Americanisms that will never, ever cross over into the UK

Just so we don't get into the great SoCo debate again on this thread:

The people of the Southern Comfort drinks company want us to call their drink 'SoCo' and i for one flatly refuse to do so.

"Druthers, there appears to be a tiger in the dining room!"
"Perhaps his Lordship will permit use of the twelve bores..." etc

"Druthers" is a Southernism, or at the very least a countryism. Ruralism? I find it slipping out occasionally but my mom uses it in complete seriousness so it's part affectation and part reverting to type.

i say "anyways" but i say lots of dumb shit

What does it mean? (xp)

Umm wait what? The only situation where I can imagine Americans making heavy use of "on the weekend" is to project into the distance and say "on the weekend of October 14th" -- i.e., it's consistent with just saying "on October 14th."

Yes, people say SoCo, get over it. You people say "pressies" and "soz,"

Excuse me, sir. I have never, etc.

It's not so much that I care, it's just that this particular ad is so LAME that I was really hoping it was trying to introduce some stupid marketing contraction that does not really exist. Oh well.

xp thanks Jaymc.

But using 'season' instead of 'series' bugs me.

In the US, the entire run of the show is the series, and a year's worth of that (generally from September to May) is a season. Do you use the term "mini-series"?

Druthers = weird bastardization of "I'd rather" to mean (as a noun) "the way I'd prefer things." The main expression is "if I had my druthers," meaning "if I had things the way I'd rather have them."

but Americans say "on the weekend" - I've never heard anyone say On the weekend!

Also, I'm from Long Island and we definitely said Herb.

on the weekend

I've never heard anyone say this.

Series refers to an entire body of episodes of a television show. Season is merely one cycle's worth. This is perfectly logical (if you were describing televisiont that is).

Druthers, used like "If I had my druthers." Which I've always understood as "If I had it my way."
xpost

i've adopted "season" quite easily.

Until just now, I totally thought that "herb" was made up by Internet rap bloggers.

And yeah, there's not much to argue with the SoCo -- it's an organic grass-roots shortening for the US, so far as I know, and they're just trying to ship it over to you Brits so you feel all chummy with the beverage.

I am not really picking on your UK shortenings, BTW. I think your "veg" is much more dignified than "veggies."

Hmmm, that Neil Young song "Out Over The Weekend"

I was going to mention that, but he is Canadian after all

Oh yeah I forgot! And yet, if you google "on the weekend" you get plenty of hits from the New York Times etc where it is patently the same meaning as the British "at the weekend"

I can't see people in these islands ever dropping the words "street" and "road" from the names of, er, streets and roads when they give directions.

why weren't Pavement called Sidewalk?

hahaha you guys think the weekend is a place
boy are you gonna be disappointed when you try to drive there

So,

British: "Are you going out at the weekend?"
US: "Are you going out over the weekend?"

Latter seems a bit clumsy

Sidewalks are made of pavement.

"Are you going out this weekend?"

j/k

g-kit, for the US "sidewalk" is the strip you walk on, "pavement" is the general term for the stuff covering a spot that's been paved

My English mother-in-law does an impression of me that sounde like a total valley girl and is peppered with "like." I swear I don't sound like that but sadly I probably do say like too much and to her that's very American sounding.

The TV thing surely comes from the fact British TV shows tend to have shorter runs than American ones. Most sitcoms only used to have a run of 6 or 7 whereas American ones run for about 24. 24 weeks is pretty much a season or two, in the mertological sense, but 6 weeks clearly isn't. I thought that was where it came from.

Also, MM is right. We would definitely say, ""Are you going out this weekend?"

"Are you going out this weekend?"

Well, yes, that works all over!

ave not avenue

"Mean" for cruel and/or unkind

I think Americans use "on the weekend" in a general sense and "over the weekend" in a specific sense.

For example:

"What do you usually do on the weekend?"
"What did you do over the weekend?"

"On the weekend" is similar to "at night" in this usage.

"boogerman"

Hold on, Americans here claim they've never heard anyone say "on the weekend"! (xp)

someone remind me what the French would say for 'at/over/on the weekend'

"On the weekend" is similar to "at night" in this usage.

Or "at the weekend"!

'this weekend' solves all problems

You people say "pressies" and "soz,"

no

xpost I've never heard "on the weekend" in the context implied here. As Jaymc used, yes.

mean meaning cruel as one of its meanings is here in uk and has been ever since i can remember

herb as nerd made popular by famed "herb the nerd" an ill-fated 1985 burger king ad campaign:

http://www.tvacres.com/images/herb_nerd_small.jpg

rapping ensued.

I say pressies and soz

like the time I was going to give 696 a Littlejohn-signed copy of the Daily Mail as a birthday pressie. but then decided he did not deserve it and had to say soz.

i think the dropping the street/road from a street/road name has come in a little bit, but it depends on the road (ie, will work for kingsland or balls pond, but not upper or city)

xpost I've never heard "on the weekend" in the context implied here. As Jaymc used, yes.

Which is exactly the context I meant it to be in!

What context did you think it was in?

jello is it me you're looking for

in fact we call him Jelly Biafra as a matter of principle

Oh wait, I think I get the weekend thing -- it's the article that's throwing it off. E.g., Jaymc's sample up there would more commonly be phrased as "what do you usually do on weekends," wouldn't it?

Anyway, I didn't say "never" -- just saying it's not really the dominant phrasing. You'll usually find it when there's a date involved: "on the weekend of July 16th." But mostly you will hear "over" (since it's a span of time) or just, you know, "this."

US = "What do you usually do on the weekend?" or "What do you usually do on weekends"
UK = "What do you usually do at the weekend?" or "What do you usually do at weekends"

What context did you think it was in?

"I'm going to a party on the weekend." No. "I'm going to a party on Saturday." Yes.

Milquetoast. See this often enough in American journalism. Never see it in Britain. Actually I don't even know what it means exactly.

i used this only last week (and i is a BritXor)!

i don't stick to one thing re weekend talk, i rotate 'this/at the/on the/over the' in turn and without pattern deviation like so much Victorian clockwork.

<i>Milquetoast. See this often enough in American journalism. Never see it in Britain. Actually I don't even know what it means exactly.

i used this only last week (and i is a BritXor)!</i>

I stand corrected!