Americanisation (the) of our language

I must add to my above post I wasn't talking about Halloween Celebrations, I was talking about Trick or Treating. I do remember bobbing for apples. Trick or Treating is big business here in the US with the sweets, cards and the ready made costumes.

"Oftentimes" makes me cringe as do most Americanisms

Americanisation of our language is only to be expected given the way we're swamped by their culture.
Its ridiculous to say 'bathroom' when there is only a toilet in it.

Just come back from lovely meeting with sister at The Lion Inn on Blakey Ridge, Yorkshire moors. Yes, the one that gets snowed in!
Tomato ans BAZIL soup on menu. ?

How COZY sweetpeasue!

Haha - - Quite. Germanshepherdsmum.

boogaloo: Not sure why you would hear that the UK has always had that tradition because it is not true.

Many, many American's also despise Black Friday and wouldn't wish it on anyone. Thankfully, it's impact has been diluted quite a bit with the evolution of the internet. Most stores now start sales in early November and many customers wait to shop until Cyber Monday.

It is no longer the big deal it was when I was a kid.

TOO late!
U.S. spelling is on here courtesy of the software program writers.
It is annoying having to correct back to one's native spelling, and still get the red underline.

It is not the Americans (or Australians) who are to blame for all these words and phrases we dislike it’s is our own media who has popularised them, and ourselves, asa culture/society for copying them.
There are a growing number of internetisms I dislike.

I love England, the home of my ancestors, and the people there. I just can't seem to understand some of the nomenclature. I mean, why would a car have a boot and a bonnet? Not sure what a lorry has but I think it is what we would call a truck. Chips go with fish just as well as fries. Beans at breakfast? Not so much. I hesitate to mention spotted dick in polite company.

Then there are the pubs in parts of London where the spoken language (reported to be English), but is undecipherable to my ears. Slang can be a challenge just as it is here. Some of the Texan or Creole slang in the States is strange, but at least you'd be able to understand the words.

It is more interesting and fun if we can remain, as Shaw put it, "two countries separated by a common language."

Some of our language is still very dyed-in-the-wool and very misleading to those who are learning the English language.

I much prefer cell-phone to mobile phone though.

garnet25

"Oftentimes" makes me cringe as do most Americanisms

Why?

It's old English, not an 'Americanism'

Is this xenophobic thread still festering on ?!

Onstrike The storage compartment of a car began as a box strapped to the back - in French a box is a "boite", (said as bwat) which became "boot". You could also strap on your trunk. The UK says boot, the USA says trunk.

Freedomfromthepast "In Scotland and Ireland, young people took part in a tradition called guising, dressing up in costume and accepting offerings from various households. Rather than pledging to pray for the dead, they would sing a song, recite a poem, tell a joke or perform another sort of “trick” before collecting their treat, which typically consisted of fruit, nuts or coins." They still do. They don't dress up a stuffed effigy of Guy Fawkes and ask for a penny for the guy, they dress themselves up and sing, recite or tell jokes for their payment of (these days) sweets. No tricks.

“fell pregnant” We also say "fell ill" They both imply that the fall was sudden and accidental. It is only since the invention of the contraceptive pill that pregnancy has become an optional result of intercourse. Before that it was pretty much a certainty that sooner or later a baby would appear. However, pregnancy was still very often a surprise when it occurred, and not something carefully planned.

Thanks. Elegran, I would like to think that your clear light of reason would put an end to the ill-informed anti-americanism of some posters, but it probably won't. Why don't we all just agree that as long as we know what is meant, it matters not a jot if there's more than one word for the luggage compartment of a car?

I hate "I'm not gonna lie" at the start of a sentence. I feel like saying "Is that what you normally do then if you're not going to do it this time?"

Then there are the pubs in parts of London where the spoken language (reported to be English), but is undecipherable to my ears.

A friend of mine from Scotland was in a coffee shop in the US somewhere. They asked what name to write on the takeaway coffee.

John he said. Excuse me? she replied.

John. Excuse me?

He wrote it down

Oh, Jaahn!

Works both ways

Alegrias1; this happens in different regions in the US as well. My husband is from a southern state and the first time I visited there, I could barely understand some of the things they said.

When you add accents into the equation it adds an entirely new level of complexity.

The differences are interesting and often you wonder why .

Why does the US say "New Years", for instance. Is it because the US are talking about just the celebrations on New Year's Eve, and have dropped the 's in the centuries since we parted company, while the UK still uses New Year's Eve to mean the day before the New Year starts, and The New Year to mean the first few weeks of the following year? as in "I'll do that in the New Year", which doesn't mean on New Year's Eve but at some vague time during January (or later, or even never at all)

Elegran, It is simply less words to use, which I think has happened with more of using text to communicate and it has bled over into how we speak. It has made us lazy IMO.

Most of the people I know still use New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and The New Year. But in conversation I have been known to call it New Year's in reference to New Year's Eve.

Grandmagrim

It is not the Americans (or Australians) who are to blame for all these words and phrases we dislike it’s is our own media who has popularised them, and ourselves, asa culture/society for copying them.
There are a growing number of internetisms I dislike.

Exactly.

But what bothers me is not really the so-called Americanisation of our language - languages evolve and change anyway - it's the adoption of some of their more commercialised culture. And everyone acts like it's always been part of ours and talks about it in a familiar way, because the media have promoted it.

I don't like Trick-or-Treat (although it has its roots in medieval Europe), nor do I like Black Friday - but too late now, it's become part of our culture!

I was 16 when I went to San Francisco to stay good friends of my mum and dad AKA 'aunt' and 'uncle'. Their son took me out 1 day, as he opened the car door he said "You get your fanny in there."
I almost knocked myself out on the car roof as i swiftly turned to say "WHAT???"

Of course he meant bottom.

Um I had to go and look it up. I can see why you were shocked!

I think that's the only difficulty that foreigners face when they're learning English because this language is quite easy in general. When I started to learn Japanese, it was torture, and even though now I just need to watch some movies in Japanese on lingopie not to forget that language, it's still a little hard for me to understand natives.

I sell online mainly to Americans. Parcels are packages. They are always shipped, regardless of whether they go via air or surface.

Americans ask about the "status" of their order if its "past due".

They "work with you" rather than collaborating.

At this time = now or at present.

They dont have an office or warehouse - it s facility.

I spent a year working in the University of Nevada and the expression of "two peoples divided by a common language certainly applied."