Americanisms that will never, ever cross over into the UK

But what about sport peppers? eh?

I, umm, concur that it feels weird to refer to those items as "sport shirts," given what happens when you substitute the name of an actual sport:

tennis shirt = polo
rugby shirt = polo
polo shirt = polo

No, gab, because a sport-shirt is meant to be worn with a sport-COAT; however you may feel about either item in a general sense, there's a reason their names are so...some might even say,"similar".

Also per the Brooks Brothers website a sport-shirt can actually have a button down collar, so apparently the def is at least somewhat flexible..but they are tending to RAISE the ante on formality, not LOWER it.

how about those guys that tuck in their "sport shirts" wear blackberrys in belt clips, use bluetooth and have flashy gold watches and running shoes?

They should only stay far away from me and enjoy living in Middle America/the 'burbs?

I mean don't get me wrong, my dad is clearly and unabashedly one of them. Well, minus the bluetooth and the watch and the running shoes. But he is a devoted wearer of pleated slacks and sport shirts and sensible brown leather brogues. It's a type.

you've never seen someone wear a polo shirt and a "sport-coat"? the reason the brooks website has sports shirts with button down collars is because sports shirts have nothing to do with tailoring but refer to presentable non-office-wear, i.e. polo shirts or button-down shirts in colors and patterns that are less muted than professional-wear

I was just going to say, actually, that the rise of "corporate casual" as an acceptable every-day style has actually contributed a LOT to the variety of sport shirts available, because suddenly relatively few people wear suits on a regular basis. And I don't deal w/ menswear very much colloquially but I have mentally filed away my info from multiple books about sewing/tailoring and wardrobe guides, so I'm not sure why you're arguing with me?

We need M White on this thread, I think.

pleated slacks and sport shirts and sensible brown leather brogues. It's a type.
as a tall/not big man i am tyrannized by appeals to this 'type'. i do not want to look like fucking Sinbad on his day off thx.

I really need to get some t-shirts done with this logo, purely to hand out to Momus and a bunch of lesbians:

http://apacheplaza.com/apachefannyfarmer.jpg

The button-down shirt has small buttons on the corners and is also known as an Oxford shirt. Sez me and The Preppy Handbook.

Nabisco, it's a shirt, the default setting of shirt. Please to avoid using the term 'sports shirt' wherever you live. I call the stretchy Lacoste/Lauren ones 'polo shirts'

Polo neck means turtleneck in England, though turtleneck is also in use.

Have used 'wanker' and 'twat' since at least 1984, thanks to specialist profanities used by friend's incorrigible English dad, who was happy to popularise them in that corner of Minnesota.

tremendoid: what continent are you on? because apparently you can get some VERY nice clothes in scandinavia if you're tall and lean... a friend is going and hopefully bringing me back from 36 or 38 leg swedish jeans!

wau I'm in the U.S. I've looked at some uk sites but never thought to look in the tallest part of the western world hmmm. it would mostly be for biz casual pants (plain front, wool pref), I can find jeans and sport shirts and the like ok. do they have a link?

www.acnejeans.com

i mean, that's one company, all of sweden's fashion industry doesn't have a webpage together or anything

ACNE JEANS

plz clarify exclamation

let me show you them xp

haha I remember the mass confusion that ensued when I asked someone to hand me my toque after the first Christmas party I attended in upstate NY.

The "university"/"college" thing is interesting. They're two very separate things in Canada (where "college" = "community college" by and large) but a college can be the local campus of a state university in India so I'd assumed it was like that in the UK as well.

I've never heard anyone say "bunny hug" ever. (In the same way I've never heard a non-ironic "hoser." SCTV just made that up, right?) I'm pretty sure I've only heard "buddy" to mean "guy" from a small-town Newfie (who also used "missus" for "girl".)

(And, with respect, what were you on about with all that "Li'l Canada" stuff, Will??)

I've definitely heard "beer" used as a singular plural but it's certainly not universal.

That sounds like it's less about a singular/plural issue and more just omitting "cans of" or "bottles of."

Also it sounds like "deer."

The "university"/"college" thing is interesting. They're two very separate things in Canada (where "college" = "community college" by and large) but a college can be the local campus of a state university in India so I'd assumed it was like that in the UK as well.

it's not unproblematic here -- i went to 'sixth form college', and there are also further education colleges and whatnot, but my current "university" is called b1rkb3ck college and the ancient universities are really federations of independent colleges...

Ooh Suzy I forgot about the "Oxford" designation! Good catch. But technically AGAIN and sorry to bore the fuck out of everyone, but Oxford refers to a weave of cotton where threads in one direction are a yarn-dyed color and threads in the other direction are white, producing a lighter version of the dyed color with a slightly variegated appearance. So the totally traditional preppy standards in pink and blue and yellow are Oxford cloth, but the "novelty" ones sold by Lands' End in blue-and-white windowpane, for example, while everyone would understand you if you called them an Oxford shirt, are really getting a pass in colloquial use.

*Denim is also traditionally made this way but the weave picks up two warp threads at a time, instead of warp & weft being 1-to-1 ratio.

I mean obv it's not boring to me, but I am being Chief Pedant here and I'm at least slightly sorry about it.

Hella,hella,HELLA!

I'm American, worked in England for three months, and told a co-worker I had gone to public school. I think he took it the wrong way.

Hey, out of curiosity, does anyone in the UK still use terms like "lorry" and "tiffin" and "nought" (to mean the number zero) or have those become exclusively Indian?

If we extend this beyond linguistics, I expect/hope that the insane month/day/year date format and 'American'/Imperial measurement system will never spread/spread back?

Hey, out of curiosity, does anyone in the UK still use terms like "lorry" and "tiffin" and "nought" (to mean the number zero) or have those become exclusively Indian?

my fam still does (at least 'lorry' and 'nought,' never heard 'tiffin' before)

rad

^^^ Yes, this has already been suggested

"can you break this please"? = change from a large bill

The zee/zed one is interesting because as a kid, I went around saying "zee" all the time thanks to Sesame St. I remember mum telling me off constantly. "Stop talking like an american. Its ZED."

I also thought Oscar's name was "ask her the grouch" because of the accent. =D

(you have to say "ask her" in an aussie accent for that to make sense)

There was a Canadian Sesame St but not an Australian one? Too bad you didn't get ours. At least the last letter of the alphabet would have been intact.

Nup, we had the american one! Ah, the 70s Sesame Street ruled. It was completely bonkers.

For some reason, I was a little surprised that South Park was so huge in the UK.

The geographical argument: it's really all very simple. Ireland is part of the British Isles, geographically. Geographers and archaeologists who don't want to upset the IRA use the term "Atlantic Archipelago" instead.

Cadburys make a "tiffin" chocolate bar.

I still say "nought".

I gave up nought a long time ago, but still say lorry, and, indeed, bin lorry to refer to the lorry that collects the bins.

Hey, out of curiosity, does anyone in the UK still use terms like "lorry" and "tiffin" and "nought" (to mean the number zero) or have those become exclusively Indian?

Everyone says 'lorry'. Most people still say 'nought' (but it depends on the situation, you could also say 'zero' or 'oh'). I'm not even sure what 'tiffin' means, but it sounds like something from an Enid Blyton novel. (xp)

bin lorry to refer to the lorry that collects the bins

Ah, nice one. I have a gaping hole in my vocabulary for that thing. You put your rubbish in a dustbin, and it gets collected once a week by a dustman (or possibly a binman), and he chucks it into a.....thing. 'Dustcart' sounds crazily old-fashioned, 'dustlorry' doesn't really work, and I would never say something like 'Council Refuse Collection Vehicle'.

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0001ACJR6.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Ah, nice one. I have a gaping hole in my vocabulary for that thing.

Well, don't necessarily take my word for it. Irish people also say "press" when they mean cupboard (and "hot press" for airing cupboard) and will say "message" instead of errand. So "I have to run an errand" becomes "I have to do a message".

Another Americanism I can't see catching on is the use of "through" when talking about dates. Monday through Friday, funding authorized through fiscal 2008. That kind of thing.

I think I have heard that already. Maybe I have even said it! I quite like annoying anti-Americans by using Americanisms, I'm afraid.

"Messages" is a Scottish thing too.

Mmm, when I first moved to Scotland the two Scots words that confused me most were "messages" and "greeting"

No one says tiffin, but you can get tiffin carriers. Personal beef: "Brit" makes you sound like a wanker, British is fine, English/whatever is best.

I can't imagine it but do any foreigners use any of the following:

"soz" for sorry

"hard" for tough ("well ard", or best "soz ard")

"pure" for good or as an intensive

"right" as an intensive ("you've made a right mess of this")

"class" for good

Is "taxed" as in nicked still used anywhere in the UK?

Dude is pretty widely used in the UK. Bro used occasionally sort of joking/self-conciously, like a lot of US slang.

Also (xpost re:confusing Scottishisms) 'bucket' for 'bin' and 'how (no)?' for 'why (not)?'

("you've made a right mess of this")

I think Australians and Kiwis do.