than Brits, especially the young. E.g. you're unlikely to find an American who can't tell the difference between your / you're, there / their / they're, its / it's etc.
However, what really does wind me up is their extremely irritating habit of preceding (almost) every verb with 'go ahead and'.
By offa, Mdoo, I presume you mean an abbreviated form of "off of". It has been used in British English for centuries. Shakespeare in King Henry VI writes about "a fall off of a tree."
Richard Steele in The Spectator writes, "I could not keep my eyes off of her."
Mark Twain in Huckleberry Finn writes, "I'll borrow two or three dollars off of the judge."
Clearly, "off of" was a common structure in the past and on both sides of the Atlantic. Nowadays it may just be a colloquial or dialectal form here in Britain, but it is obviously still going strong. It may not be 'standard', but it is perfectly acceptable whoever says it.
And let's not forget the Rolling Stones and their, "Hey, you, get off of my cloud!"
Incidentally, I presume Answerprancer is perfectly happy with drove as the past tense of drive so what is so awful about dove being the past tense of dive?
Richard Steele in The Spectator writes, "I could not keep my eyes off of her."
Mark Twain in Huckleberry Finn writes, "I'll borrow two or three dollars off of the judge."
Clearly, "off of" was a common structure in the past and on both sides of the Atlantic. Nowadays it may just be a colloquial or dialectal form here in Britain, but it is obviously still going strong. It may not be 'standard', but it is perfectly acceptable whoever says it.
And let's not forget the Rolling Stones and their, "Hey, you, get off of my cloud!"
Incidentally, I presume Answerprancer is perfectly happy with drove as the past tense of drive so what is so awful about dove being the past tense of dive?
'Off of' is standard in American English. So much so that an American teacher on an American site I use was explaining to a foreigner in what circumstances it was used ! It seemed odd to me too, but consider our use of 'near' and 'near to' and it doesn't seem so eccentric.
Jag-wire ? How do you sayJaguar ? Old classic car types say Jag-wah, some people say Jag-you-are.Jag-wire sounds closer to the first, but certainly no worse.
'Dove' for 'dived' is yet another of word which is now recorded as 'North American' and 'dialect' by the OED but which must have been common or standard in the English of the early Americans.
Jag-wire ? How do you sayJaguar ? Old classic car types say Jag-wah, some people say Jag-you-are.Jag-wire sounds closer to the first, but certainly no worse.
'Dove' for 'dived' is yet another of word which is now recorded as 'North American' and 'dialect' by the OED but which must have been common or standard in the English of the early Americans.
Under dove itself, the OED says, "Occasional past tense of dive. See also EDD." That is a reference to the English Dialect Dictionary, which says that doved (and droved) were in common use in the west...eg Wiltshire and Cornwall...as past tense forms of dive and drive. The final 'd' disappeared over time.
Given that the past participle of dive in Old English was dofen and letters 'f' back then frequently became letters 'v', I have no doubt but that Cornish fishermen often said, "That cormorant dove into the sea there yesterday just where it has often doven in the past."
And good luck to 'em...AND Americans!
Given that the past participle of dive in Old English was dofen and letters 'f' back then frequently became letters 'v', I have no doubt but that Cornish fishermen often said, "That cormorant dove into the sea there yesterday just where it has often doven in the past."
And good luck to 'em...AND Americans!
I actually LIKE the mia/meere pronunciation of mirror, especially when spoken by a woman!
It is just another example of the tendency of some Americans - with words containing 'r' with a vowel on either side - to move the second vowel in front of the 'r'. Thus, many say oarnge rather than orange and foerst rather than forest. Very sweet!
It is just another example of the tendency of some Americans - with words containing 'r' with a vowel on either side - to move the second vowel in front of the 'r'. Thus, many say oarnge rather than orange and foerst rather than forest. Very sweet!
scotman,
I hate to upset you, but............
alumium was the original name proposed by Humphrey Davy, which he later changed to aluminum.
It was only because someone complained that is should be aluminium to conform with other elemental names ending in -ium that it was later changed. Presumably, tantalum, platinum and molybdenum were acceptable as they were.
I hate to upset you, but............
alumium was the original name proposed by Humphrey Davy, which he later changed to aluminum.
It was only because someone complained that is should be aluminium to conform with other elemental names ending in -ium that it was later changed. Presumably, tantalum, platinum and molybdenum were acceptable as they were.
"Round the twist"... what's that all about?
In my industry, aviation, we've a lot ex-pat Brits. Which is an opportunity to segue to the fact that, at one time, I used to explain many U.S. colloquialisms by referencing the numerous "parts of the country" from which juxtapositions and accents derive. I don't use that excuse much anymore since exposure to the ex-pats (plus Australians, New Zealanders, Irishmen, Scotsmen, etc.) have taught me the error of my ways.
Many of the "newly developing" irritating Americanisms do emanate from succeeding generations though. These can be just as unintelligible and grating to my ear as asking a bayou born and bred Louisianian or a newly arrived Dublinite to slow down in their speech, to be given time to be understood.
Most younger citizens cannot complete a sentence without interjections such as "dontchakno?", "yaknow" or the worst of all time... "he/she goes" (deciphered as "he/she says or said". But my guess is that these are just as much an epidemic in the U.K. as they are here in the U.S.
(What's with your use of ladybird (ladybug... the orange-black spotted ones, dontchakno?)
After-after thought... our President and many others are now using "Give a shout-out to..." when, supposedly, meaning give praise to... Where'd that come from?
In my industry, aviation, we've a lot ex-pat Brits. Which is an opportunity to segue to the fact that, at one time, I used to explain many U.S. colloquialisms by referencing the numerous "parts of the country" from which juxtapositions and accents derive. I don't use that excuse much anymore since exposure to the ex-pats (plus Australians, New Zealanders, Irishmen, Scotsmen, etc.) have taught me the error of my ways.
Many of the "newly developing" irritating Americanisms do emanate from succeeding generations though. These can be just as unintelligible and grating to my ear as asking a bayou born and bred Louisianian or a newly arrived Dublinite to slow down in their speech, to be given time to be understood.
Most younger citizens cannot complete a sentence without interjections such as "dontchakno?", "yaknow" or the worst of all time... "he/she goes" (deciphered as "he/she says or said". But my guess is that these are just as much an epidemic in the U.K. as they are here in the U.S.
(What's with your use of ladybird (ladybug... the orange-black spotted ones, dontchakno?)
After-after thought... our President and many others are now using "Give a shout-out to..." when, supposedly, meaning give praise to... Where'd that come from?
C, One suggested explanation of round the twist is that it is a variant of round the bend, based on the notion that Victorian asylums always had a curve in the driveway to screen the inmates from the outside world and vice versa. Accordingly, ‘around the bend/twist' came to mean ‘mad'.
Another possibility is that it came from naval slang in the days when ropes were a key feature of life aboard. A ‘bend' was the name of a type of knot, some of which were so complex that they drove seamen ‘mad' trying to get them right and that the results were so twisted and tangled that ‘round the bend/twist' took on the meaning ‘mad'.
Take your pick!
Another possibility is that it came from naval slang in the days when ropes were a key feature of life aboard. A ‘bend' was the name of a type of knot, some of which were so complex that they drove seamen ‘mad' trying to get them right and that the results were so twisted and tangled that ‘round the bend/twist' took on the meaning ‘mad'.
Take your pick!
shaneystar is in or from Norfolk ! The dialect has some pleasing words, for example: 'dickie' for donkey,'mawther' for '(mature) woman' ( a ' slummicking great mawther', is a large matron of a generally disagreeable nature !), dizzables 'female undergarments' (from French; guess which word !) and people talk of 'tricolating up a shed' which is to repair it or do it up.
We don't call Dubliners 'Dublinites' Clanad, but you may hear one refer to himself or herself as a 'jackeen', originally a countryman's insult for someone from the city (it suggests unpleasantly assertive,arrogant ) but happily adopted by Dubliners when saying where they're from, to other Irish
We don't call Dubliners 'Dublinites' Clanad, but you may hear one refer to himself or herself as a 'jackeen', originally a countryman's insult for someone from the city (it suggests unpleasantly assertive,arrogant ) but happily adopted by Dubliners when saying where they're from, to other Irish
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