The Americanisation of English

Catterygirl

I do get worked up about it. They took our language and changed it around skipping the u in many words.

Personally I get worked up about them choosing DT as president which seems more important to me. Their language? Not so much.

Were not was!

That would be right, annodomini. The letter G is pronounced ‘ch’ as in ‘loch’ in Dutch. We watched ‘Mona Lisa Smile’ recently, and was taken aback by ‘Van Go’!

Scottish language is 'rhotic'. In plain English - we pronounce our Rs. We would pronounce the R in 'bark'. The composer, Bach is pronounced with the 'ch' in the back of the palate as in 'loch' which all too often in English sounds like 'lock'. I'm often amused by the pronunciation of 'Van Gogh' by Americans who think it's 'Van Go'. I once asked a taxi driver in Amsterdam how to pronounce it. It seemed to sound as if it had the back of the palate 'ch' at the beginning and end of the name. Almost too much even for a Scot like me.

Elegran

A smart is what a little Smartie will grow up as if it can avoid being eaten.

😂

(Lighthearted point!). Going back to the use of restroom/bathroom; although I dislike them, our own words (toilet, lavatory, loo, water closet) are all euphemisms too. Toilet and lavatory refer to washing, water closet was originally 'wash-down closet', and loo (the word I tend to use) comes from the French l'eau.

Irritating as the Americanisms are, I don't think we can reasonably object to their euphemisms!

Very true!

The idea of having the doors on a plane closed momentarily sounds a bit scary, Witzend, but I suppose that if the engines are starting only momentarily then at least the plane wouldn't take off...

NotSpaghetti

I haven't heard "momentarily" used that way Wheniwasyourage but it sounds wrong to me.

I’ve heard it on US airlines’ on board announcements. E.g. they’ll be closing the doors/starting the engines ‘momentarily’.

Railway station is more old-fashioned term than train station; perhaps, being older than many on here and having had older parents, that's why I use it.

It's not an American term, the American name for it is railroad station.

I've only just started saying 'railway station',and then only rarely Previously, it was simply the 'station'.

I honestly had never heard anyone say 'train station' until about 30 years ago, and it sounded really odd to me. I can move with the times, though, and can now usually even manage not to flinch when I hear it! 😁

Probably to differentiate it from Bus station . Though I personally don’t like it. I always say just station , for the train

I've heard it a few times, NotSpaghetti, probably on American films, but was shocked to hear it used by Maggie Smith playing Professor McGonagall in the first Harry Potter film.

There are those, I am sorry to have to tell you, Callistemon21, who say "train station"...

Wheniwasyourage

I find “momentarily” meaning “in a moment” rather than “for a moment” annoying. I always say “railway station” mokryna!

What is it if not railway station?
🤔

I haven't heard "momentarily" used that way Wheniwasyourage but it sounds wrong to me.

I find “momentarily” meaning “in a moment” rather than “for a moment” annoying. I always say “railway station” mokryna!

I don't use presently at all in speech I think...
I do use shortly quite often though.

When was the last time you said ‘railway station’?
Presently meaning future and not something happening at the moment

With a French friend we were thinking of crossing a four-laned road busy with cars plus two bicycle lanes. We were at Tiananmen Square 1994. We were speaking in English. I suggested we took the subway. She said I was crazy, I told her I was not crossing that road dodging the cars. After a few minutes I realized she had learnt American English.

I’ve just remembered one of my pet hates : “expiration” date. What’s wrong with expiry?

dotpocka

we did not take your language colonist(using a nice word) brought here .WE did not want it.
the viking the dutch and the spaniards we use of their words
because we are a multi national culture duh

So is the UK, Dotpocka Wave after wave of different languages swept into Britain and left words embedded in the language. Celts, Romans, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Vikings, Jews, Danes, Huguenots, French, Italians, Dutch, Indians, Chinese, Africans. They are still arriving and bringing more new words with them (including all the Americanisms on the internet)

You didn't mention the indigenous Americans. I believe many words in American English derive from their languages. do they too reject the languages of the many nationalities who colonised the American continent?

welbeck the ch in Bach is pronounced at the back of the throat.
I once met an American in N Wales . He said he was staying in Egglesbatch.. I knew immediately he meant Eglwysbach. I never understand why people have such trouble with the Welsh language.

England, geographically, is a small country and could fit into the United States seventy-five times. Imagine how many different dialects are in a country that size. The U.S.A. is full of many peoples and cultures and pockets of pseudo-nations throughout its span of two and a half billion acres.

There is rarely an actual American in the new nation. Most are immigrants from recent centuries. Anybody who is against illegal immigration in the U.S.A. is probably in the U.S.A. due to their ancestors or parents emigrating from Asia, Africa or Europe.

Children in the United States are not taught to speak the English language properly so now they call it "American English". I think it is Americans not knowing how to speak their own language due to their teachers not knowing how to speak their own language. So, they made up a new language called American English. Also, they are trying to start a new language called Ebonics for all of the people who weren't taught to speak American English. Where will it go from there? Spanglish?

I struggle with my own English, (as you can probably tell) because I was raised English until I was twenty or so and then I had to learn the American way. I do both, poorly. Ideally, it is better to search for commonalities with each other than differences.

no, i wrote that wrong about the french origin words.
if i read correctly, someone up thread asked why the americans pronounced them with the accent on the first part.
but that is exactly how i have always heard british people also pronounce them.
anything else would sound affected.

if did not pronounce the r in bark, would i not be saying back ??
finding some of this quite puzzling, and i've never been across the atlantic.
middx born and bred.
composer bach is was always bark to my ears.
and anyone british saying those words from french with the accent on the first part would sound as if they were being funny for a pose, or affected.
so we all have our own experiences.
i also grew up saying Haitch and never noticed anything different until i was about 20.
i assert that it is not incorrect.
and seems more logical to begin with the sound of the letter.
perhaps it's like erb for herb, with some.
anyway, i just want to point out that a whole north american continent speaks English and have as much right to pronounce and use it their way as anyone else.
some attitudes on here sound narrow-minded, which is actually the opposite of being learned.
cheerio.