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Heres a link to 50 phrases that people over here in Britain that started in America: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14201796
Now I would like you to draw your attention to number 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

if that person thinks that a train station is the wrong word then what other words are there for it? Train port?

Looking at the article these people really seem to get angry very very easily at the smallest things.

Though I didn't even know "deplane", meaning to disembark from a plane, existed. Sounds so stupid.

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

It's a railway station.


The one that annoys me is "could care less", because it just doesn't make sense. Most americanisms are just spelling differences and the like but that one just doesn't mean what people want it to mean.

Railway Station.

.... wow. those upset people? come on. few yes,i gat confused on and didnt even know existed,but all the others i cant see how there bad. maybe you brits just think to high of your language. while there is a blurry line between spouting something completely incorrect and saying it correctly,most of those dont cross it. let people talk how they want,its are language and if people over there want to use it then its there choice.

lord commissar klimino wrote:.... wow. those upset people? come on. few yes,i gat confused on and didnt even know existed,but all the others i cant see how there bad. maybe you brits just think to high of your language. while there is a blurry line between spouting something completely incorrect and saying it correctly,most of those dont cross it. let people talk how they want,its are language and if people over there want to use it then its there choice.

I think people mainly get upset when Americanisms supplant British English, especially in slang terms. It's not nice to feel like your culture is being co-opted.

That seemed like a lot of unfriendly people who are hung up on language evolving and changing. The Grammar equivalent of "you kids get off my lawn".

To be honest, many of them are ones Americans also get annoyed with as well.

htj wrote:

lord commissar klimino wrote:.... wow. those upset people? come on. few yes,i gat confused on and didnt even know existed,but all the others i cant see how there bad. maybe you brits just think to high of your language. while there is a blurry line between spouting something completely incorrect and saying it correctly,most of those dont cross it. let people talk how they want,its are language and if people over there want to use it then its there choice.

I think people mainly get upset when Americanism supplant British English, especially in slang terms. It's not nice to feel like your culture is being co-opted.

then keep using your culture. you cant force people to follow your culture. if they start using an American term they dont like they will know it and stop. i do understand,but it just seems like there to upset or somethin. i dont know,just dont like how the dis it. its more like full on hate than just being annoyed.

They made English the main language of North America and now we return the favor, is all this is.

Ahtman wrote:They made English the main language of North America and now we return the favor, is all this is.

Hah, yeah, that seems fair.

It's not so much that people hate Americans for saying these things, it's that people hate the fact that British people are starting to emulate Americans at the expense of their own culture. Whether or not you think this is a bad thing depends on if you think it'd be good if all English speaking countries were like America. And whether or not you think this will actually happen, well, only time will tell, really. Personally, I don't get too worked up about it, but I do understand why it upsets people.

Skejule.
Train station.
I could care less.

Those would be my top three, I think.

OTOH there are many American expressions or slang phrases I appreciate, such as mensch.

I really like 'hot damn.'

Just another example of the jealousy of the greatness of Texas, and to a lesser extent those other states in the USA. Its not our fault you're not educated more gooder.

In the words of the immortal bard:" Come on in boys. The water's just fine."


Spass America HURR!

On another note, people in the UK look down on the Yanks for their alternative spellings of well known words such as 'color,' armor,' and my favourite - 'plow.'

But in reality, those examples are the correct, old English spelling. It was the UK that changed circa 1830s.

Damn their American eyes!

I just really hate gak trendy new fangled words..

I hate the words "Moreish" and "staycation"

People who use them are scum.

htj wrote:I think people mainly get upset when Americanisms supplant British English, especially in slang terms. It's not nice to feel like your culture is being co-opted.

lol

That's amusing to me as an American, because our "version" of the English language is a bastard version that uses words from a huge variety of languages because there's no point of inventing a new word when there's already one for it.

For example, why make up a word to replace Schadenfreude? We already have one-- Schadenfreude! Sure, it's German, but that's okay, I have lots of friends descended from German immigrants anyway.

That's a false glaubensneid.

Shadenfreude and weltschmerz are the gestalt zeitgeist.

British English is full of borrowed words, such as salaryman, pyjamas and jungle.

“Not only does the English Language borrow words from other languages, it sometimes chases them down dark alleys, hits them over the head, and goes through their pockets”

But as they say in French, "That's life".

Patio also comes to mind.

Melissia wrote:

htj wrote:I think people mainly get upset when Americanisms supplant British English, especially in slang terms. It's not nice to feel like your culture is being co-opted.

lol

That's amusing to me as an American, because our "version" of the English language is a bastard version that uses words from a huge variety of languages because there's no point of inventing a new word when there's already one for it.

For example, why make up a word to replace Schadenfreude? We already have one-- Schadenfreude! Sure, it's German, but that's okay, I have lots of friends descended from German immigrants anyway.

Using words from different languages? How un-British. Why, I was having a shufti at a newspaper in my bungalow the other day, read that and spat char all over my pyjamas.

Kilkrazy wrote:Skejule.
Train station.
I could care less.

Those would be my top three, I think.

OTOH there are many American expressions or slang phrases I appreciate, such as mensch.

Mensch is certainly not an "Americanism."

I can just imagine some cliche British old men sitting around in their study sipping tea while reading this. I hadn't even heard some of those before reading that article.

"I could care less" is annoying as hell, though.

bushido wrote:I can just imagine some cliche British old men sitting around in their study sipping tea while reading this. I hadn't even heard some of those before reading that article.

"I could care less" is annoying as hell, though.

Indeed. the proper grammar is
" I couldn't give a gak"

Some of those terms or phrases in incorrect even in American English... it's slang... it's grammatical crap. British slang better? I doubt it. Most of the respondents in the article however, need a life... or a hobby... or a girlfriend.

Cultures evolve just like language. If it gets you that worked up, seriously, get laid at some point or call in the doctor for a time lock.

Cannerus_The_Unbearable wrote:Cultures evolve just like language. If it gets you that worked up, seriously, get laid at some point or call in the doctor for a time lock.

Oh come now, complaining about stupid, petty stuff on the internet is a time honoured tradition! The natural successor to writing a letter to the editor.

At least it isn't leetspeak.

Tnetennba

'Good morning that's a nice tnetennba.'

With the invention of the telephone, television, and the internet, languages are starting to converge rather than diverge. I assume that in a few hundred years from now, there will only be 1 language spoken on Earth. British and American English becoming the same is the simplest (since we're basically speaking the same language already). If you Brits want more of your dialect to become dominant, you need to start using it more and more in popular culture.


As for everyone complaining about "I could care less". I agree, it's idiotic. But, to dull the anger a bit, it's best to know the history behind the phrase. It was originally a British phrase "I couldn't care less". It then jumped the pond in the 60s. Americans started using it sarcastically by dropping the negative. Over the decades, we've dropped the sarcasm, leaving us with an idiotic phrase that means the opposite of what people think it means. But, it does have it's roots in things that make sense.

Grakmar wrote:With the invention of the telephone, television, and the internet, languages are starting to converge rather than diverge. I assume that in a few hundred years from now, there will only be 1 language spoken on Earth.

We should call it 'newspeak.'

British and American English becoming the same is the simplest (since we're basically speaking the same language already). If you Brits want more of your dialect to become dominant, you need to start using it more and more in popular culture.

We try, but you keep subtitling it! You're cheating!

As for everyone complaining about "I could care less". I agree, it's idiotic. But, to dull the anger a bit, it's best to know the history behind the phrase. It was originally a British phrase "I couldn't care less". It then jumped the pond in the 60s. Americans started using it sarcastically by dropping the negative. Over the decades, we've dropped the sarcasm, leaving us with an idiotic phrase that means the opposite of what people think it means. But, it does have it's roots in things that make sense.

Is that really true? That is genuinely fascinating, if so.

I admit to using "bloody" as an adjective more often myself (as in, "bloody hell" or "shut your bloody face").