Britishisms invading American English

[Ormond]

But seriously, it works both ways...

You can't walk down a busy UK street for 5 minutes without hearing a "nanoo nanoo" or whatever.

Seriously, do people in the UK really still say "nanoo nanoo"? I haven't heard that one in the USA for decades!

I certainly agree that language is always changing. I think, though, that a large part of the feeling that Americans using Britishisms is "pretentious" comes because most of the UK cultural imports to the USA do appeal to a special subset of the American population.

Outside of Harry Potter, Tolkien, and all the rock music bands that have crossed the Atlantic since The Beatles and Rolling Stones, most of the ways mentioned on this thread whereby British culture gets introduced to the USA are television shows that are shown on PBS or cable networks that attract mostly college-educated Americans. A lot of them are science fiction, like Dr. Who and Torchwood, and so have a "geeky" association in addition to just an "educated" one.

It seems to me that a lot of Americans probably think that even obviously proclaiming oneself a fan of any show on PBS (other than the childrens' programs like Sesame Street) is automatically a bit "pretentious" and "intellectual." Let's face it, even old British sitcoms like Are You Being Served? and Keeping Up Appearances which probably were never considered high culture in the UK itself are shown mostly on PBS in the USA and so have that "noncommercial educational TV" association that makes the average American assume they're just for geeks, eccentrics, gay men, or effete snobby Anglophiles.

I think the way most British culture products get introduced to the USA reinforces an American stereotype that things that are "British" are all upper-class and snobby, while I'd bet the way most American cultural products get introduced to the UK doesn't come along with the idea that they are also things that only well-educated or upper-middle-class persons would be interested in.

[James Arryn]

Maybe this just reflects my taste, but by far the medium which translates Westward across the Atlantic imo is the mystery/detective show.

[Drowned Crow]

I certainly agree that language is always changing. I think, though, that a large part of the feeling that Americans using Britishisms is "pretentious" comes because most of the UK cultural imports to the USA do appeal to a special subset of the American population.

The idea that British culture is automatically intellectual is, of course, ridiculous. I've never seen more mindless crap on TV than when I lived in the UK. This has nothing to do with the fact that some Americans use British slang thinking that it makes them look intelligent. That's where pretension comes in to this.

[Shryke]

The idea that British culture is automatically intellectual is, of course, ridiculous. I've never seen more mindless crap on TV than when I lived in the UK. This has nothing to do with the fact that some Americans use British slang thinking that it makes them look intelligent. That's where pretension comes in to this.

It's a good thing that's a really stupid assumption then.

[Baitac]

I would pay money to see an argument between a Brit and let's say a Cuban-Floridian about whether or not the latter has an uncle Roberto.

Of course, I'm in an isolation cell, so the above applies to practically any conversation not including cockroaches as a participant.

I'm Puerto Rican-Floridian and I have a cousin Roberto. I'll be in London for the BwB meet next Saturday. Tell me how we should argue because I want your money.

[Gillio]

I'm Puerto Rican-Floridian and I have a cousin Roberto. I'll be in London for the BwB meet next Saturday. Tell me how we should argue because I want your money.

Quick, Pebs, sell tickets, get Bai lots of holiday money!!

[James Arryn]

I'm Puerto Rican-Floridian and I have a cousin Roberto. I'll be in London for the BwB meet next Saturday. Tell me how we should argue because I want your money.

With accents and comedic confusion, and possibly a laugh track, although I'll make allowances for your tiny budget.

Edit: Like really really tiny.

Edit again: Mucho Tiny-o.

[Baitac]

With accents and comedic confusion, and possibly a laugh track, although I'll make allowances for your tiny budget.

Edit: Like really really tiny.

Edit again: Mucho Tiny-o.

Well, I'm in but I have to play Sybil and Pod has to play Manuel. Pebble could play cousin Roberta. Hijinks ensue.

[James Arryn]

Well, I'm in but I have to play Sybil and Pod has to play Manuel. Pebble could play cousin Roberta. Hijinks ensue.

I like where your head's at, Ezekial.

(Ezekial's cliche-hispanic, right? Or is it Zebediah? I get them confused.)

[Zoë Sumra]

Anyone who says loo instead of bathroom is an idiot.

Anyone who says 'bathroom' when they mean the toilet is an idiot.

I'm on Jem's side. If you'd asked me where the bathroom was in my old flat, you would have been directed to the room that contained the bath, not the room that contained the lavatory, which was next door. Putting the loo and the bathtub in the same room is, IIRC, a post-WWII thing - even in my parents' house, built in the 1970s and 1980s, they were in different rooms.

If you live in a country where the loo and the bathtub are always in the same room, using "I'm going to the bathroom" as a euphemism for "I'm going to the lavatory" is comprehensible, if over-delicate. Doing so in a country where the loo and bathroom are not always in the same room is rather silly.

(Of course, "toilet" is non-U anyway, but hey. Not the current point.)

[Filippa Eilhart]

I've always lived in a flat with a separate bathroom and toilet and yet I've always called the toilet the bathroom.

[aimlessgun]

If you live in a country where the loo and the bathtub are always in the same room, using "I'm going to the bathroom" as a euphemism for "I'm going to the lavatory" is comprehensible, if over-delicate. Doing so in a country where the loo and bathroom are not always in the same room is rather silly.

(Of course, "toilet" is non-U anyway, but hey. Not the current point.)

Well, if you live in a country where they are always the same room, "going to the bathroom" cannot be a euphemism, in the sense that it replaces something more crassly accurate. It is a pure statement of fact :)

This is quite a revelation to me that the toilet and bathtub/shower might not be in the same room though! (Or at least in the same house-space which is so interconnected that it can reasonably be called a 'room')

[Sir Thursday]

Seriously, do people in the UK really still say "nanoo nanoo"? I haven't heard that one in the USA for decades!

I certainly agree that language is always changing. I think, though, that a large part of the feeling that Americans using Britishisms is "pretentious" comes because most of the UK cultural imports to the USA do appeal to a special subset of the American population.

Outside of Harry Potter, Tolkien, and all the rock music bands that have crossed the Atlantic since The Beatles and Rolling Stones, most of the ways mentioned on this thread whereby British culture gets introduced to the USA are television shows that are shown on PBS or cable networks that attract mostly college-educated Americans. A lot of them are science fiction, like Dr. Who and Torchwood, and so have a "geeky" association in addition to just an "educated" one.

It seems to me that a lot of Americans probably think that even obviously proclaiming oneself a fan of any show on PBS (other than the childrens' programs like Sesame Street) is automatically a bit "pretentious" and "intellectual." Let's face it, even old British sitcoms like Are You Being Served? and Keeping Up Appearances which probably were never considered high culture in the UK itself are shown mostly on PBS in the USA and so have that "noncommercial educational TV" association that makes the average American assume they're just for geeks, eccentrics, gay men, or effete snobby Anglophiles.

I think the way most British culture products get introduced to the USA reinforces an American stereotype that things that are "British" are all upper-class and snobby, while I'd bet the way most American cultural products get introduced to the UK doesn't come along with the idea that they are also things that only well-educated or upper-middle-class persons would be interested in.

I guess this is fuelled to a degree by the way that the mainstream American TV networks will remake many British TV shows rather than just showing the originals. It has the effect of drastically reducing the number of British voices you hear on TV normally, so the stereotype persists. On the other hand, maybe they do that because of the stereotype?

I guess it's something like the equivalent of if the only American culture we got in the UK was broadcast on Radio 4...

ST

[Lummel]

...This is quite a revelation to me that the toilet and bathtub/shower might not be in the same room though! (Or at least in the same house-space which is so interconnected that it can reasonably be called a 'room')

It's not unusual and the rule in older lower class housing where you would have a toilet either in the garden or in a lean to by the back door and the original bath was a tub hanging on the kitchen door. There's a fair bit of this kind of housing generally converted with a single storey ground floor extension with a fixed bath and basin in a separate room to the toilet.

The pattern of having a toilet in its own little room was continued in council housing and mass built estates during the 20th century, even if a bathroom with bath, basin and toilet was also provided.

There are times when you realise that it can be useful to have the toilet apart from the bath.

sorry all off topic where are bogs are has nothing to do with the spread of Britishisms into US English.

[Whitestripe]

There is the thing called a "half bath" which is used to refer to a room with toilet and sink but no tub or shower. It's still called a "bathroom."

We had a kid over to play this weekend who called it "the privacy room."

[Pebble thats Stubby]

There is the thing called a "half bath" which is used to refer to a room with toilet and sink but no tub or shower. It's still called a "bathroom."

We had a kid over to play this weekend who called it "the privacy room."

I guess your refereing to the cloakroom (if your using estate agent speak and its downstairs, Upstairs it often the ensuite - although most of these will have a shower or bath if space allows)

[Whitestripe]

I guess your refereing to the cloakroom (if your using estate agent speak and its downstairs, Upstairs it often the ensuite - although most of these will have a shower or bath if space allows)

Now here I always thought that "cloakrooms" were mud rooms (no potties, just a place to put your muddy boots) "ensuite," I've always heard referred to as a master suite, master bedroom with bath attached. For example, our house was listed as two and a half baths. We have two rooms with toilet, tub and shower upstairs and the laundry room has a toilet and sink along with the washer and dryer is downstairs.

And I see that "cloakroom" does indeed mean lavatory to some. If anyone asked me for a cloakroom, I certainly would not send them to the bathroom, er toilet, er, loo, whatever. I would rather have them tell me they need to pee.

[Fragile Bird]

A main floor room with a toilet and sink is usually referred to as a powder room in this part of Canada.

[Greywolf2375]

The UK is so saturated with American culture that you can hardly blame them. What do Americans know about British culture other than Harry Potter and Downton Abbey? Anyway, British people acting like douchebags thousands of miles away does not affect me.

Everything we needed to learn about British Culture we learned from Top Gear and The Office.

And Austin Powers.

[Whitestripe]

Which reminds me that my grandmother always said she needed to go "powder her nose" when she excused herself to go to the toilet.