| Pages in topic: [1 2 3 4 5 6] > | Off topic: British offended by Americanisms Thread poster: Amy Duncan (X)
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Amy Duncan (X) 
Brazil
Local time: 12:08
Portuguese to English
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| Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:08
Russian to English
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In memoriam | My two penn'orth (rather than two cents) | Jul 21, 2011 |
No. 40, "That'll learn you": I don't think that's an Americanism, sounds more like Victorian Cockney to me (pronounced "That'll larn yer!)"
No. 41. "Where's it at?" Not sure this is American. "Where's it to?" is Devon dialect for the same thing.
I could probably add a few myself if I took time to think about it. Maybe I will.
| | | | David Wright
Austria
Local time: 17:08
German to English
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| I got it for free | Jul 21, 2011 |
was certainly OK in the Lancashire of my childhood!
| | | | Niraja Nanjundan (X)
Local time: 20:38
German to English
A lot of Brits say "movies" now instead of "films." The BBC even has a film review programme called "Talking *Movies*"
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Adam Łobatiuk
Poland
Local time: 17:08
Member (2009)
English to Polish
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| Not sure about the point | Jul 21, 2011 |
On the one hand, the Brits in the article seem to be annoyed about Americanisms entering British English, and that's fine, but from many comments it appears that they are annoyed at those expressions even in American English, which is silly. Some of those Americanisms, like 'gotten', 'take out', 'shopping cart', 'period' or 'transportation' are well known even to students of English, they are well established and there's nothing wrong with them (unlike 'that'll learn you' or corporate speak).
| | | | Rachel Fell
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:08
French to English
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Personally I am "offended" when I see "anymore" written as one word by UK English-speaking people, as I increasingly do...
| | | | | Fortnightly? | Jul 21, 2011 |
I don't think No. 29 belongs in the list. If you're a Brit living in the U.S, you shouldn't expect to hear anyone use the term fortnight in any variation. Most of us don't even know how long a fortnight really is and to be honest, it kinda' grates the ears (of US english speakrs).
| | | | David Wright
Austria
Local time: 17:08
German to English
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| That'll learn you | Jul 21, 2011 |
was another phrase in 50s lancashire dialect. It's worth remembering that a lot of americanisms are actually old english or dislect that has survived
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| No. 41, yes! | Jul 21, 2011 |
Jennifer Hudson’s new song(released off of her new album) is called Where’s it at?...And, YES, I have to agree with Adam in London, it is irritating because it makes the person saying it sound like a complete dimwit!
UGH!!
| | | | Caryl Swift
Poland
Local time: 17:08
Polish to English
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| That'll learn you... | Jul 21, 2011 |
...was something my grandmother used to say to me. Though she wasn't a Cockney. She was from the Welsh borders. So I, too, was dubious about it being an Americanism. It seems it probably isn't:
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/learn
Which certainly supports what Jack and David say about its being an old expression.
And, as David remarked in regard to "I got it for free":
David Wright wrote:
was certainly OK in the Lancashire of my childhood!
Yes, indeed, we all used to say that at school - and that was in the south of England.
[Edited at 2011-07-21 08:46 GMT]
| | | | Louisa Berry
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:08
Member (2009)
German to English
| That'll learn you | Jul 21, 2011 |
I remember having debates with my friends at university about this phrase. All the Northerners insisted this was the correct phrase, whilst myself and other Southerners said it was 'that'll teach you'.
| | | | Suzan Hamer
Netherlands
Local time: 17:08
English
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| No. 41 again | Jul 21, 2011 |
Michael Grant wrote:
Jennifer Hudson’s new song(released off of her new album) is called Where’s it at?...And, YES, I have to agree with Adam in London, it is irritating because it makes the person saying it sound like a complete dimwit!
UGH!!
One of my favorite scenes from "Everybody Loves Raymond" (wish I could find a youtube video; words just don't do justice to Marie's horror at her son's [ab]use of English):
Ray: Reading all those sports books and watching those sports on TV, that’s how I got to be where I’m at.
Marie: (long pause) “That’s how I got to be where I’m at?”
Ray: Yeah.
Marie: You’re a writer, and that’s how you use the English language?
Ray: Yeah, what? What did I do?
Marie: You never end a sentence with the word “at!”
Ray: Okay, okay. Big deal, so I ended a sentence with a proposition.
Marie: Preposition! It’s a preposition—oh my God!
[Edited at 2011-07-21 12:16 GMT]
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| My mother used to say "that'll larn yer" | Jul 21, 2011 |
David Wright wrote:
That'll learn you
was another phrase in 50s lancashire dialect. It's worth remembering that a lot of americanisms are actually old english or dialect that has survived
My mother regularly used "that'll larn yer" - with a big smile on her face, because she was a serious student of English from ancient Icelandic onwards, but only used dialect herself with quotation marks.
However, that was probably in use in her childhood in North London in the 1930s.
I once foolishly claimed about English that "We [Brits] had the language first." To which my American neighbour responded: "Yes, you mess it up, while my ancestors did their best to preserve it!"
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Another time, though I do not remember what expression triggered it, I remember a heated discussion with a young Dane who had read a little English, about whether Shakespeare was American!!!
"Well, they always quote him in American movies, and you can tell by the language!"
Along with Keats and Shelley, I dare say - we had just seen Robin Williams as Mr. Keating in the Dead Poets Society.
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(BTW, John, if you ever read this, could I please have my Golden Treasury back?!)
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And waitin' on the train (or 'I'm no' waitin' on you', meaning HURRY UP!) was perfectly good Northumbrian where I grew up in the 1960s... I think my sister-in-law from Paisley uses it too.
But transportation, normalcy and leverage (er, never heard of Trados...) and several of the others are certainly among my pet hates.
| | | | Suzan Hamer
Netherlands
Local time: 17:08
English
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| From the get-go. | Jul 21, 2011 |
Or even worse: "git-go." I'm American and it offends me no end.
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 17:08
Spanish to English
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Roy Williams wrote:
Most of us don't even know how long a fortnight really is and to be honest, it kinda' grates the ears (of US english speakrs).
I was really surprised when I found out that "fortnight" isn't common currency in USA.
Things do work both ways though, especially with spelling, as I know a few Americans who really don't like the "-isation /-ising" suffix, preferring the "zee" form as the ONLY TRUE WAY, and don't get me started on "foetus"...
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