Americanisms

[Wyvern89]

United States of Ameristralia

 

[Grayfox]

Nah you just have 57 states.

Means the US flag has to be updated so it has 57 stars.

 

[Grand Prix]

High School = Secondary School, interchangeable here

College = a Post-Secondary education centre, but not as high status as University. There are both Colleges and Universities here.


Also,

How about them Canadianisms?

 

[Omnis]

Wtf is Bovril, Vegemite, Marmite? This is the MUREICKA THREDD! If you want to drink beef here, you do this:

 

[Grand Prix]

 

[Famine]

Seriously, British people go a little overboard with their FFFths.

Jamie Oliver is not "British people". Jamie Oliver is a Mockney (travelling wave amplifier tube) with a tongue that should be large enough to block his throat and choke him to death. For all meanings of "should".

"Mockney" (Mock Cockney) is a dialect spoken by people who believe they are Cockney. In Mockney, Cockney and Estuary English (English as spoken in parts of Kent, east London [not East London - that's South Africa] and Essex) is full of dropped consonants and lazy diphthongs. Like:

20 = twenny
Think = Fink
Throat = Frowt
Battery = Bah- -rih (with a glottal stop in the middle)

Gaol

Jail

Same thing, but which looks correct?

Look, it's been 150 years. You don't need to still be obsessed with prisons...

(the former, by the way - look up some Oscar Wilde)

 

[W3H5]

20 = twenny
Think = Fink
Throat = Frowt
Battery = Bah- -rih (with a glottal stop in the middle)

Ah, reminds me of home.

I spent years learning how to speak properly after growing up in London and finkin' at wos 'e only way t' speak.

The only time I find explaining the glottal useful to my Chinese friends is when explaining how the C word can be offensive or passive depending on the pronunciation of the t

 

[Grayfox]

Look, it's been 150 years. You don't need to still be obsessed with prisons...

English teachers still say you should use "Gaol".

Yogurt=Yoh Gerht
Basil=Bay zil

 

[Famine]

And they're right. "Gaol" is English, "Jail" is US English.

You'd be amazed how few use "Gaol" even in Britain.

 

[axletramp]

Ah, Jamie Oliver. Or as Frankie Boyle said "Hasn't he done well for someone with low level Down's syndrome".

Cruel. Accurate. Funny.

Larn-see-a or Larn-cha?

BTW, where I live 'Beaulieu' is pronounced 'bow-lee-ah' due to the Norman French spoken here.

 

[Grayfox]

And they're right. "Gaol" is English, "Jail" is US English.

You'd be amazed how few use "Gaol" even in Britain.

My real issue is that you don't hear the "Ga" or "Ol" sounds so why should I spell it like that, my way of spelling is to spell the way it sounds.

I don't even spell color with a "u".

 

[Famine]

My real issue is that you don't hear the "Ga" or "Ol" sounds so why should I spell it like that

Uhhh... you do?

my way of spelling is to spell the way it sounds.

That reminds me, I must get some ghoti and chips...

 

[Grayfox]

I pronounce it Jay-ill.

 

[TheCracker]

Calling pants or trousers is nothing everyone knows what your talking about

That's not true. Over here 'pants' are something you wear between your nethers and your trousers.

Also, I'd like to nominate "Honder" (Honda) for most unnecessary, seemingly counterproductive British mispronunciation of all time, along with its close cousin, "Mazder" (Mazda).

How else would you say Hon-der and Maz-der?

Also, British terms for parts of cars. They drive me nuts. "Bonnet" ("Hood" is the proper term, but I tend to use "engine lid" for rear- or rear mid-engine cars), "boot" (properly "trunk") and "bootlid" (properly "trunklid", "decklid", or "rear deck") all need to be stopped.

Lol. What makes your term for these proper?

 

[Grayfox]

Lol. What makes your term for these proper?

Because outside of America there is nothing.

Or is their a valid reason for US terms?

 

[DG_Silva]

so basically it's basically it's kind of like tea in a way when mixed with water?

Sort of. But not as nice as tea.

It's basically a beef tea, so imagine a watery beef soup, very strong in flavour, and you'll have an idea. But I spread the paste (I say paste, because there is no other way to describe it. To look at it, it resembles molten tar) on toast or crumpets with butter. Mmmmmmm, delicious....

 

[terminator363]

Peugeot or Perrgeot

 

[Omnis]

Those aren't Americanisms. Come on guys.

 

[axletramp]

How about 'alphabetized' then?

 

[Jimlaad43]

Here is a list compiled by the BBC from people, explaining the reasons for the hatred.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14201796

Also, at the end of a sentence is a FULL STOP, not a period, which is a time frame, not punctuation.

 

[axletramp]

Hatred's a bit strong.

I must admit, I'm still not clear whether 'a quarter of 12' means quarter to 12 or quarter past.

 

[Jimlaad43]

Not my hatred, the people who submitted the words, check out their opinions.

 

[axletramp]

OK, my apologies.

 

[Driving Park]

I tend to use American spellings with British terminology. I'll say satnav instead of GPS, indicators instead of turn signals, throttle instead of gas pedal (dunno if that's really a British/American distinction though), carpark instead of parking garage/parking lot, motorway instead of highway, plurals for objects normally classified as singular (for example, an American would say "Apple is very successful at making quality consumer electronics", whereas someone from the UK would say "Apple are very successful at making quality consumer electronics."), queue instead of line, and so on. I don't use bonnet/boot though, which to me sounds a bit ridiculous.

 

[Omnis]

Get a Georgian to say oil.

AAAWWHHLLLL

 

[Jimlaad43]

We say petrol, Americans say gasoline. Gasoline is wrong.
Gasoline is the mixture of hydrocarbons of a certain length that comes straight from the refinery process. Petrol has had certain types taken out to change the volatility for weather conditions and aromas so you can smell that it was there.
PETROL IS CORRECT, gasoline is wrong.

 

[Sage]

IHere in Merica, we like to keep things simple. Like that German dude on youtube pondering the phrase "shoot the ****". He took it literally, like we shoot poop. But here, "****" means "stuff" as well. We're Merican, and we just happen to like shooting things. So "shooting the ****" means "shooting stuff" which is akin to hanging out with your buddies, talking, drinking beer or whatever, grilling out, or literally shooting things for fun.

As a Californian, I’ve heard that phrase in movies and TV but I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say it in real life.

What I can't stand is people who are American using British-isms to sound smarter (or something?).

About half the TV I watch is British, and my boss is Australian, so some of the vernacular unintentionally rubs off on me. For example, I can never ever think of the word “trunk”. In fact, in all seriousness, I accidentally wrote “boot” in the previous sentence and kept writing not realizing that it was the exact opposite of what I was trying to say… that’s how ingrained the word “boot” is in my head now for that part of a car.

 

[axletramp]

What would be a typical British-ism an American might use to sound smarter?

 

[Omnis]

Bayou peeps say gazaleen

 

[axletramp]

Squeal piggy, squeal!