Americanisms
- Thread starter Jimlaad43
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I was looking up some sports statistics, as you do, and came across this:
This is wrong. That is the winning average. The winning percentage is 10.6%.
Having statistics expressed as averages is quite a North American thing to do and it's not the first time I have seen it described wrongly as above. Is it just one of those things in NA English or are these Wiki editors being unspeakably lazy and inaccurate?
Wikipedia
This is wrong. That is the winning average. The winning percentage is 10.6%.
Having statistics expressed as averages is quite a North American thing to do and it's not the first time I have seen it described wrongly as above. Is it just one of those things in NA English or are these Wiki editors being unspeakably lazy and inaccurate?
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We tend to use percentage in these cases, although we sometimes use average as well, for example, a hitter's batting average in baseball.
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It's a commonly used phrase, and I guess it's acceptable because "10.6 percent" would mathematically be expressed as 0.106 without the % sign. Now if it was expressed as 0.106%, that would be wrong...unless we're discussing my chances of scoring anything against an NBA-caliber team.
A much more annoying expression is "games back", which assumes that a team winning one while the other loses one is like recouping two games. Likewise, if both win or both lose, there's no net gain (zero change in "games back"). If one team has no game that day and the opponent wins/loses, then there's a half-game differential, but everyone essentially plays the same number of game (exceptions made very late in the season if both teams are not in the hunt for playoff spots), so half-games are eventually moot. Okay, makes sense so far.
But what irks me is when a team falls or rallies at the end of a season, and sports writers lazily use phrases like "they were 20 games back", which means:
They won 10 games + Other lost 10 = 20.
It just sort of hypes up a David versus Goliath story.
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- Bratvegas
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The phrase is fine, there's nothing wrong with the phrase. It's just expressing it as an average but calling it a percentage that irks me. The winning percentage in context is 10.6. Writing .106 and calling it a percentage is just plain wrong. Write .106 and call it an average or write 10.6 and call it a percentage.
Sports averages are most commonly found in baseball I think, and aren't the relevant stats called things like "batting averages" and not percentages?
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One Americanism I do like:
The way towns are referred to in tandem with their state. Saying Green Bay, Wisconsin; Syracuse, New York; Lansing, Michigan.
It's helpful when referring to towns which you don't know about or a town which shares its name with other towns. You'll know cartographically in your head where someone means if they say Los Angeles or Miami but not so much if you say Springfield, Chester, Riverside or even Washington.
There are multiple places in Britain called Stratford, St Ives and Newport. The Watford gap does not refer to the Watford you would immediately think of.
A conversation in the UK might go like this:
"Where are you from?"
"A town called Connah's Quay."
"Where's that?"
"It's on the border, near Chester. A bit further north from Wrexham. Not far from Rhyl and Denbigh."
"Oh, never heard of it."
Even if you did use that nomenclature in the UK it will often be rendered as Rotherham in South Yorkshire or Lampeter in Carmarthenshire.
Saying Connah's Quay, Flintshire is snappy and gets to the point; you know where the place is or you don't. I like it.
The way towns are referred to in tandem with their state. Saying Green Bay, Wisconsin; Syracuse, New York; Lansing, Michigan.
It's helpful when referring to towns which you don't know about or a town which shares its name with other towns. You'll know cartographically in your head where someone means if they say Los Angeles or Miami but not so much if you say Springfield, Chester, Riverside or even Washington.
There are multiple places in Britain called Stratford, St Ives and Newport. The Watford gap does not refer to the Watford you would immediately think of.
A conversation in the UK might go like this:
"Where are you from?"
"A town called Connah's Quay."
"Where's that?"
"It's on the border, near Chester. A bit further north from Wrexham. Not far from Rhyl and Denbigh."
"Oh, never heard of it."
Even if you did use that nomenclature in the UK it will often be rendered as Rotherham in South Yorkshire or Lampeter in Carmarthenshire.
Saying Connah's Quay, Flintshire is snappy and gets to the point; you know where the place is or you don't. I like it.
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I once heard a story about an American academic who was visiting Cambridge University, and stopped someone to ask for directions. He said "Excuse me, could you please tell me where the library's at?", to which a snooty English professor replied "Sir, here in England one does not end a sentence with a preposition!", so the American guy said "Oh... sorry... could you please tell me where the library's at, asshole?"
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The Americans sure do like their acronyms (I think they think it makes them sound cool or something), & we get bombarded with them in the US dramas that have taken over our airwaves here in good 'ole blighty. However, acronyms are supposed to make things more concise, so it always makes me laugh when I'm watching some police drama & they say GSW instead of gun shot wound. The acronym has 2 more syllables than the original phrase, DOH!
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It's funny how WWW. is more of a mouthful that "world wide web".
One 'Americanism' which irritates me a bit is that so many objects are generically labelled after major brands. I was once asked for a "Sharpie" by an american colleague at a time before I realised Sharpie makes marker. It made both of us look like idiots. He could have just asked for a marker.
The rest of the English speaking word isn't immune from this but I feel that Americans take it well beyond reasonable.
Some examples that irritate me because they're not really necessary include:
Kleenex - I know they're facial tissues but I've been asked for "Kleenex" by somebody off to take a number 2.
Windex - Not many countries have this brand. Most of us call it glass/ window cleaner.
Scotch Tape - It's just sticky tape unless it's made by Scotch (or Sellotape in the UK), which it often isn't.
Tylenol - Is there only one company making paracetamol in the US?
Bandaid - Sticky plaster?
I'm not having a massive dig (just a little one
), and I know other nations do it too but it does seem the use of generic terms in America is excessive.
xyloscissor
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We can be cockie as can be, we do use brand names as house names and we don't think twice. We be 'murican' and while some of us don't even understand why, some of us do.
I'm proud to say; sure I might rub some wrong but I'm larger than life
I'm proud to say; sure I might rub some wrong but I'm larger than life
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The Americans sure do like their acronyms (I think they think it makes them sound cool or something), & we get bombarded with them in the US dramas that have taken over our airwaves here in good 'ole blighty. However, acronyms are supposed to make things more concise, so it always makes me laugh when I'm watching some police drama & they say GSW instead of gun shot wound. The acronym has 2 more syllables than the original phrase, DOH!
In cases like police officers, detectives etc. it's more for ease of writing than saying.
xyloscissor
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I only count 4 syllables against 3?The Americans sure do like their acronyms (I think they think it makes them sound cool or something), & we get bombarded with them in the US dramas that have taken over our airwaves here in good 'ole blighty. However, acronyms are supposed to make things more concise, so it always makes me laugh when I'm watching some police drama & they say GSW instead of gun shot wound. The acronym has 2 more syllables than the original phrase, DOH!
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- Thailand
I gave up using it years ago. It isn't necessary when telling somebody about a site unless one wants to be very specific and most browsers will add it automatically when the site is typed into an address bar without it.
It's the same way nobody calls BMW the Bavarian Motor Works but that is its name.
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At my first job, we made deals for vehicles. When websites started becoming a thing, the decals were the entire web address:
http://www.gtplanet.net
And filled almost the entire back end of the vehicle.
After sites became more normal, it was reduced down to www.gtplanet.net .
Obviously now we don't even bother with the www bit.
http://www.gtplanet.net
And filled almost the entire back end of the vehicle.
After sites became more normal, it was reduced down to www.gtplanet.net .
Obviously now we don't even bother with the www bit.
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xyloscissor
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I kinda want to add "abbreviation" to the conversation as well. Mainly because it might become even more anal, and awaken the poetry of anal itself being an abbreviation - though an abbreviation oxymoronic if applied to an "anal" person. An anal-retentive person would not abbreviate to anal, lest it be misextrapolated to anal-expulsive.
Hmm, Americanisms thread. I should say something on topic. Oh, oh..... this one ties in..... The pronunciation of Colin. Oh yeah..... anal
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I don't know if it's strictly an Americanism because I hear it from a lot of nationalities but 'versus' as in competition, spoken "verse" never fails to irritate me. How can so many people mispronounce a word when it's written pretty plainly how it should be spoken. I don't think there's any ambiguity about it. Stop it, people, it's retarded.
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My understanding is that it's not that it's mispronounced, but that they've mismatched the spelling and used the meaning of versus but spelled it verses. They've then taken that as a plural. Which it is..... but not for that meaning. Extract the singular version, and bam.... they verse someone in a battle.
I loathe it.
