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

BitterAndTwisted

The correct answer is "Yes, I have got a pen, thanks".

esmerelda98

What is wrong with, 'Yes, I do', as in, 'Yes, I do have a pen'? I'm no grammarian, but I think that is fine.

itzmee

I hate when Americans call me ma'am. :mad::mad: It makes me feel like an old lady :mad::mad:

Artytarty

My son (23) asked me at dinner if I was sure that gotten is not a word as everybody says it...sigh.yes son, I'm sure.

meritaten

Artytarty wrote: »

My son (23) asked me at dinner if I was sure that gotten is not a word as everybody says it...sigh.yes son, I'm sure.

its also part of an English word 'misbegotten'! so at one time perhaps it was in usage?

Pont

I've just revisited this post after a week or so away.

Two days ago at work, it was mentioned that Pont 'spells American' because, it seems, I insist on using a 'z' rather than a 's' in such words as apologize. I repeated what has been stated here, the use of a 'z' is Old English rather than American English. During the same meeting we were told to take a 'comfort' break! Urrgh!

My sister, who emigrated 30 years ago, uses English spelling/terms for words she knew before she moved, but uses Americanisms for all 'new' words/terms. She will eat a tom-ah-toe, take vit-a-mins and will visit the theatre, but talks on her cell phone, eats zucchini and puts gas in her car.

As an addition, referring to an earlier post, I was in Ludlow the other day and certainly heard 'binna', 'canna' 'wanna' etc around the market square.

jancee_2

esmerelda98 wrote: »

What is wrong with, 'Yes, I do', as in, 'Yes, I do have a pen'? I'm no grammarian, but I think that is fine.

No it's not.

If the question was, 'Have you got a pen?' then to reply, 'Yes I do' is implying, 'Yes I do got.'

Had the question been, 'Do you have a pen?', then 'Yes I do.' would be correct.

By the way, 'I do got..' is a phrase used in the US - I've heard it in movies, usually uttered by New Yorkers.

Mojisola

meritaten wrote: »

its also part of an English word 'misbegotten'! so at one time perhaps it was in usage?

Yes, it was - the past participle of 'got'. It's another case of the Americans preserving the old ways and us changing things.

We're happy to say "He had forgotten that".

pollypenny

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

The correct answer is "Yes, I have got a pen, thanks".

It could be the correct response. However, there are other answers which are fine:

Yes, thanks.

Yes.

Yes, I do.

I do.

I do , thanks.

We don't have to converse in full sentences. We rarely do so, in fact.

Rottensocks

The Oxford dictionary website has some really interesting information on this. The 'ize' or 'ise' suffix is technically correct for most British english spellings (apart from a select few, like 'advise' and 'compromise') so the 'ize' suffix isn't an Americanism at all, technically.

A number of US terms are simply well preserved words that migrated with the founding fathers, while British English has changed more -probably because we've b**tardised our own language with European imports ;-) .