Americanisms in UK English

[DelW]

And I believe that it's only because of American involvement in the development of the London Underground in its early days that each vehicle of an Underground train is referred to as a car. Likewise, I would guess that it's thanks to the involvement of American tramway pioneers such as George Francis Train in the development of Britain's first generation tramways that trams are often referred to as cars or tramcars (the Americans call them streetcars or trolleys).

Similarly I think that tram running gear is referred to as "truck" or "trucks", which is roughly the American equivalent of bogies.

"Gotten" is spreading and needs to be swiftly stamped out, unless it is "ill gotten gains".

"Gotten" was common in 16th century English usage (widely used by Shakespeare I believe). Like many usages now thought of as Americanisms, it originated here but survived in the US while disappearing here. Arguably British English has changed (evolved?) more than American English has over the last few centuries, resulting in older forms surviving better there.

 

[Busaholic]

Whilst -ised and -isation are not used in the USA, -ize and -ization have long been used in this country. Indeed, they have always been the preferred spelling in the Oxford English Dictionary. There has been a shift towards treating the s form as the 'correct' British spelling, in a rather rare move away from homogenisation, but both are correct in British English and the z form is not an Americani(z/s)ation.

I had an argument with my tutor at Bristol University who had 'corrected' my spelling in an essay where I'd used '-ization'. It really peeved me, because I couldn't remember my spelling in English being corrected since early primary school days, but he wouldn't back down. I used the OED argument, but he replied it was 'elitist' or some claptrap.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

One about which some people get apoplectic (and on which some Americans vehemently disagree among themselves) -- re a subject or issue in which one has zero interest or preference: the comment "I couldn't care less"; or, "I could care less". The latter, on the whole an American rendering; being British, I grew up with "I couldn't", and see continuing to use it for the rest of my life.

Yeah, the American 'I could care less' puzzles me because to my mind, working through the phrase logically gives exactly the opposite meaning to how Americans use it. The UK 'I couldn't care less' on the other hand seems perfectly logical to me: You're saying that you don't care at all, and therefore it's logically impossible to care any less than that. I'm very glad that the American version doesn't seem to have caught on in the UK. I'm familiar with it from dealings with Americans, but I still have to do a double take to remind myself what it means whenever I hear it.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Train station.

Although we haven't all succumbed to its use yet.

What's wrong with train station? It's a station, with trains in it. In the same way that a station full of buses is a bus station.

 

[Calthrop]

Yeah, the American 'I could care less' puzzles me because to my mind, working through the phrase logically gives exactly the opposite meaning to how Americans use it. The UK 'I couldn't care less' on the other hand seems perfectly logical to me: You're saying that you don't care at all, and therefore it's logically impossible to care any less than that. I'm very glad that the American version doesn't seem to have caught on in the UK. I'm familiar with it from dealings with Americans, but I still have to do a double take to remind myself what it means whenever I hear it.

I do see the "I could ..." version as making sense of a kind: viz., "I care very little indeed, about this issue; but I suppose that if I tried really hard, I could manage to care even less about it, than I do right now." Agreed, this is rather tortuous / torturous -- nonetheless, I like the way the American version sounds; though -- as in my earlier post -- I'm British, have been using the "couldn't" version for seventy-odd years, and see continuing to do so.

What's wrong with train station? It's a station, with trains in it. In the same way that a station full of buses is a bus station.

It's just that with my having been using "railway station" all my life -- "train station" sounds, to me, childish -- little Johnny can't get his tongue around "railway station", so for the first word, substitutes "train". This thing annoys me mildly; but not to the bursting-a-blood-vessel point to which it seems to enrage some people.

 

[johnnychips]

It’s not the end of the world, but using ‘good job!‘ to mean ‘well done’ seems a little strange as we use ‘good job’ somewhat differently in British English:

‘I’ve done all the work you told me to’. ‘Good job!’

US reply means you’re very pleased, UK reply means you’d be annoyed if I hadn’t.

 

[AY1975]

Similarly I think that tram running gear is referred to as "truck" or "trucks", which is roughly the American equivalent of bogies.

The Americans also call lorries trucks, and that is also sometimes used in UK English. Likewise, calling taxis cabs. And in Glasgow the Underground is called the Subway just like in New York.

 

[Springs Branch]

I'm not certain how far this one has spread in the UK, but my favourite love-to-hate Americanism is 'learnings' - used in place of the perfectly good word 'lessons'.

Usually, in my experience, encountered in a corporate environment at the end of a PowerPoint presentation by Sheryl from HR on the latest Health & Safety diktat. Or conjured up towards the end of an off-site training day by cookie-cutter, corporate team-building consultants to a roomful of bored participants.

I'm not sure whether using the word 'learning' is meant to add some gravitas (as if they are 'the teachings of the learned professor') or make the workaday message about leaving the toilets as you'd like to find them sound more profound than any old, garden-variety lesson.

 

[nw1]

The use of "zee" rather than "zed". Seems to have become popular since around the late 00s.

Not pronouncing "the" before vowels as "thee", i.e "the edge" and not "thee edge". Again something which seemed to take over sometime in the 00s, though the occasional British song from as long ago as the late 70s did it (Elvis Costello, "Watching the Detectives" I think, and one or two others I've forgotten now).

I'm not certain how far this one has spread in the UK, but my favourite love-to-hate Americanism is 'learnings' - used in place of the perfectly good word 'lessons'.

Similarly, what about "feels" rather than "feelings", something I was unfamiliar with until recently.

Most famously I misheard a recent song (Calvin Harris/Katy Perry/Pharrell Williams - "Feels") as "Don't be afraid to catch fish", when it was actually "Don't be afraid to catch feels" (I assume one of the Americans in the trio wrote the lyrics).

 

[DelW]

One I've noticed appearing which I think may have come from American corporate-speech, is "reached out" in lieu of "contacted", or even simpler, "asked". Even the BBC has started doing it, as in "we reached out to [organisation xxx] for comment, but we haven't received a reply". I suspect it originated in corporate PR to try to make a faceless giant corporation seem more touchy-feely.

 

[contrex]

I also note that a number of people who aren't careful with their British spellings fall foul to saying "ized" or "ization".

I would pronounce (e.g.) 'specialise' and 'specialize' identically if I were reading them aloud from something printed or written.

 

[davetheguard]

What's wrong with train station? It's a station, with trains in it. In the same way that a station full of buses is a bus station.

And a place full of planes is a plane port?

 

[contrex]

Not being able to pronounce "debris" as Deb-re. American: De-bree.

Er, what? It's a French loan word, and for the last 70 years I (London-born, RP-speaking, French-speaking since age 9) have said it the original French way, as débris - day-BREE.

Not pronouncing "the" before vowels as "thee", i.e "the edge" and not "thee edge". Again something which seemed to take over sometime in the 00s, though the occasional British song from as long ago as the late 70s did it (Elvis Costello, "Watching the Detectives" I think, and one or two others I've forgotten now).

Seems to be a feature of a number of multicultural variants like Multicultural London English (abbreviated MLE), which many young people seem to be keen on copying, and I have been hearing it more often on Radio 4 in recent years. There's a continuity announcer /newsreader that does it. It grates on my old ears, yes, but I don't feel entitled to tell its users that they are wrong.

 

[takno]

One I've noticed appearing which I think may have come from American corporate-speech, is "reached out" in lieu of "contacted", or even simpler, "asked". Even the BBC has started doing it, as in "we reached out to [organisation xxx] for comment, but we haven't received a reply". I suspect it originated in corporate PR to try to make a faceless giant corporation seem more touchy-feely.

Generally journalists use "reached out to" instead of "attempted to contact" or "tried to get in touch with". The point is that "reaching out" is the process of attempting to contact, rather than the process of communication occurring. It's a little bit snappier and often offers slightly more clarity on what actually happened

 

[urbophile]

Er, what? It's a French loan word, and for the last 70 years I (London-born, RP-speaking, French-speaking since age 9) have said it the original French way, as débris - day-BREE.

But the French give equal weight to both syllables don't they? Americans tend to emphasise the second syllable, in this and many loan words.

 

[Freightmaster]

I went to live in the USA 1989-92 and 1998-2000; on my first visit I remember being told that we were landing "momentarily" and I laughed thinking along the lines of "I thought the point was to stay there" until I realised the different meaning.

Similarly, on my first trip to the US I encountered a sign on a quiet stretch of road which said something
along the lines of "no passing beyond this point" and I genuinely believed that it meant 'no entry' so I
pulled to the side of the road to check my map, but when other cars came along and passed the sign,
I realised that it just meant no overtaking beyond this point!




MARK

 

[McRhu]

Using 'then' for 'than' makes me roar with rage like a keyboard Hulk. And non-verbal annoyances like giving 'high fives' drive me completely beresk. We must stay alert and unashamedly correct these heresies wherever and whenever. They'd have gotten away with it by now if it wasn't for us meddling pedants .

 

[py_megapixel]

Using 'then' for 'than' makes me roar with rage like a keyboard Hulk.

Your write, theirs no thing more annoying then that.

In all seriousness, it grates a little, but I don't really see any reason to complain about it unless it really impairs the meaning the writer is trying to convey. English is hardly a perfectly logical language!

 

[Mojo]

What's wrong with train station? It's a station, with trains in it. In the same way that a station full of buses is a bus station.

And what do you find at a fire station? I presume you also go to the aeroplane station (or airplane if you're American, although I don't think that is one Americanism that I've heard here yet) to catch a flight too?

Each mode of transport has its own name for a place people can catch its services. Train station is a nonsense, because trains are not generally stationed at a railway station. The railway industry (and its representatives) was historically stationed at a railway station in any given town. The US calls it the train industry, or railroad industry, hence why in an American setting train station makes sense to them, but it does not here.

 

[py_megapixel]

The US calls it the train industry, or railroad industry, hence why in an American setting train station makes sense to them, but it does not here.

To me, "train industry" suggests Alstom, Siemens Mobility, Stadler and so on...

 

[Calthrop]

And what do you find at a fire station? I presume you also go to the aeroplane station (or airplane if you're American, although I don't think that is one Americanism that I've heard here yet) to catch a flight too?

Each mode of transport has its own name for a place people can catch its services. Train station is a nonsense, because trains are not generally stationed at a railway station. The railway industry (and its representatives) was historically stationed at a railway station in any given town. The US calls it the train industry, or railroad industry, hence why in an American setting train station makes sense to them, but it does not here.

One wonders a little, "how come" (that itself, probably a horrid Americanism to some) in the early days of railways, the English language hit particularly on the word "station", for the place where one gets on and off trains -- it doesn't seem like an instinctive or obvious word to use for the purpose. (Have seen it suggested, that it originated as the location where "railway policemen" -- the first-ever signalling staff -- were "stationed": an explanation which strikes me as coming from vivid imagination rather than knowledge.) At all events, many of Europe's languages seem, "in whole or in part", to have adopted their recognisable version of this English word, for "the place where...". France; and countries particularly in France's sphere of influence when they started getting railways; have mostly gone another way, with gare -- which one gathers, comes from water transport: previously meant a pier for embarking / disembarking; or the canal equivalent of a passing loop (on the whole, trains in the early days did tend to cross each other at stations?) Germanic-language countries are apt to use the equivalent of "railway-court" or "railway-yard". Weirdly, Russian in the early days lit on, for the purpose, the word voksal ("Vauxhall") -- and has kept it -- variedly outlandish-seeming explanations are offered.

There's a thread in the International Transport sub-forum, titled "A language question" -- OP 19 / 1 / 2021 -- in which this kind of stuff is mused-on.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

And what do you find at a fire station? I presume you also go to the aeroplane station (or airplane if you're American, although I don't think that is one Americanism that I've heard here yet) to catch a flight too?

Each mode of transport has its own name for a place people can catch its services. Train station is a nonsense, because trains are not generally stationed at a railway station. The railway industry (and its representatives) was historically stationed at a railway station in any given town. The US calls it the train industry, or railroad industry, hence why in an American setting train station makes sense to them, but it does not here.

Presumably fire station is an abbreviation of fire (service) station or fire (brigade) station. Buses aren't generally stationed in bus stations either - they're usually in garages when not in use.
I assume airport was coined to distinguish it from seaport...

 

[swt_passenger]

Presumably fire station is an abbreviation of fire (service) station or fire (brigade) station.

Possibly “fire engine” or “fire pump” station. I suspect they predated permanent manning by a fire brigade in most places.

 

[takno]

And what do you find at a fire station? I presume you also go to the aeroplane station (or airplane if you're American, although I don't think that is one Americanism that I've heard here yet) to catch a flight too?

Each mode of transport has its own name for a place people can catch its services. Train station is a nonsense, because trains are not generally stationed at a railway station. The railway industry (and its representatives) was historically stationed at a railway station in any given town. The US calls it the train industry, or railroad industry, hence why in an American setting train station makes sense to them, but it does not here.

Polls aren't particularly stationed in polling stations either. The verb "station" only really covers off a tiny proportion of the same uses as the noun, which most often just means places where things or people come to a temporary stand.

Trains come to a stand in stations, so train station is perfectly sensible.

There's a depressing inevitability with which any conversation about Americanisms will get diverted to this rather suspect one.

 

[Calthrop]

Polls aren't particularly stationed in polling stations either. The verb "station" only really covers off a tiny proportion of the same uses as the noun, which most often just means places where things or people come to a temporary stand.

Trains come to a stand in stations, so train station is perfectly sensible.

There's a depressing inevitability with which any conversation about Americanisms will get diverted to this rather suspect one.

(My bolding) -- not particularly helpful in this discussion; but don't Americans say not "polling station", but "polling place"? -- which I find to be a bit cave-man-ish: torn between feeling it to be annoying, and rather charming.

 

[takno]

(My bolding) -- not particularly helpful in this discussion; but don't Americans say not "polling station", but "polling place"? -- which I find to be a bit cave-man-ish: torn between feeling it to be annoying, and rather charming.

I think it might vary by state in the US. We say polling place in Scotland of course which isn't quite as charming as outwith

 

[duncanp]

Americans use Fire House whereas we would use Fire Station

 

[Bald Rick]

I’ve read posts 1 through 57 of this thread….

(that and ‘gotten’ really annoy me)


True story: my parents were once asked by a waiter in a Kansas restaurant, once he found out they were from England, ”if they speak English in England”.

“Yes, we invented it” replied the old boy.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

More and more British people are saying "fired" rather than "sacked" these days, I've noticed.

 

[LUYMun]

I've also noted that there's been a tendancy to say "the XX00s" more commonly than "the Xth century".

For example, instead of saying "the situation improved at the end of the 20th century," Americanisms replace the sentence with "the situation improved at the end of the 1900s" - so you mean around 1907/08/09 or 1997/98/99?