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Americanisation of English

(40 Posts)
watermeadow Mon 13-Jun-22 19:27:02

My mother wouldn’t allow us to say Toilet because it was American. I have to grit my teeth at Passed for died, schools full of Students from age 4 and a Principal, public loos being Bathrooms, small towns being Cities. Today I heard that chains of our surgeries, owned by American companies to make money, employ assistant Physicians. I suppose we shall soon be visiting the Doctor’s Office or, in the absence of appointments, the Emergency Room at The Hospital. Perhaps as a result of us all carrying guns.
Grrrrr!

lovebeigecardigans1955 Mon 13-Jun-22 19:43:43

It seems to be an inevitable consequence of modern life and not all of these influences are welcome. I share your irritation.

Sago Mon 13-Jun-22 20:25:20

I’ve gotten used to it……….sorry couldn’t resist ?

BlueSky Mon 13-Jun-22 20:44:47

My European friends tell me their own language is full of English words!

AGAA4 Mon 13-Jun-22 20:56:03

Young people watch a lot of American TV and films so they pick up some of their words and expressions.
My GCs have always said they were going to see a movie where I would say film.
It's bound to happen.

Grandma70s Mon 13-Jun-22 21:03:01

It’s been irritating me for decades. I do say OK, though, so I suppose I shouldn’t complain.

imaround Mon 13-Jun-22 21:08:12

There is already a zenophobic thread that went on for quite a while. It can be found here: www.gransnet.com/forums/aibu/1303533-Americanisation-the-of-our-language

imaround Mon 13-Jun-22 21:28:22

I should have checked my spelling. Gosh, another American bad.

xenophobic.

EVHead Mon 13-Jun-22 22:06:00

Why grrr? There’s no pure British version of English. Language evolves, and we’ve been adopting words from other cultures/languages forever.

CaravanSerai Mon 13-Jun-22 22:17:16

These are not Americanisations of English. Generally, they were English words which were taken to the New World by British settlers.

Toilet (or toilet room) was used as an extension of the dressing room which we might now call a bathroom. Byron referred to a toilet in Don Juan published in 1819.

There is the closet, there the toilet,
There the antechamber - search them under, over.
There is the sofa, there the great arm-chair,
The chimney - which would really hold a lover

Passed as in died was discussed extensively here very recently. It was in use in Britain in the 13C.

Physician appears in many early sources including the Bible Luke 4:23 Physician heal thyself. A doctor is a physician. Doctor relates to the awarding of doctoral degrees

Nowadays, when we need to go to hospital quickly we tend to say we are going to A&E or Accident and Emergency. One could argue that a heart attack needs more urgent treatment than a broken leg but both need emergency treatment so Emergency covers both. A&E is a relative recent term anyway. We used to call it Casualty or the Casualty Hospital. The name lived on in a popular TV series.

I would have no problem with Doctor’s Office because that’s what it is. GPs spend a large amount of time doing paperwork and making phone calls just like any other kind of office. Surgery is now more often used in the sense of a physical operation requiring knives and stitches as opposed to a medical intervention. And what of constituency surgeries which MPs run? Nothing to do with medicine.

As a linguist, I get a tad tired with these recurrent threads - we seem to get one every couple of weeks - moaning about alleged Americanisms when they are not.

Margiknot Mon 13-Jun-22 22:24:00

I asked my learning disabled adult son if he knew what number to ring for emergency help and he said 911! He has presumably heard 911 from American television and films.

Zoejory Mon 13-Jun-22 22:30:35

I think if we were to dial 911 from the UK it would automatically go to 999.

Little boy rang the EU 112 number which was on his toy ambulance and managed to get help for his mum.

news.sky.com/story/boy-5-dials-number-on-toy-ambulance-after-finding-mum-unconscious-12057100

Zoejory Mon 13-Jun-22 22:31:27

Great post, CaravanSerai

AmberSpyglass Mon 13-Jun-22 22:33:46

Language changes because of travel and other cultures influencing each other. It’s not exactly new, and why is it worse if it’s American?

henetha Mon 13-Jun-22 23:24:05

I like it that our language changes and adapts, just like it always has.

Marydoll Mon 13-Jun-22 23:31:13

EVHead

Why grrr? There’s no pure British version of English. Language evolves, and we’ve been adopting words from other cultures/languages forever.

I was about to write a similar post!

Hithere Tue 14-Jun-22 00:01:43

Ask French people what they think about Canadian French

Ask Spaniards what they think of American Spanish

There are snobs everywhere, not matter what language they speak

Iamaround
Lol!

imaround Tue 14-Jun-22 00:11:11

Southern English will be a hoot for you all.

Y'all means you

All y'all is plural

Hithere Tue 14-Jun-22 00:13:12

Lol Iamaround - I always chuckled with that

Summerlove Tue 14-Jun-22 00:14:25

EVHead

Why grrr? There’s no pure British version of English. Language evolves, and we’ve been adopting words from other cultures/languages forever.

There are even articles which claim that “American” English has actually changed less than British English. Maybe they now have the proper English

Summerlove Tue 14-Jun-22 00:18:18

Hithere

Ask French people what they think about Canadian French

Ask Spaniards what they think of American Spanish

There are snobs everywhere, not matter what language they speak

Iamaround
Lol!

For gods sake don’t ask a Quebecois what they think of ‘Canadian’ French lol I think Canada likely has more dialects than France

imaround Tue 14-Jun-22 00:30:18

I have heard that South American Spanish is closer to Italian.

CaravanSerai Tue 14-Jun-22 00:30:57

imaround

Southern English will be a hoot for you all.

Y'all means you

All y'all is plural

Wiki has a long page about this. Fascinating to read all the theories about its origins. I like this bit too:

The use of y'all as the dominant second person-plural pronoun is not necessarily universal in the Southern United States. In the dialects of the Ozarks and Great Smoky Mountains, for example, it is more typical to hear you'uns (a contraction of "you ones") used instead. Other forms have also been used increasingly in the South, including the use of you guys.

I like you guys it for its ease and inclusiveness but it has a tendency to irritate some in the UK.

imaround Tue 14-Jun-22 00:36:30

We could default to youse guys. Definitely a hit on the east coast.

CaravanSerai Tue 14-Jun-22 00:40:37

Youse sounds Irish. Language is wonderful and well-travelled.