Americanisms...is it just me that finds them irritating?

lostinrates

KarrieBee wrote: »

You aren't the only one - there are tons of prescriptivists out there, just look at the popularity of Lynne Truss.
I spend most of the year teaching our linguistics first year undergrads to stop making value judgements about language and just describe it as it is - a vibrant, creative, ever changing beast

By the way Voyager - do you have any evidence for this:
"The point is that we need precise language in order to think clearly, and most Americanisms are a lot vaguer than the English terms they replace".
Cognitive linguistics is not really my area so I'm very curious.

Even though I like what you say I think its hard NoT to make value judgements. My father's pet hate is when I say I'm dizzy instead of 'I.m giddy'. I'm whichever its meant to be most of the time so it causes a few ground teeth. I don't like lots of things through upbringing but recognise them as prejudice and try not to hold them against people. What I do know however, is they give small clues into the person's background.

BitterAndTwisted

Soubrette wrote: »

I asked for a cheese salad sandwich in a nice deli in Canada once, both the assistant and I just stared at each other until my husband rescued us and translated my need - a cheese sandwich with garden vegetables (:huh:????).

I fell into a similar trap once when asking for a chicken salad sandwich. Chicken salad is a rather different thing to chicken and or with salad. i.e. the chicken salad and mayo mixture has no vegetables in it.


Still, that was as nothing compared to trying to get a decent cup of tea. I gave up and took to drinking coffee. Which was far, far worse. It's certainly a hot beverage but nothing like coffee as it is known elsewhere in the civilised world. No wonder they drink so much "soda".

About Americans being a bit "innocent" about the rest of the world: I can't count the number of times I've been asked if we have flushing lavs over here or whether the water is safe to drink. I know it feels like a Third World country here sometimes but I don't enjoy being reminded of it.

KarrieBee

lostinrates wrote: »

Even though I like what you say I think its hard NoT to make value judgements. My father's pet hate is when I say I'm dizzy instead of 'I.m giddy'. I'm whichever its meant to be most of the time so it causes a few ground teeth. I don't like lots of things through upbringing but recognise them as prejudice and try not to hold them against people. What I do know however, is they give small clues into the person's background.

I agree - I find these folk myths about language use fascinating, particularly how ingrained they are and how connected with cultural values.

And I am sure that I am guilty of language judgements at times (particularly of people who "misuse" the apostrophe)

alias*alibi

I've just remembered another very annoying one when you're at a restaurant. They call cutlery 'silverware' and have no idea what you are talking about if you ask for cutlery! And never ask for a cider; you end up getting handed a can of soda! That was an interesting conversation in Newark airport...

jeddentad

claire16c wrote: »

My Dad knew an American who point blank refused to believe The Beatles weren't American. It's a very insular country. Most of them don't even have passports. I've been asked where London is before. Or are there black people in the UK etc

um, ouch.

People ask silly questions everywhere. I've been asked numerous times if I know [insert relative in the US here], and we all know that's a bit silly. I've been lectured about the politics of a country I don't live in, which is not very nice.

No, many American's don't have passports (35% do, compared to about 79% for the UK). North America and Europe are very different places. If an American wants to go on holiday to a tropical destination, or if they want to go skiing in the winter, or if they want to go hiking, or if they want to go mountain climbing, or if they want to go view natural wonders, they don't need a passport. And we're talking about locations that require an 8 hour flight to get there.

And heck, until quite recently, an American did not need a passport to enter Canada, with whom we share out longest border.

In Europe, if you do much traveling at all, you will need a passport.

The only comparison I can come up with is, if American's needed passports to travel across state lines, that's a bit more like Europe. Or if Europeans only needed passports to go to a different continent. That's more like the US.

Saturnalia

Arachne wrote: »

"Stroller" is one of the worst for me - it's a PUSHCHAIR!! :rotfl:

It's those who push their child around in a 'travel system' who should die slowly, painfully, and very soon.

paulineb_2

I think to be fair some of the things that bother people arent just americanisms

Buggy doesnt bother me, neither does stairwell. I say bring instead of take, thats just me. Other things really get my goat.

Some people thinking Scotland is in England does annoy me a bit because a lot of people overseas think England = UK

Ive only been to American once, for a week and never had any problems in translation, me and my broad Scottish accent and the people were lovely.

Loz01

Definitely Mom, that annoys me.

One kid in my football team dared to use the phrase 'jumping jack' instead of star jump, I threatened them with 100 of them if they ever said it again :rotfl:

de_g.

peachyprice wrote: »

It's the American spelling of replacing an 's' with a 'z' in words that get me.

Although I am guilty of calling a 'z' a zee not a zed Always have, always will.

That's not an Americanism, despite its reputation. 'ize' is known as Oxford spelling, and is the standard for publications by the Oxford University Press, including the OED.

paulineb_2

Loz01 wrote: »

Definitely Mom, that annoys me.

One kid in my football team dared to use the phrase 'jumping jack' instead of star jump, I threatened them with 100 of them if they ever said it again :rotfl:

The thing is though, phrases like jumping jack get used on fitness courses, Im an aerobics instructor and Ive heard that used many a time on courses. I use both phrases when teaching.

I do feel strongly about languages dying out, theres more money in Northern Ireland to keep the scots language (not Gaelic) alive than in Scotland. Its use it or lose it.

Some words my mums generation used 40 years ago here are already dying out, I find that quite sad.