I blame YouTube, how many more Americanisms are we going to have to suffer ?

[starlingwood]

I don't like the Americanisms either, never had. Not sure why maybe a streak of nationalism dislike of *******isation or something. My little ones everyone and again come out with garbage truck and couch every now again and I have to correct them.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The Mother Tongue - Wikipedia is brilliant (as is anything by Bryson) as are books by Steven Pinker and David Crystal.

 

[Cabinetman]

I was very impressed with my then twelve year old Ibithencan nephew came to stay with us with his mom and dad. One day my English sister-in-law jokingly said in her Brummie accent that she's been 'learning him English'. He said 'don't you mean you've been teaching me English'.

Thank you I always like to learn new words and that’s the first time I’ve ever come across Ibithencan, And well done nephew!

 

[Woody2Shoes]

It would be easy (for a foreigner) to imagine "American" as some kind of homogenous language. I think that - in spite of TV/internet - there is still some rich variation in accent and idiom across the US (just as there is across the UK) - I found this Youtube vid (no irony) absolutely fascinating:
Also: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfZFeqnCUQDo5IvedomAsghqDAZwfHgZr

 

[Cabinetman]

The Mother Tongue - Wikipedia is brilliant (as is anything by Bryson) as are books by Steven Pinker and David Crystal.

I thought I had read every single one of Brysons books but that one passed me by, I sometimes think that he is more English than a lot of us natives.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

very canadian, which is a third type of English, but they do like the queen, so they get a pass?

Yay, don't forget British Columbia...

 

[George_N]

Vise instead of Vice. Doesn’t even sound right.
Clamp for Cramp that one is almost ubiquitous now, in case you didn’t know a clamp is that bit of wood on the end of a breadboard, or something that fastens onto a tube. I think in this case it was just easier for people like Axminster to copy the American way.
Lumber instead of Timber. I think I’m right in saying that lumber in the UK is used to refer to trees before they are cut up.
Jointer for Planer
Tote for Handle.
Is it just me? Am I getting too old?

It’s not just U.K. vs US... go to Glasgow if you’re “lookin for a lumber”.

 

[Limey Lurker]

That’s very true Adrian but then again we have never called a vice a vise etc.

Strictly speaking, when you "call" something, you actually speak it's name; so whether it's spelt "vice", or "vise" the listener won't know. This notwithstanding, I feel a burning rage when I hear the language spoken in America described as English!

 

[Cabinetman]

It would be easy (for a foreigner) to imagine "American" as some kind of homogenous language. I think that - in spite of TV/internet - there is still some rich variation in accent and idiom across the US (just as there is across the UK) - I found this Youtube vid (no irony) absolutely fascinating:
Also: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfZFeqnCUQDo5IvedomAsghqDAZwfHgZr

Thanks Woody that was fascinating when she wakes up I’m going to call America and ask Pam how she pronounces those words, so many different nationalities make up the original inhabitants of various parts of the US and at different times as well. But then I suppose it’s no different to South Yorkshire/Doncaster which is only 30 miles away from where I live, a completely different language almost. Ian

 

[pe2dave]

I guess we're just proving that English isn't a dead language, growing and changing over time.

 

[John Brown]

Strictly speaking, when you "call" something, you actually speak it's name; so whether it's spelt "vice", or "vise" the listener won't know. This notwithstanding, I feel a burning rage when I hear the language spoken in America described as English!

Said the man who doesn't know the difference between it's and its.
Honestly, if you feel a burning rage about such a trivial matter, how do you react if something seriously bad happens?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

How do Americans pronounce "miaow"?

 

[Sgian Dubh]

I guess this is nothing to do with American v British English, but I do find it irritating that many people nowadays, when accused of wrongdoing or malfeasance of some sort, will say, "I refute that." When I hear that I expect the accused to follow up with a sentence containing evidence to disprove, contest, rebut, or otherwise counter the allegation, but I seldom hear anything of the sort. In reality, all the accused has done is deny the allegation, not refute it, so why not say, "I deny that/it." I wonder when it was that refute changed its meaning of offering a disproval, or similar, to it now meaning a denial? Slainte.

 

[JohnPW]

A few years ago in the UK, to ship/shipping meant to send something on an actual ship. Its US meaning of sending something by any means is common now.

 

[Droogs]

oh they do do traffic circles but not many of them

But a traffic circle is different to a roundabout. they have differing rules and controls for joining and exiting. One controlled by common sense and the other by US - traffic signal, UK - traffic lights and interestingly in South Africa - robots lol

 

[Dr Al]

Vise is the physical object here. Vice is a bad quasi cable channel or an addiction.

I didn't realise that both spellings were used. I had assumed it followed the pattern I've seen in most American English words with the same spelling for all meanings.

For example, we use practice as a noun and practise as a verb; in America I believe practice is used regardless; similarly "meter" is a measuring device in English and "metre" is a distance; but in America they're both "meter" so you have to use the context to work out whether a "micrometer" is measuring tool (as it always is in England; with the emphasis on the second syllable) or another name for a micron (micrometre - emphasis on the first syllable). We would, however, use vice for any meaning and "vise" is just a typo. I learn something new every day and all that...

I definitely prefer English spellings and meanings and would only ever use them, but I generally don't get that worked up about the use of American terms. I do, however, think there's a special place in hell reserved for anyone who uses "degrees" to mean "degrees Fahrenheit" (as in "it's 10 degrees outside!" - "10°C isn't especially cold, what are you complaining about?"). There's a similar spot in damnation reserved for the creators of websites that put dates in mm/dd/yyyy format to maximise the confusion of anyone outside of America - if you're going to shuffle the order of the numbers in the date, at least use the name of the month so it's unambiguous.

 

[Dr Al]

But a traffic circle is different to a roundabout. they have differing rules and controls for joining and exiting. One controlled by common sense and the other by US - traffic signal, UK - traffic lights and interestingly in South Africa - robots lol

We can hardly claim consistency there though - if you go to Nottingham, they call roundabouts "traffic islands" or just "islands". Where I grew up, "traffic islands" were the little raised areas in the road (usually with a road sign on) to separate traffic. Took me a while to figure out what they were talking about the first time I drove around the area with one of my OH's family navigating in the passenger seat!

 

[Fidget]

Just one word

Ghoti

Shows how silly the English language is

 

[Stan]

Coruscate, scintillate, globule vivific,
Fain would I ponder your nature specific.
Loftily perched in the ether capacious,
Strongly resembling a gem carbonaceous.



How's that for silly language? ( not my original )

 

[D_W]

Strictly speaking, when you "call" something, you actually speak it's name; so whether it's spelt "vice", or "vise" the listener won't know. This notwithstanding, I feel a burning rage when I hear the language spoken in America described as English!

Spelt here refers to a pre-wheat from germany.