Why do some Americanisms irritate people? 9

[Welshbird]

I found this a really interesting article on the BBC website.

Some Americanisms really do irritate me you see...

Fee

"The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen

 

[2ffat]

That's not cricket!" Is that an Eglandism?


James P. Cottingham
[sup]I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229![/sup]

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
Shaw said it best ( I think)

England and America are two countries separated by a common language.

George Bernard Shaw
Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 - 1950)

To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[Noway2]

Turning the situation around, I have often wished that "American English" had a fraction of the eloquence and expressiveness of the "British English". The differences are very apparent when it comes to insults, which in America usually involve a word variation of fornication, where as the Brits seem to have so much more creativity in this regard.

 

[Qik3Coder]

I was under the impression that most of the Britishisms were merely synonyms for our prefered variant of fornincate.

[blue]The doc walks in.[/blue] The good news:[green]"It's just Grumpy Old Man Syndrome."[/green] The bad news:[red]"You're not even 30."[/red]

 

[strongm]

Stiff upper lip" is, of course, an Americanism.

Which just goes to show how silly this whole dislike of Americanisms actually is ...

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
In British English that exhortation is:

"Keep your pecker up"

Which would mean something really different here in the U.S.



To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[guitarzan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/14130942[/URL]]Hospitalize, which really is a vile word

Not sure I see what's so vile about that word, unless the author loathes the creation of verbs from nouns. However, according to Merriam Webster:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/-ize[/URL]]The suffix -ize has been productive in English since the time of Thomas Nashe (1567–1601), who claimed credit for introducing it into English to remedy the surplus of monosyllabic words

So, this is an Americanism how... ?

 

[Qik3Coder]

to remedy the surplus of monosyllabic words

I've been wow-ized.

[blue]The doc walks in.[/blue] The good news:[green]"It's just Grumpy Old Man Syndrome."[/green] The bad news:[red]"You're not even 30."[/red]

 

[SantaMufasa]

Qik,

If you wish to avoid the (highly British) passive voice, then

I've been wow-ized.

...becomes,

That wowed me.

Not only to you avoid "verbal nounism" (or "nounal verbalisation"), but you avoid the use of weak, passive voice. <grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
“People may forget what you say, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

 

[SantaMufasa]

Also, Fee, I think it might be more introspective for us to investigate Why do some Americans irritate people?

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
“People may forget what you say, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

 

[jebenson]

I'm reminded of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7E-aoXLZGY

Watch it to the end, it's worth it.

I used to rock and roll every night and party every day. Then it was every other day. Now I'm lucky if I can find 30 minutes a week in which to get funky. - Homer Simpson

Arrrr, mateys! Ye needs ta be preparin' yerselves fer Talk Like a Pirate Day!

 

[Welshbird]

Ha. I don't get irritated by Americans at all; nor by American English per se.

I do, however, get irritated by British people using Americanisms.

Pet hates for me are:

I spoke with John. No you didn't! You either spoke to John, or conversed with John. Tsk...

And I isn't generally pronounces EYE. At least not over here...

Fee

"The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen

 

[strongm]

>And I isn't generally pronounces EYE. At least not over here...

Um ... in standard British English they are indeed pronounced the same (the IPA for each as per the Oxford English Dictionary being /??/, or /ai/ if you prefer the Cambridge dictionary). Of course regional accents vary

 

[Welshbird]

For me, you see, its meegraine not m'eye'graine.

And certainly its never EYE-raq....

Fee

"The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen

 

[Noway2]

Maybe you guys should take this fight out in to the car park . The first time I heard that one, I had to think about it, at least briefly. How we wind up parking on a driveway and driving on a parkway is beyond me.

I also appreciate the avoidance of terms like "restroom" since you don't go there to rest.

 

[hjgoldstein]

Do you find some of these complaints about use of language ee'ronic or eye'ronic?

It is time for pacifists to stand up and fight for their beliefs.

 

[BadBigBen]

Fee,

is it l'ee'ght or l'eye'ght during the day... ;-)

and I know most Americans do not have the number 9, because it got eaten... ...7, 8, 9...

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[gbaughma]

and I know most Americans do not have the number 9, because it got eaten... ...7, 8, 9...

*Facepalm*

I think I'll keep my merry-kin mouth shut for a while.

I just had a friend over from the UK for a week. It was an enlightening experience; I honestly had to ask him to repeat himself several times, because the accent (to my ears) was so thick I couldn't honestly understand him.



Just my 2¢

"What the captain doesn't realize is that we've secretly replaced his Dilithium Crystals with new Folger's Crystals."

--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[Welshbird]

OK OK....

You don't really get Americans pinching bits of British English though do you? So this is purely a one-way issue.

I just find it incredibly lazy.

Fee

"The cure for anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dinesen