“And I was like?”

[Peter Sarf]

I aint dun nuffin.

Wicked.

To be fair, the way in which texting is used (as a medium to articulate spoken language through writing) has blurred the difference enough that I think lots of typed methods of communication have started to mirror spoken language, as opposed to written language, rather than simply informal pseudo-spoken conversation. It doesn't stop it from irritating me, though, however much I may do it subconsciously.

This reminds me how emails and text get written casually and ignoring the fact that they can easily be presented in evidence. They instead get treated as casual and unrecorded (like most verbal communication). People still think of the written word (eg a letter) as legally more important.

Some American English words are actually older than British English e.g. 'fall' is much older than autumn. British folk who migrated to the 13 Colonies kept some old words and syntax in use long after they had fallen out of use in the UK.

An interesting future clash may be between American English and 'th-fronting'. This is where the 'th' sound in think and thanks becomes 'f' in all words, and the 'th' sound in with or brother becomes v, but only in words where the 'th' sound isn't the starting sound. It's originally a London pronunciation which spread to Estuary English and is now widely heard across most dialects of English English (but much more rarely in Welsh English or Scottish English). It is still something of a social class delineation, although much less than it used to be.

I dislike it intensely although I acknowledge it isn't merely lazy - the distinction between the two sounds is preserved, and those who say 'wiv' or 'bruvver' invariably still say 'that' or 'this'. I have asked a few people who do it if they can hear the difference and generally they either can't hear it at all, or can only tell the difference if they're concentrating (usually by watching the tell-tale tongue roll needed for a 'th' sound). A bit odd when they can effortlessly switch between 'this' and 'bruvver' without even thinking about it.

Anyway, the point is that this hasn't developed in American English to any noticeable extent. Whilst I won't be here by then, it wouldn't surprise me if in a century's time there's a complaint in British English about the odd American pronunciation of good English words like 'fink' and 'fanks'.

Language has always developed and changed - if it didn't then the works of Geoffrey Chaucer would be easy to read today.

My bold (if you will excuse me)

I hear Dis or Dat used quite a lot. Possibly more than Fink. Bruvver is not uncommon.

Some Americanisms that really get me going....

Line = Queue
Trunk = Boot on a car. But tbh trunk as in storage/shipping item makes more sense as that is what early cars had strapped on the back.
Hood = Bonnet on a car. BUT hood might mean cover more than a silly little hat.

I hear all three from my 44 year old step son, I always correct him.
The younger brother just has bad English !.

 

[Cross City]

If you’re worrying about Americanisms then I’d say your life is going swimmingly.

I couldn’t imagine getting wound up about something so vanishingly inconsequential.

 

[Harpo]

those who say 'wiv' or 'bruvver' invariably still say 'that' or 'this'.

Very interesting post.

Phonetically, I’d write ‘bruvva’ for my families London branch who also had the hilarious faux-royal ‘orf’ for ‘off’.

But, what none of them would do was pronounce ‘house’ complete with its ‘h’, unlike a certain TV soap. Mickey Flanagan’s ‘can I come in your ‘ouse’ skit refers!

On founding fathers’ English, I knew older Norfolk people who said ‘route’ to rhyme with ‘out’. I wondered if their ancestors had exported that to the states?

 

[Tester]

On founding fathers’ English, I knew older Norfolk people who said ‘route’ to rhyme with ‘out’. I wondered if their ancestors had exported that to the states?

Route rhyming with out is normal in Australia, where root means something quite different.

As I found when testing on the signalling panel in Wollongong, New South Wales, in 1987, when my colloquial request for a signal route to be set, "Give us a route", was met with howls of laughter from the entire staff.

I won't forget that in a hurry

 

[Sun Chariot]

If you’re worrying about Americanisms then I’d say you’re life is going swimmingly.

Yes, Americanisms don't ruffle me in the slightest.
Grammatical howlers, however...

 

[Cross City]

Yes, Americanisms don't ruffle me in the slightest.
Grammatical howlers, however...

Pop that one down to autocorrect

 

[Gloster]

I aint dun nuffin.

Wicked.

This reminds me how emails and text get written casually and ignoring the fact that they can easily be presented in evidence. They instead get treated as casual and unrecorded (like most verbal communication). People still think of the written word (eg a letter) as legally more important.

My bold (if you will excuse me)

I hear Dis or Dat used quite a lot. Possibly more than Fink. Bruvver is not uncommon.

Some Americanisms that really get me going....

Line = Queue
Trunk = Boot on a car. But tbh trunk as in storage/shipping item makes more sense as that is what early cars had strapped on the back.
Hood = Bonnet on a car. BUT hood might mean cover more than a silly little hat.

I hear all three from my 44 year old step son, I always correct him.
The younger brother just has bad English !.

Trunks: in America this is where people put their spare tyres. In Britain it is where overweight men put their spare tyres.

 

[westv]

If you’re worrying about Americanisms then I’d say your life is going swimmingly.

I couldn’t imagine getting wound up about something so vanishingly inconsequential.

But important enough to comment on.

 

[daveo]

I don’t know if this is a northern thing, but if you don’t hear or understand something, you say, ‘You what?’ instead of ‘Pardon?’ My teacher would say ‘Yes, I’m hot. Are you hot too?’

That's just (typical) pedagogical pedantry!!!

 

[En]

What's wrong with "May I have?" or "Can I have?"? As mentioned "get" implies the speaker wants to go and get it. Just another nonsense Americanism.

i think there was the reference to the difference between 'may' and 'can'
where may is seeking permission to actually get the item, and can is the physical ability to get it
leading to ' yes you can <physically access it>, but, no you may not '

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Oct 2024 ==

Some American English words are actually older than British English e.g. 'fall' is much older than autumn. British folk who migrated to the 13 Colonies kept some old words and syntax in use long after they had fallen out of use in the UK.

An interesting future clash may be between American English and 'th-fronting'. This is where the 'th' sound in think and thanks becomes 'f' in all words, and the 'th' sound in with or brother becomes v, but only in words where the 'th' sound isn't the starting sound. It's originally a London pronunciation which spread to Estuary English and is now widely heard across most dialects of English English (but much more rarely in Welsh English or Scottish English). It is still something of a social class delineation, although much less than it used to be.

I dislike it intensely although I acknowledge it isn't merely lazy - the distinction between the two sounds is preserved, and those who say 'wiv' or 'bruvver' invariably still say 'that' or 'this'. I have asked a few people who do it if they can hear the difference and generally they either can't hear it at all, or can only tell the difference if they're concentrating (usually by watching the tell-tale tongue roll needed for a 'th' sound). A bit odd when they can effortlessly switch between 'this' and 'bruvver' without even thinking about it.

Anyway, the point is that this hasn't developed in American English to any noticeable extent. Whilst I won't be here by then, it wouldn't surprise me if in a century's time there's a complaint in British English about the odd American pronunciation of good English words like 'fink' and 'fanks'.

Language has always developed and changed - if it didn't then the works of Geoffrey Chaucer would be easy to read today.

see also the the US American piss-taking over glottal stopped 'T' and " you bri'ish and your bo''le of wa'er "

 

[gg1]

Not all Americanisms are bad.

I'm particularly fond of 'vanity plate'.

 

[londonbridge]

I aint dun nuffin.

Similarly:

Customer “Do you have this product”?

Assistant: “aisle 12”.

Customer: “I’ve looked and the shelf is empty”.

Assistant: “We ain’t got none then”.

So if you don’t have none, you must have some, so where are they??

 

[Merle Haggard]

Similarly:

Customer “Do you have this product”?

Assistant: “aisle 12”.

Customer: “I’ve looked and the shelf is empty”.

Assistant: “We ain’t got none then”.

So if you don’t have none, you must have some, so where are they??

Indeed; in grammar, double negatives are a definite no-no

 

[westv]

Not all Americanisms are bad.

I'm particularly fond of 'vanity plate'.

I'm going to have to Google that.

 

[MotCO]

I'm going to have to Google that.

Is it a mirror?

 

[gg1]

I'm going to have to Google that.

Private number plate.

The US term for such an utterly pointless waste of money is spot on.

 

[Peter Sarf]

Private number plate.

The US term for such an utterly pointless waste of money is spot on.

I agree with you but...

I have "D 7 VED" if any one wants it

Yesterday evening I got on the train and the adjacent bay ended up with four young ladies in it. Orpington is a smart enough area but then feet went on the seats, out came the vapes and two of them padded out the sentences with generous amounts of the F word. I think really the same usage as "erm", "you know" or "like" - just noise words but unseemly. So I suppose carefull what to wish for.

 

[LUYMun]

Language does evolve and most of these phrases usually give me a smile, but for some reason two still make my blood boil to explosion:

Reach out...
Thank you for your patience..

I could care less.

 

[Lewisham2221]

I don't think this one's been mentioned yet:

Yeah, no...

or

No, yeah...