Britishisms invading American English

[Ormond]

Since this board seems to be very "Transatlantic" I thought you all might like to look at this article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/fashion/americans-are-barmy-over-britishisms.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&adxnnlx=1350846102-X05DYKmbU md4j/h4AAGsQ

The article is too discreet to mention wank, wanker, and shag, which I think are actually some of the "Britishisms" I am most likely to hear these days. But I found the following paragraph interesting:

But often something gets lost in the translation. For example, there’s “chat up,” which she said, “means ‘flirting with intention to bed’ here, but is used in the U.S. to mean ‘talk to.’ ”

It seems that here we have another instance of the sexual connotation of a term being lost when it heads west across the Atlantic, as happened with the slang term "fanny". It was imported from England into the USA around the time of World War I, but the meaning changed from "female genitalia" to "buttocks" on the American side of the Atlantic.

Personally I think the Harry Potter films have made the British slang use of "brilliant" widespread in the USA. But I agree with the end of the article that for an American to use the word :"loo" sounds pretentious.

What do you all think? Which "Britishisms" seem to you to now becoming naturalized in American English and which sound silly or pretentious to you when an American uses them? :)

[Drowned Crow]

I despise Americans who make a point of using Britishisms. I have nothing against the way British people talk- I lived in England for several years without any problem. But I have the distinct feeling that Americans who use these terms are doing so because they think that it makes them sound worldly and sophisticated. It doesn't. It does make them sound like pretentious wankers, however.

[polishgenius]

It seems that here we have another instance of the sexual connotation of a term being lost when it heads west across the Atlantic, as happened with the slang term "fanny". It was imported from England into the USA around the time of World War I, but the meaning changed from "female genitalia" to "buttocks" on the American side of the Atlantic.

On the other hand, I'm not sure what happened to 'fag'.

[Xray the Enforcer]

None of them, because I don't believe people of certain nationalities should speak or act in prescribed ways -- especially when doing so is to satisfy the prejudices of the small-minded.

[Alcibiades]

I use britishisms when talking about soccer: pitch, extra time, touch line, etc. I've been careful, however, to keep the rest of their slang outside of my daily use. I have used brilliant, rubbish, or fancy a few times though.

[Fragile Bird]

Language evolves. Vive l'evolution!

[aimlessgun]

Personally I think the Harry Potter films have made the British slang use of "brilliant" widespread in the USA.

Hmmm...always thought that came from beer commercials. But I suppose the early HP books predated those.

[1918me]

Ugh, I have a friend who does this all the time. So annoying :rolleyes:

[polishgenius]

I use britishisms when talking about soccer: pitch, extra time, touch line, etc. I've been careful, however, to keep the rest of their slang outside of my daily use. I have used brilliant, rubbish, or fancy a few times though.

Thank fuck for that. I can live with Americanisms day-to-day, they're only occasionally jarring and only usually when an English person says it, but hearing about someone getting ejected from the game for giving away a PK in the endzone makes my ears bleed.

Though I notice that your correctness hasn't extended to calling it football...

[naz]

Coincidentally, my cousin (an American journalist living in Dubai) brought this issue up on Facebook a few days ago. She basically called out Americans using Britishisms as ridiculous and pretentious, and comments from her FB friends basically agreed with the sentiment.

I objected to the automatic assumption that every American who uses a Britishism MUST be doing it because they're affected or pretentious. Americans who associate themselves with Spanish-speaking people constantly pick up Spanish phrases and no one gives them shit about it, yet when we pick up Britishisms because, you know, it's a living language, and you know, we might possibly associate with actual Brits (or British-influenced cultures) from time to time, suddenly we're all affected wankers.

My cousin (who's from Texas and frankly, is pretty damn intelligent and open-minded as well as a fairly established international journalist) further argued her point, specifically picking out affected New Yorkers as targets for her ridicule and I tried to counter back that once again, New Yorkers probably tend to associate with, you know, actual Brits more often than your average Texan and it's natural for it to rub off. And, oh yeah, maybe it's because everyone likes to make fun of New Yorkers for being affected anyway.

Anyway, the same cousin hasn't talked to me on Facebook since that conversation.

[Jem]

You need an Australian to act as an interpreter. We are generally a multi-lingual people, speaking and understanding both British and American.

[Bronson]

Hasn't the word DUDE become popular in the Uk and Australia? :cool4:

[naz]

Despite what I said above, there are certain British words or phrases that, when said with an American accent, don't sound anywhere near as good and can indeed be jarring. (I think this point came up in another thread recently... can't remember.)

[Bronson]

I despise Americans who make a point of using Britishisms. I have nothing against the way British people talk- I lived in England for several years without any problem. But I have the distinct feeling that Americans who use these terms are doing so because they think that it makes them sound worldly and sophisticated. It doesn't. It does make them sound like pretentious wankers, however.

Both counties borrow slang from each other . Do you have the same issue with Britain's using the Americanisms like the word dude?

[Lord O' Bones]

Though I notice that your correctness hasn't extended to calling it football...

Football: A sport played while on foot with a ball rather than on horseback, such as Association Football (soccer in slang,) rugby football, Australian football, American football.

[polishgenius]

Football: A sport played while on foot with a ball rather than on horseback, such as Association Football (soccer in slang,) rugby football, Australian football, American football.

Historically accurate, maybe.

Actually accurate- Football: A sport played by Ronaldo. The others are better known as Rugby, Aussie Rules, and Rugby for Pussies.

*flees*

[Inigima]

I use britishisms when talking about soccer: pitch, extra time, touch line, etc. I've been careful, however, to keep the rest of their slang outside of my daily use. I have used brilliant, rubbish, or fancy a few times though.

I do this too and one of my friends complained about it. I have no idea why.

As for soccer vs football, I use different terms depending mostly on who I'm talking to and occasionally what I'm talking about. If I'm talking in the football thread here, or to non-Americans, I call it football because everyone knows what I meant; if I did that among my friends it would just cause confusion because everyone here calls American football "football." I use "soccer" pretty much all the time when talking about American soccer (e.g., MLS, US national teams), and when talking about it with people who don't follow the sport (friends, family).

I love the word "footballer" because it sounds like such a nonsense word and suggests that "football" may be modified in other ways. A footballer: one who footballs.

As far as other Briticisms go, I'm sure a few have crept into my speech here and there. It isn't something I do consciously. As naz says, when you talk to people from other cultures a bit of linguistic exchange is probably inevitable.

[Horza]

Hasn't the word DUDE become popular in the Uk and Australia? :cool4:

It's too yank for everyday use, gets used ironically more than honestly, as my country has no shortage of informal male-bonding pronouns.

[Shryke]

I despise Americans who make a point of using Britishisms. I have nothing against the way British people talk- I lived in England for several years without any problem. But I have the distinct feeling that Americans who use these terms are doing so because they think that it makes them sound worldly and sophisticated. It doesn't. It does make them sound like pretentious wankers, however.

That's a bloody silly attitude.

[Lord O' Bones]

Rugby for Pussies.

You're killing me here. I even sort of believed this nonsense until an Englishman explained to me why I was batty. And that was almost 20 years ago.

The NFL is now practically falling all over themselves to make the sport safe to play before it becomes criminalized. Like what almost happened when the government forced them to wear pads almost 100 years ago because of the deaths.

Search the internet for anything about this and you will quickly find that the world has come to a consensus on this. And that's all I will say about it. Damn you Thursday night football making my Sunday kinda boring!

Do I get points for using "batty" in this post?