Americanisation (the) of our language

Esspee

Personally I hate the use of the word toilet when the correct term is lavatory. Not an Americanism but a twee term used by people who think toilet is polite - it is not. As my mother would say, if it's the word used by the Queen and her family then it must be correct. They say lavatory.

I do not like the word toilet either but I would never claim that lavatory is the “correct” word! Who says ? Why is it correct if the queen says it ??

Apologies to any Americans on here for this thread.

“Our language”
Isn’t it theirs too?

The only real difference between American English and UK English is spelling.

Apart from that both languages are evolving and influencing each other as do other languages.

I hear "c'est la vie" all the time.

It's all English and I for one am grateful for that as we get to share a huge amount of entertainment from the US that we couldn't otherwise.

We shouldn't blame the wrong people for our own language evolving.

Being able to express ourselves in more/individual ways is not a bad thing.

MayBeMaw

“Our language”
Isn’t it theirs too?

Indeed

People who start by answering a question with ‘So ……..

One I totally forgot about was “in the military”. What happened to “in the forces”?

Mom, instead of Mum.

People have always said Mom in the West Midlands though

Gingster

People who start by answering a question with ‘So ……..

They do that here too.

Lucca

Apologies to any Americans on here for this thread.

Thought I’d say this again…..

Sloegin

When I was a child my mother disapproved of toilet which she insisted had to be lavatory because 'toilet is a nasty American word'. Don't think it was but I still hate it so stick to loo.

Didn't Nancy Mitford give a list of words that are U and Non U:

Lavatory not Toilet
Napkin not Serviette
Scent not Perfume
Looking glass not Mirror

and on and on and on...

Jilly Cooper seems to refer to that list a lot when conveying what class her different characters are but I think a younger generation has probably moved on from that. I can't imagine too many young people talk about lavatories and looking glasses.

By the way a lot of you would be seriously irritated if you came to live in Ireland. It seems to be the fashion for young people nowadays to talk with American accents even though most of them have never set foot in the place. The prevalence of American television programmes is blamed, but it sounds absolutely ridiculous.
We had a young intern in work recently. We all thought she must have spent part of her childhood in the States. But no, she was born and bred in the West of Ireland.

Lucca

Esspee

Personally I hate the use of the word toilet when the correct term is lavatory. Not an Americanism but a twee term used by people who think toilet is polite - it is not. As my mother would say, if it's the word used by the Queen and her family then it must be correct. They say lavatory.

I do not like the word toilet either but I would never claim that lavatory is the “correct” word! Who says ? Why is it correct if the queen says it ??

That did make me laugh. I must be very twee, as are my family, friends and all the children, I taught, who always asked for permission to go to "the toilet".
Oh and the children's lavatories, had signs on the doors, saying: Boys' Toilets and Girls' Toilets.
How could we all have got it so wrong?

No matter what anyone says, for me Lavatory, has connotations of public toilets and Izal toilet paper

Yes it does for me too Marydoll. What we have in our house is a ‘loo’ which I try to keep fragrant!

Living with a railway anorak I have to dive for cover is anyone says train station instead of railway station.

I hate the use of "Non U".
It seems to be some type of snobby middle class code.

We could just replace this thread with a poem.

genius.com/Sir-john-betjeman-how-to-get-on-in-society-annotated

As a 'lavatory' was a place where you washed, and had nothing to do with excretion I think it's quite amusing that people are favouring a term that is every bit as euphemistic as 'rest room' or 'bathroom'.

With apologies to our American posters but I can't bear 'normalcy' (which seems to me to have only fairly recently entered the language) and 'alternate' used as synonymous with 'alternative', 'cos it just isn't...

I think it's fair to say that all countries and languages can be idiosyncratic, I have on occasions seen Americans poke fun out of what they deem ridiculous or unfathomable "Britishisms" that are unique to us. Even regional vernacular which would be peculiar to a particular city or area can have in another part of our small country many wondering what those expressions mean. Of course everyone is travelling about the world more these days pick up on things that seem funny or they are unfamiliar with on their travels. Sharing a common language we are exposed to a lot of American films and tv so it's inevitable that some expressions will find their way into everyday language, particularly with younger generation who adopt and adapt perhaps more than our generation have done. Who can forget when the wave of Australian tv that hit our shores probably over thirty years ago now influenced many who grew up with those programmes and it was noticeable in their adoption of the "Australian inflection" where every statement became a question.

Having read Bill Bryson's book "Made in America" quite a while ago now and as mentioned up thread, I believe there is a fair amount of old English still used in every day American English, more so than here, which struck me when I first read that as odd, because America represents part of the "New World" and therefore "modern" and yet it went forward with idiomatic English brought over by those first settlers, that became lost to us as our language evolved.

Vive la difference! as the French are prone to say, talking of whom, they are I believe very protective of their language and weren't too happy at the time when "Le weekend" and "Le sandwich" were adopted into common usage.

Nobody has mentioned the W.C although I don't remember anyone saying it, it was always, as far as I recall, a written term.

When I facetime with my family in Canada I switch from British English when addressing my son to Canadian English to my Canadian DiL and grandchildren. Does that make me bilingual? There aren't that many words that are too confusing between the variations in the languages, but chips/crisps is one that comes to mind.

Fanny and bum.

......and Randy as a name

Rubbers?

Doesn't everyone use 'condoms' these days? Although I think I'd still say 'eraser' just to be safe!