The Americanisation of English

Mikky

Mom instead of mum

That's a Midlands thing!!

Wheniwasyourage

Those of us who can say “loch” rather than “lock”, say “Bach” quite naturally in the same way that the Germans do, welbeck!

Exactly! Bark??? Never heard anyone pronounce it like that - even those south of the border!

Mom instead of mum

Those of us who can say “loch” rather than “lock”, say “Bach” quite naturally in the same way that the Germans do, welbeck!

how do you pronounce Bach if not bark ??

Arriving in the States for a year in the ‘70s with a 5-month-old baby we had difficulty getting hold of a cot (= US camp bed) and were perplexed to be constantly offered a crib, which we thought = Moses basket.

Witzend, bugs are a very specific sub-set of insects.

They are insects in the group Hemiptera.

Witzend

Gosh, Grandma70s - I still remember that bit out of WKDAS!

The aunt (IIRC) had told them that it wasn’t ‘ladylike’ not to have an all-over wash every day, and they didn’t see how they could, with a lot of other girls in the room!

I think Aunt Izzy was dead by then. Cousin Helen perhaps?

My aunt and Uncle had a downstairs nice sized what I called Toilet. My aunt put up some coat hooks in there and insisted it was the cloakroom and not to be called a toilet. Well it had a toilet and washbasin plus mirror anyway to her it became the cloakroom. There's nothing so odd as folk.

Wheniwasyourage

Some “Americanisms” are actually things which they adopted from the many languages of the immigrants who settled there. For example, “hopefully” instead of something like “I hope” is a direct translation of the German “hoffentlich” and it arrived here as an Americanism and used to annoy my mother! “Gotten” is an example of an older English word which went over and came back after having been mostly discarded on this side.

Not to mention ‘dumb’ for ‘stupid’. Dumm in German does actually mean stupid.

Musicgirl

@Calistemon21, l feel your pain. As a musician, l cringe every single time I hear the American pronunciation of Baroque - Ba-rohque. Having said that, a while ago l heard Alexander Armstrong on Classic FM announcing Dvorák's Humoresque which every English musician normally pronounces with the h (rightly or wrongly) with a very pretentious French accent.

I cringe whenever I hear Bach pronounced ‘Bark’. It’s surprisingly not uncommon.

Although I agree that language is always changing and there is no stopping it, I still mind when I go to church and they put the words of songs up on the screens with American spellings. ‘Savior’, ‘honor’ and ‘splendor’ just look wrong to me! They look unattractive to me whereas the British spellings look pleasing.

There’s no punctuation in the lyrics either. It’s not good for a pedantic person

I bought a new Toyota sewing machine in the 70’s- it was orange. At the end of the first introductory page of instructions it said”Now you will be able to sew up a storm!”We had never heard that before!

I agree essjay. Couldn’t understand it first time I heard it on an American advert. A girl in an office held up both arms and said “My bad”.

the one i have no liking for is saying "my bad" instead of saying "my fault"

What about”going forward” instead of “in the future”. “Reaching out” instead of “getting in touch with” . Those expressions have definitely migrated from USA!

Gosh, Grandma70s - I still remember that bit out of WKDAS!

The aunt (IIRC) had told them that it wasn’t ‘ladylike’ not to have an all-over wash every day, and they didn’t see how they could, with a lot of other girls in the room!

One I’ve noticed a lot recently is ‘bug’ instead of ‘insect’. To me a bug is usually something that makes you feel rough for a while.
Unless it’s a bedbug, of course, and I think I’ve read of ‘mealy bugs’ but I don’t know what they are. Something in flour? Not wheat flour though - I think they’re weevils. Cornmeal perhaps?

RosiesMaw

nanna8

I hate ‘lavatory’. I wouldn’t wash in it which is what it suggests. Filthy thought.

Given that “lavatory” refers to the room, not the bowl and cistern, surely you would- in the sink/basin provided at the time?

Lavatory was always the term used in my childhood, both at school and at home. Toilet was reserved for shops etc. I became aware of the meaning ‘wash room’ when in What Katy Did at School, the headmistress who is showing Katy’s father round the school proudly shows him “our lavatory”. Dr Carr is horrified that the washing facilities are communal, and arranges for Katy and Clover to have individual washstands in their rooms.

@Calistemon21, l feel your pain. As a musician, l cringe every single time I hear the American pronunciation of Baroque - Ba-rohque. Having said that, a while ago l heard Alexander Armstrong on Classic FM announcing Dvorák's Humoresque which every English musician normally pronounces with the h (rightly or wrongly) with a very pretentious French accent.

Bellasnana

Having two daughters living in the US for 20+ years I find I actually rather like American English, it’s a language of its own!

I was shocked the first time I heard someone say ‘erb’ instead of ‘herb’ though and I agree ‘dove’ sounds very odd instead of ‘dived’. Also ‘drug’ instead of ‘dragged’, but certainly nothing to be irritated about.

Yesterday I was searching for the best YouTube video showing how to do a picot edging on a crocheted item

The American sites might have been helpful but I couldn't get past the fact that one woman called it Pee-Kott and the other Pay-Kott.

Yes, I do know it's a French word 😁

I wont read a book which contains American spellings.

Having two daughters living in the US for 20+ years I find I actually rather like American English, it’s a language of its own!

I was shocked the first time I heard someone say ‘erb’ instead of ‘herb’ though and I agree ‘dove’ sounds very odd instead of ‘dived’. Also ‘drug’ instead of ‘dragged’, but certainly nothing to be irritated about.

nanna8

I hate ‘lavatory’. I wouldn’t wash in it which is what it suggests. Filthy thought.

Given that “lavatory” refers to the room, not the bowl and cistern, surely you would- in the sink/basin provided at the time?

Jaxjacky

I’m not usually bothered by evolving language, but this in particular, apparently from an AT&T advert in the 80’s really, really grates.

Love it Jaxjacky !
Now I’ve got the Four Tops in my head for the rest of the day! 😱😱😱