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

littlerat

jaytar wrote: »

I have just asked two of my colleagues and they both say "Mom" as in "dom". They were both born and raised here in the South East !

What about parents, grandparents? These things can pass down a long way.


I'm really hoping "dope" doesn't catch on any more, it's ridiculous.

Honestly though I pick up words and phrases very quickly by accident, no idea why, I have done since I was a very young girl, if I talk to people who use a phrase or see it on TV or read it, it quickly becomes part of my vocabulary.

Accents, speaking to people with strong accents ends up with me either speaking with a stronger cornish one, or sometimes speaking partially with the accent of the person I'm speaking to. Again, unsure why, it's entirely accidental.



Unsure if it's american but misuse of things like borrow annoy me "Can you borrow me some money?". No, no I can't. I could have lent you some money, but now I won't. Same with "can you learn me xyz". How about I teach you some basic literary skills?

Also people not pluralising pounds ("I've got 500 pound" for instance), plus using an f instead of th when not due to actual difficulties with the th sound.


I'm not overly strict with my own grammar and punctuation online but some things do annoy me.


But, all else asides even the most educated people can be a product of their upbringing - trying to not use ain't is hard for me, it's used an awful lot - around here anyway, the same thing as "Can I" instead of "May I" - even if you know it's incorrect, if you've spent your whole life hearing the former on a daily basis, trying to change it in casual conversation is hard work. I assume it's also why so many people use "of" instead of "have".

And with so much American TV on so many channels, it's no wonder people have picked up on phrases they hear so often.

Saturnalia

The dear husband (DH), darling daughter (DD) carp. Does anyone need that much saccharine?

daisiegg

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

I'd find it REALLY hard to believe that everyone using "mom" on MSE was from the midlands though...

I have never heard anyone in the UK pronounce it 'mom'. Do people from the midlands actually pronounce it 'mom' or just spell it that way?

Miss_Poohs

Gawd help those of us fae Glesga - we use the cludgie, ask oor maw, and if we don't 'get it' we'll tell ye tae haud yer whesht

coolcait

Miss_Poohs wrote: »

Gawd help those of us fae Glesga - we use the cludgie, ask oor maw, and if we don't 'get it' we'll tell ye tae haud yer whesht

Hell, slap it intae them! Gaunyersel', hen!

BritAbroad

Abbafan1972 wrote: »

Following on from the previous posts about names, it annoys me when when American actors/actresses have 3 names.

I like watching "Good luck Charlie" and 3 of the cast members are called Leigh Allyn Baker, Bradley Steven Perry and Eric Allan Kramer.

In the US, it seems to be the norm to give a child a forename, one middle name, and a surname (or last name, as it seems to be called here. I asked someone for their surname recently and they had no idea what I meant). No more, no less. If you vary from that it causes bureaucratic mayhem. I have two middle names and was actually accused of lying about my name when sitting my US driving test, because they'd entered the details incorrectly into their computer system. It wasn't helped by the fact that one of my middle names, which is a surname in the UK, is sometimes used as a forename in the US. It's a daft system which insists your details have to be exactly the same as your passport, but then cannot cope with the slightest variation from the norm.

I have an Indian friend in the UK who has six middle names, I think she'd struggle over here!

Georgiegirl256

trevor_john wrote: »

Ok I'm on a rant here so apologies if it offends anyone. Like some others on here, I detest the use of the word "Awesome" especially if it's said by someone who's of a more mature age and is trying to be "down with the kids". Everything is awesome. Why not use the word wonderful or great?

I also hate the word " cool " used for everything ( god knows whether this is an Americanism but I can't bear it ).

I know a bloke who's approaching 55 years of age and constantly says things like "we must touch base " and "you guys are awesome ". YUK. It just sounds so wrong:mad:

I also cringe when I hear stupid people who are not of a african-carribbean background/descent/household try to talk like people who are because they thinks it makes them look "cool". They actually look and sound like they have a speech impediment. (Not knocking anyone who has a genuine speech impediment ) JUST TALK NORMALLY FOR GODS SAKE.:mad:

Rant over.

My cousin who is 58 (he's a lot older than me), says "we must touch base" all the time! At first I was like "what?!" I thought it was like some yuppie saying or something!

I do however say Cool quite a lot

You'd probably hate us then! :rotfl:

morocha

lol im a foreigner so english is english to me but i will accept that sometimes when a word is difficult to pronounce i will say it the american way, like when learning english i couldn't pronounce biscuits so i started saying cookies, i use to pronounce biscuits, bigkiss.

My toddler watches ccbeebies and yes, she says garbage instead of rubbish and many more,fil is always correcting her.

hemophobic

I don't like erbs (herbs)
Another thing is when they say second they seem to add a t on the end "wait a secondt)
And toona rather that choona (tuna)

Gloomendoom

hemophobic wrote: »

And toona rather that choona (tuna)

Again, that pronunciation isn't unique to the US, some UK local dialects pronounce it that way as well. Leicestershire, for example.