Americanisms that will never, ever cross over into the UK

Will - So do I esp. because I'm around my husband so much so his usage rubs off on me! The way I phrase things has definitely changed since meeting him/living over there but I don't even really notice that so I can't really stop myself.

sound - "He's really sound". It means someone who is . . . wow tough to explain. I guess it would be a good, solid, reliable, person. Maybe?

Is "wanker" used by any Americans who aren't pretending to be British?

maybe by a few? the American politix blogger uses 'wanker' and if he is being anglophilic I don't think it comes across in type, so he may be promulgating limited such use in the world of politicoblog geeks

sound as in 'sound logic' - agreeable, correct - so yeah.

The season/series thing always bugged me, since how does it work for something like Star Trek, which has had multiple seasons of multiple series? like, "yeah, they only had Dr. Polaski for the 2nd series of the 2nd series"?

apparently Mr Burns called U2 'wankers' in the 200th episode but i only ever saw the cut version with this taken out.

Or anyway these are the only types of people I encounter who might still say "herb" or know what it means.

I still use this word in this context pretty regularly.

This belongs way upthread, but according to Viz:

A slut is a tramp and a tramp is a bum and a bum is a fanny and a fanny is a PUNANI.

Oh, come on. Here's THREE American college newspapers:

hey, who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes? ok, so i'm wrong, but it was an error of reading comprehension - Americans might use "on the weekend" to refer to weekends in general, but not to refer to a particular weekend, as brits do with "at the weekend"

Punani. I'm going to start using that. All the time.

In America "pissed" is often used to denote "angry" (as a shortened version of "pissed off"), whereas in the UK "pissed" is firmly entrenched as denoting "drunk" and is unlikely ever to be dislodged by the American variant.

However, the UK has a rich patois that shall never cross the ocean westwards, more's the pity. For example, "grew like Topsy" is never going to catch on here in the USA.

it'd be sweet if you could somehow loop that back around to "slut."

i think we have that definition of sound here? maybe? maybe not for people so much but i like it. I hope I don't start affecting it.

I thought of one: "good people" re: one person. Like, "Yeah, Joe, he's good people." Maybe no Americans say that either.

How about "sketched out"?

In America "pissed" is often used to denote "angry" (as a shortened version of "pissed off"), whereas in the UK "pissed" is firmly entrenched as denoting "drunk" and is unlikely ever to be dislodged by the American variant.

On the contrary, we say "pissed off"!

For example, "grew like Topsy" is never going to catch on here in the USA

Never heard of it!

wankerrrrrrrr

i could never say 'tube' or 'tuna' the right way while in britland. i would avoid saying those two words because they sounded so retarded in an american accent compared to the chorus of british accents.

Tho i do use and support the spreading of the term "wanker"*, since much like "authoritarian", there are few better terms describing what's going on over here nowadays.

*(said he the anglophilic political blog reader)

Oh I definitely say "I need to start finding things to do on the weekend" in reference to finding weekly activities to do over multiple weekends. But I am from Canuckistan so who knows?

This seems more intuitive to me than saying "on weekends" too but a number of these Britishisms seem common in Canada. (Oh, gabbneb has clarified himself.) No way I'd drop the "h" in "herb" either. I definitely say "wank"/"wanker" and "bloody" sometimes and have known a lot of people who do. Americans seem to find it amusing. And is pronouncing "aunt" like "ahnt" really an Americanism?! My parents, who were raised in India, say it that way. I usually say it like that to avoid referring to family members as insects. (And, yeah, I use "pissed" for drunk, which seems to confuse Americans.)

xposts

this weekend discussion is blowing my mind

This seems more intuitive to me than saying "on weekends" too but a number of these Britishisms seem common in Canada

"On weekends" is NOT a Britishism! We say "AT the weekend", "AT weekends"!

... which is where I came in, I think

No, I was responding to gabbneb's comment that "on the weekend" was anglophilic as opposed to "on weekends". He clarified it anyway.

My American friends definitely use "wanker" to refer to people like Yngwie Malmsteem.

And is pronouncing "aunt" like "ahnt" really an Americanism?!

It is when it's the strange exaggerated way Americans say it, like they're trying to be really polite and (upper class) British, it always makes me giggle

Ooh, I thought of one-- "shitty." The adjective of shit. Don't you guys generally say "shit," like, "that's a shit record" or "my day was shit" vs. "that's a shitty record" or "my day was shitty?"

I thought of one: "good people" re: one person. Like, "Yeah, Joe, he's good people." Maybe no Americans say that either.

That's actually what came to mind when I was trying to think of how to define "sound" but I don't know why because although I've heard other people say use it like this, I've never said "He's good people" before.

this weekend discussion is blowing my mind

Me too. I think by brain is going to explode.

oh YEAH sundar I pretty much only user wanker in terms of people who fucking noodle around on guitars! i was going to make a note of that but forgot.

Will is otm with regard to shit v. shitty. See also: crap v. crappy.

I have to admit, I'm guilty of this one. I always say crap rather than crappy these days.

Ooh, I thought of one-- "shitty." The adjective of shit. Don't you guys generally say "shit," like, "that's a shit record" or "my day was shit" vs. "that's a shitty record" or "my day was shitty?"

More than "shit" than "shitty" but "shitty" not proscribed by any means. I much prefer "shite" myself tho.

In America "pissed" is often used to denote "angry" (as a shortened version of "pissed off"), whereas in the UK "pissed" is firmly entrenched as denoting "drunk" and is unlikely ever to be dislodged by the American variant.

Or, for the U.S. the past tense of "urination." And good GOD this caused serious consternation among me and my friends when Chumbawumba became an international sensation back in 98 or so.

What's the status of "write a test/exam" as opposed to "take a test/exam"? I tend to use the former but have been told it's an odd Canadianism.

Sit an exam?

whip a shitty?

I would never say write an exam but have heard sit an exam used here. Take would certainly be the prefferd choice.

I reckon "sit" wins in UK

Ok, he's a question - on University Challenge - they always say that so and so is "reading" _____ at University. What's that about? We would say studying here.

It sounds more intellectual and poncey

Nobody normal says it!

That's sort of what I figured.

> The season/series thing always bugged me, since how does it work for something like Star Trek, which has had multiple seasons of multiple series? like, "yeah, they only had Dr. Polaski for the 2nd series of the 2nd series"?

Start Trek: The Next Generation

(oddly, she was also in ST:TOS series 2 and 3, about 6 episodes apart playing different characters (but doctors both times))

Whoa, I wanna back it up for a sec, OTM means OTMoney? I always thought it was OTMark! OTMoney is SILLY and makes me never want to say OTM again :( oh well I always have 8080. Seriously I am going to start saying "eighty eighty" in real life. or UK style, hatey-hatey

OTM could go either way. Means the same thing.

write an exam

I would use this when I was actually creating an exam/test to give someone else.

whip a shitty?

Like doin' donuts?

xpost to Will - That's funny that you read that as eighty eighty. In my mind I read it as eight oh eight oh. Ok, nevermind. That's not funny at all.

It just occured to me that it's probably eighty eighty for a reason that I just never got. Oh well.

no, there was no reason. i just read it as "eight eighty" because it sounded good, and i often read 4-digit numbers with a 0 as the second digit as such when trying to remember them (ie. 7085 is seventy-eighty-five... it's weird and wrong but it must work because I have way above average skill for memorizing numbers)

eighty eighty, not eight eighty

What the fuck does "8080" mean? I've seen it used here on ILX a lot lately.

It means GO HOME YOU LAZY SOD

fake snrub

During my first year of high school, a security guard used the term "good people" (as in "she's good people") and after he left, four or five people stood around going "WTF" and speculating that it was some kind of newfangled black slang and then acting like I was weird for having heard it before.

(Although it IS slightly more a southern and/or black thing, right? The two are hard to separate sometimes.)

I had never even heard of 'soco' or 'druthers' until reading this thread. 'Douchebag' sounds so alien to me that I'm surprised to find another British person upthread saying they use it ('booger' and 'boogerman' too I can't see ever catching on).

'Intern' I didn't understand for ages. Quite a long way into the Monica Lewinsky scandal I still thought that she was someone very important in the American government.

'On the weekend' is definitely creeping in over here, as is 'guys'/'you guys' meaning a group of people possibly including women.

I'd be quite happy for us to import 'dude'. I like the word. In fact I'll happily take 'dude' if you promise to keep 'douchebag'.

California -- "on the weekend" is normal for an upcoming weekend.
"you doing something on the weekend?", although substituting "this weekend" is a bit more likely.
the only time I've ever heard "over the weekend" is past tense.
"what did you do over the weekend?"

also, I always theorized that the use of 'Herb' date back to that Burger King mascot or whatever from the 80's? I don't remember people using it at that time per se but it wasn't long after.