Gransnet forums

Chat

Americanisation of English

(41 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!

imaround Tue 14-Jun-22 00:44:01

Lots of Irish came through Ellis, so it could be.

We really are a melting pot here.

CocoPops Tue 14-Jun-22 04:21:44

Some of you guys sure have an issue with Americanisms,
CaravanSerai talks turkey though.
Language is awesome.
It's constantly evolving. That's the way the cookie crumbles. Period.
Y'all have a good day now.

sodapop Tue 14-Jun-22 08:43:49

There are complaints here in France about the number of English words finding their way into daily conversation. Our nearest large shopping centre is called
Family Village - pourquoi ?

paddyann54 Tue 14-Jun-22 10:56:29

Student was always used for school pupils.On the Census from the late 1800's my 5 year old great uncle was listed as a student .

CaravanSerai Tue 14-Jun-22 11:20:34

Yes, paddyann Pupil, scholar, student have long been used interchangeably.

In civil law pupils were orphaned minors who became wards. In law practice, a trainee barrister undergoing pupillage.

The OED defines student as a person in primary or secondary education; a school pupil - another term that isn’t an Americanism.

MawtheMerrier Tue 14-Jun-22 13:17:16

You think we have problems now?

Fill yer boots!

From today’s DT
Dialect of the future
Words to learn so you’re not a wasteman
“Man” used as a pronoun; for example: “Man don’t care”
“Gyaldem” (group of girls/women)
“Mandem” (group of men)
“Peng” (attractive/good)
“Safe” (expression of approval)
“Creps” (shoes/trainers)
“Lips” (to kiss)
“Wasteman” (a worthless individual)

midgey Tue 14-Jun-22 13:50:44

I thought youse was Liverpudlian. Interesting piece on World at One about language today.

Fridayschild Tue 14-Jun-22 14:13:23

I thought youse was Scottish but wherever it’s from it is so wrong!
Yous, use or youse. I’ve seen it lots, written different ways, and it always grates! ?
I was always told it was slang. (I lived in the West of Scotland). Some day it might seem normal?! ?

paddyann54 Tue 14-Jun-22 14:36:34

Fridays child there were lots of old scots words that we were told were SLANG that weren't.there was a whole thread about them on here last week.
Being told constantly that the way you speak is wrong is bad for childen ,language will evolve but old words and phrases will continue with the help of older generations.
As they should ,wiping the language of a whole country to comply with their neighbours wishes is criminal .I,m NOT english so why should I speak it like someone who is?

MawtheMerrier Tue 14-Jun-22 15:16:21

midgey

I thought youse was Liverpudlian. Interesting piece on World at One about language today.

That was what my post referred to, too.

Floradora9 Tue 14-Jun-22 21:28:22

Why do people say " excited for " now instead of " excited about " .?

imaround Tue 14-Jun-22 21:35:20

It all depends in the noun used floradora9. Excited for is grammatically correct in some cases.

Though I expect you are referring to people who do not use it in the grammatically correct way.

As with any language, there will we gobs of people who are not so concerned about being grammatically correct.

VioletSky Tue 14-Jun-22 22:00:34

We enjoy, benefit and take inspiration from other cultures all the time..

Music
Films
Fashion
Food
Language
Celebrations
Science
Medicine,
Technology

Lots of seriously great stuff

Is there something wrong with the US in particular that this keeps coming up as a problem?

Personally I love the evolution of language... It has always been a mishmash.... People het go express themselves so well as indicuduals due to new words joining use all the time.

At what point in history should that have stopped?

Discussing the weather is boring enough and would definitky be worse without several ways to say rain right?

CanadianGran Tue 14-Jun-22 23:05:59

I'm glad there have been responses defending language evolution. I had to ignore the thread when I first saw it, for fear of more staunch traditionalists ranting about change.

I do realize this forum is based in the UK, but there are readers and members from all over the world. I love the different variations of the English language, with regionalisms, colloquialism, etc. I am bothered more by bad grammar and punctuation than use of lounge or living room! Although I admit to errors myself...I'm by no means perfect.

imaround Wed 15-Jun-22 02:26:16

VS, I think it is because we rejected colonialism?

Either that or we have not been forgiven for Wallis and Meghan.

grin