American 'English'

Our American friends love the quirkyness of the English language, for example 'Bob's your uncle'. Mind I find that funny also!

when The metal was aluminum before it was aluminium. The English version is the deviation.

btw The assumption that all American English is the same is as inaccurate as suggesting that all British English is the same. The language spoken in Louisiana, for example is as different from that spoken in Massachusetts as the English spoken in London differs from that spoken in Norfolk.

Language is dynamic - changing all the time. I agree that we don't own it, and like to stick to our ideas of how things should be, but we needn't deride other countries' English use. Be amused, yes, of course - I used to teach a module about the evolution of language to Y7, and they would make an Anglo / American dictionary, giggling as they worked. Then I took a copy to our friends in the States, and their children giggled too.

We travel a lot to the States, visiting close friends and exploring; I love the country and the people I have met - ordinary people like us.

However management jargon is another thing altogether; it involves twisting language to suit purpose, rather than developing it. It is bland and cliche ridden. So there I am, being derisive myself. Ah well...

Yes, precisely absent. The deviations are the same all around the world, hence so many separate languages and variations within them. Having listen to Bostonians' (Mass) very clipped way of talking, then travelled to Alabama and Louisiana, one would think they were entirely different countries, judging by the language.

Well I was always the first to play b*llsh*t bingo in meetings, Ariadne, with a particular dislike of being asked to diarize something (although it is a word). However, I don't think you can single out management speak for twisting language to suit purpose and being bland and cliche-ridden, I think lots of people do that. Actually I quite liked management speak, it made boring meetings more interesting wondering how long the "new" word would take to be adopted. It was "synchronicity" when I left.
As an aside, I was very surprised when I went for a mammogram here in France and was asked to bring my cliches (x-rays) with me. Since it must be a French word in the first place I wonder how it got to mean what it does in English?

Oh for an edit button - I just found the answer on French wiki "le cliché est un mot ou locution d'origine artistique, formant image, et qui est répété sans réfléchir" - so it is a word for an image, repeated without reflection.

Mamie that takes me back. The management meetings I used to attend were like those that started the Vicar of Dibley, with lots of 'no, no, no...err, yes' moments. We had a phase of choosing new words to include, to see whether they would be repeated by our back-stabbing senior manager, who listened but never heard a thing, if you know what I mean. Sure enough, our 'helicopter view' and 'incentivise' plants (amongst many others) were taken up, and we would be in paroxysms of suppressed laughter. There must surely be a book of 'buzz words' used in the public sector by now.

Just on the usage of bathroom - I had a very prim great aunt who would always ask if I'd like to see the bathroom. I couldn't understand why she didn't come in with me to show me round

My OH worked for an American company so he was brilliant at management speak and I remember learning to say "Can you give me a ball-park on that?". That came back quite quickly when the manager had had time to look it up.
I remember the story about (I think) IBM when they all used overheads (called foils) to death in every meeting. One manager banned them and it caused complete consternation. Of course, that was before death by powerpoint.

There are some lovely old words in the glossary which accompanies my set of Samuel Pepys diaries. Many words have changed their meanings in the last three hundred years or so. Other words don't exist now.

One of my favourite terms is windfu**er which means a talkative braggart.

That'll be me, then, petallus*!