Briticisms are words, expressions, etc, that are found mainly in British English. As dialect they should generally be avoided unless you are writing only for the British.
There are all kinds of differences between British and American English, in words, meanings, spelling, pronunciation, punctuation, grammar, etc. You could write a whole book on it – I have two of them.
On the other hand, upper and middle-class London English is easily understood by most Americans. In part because educated American English was modelled on it, in part because it is the English dialect that has produced the most books from at least 1500 to 1900.
The Economist is a good model of English that can be understood all over the world. It is written in London yet half its readers are Americans.
General guidelines:
- Britain is not the world: Do not assume your readers understand cricket or council estates, much less British politics, geography or wildlife. Few Americans know what goes on in Fleet Street or what a quango is. Not everyone has a clear idea what heath or a badger is. Likewise the north is not colder in Australia or South Africa, nor is January in winter.
- Insults: Insults based on sexual activity are not always understood. It took me years to understand what bugger, wanker and, especially, tosser meant.
- Measure: Use metric units – everyone has to learn them at school and they are the same everywhere. Not so English units: Gallons, pints and tons are smaller in America than in Britain. Most Americans do not know what a league, stone, fathom or furlong is.
Some confusing words – and what they mean in America:
- braces – not for holding up trousers but wires for straightening teeth.
- brilliant – not awesome or excellent but amazingly intelligent.
- bum – not rear end but a homeless person.
- chemist – not a pharmacy or pharmacist but someone who works in chemistry.
- chips – crisps. Americans call chips “French fries”.
- clever – not intelligent or bright but intelligent in a tricky way.
- cot – not a bed for babies but for camping.
- dear – not expensive but just well loved.
- diary – not an appointment book but just a personal journal.
- dumb – not unable to speak but unintelligent.
- fanny – not vagina but rear end.
- fight – not always physical but sometimes just verbal.
- homely – not like home but kind of ugly.
- mad – it can mean insane but it mostly means angry.
- momentarily – not for a moment but in a moment.
- no question – not out of the question but no doubt.
- pants – not underwear but trousers.
- public school – not a private school but a state school.
- purse – not just a small bag you keep money in but hand bags too.
- quite – not somewhat but very.
- smart – not well-dressed but intelligent.
- spunk – not semen but a personal quality that makes someone not give up.
- surgery – not where you meet a doctor or MP but where a doctor cuts you open.
- vest – not an undershirt but a waistcoat.
See also:
True, and funny at times, but the Americans are the worst for assuming that either everyone else is also American, or that everyone speaks the same dialect.
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And we (the French) call “French fries” “frites” and consider them to be Belgian. The Germans call them “pommes” (pronounce “pomass”), an abbreviation of the French (or Belgian, since part of the Belgians speak French, with a recognizable Belgian that also sounds a lot like my region’s accent: “Franche-Comté”) “Pommes Frites”, which is itself an abbreviation of “pommes de terre frites” or “patates frites”: “fried (earth apples) potatoes”. “Papate” is more familiar in use than “pommes de terre”. In German, “potato” is “Kartoffel” (from the Italian tartuficolo:truffle). In some region it’s called “Erdapfel”: “earthapple”.
In Cameroon, the French “patates” refers to “sweet potatoes”, which the French call “patates douces”…
To us, “crisps” are named “chips”, the American term. So maybe we should call them “chips américaines”.
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@ Bulanik
To me a badger is an animal from “Wind in the Willows”. Unlike, say, giraffes, lions or zebras, they get little shine from American television, zoos or Disney. There are no badgers in much of the eastern U.S., the Caribbean or Australia, places with large English-speaking populations:
The same goes for heath – I know it mainly from the Bronte sisters. They never quite say what it is, but I gathered it was some kind of scrubland featuring thistles, like that plant on the cover of Encyclopaedia Britannica.
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@abagond eh well glad to see you have been out of of saying favourite and colour lately…
how bout hedgerow and should those chips have been in a newspaper and not styrofoam
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out of favour even then yet
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We Brits can finally get to understand some of your behavioural idiosyncrasies over the past years! 🙂
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As dialect they should generally be avoided unless you are writing only for the British.
Lol. This is a common theme on your blog from many of the commenters on here. I cannot believe how you Americans act like this is a totally different language – almost with fear or disdain, unless people talk like that twat of a bloke off of 4 weddings and a funeral (cant think of his name).
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Oops, Just as I posted I remembered his nam – Hugh Grant
Quick translation of some of the more obscure words for those in the U.S
Twat = A person regarded as obnoxious or stupid Or in its most vulgar, A woman’s genitals
Bloke = A man or as you chaps would say A guy
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My experience (American) with brilliant, momentarily, smart, and spunk, includes both of the definitions mentioned, though, of course, I can’t speak for other Americans and we can never agree on anything.
Good to know no question. Reminds me of mustn’t, which I just don’t say because I can never remember what it means.
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@ Bulanik
Whingers I know from The Economist. Americans call them whiners. Ginger only in the last few years from American television. Twee-ness, no. Keen on, yes.
The Economist tries to avoid confusing Briticisms – and lists some in its style guide. But there are two they do not list which they use quite a bit: “keen on” and “chat up”. I thought I knew what these words meant – because they seem to make sense as American English.
“Chat up” seems like it means to talk to someone to gain their interest. I missed the fact that it has an element of seduction to it, that it means “come onto”, “hit on”, be a smooth talker, like what a man would do to a woman he is interested in. Correct me if I am wrong!!
“Keen on” seems like it is a way to say “have a keen interest in”, to be highly concerned about. Keen in American English means sharp, like in “keen eyes” or the “keen edge” of a knife. I did not get that it is what Americans would call enthusiasm or being excited about something. I hope I got that right.
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Living in a former British colony where maybe 10% of the population was educated in or lived part of their life in North America (more than have actually spent time in Britain), I find that I have to code switch all the time in English – North American variety, British and local. “local” English has meanings associated with English words that are neither British nor American.
One of the main ones which I have to watch out for is the verb “table”. For example, if I say “We decided to table the matter at the meeting”, it would be interpreted
British – We decided to bring the matter up at the meeting for discussion.
American – We decided NOT to discuss the matter at the meeting and possibly will reserve it for future discussion
–> almost the exact opposite meaning.
Other ones
p*i*ssed
“I got p*ssed with my boss”
British – I went out and got drunk with my boss.
American – I was furious towards my boss.
Traffic and vehicles are a problem, not just sex.
British – roundabout
American – circle, traffic circle, rotary (depends where you are in the USA)
Motorway (British) / highway (American)
Bonnet / hood
boot / trunk
lorry / truck
trolley / cart
tram / trolley (or also streetcar)
etc.
The thing is, all of the words exist in both dialects, but they mean different things. And BOTH are used where I am now, so it can be very confusing.
But, I do challenge Abagond in that we cannot say that trolley, the way it is used in the UK, is exactly slang, nor can we say that about the American usage – neither are colloquiallisms. So, what word do we use to avoid misunderstandings and attempt to reach a wider audience?
I am feeling a bit knackered (or is it BEAT) now and need to take a rest. 😛
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Jefe:
trolley / cart
tram / trolley (or also streetcar)
Also ‘off your trolley’ which translates to ‘acting silly’ or ‘off your rocker’ if you are acting in a crazy way.
I am feeling a bit knackered (or is it BEAT) now and need to take a rest
Or, you could ‘have a kip’ instead 🙂
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“Snarky” and “wonky” are sometimes used by Americans and in the same sense as the British use them. “Cheeky” is familiar though not used by Americans. “Gob” and “gobsmacked” I heard used by Spike, a British character on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I first read about “chavs” on a British message board a few years back.
Others I heard or read are: “Cor” (used a lot in the 60s film with Sidney Poitier), “To Sir, With Love”; “caked” and “butters” (both seem to mean “ugly”); “windup merchant”; “stoosh”; “screwface”; “mampy” and “marga” (which are, I believe, Jamaican slang words for “fat” and “skinny” respectively); “take the piss”; “guv’nor”; “blimey”; “bloody” / “bleeding”; and “knocked up” (which means “pregnant” in the US).
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I would think of curries, jerk chicken, samosas, chinese take-away, etc. as something commonly eaten in Britain, but not local British cuisine. It should be something developed locally or regionally, not borrowed directly from overseas.
Now, it is OK to call something local if it was concocted through a new combination of items, some of which may be of overseas origin.
Sometimes I think of British food is more a custom or style than a way of cooking per se.
For example, the custom of having grilled tomatoes and baked beans for breakfast. Obviously, tomatoes were brought over from North America, but the custom of grilling them and eating them for breakfast is British.
High tea is a British custom.
How about Yorkshire pudding?
How about those mushy peas they serve with Fish and Chips?
Real Ale?
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A few of the English dishes / food items I’ve heard of are: steak and kidney pie, Bird’s custard powder, trifle, bangers and mash, bubble and squeak, fried bread, spotted dick (“dick” is slang for penis here in the US); grilled mushrooms and tomatoes for breakfast; beans on toast; mushy peas served with fish & chips; treacle; bakewell tarts; Yorkshire pudding; lemon curd; clotted cream with jam & scones; and salad cream.
Of this list, I’ve personally tried lemon curd (it’s also the filling in lemon meringue pie), clotted cream, trifle, and salad cream. Yorkshire pudding (made from a egg-heavy batter) has its equivalent here in the form of “pop overs” i.e.,muffins / rolls — though these aren’t typically made with beef drippings as is Yorkshire pudding.
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OMG. Jefe read my mind. I just posted a comment, which is now awaiting moderation, wherein I mention grilled tomatoes and mushrooms for breakfast, mushy peas and Yorkshire pudding!
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How about those mushy peas they serve with Fish and Chips?
Mushy peas are bl00dy awful but not as bad as jellied eels which are available (or maybe not so much now) and were sold in Chippies
Much prefer Chips and Beans (Baked Beans)
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Fiamma:
spotted dick (“dick” is slang for penis here in the US);
Yes, the word ‘dick’ is part of the slang here, in fact ‘dickhead’ is a word used in the U.K a lot (I refer to people as this word daily) lol
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Bulanik,
It was on a Black British message board that I first came across the words “stoosh”, “mampy”, “marga” and “screwface”. “Battyman” (a homosexual male) was another word used on the board, but one which I had previously heard used by Jamaicans here in NYC.
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Well, what I was attempting to was to describe dishes which I think of as ethnic English / Anglo-Saxon, as opposed to the more generic “British”, which to me is a designation for a person who might have been born anywhere in the UK etc., or who is a British citizen, but who isn’t necessarily of ethnic English / Anglo-Saxon descent.
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*attempting to do was to
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Bulanik writes:
“I understand what you mean. I realize that when you talk of “The British” it is Anglso-Saxon and their the creations that you have in mind, and not the black and brown people who also call themselves English and British.”
– – –
Actually, I consider ‘ethnic’ English / Anglo-Saxon to be those persons who are descended from Anglo-Saxons, as opposed to people who are descended from, let’s say, Celts or Euskal Herritarrak / Basques, but who just so happened to have been born in England. “British”, however, is more generic; to my mind, a British person is simply a citizen of the UK / Great Britain / the British Empire, regardless of race or ethnicity. Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish nationals aren’t “English”, but they are all “British”. The same is true for the Asians, Africans and Caribbean peoples who call the UK home: they are British as well.
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To address it more precisely: when I specifically speak of “the English”, it is the Anglo-Saxons and their creations that I have in mind, and not the Black and brown citizens of Great Britain, who I tend to think of as “British” regardless of their actual country of birth.
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@ Bulanik
No, I do not mean “white British”. After all, white Britons also eat Chicken tikka masala and jerk Chicken (and all those other items you classify with British cuisine). And even if it is indeed the British National dish, we could call it British Food, or the most popular food in Britain, but that is not the same as calling it British cuisine. It does not mean that it is exactly British cuisine, unless its origins were strictly in Britain itself. Otherwise, it is a foreign cuisine that Britain borrowed and copied.
Now, if it was something invented and shaped purely in Britain (and not elsewhere), even by descendants of immigrants from, say, India, then we could call it British cuisine. Otherwise, I would call it non-British cuisine that is immensely popular in Britain.
Actually, in the case of Chicken tikka masala, it might be a grey area, as there are towns and cities in the UK claiming that they invented it, and its origin is unclear.
Take the example of Chopsuey — it was invented by people of Chinese descent in the USA. Chop suey, as it is known in the USA, is not found in China. Therefore, I would label it as American cuisine. The same with “Subgum”. I have only seen these in the USA and nowhere in greater China. Filipinos also copied Chop suey, but from the Americans, not the Chinese.
Cajun cuisine traces its roots to French-Canadian migrants, west Africa, choctaw indians, locally available wildlife and plants and rice, which was not native to Europe or America, but imported to grow in Louisiana due to its humid climate with hot rainy summers (and the bulk of the knowledge of rice culture transferred to America came from African slaves). So, it is a type of regional American cuisine without any definable origin to anywhere else in the world.
I will reiterate. No, I do not mean “white Britons”. Chicken Tikka Masala *might* be British cuisine, but its origin is still unclear. It certainly is not a British regional cuisine (eg, Welsh or Cornish). Chicken Tikka and Masala respectively are not of British origin, but it is possible that the extant combination was synthesized only in Britain (but still not confirmed). In any case, Chicken Tikka Masala is also available in India, but Chop Suey is not a dish you will find in China.
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Like Fiamma, I do not consider “British” to be white at all. It contains no racial meaning to me. It includes all of the traditional regional ethnic cultural groups as well as descendants of all people who came from elsewhere and all the myriads of combinations therein.
People who trace their origins to an ethnic group of pre-imperial Britain might classify themselves according to some ethnic group (eg, Welsh), but to me, they are just one of many ethnic groups among “British”.
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Fiamma,
you’d be hard pressed to find people of “Anglo-Saxon” descent in England, and this is discounting non-white citizens. Studies have shown that they are the slim, slim minority. Most are of celtic and continental European descent.
People like you focus too much on “ethnic” descent, forgetting that a white English person shares more with the Black or Asian English person than with the “Anglo-Saxon”-descended American: they share habits, a culture, and a more closely related language, among other things.
Whether you consider someone who was born in England “English” or not, they are so. It’s completely illogical to put your whole stock in skin colour, when it counts for so little.
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@Bulanik
Just looked at your link on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tikka_masala
It is part of their series on “Indian Cuisine”. So even the wikipedia source that you supplied classifies it primarily as Indian Cuisine (albeit “Britain’s National Dish”). But it is also listed as a hybrid dish under British cuisine. As I said, I think that particular dish is a grey area.
And the fact that it is available in India might be due to an impact from Britain, not from within. We could check up on that.
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The link which follows explains the differences between “English” as an ethnicity versus nationality, and the use of the term “British”. It also mentions that the original Brits, the Celts, were not wiped out by the invading Germanic tribes, and that the ethnic English are an amalgamation of Celt and Anglo-Saxon, along with Vikings and Normans et cetera.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_people
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According to Oxford’s dictionary –
Food – things that people or animals eat, or a particular type of this
Cuisine – a style of cooking
My point was, even though British eat a particular type of food, it does not automatically mean that it is classified as British cuisine. It has nothing to do with whether it is classified as part of white or non-white British daily food intake.
I believe Chinese restaurants and take-aways (aiya, I should avoid Briticisms – I mean carry-outs) are even much more ubiquitous in the USA than they are in Britain. I think there might be even more Chinese catering establishments per capita in any sizeable American city than there are Chinese eateries per capita in Hong Kong. I would call it part of the daily American palate. But I may or may not classify it as American cuisine depending on the origin of the style of cooking. Some of it may be American cuisine, but much of it is not.
Peking duck, as it is served in New York City, might not be 100% exactly like the version you will find in Beijing. But does that mean I should classify it as American cuisine?
If I eat a slice of New York style pizza in Singapore, should I classify it as Singaporean cuisine if most of the ingredients are sourced in Malaysia and Indonesia and it was prepared by chefs born and bred in SG (even if the recipe is modeled after the style that you find on the streets of Brooklyn)?
If you say no to either of these questions, that means that I should not 100% agree with what you just said about a Nation’s cuisine, but modify the definition a bit.
Maybe you can explain what you mean. I tried my best to explain what I mean by my earlier examples.
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I know you are trying to make a point or humourous (humorous), but I do think it is analogous at all. Actually, I don’t really find it funny.
Do you still find my point confusing? Or do you simply not agree with it? I accept both options, and do not find either to be a right or wrong point of view. I admit that I have a point of view only.
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ah levity and humor – this is the first funny post by my favorite blogger ,after all those so serious one’s – which I now dare admit (i was getting sick of) ,anyway a nice comical relief and yet still informative and relevant too – my favorite blog….
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Bleh,
I did not mention Americans, period, in my comments on English as an ethnicity. And, yes, I am aware that the people referred to as “Anglo-Saxons”, are actually descended from various waves of invaders, including the Romans.
Also, ethnicity, in this context, is not about skin color; it’s about descent: a mixed race person who has a parent of English descent is still English as far as I’m concerned. A white person who was born in England to Hungarians is both British and an English national, but he is not an ethnic English person. I’m sorry if that hurts anyone’s feelings. Though, if you are not of English descent, you can still go ahead and describe yourself as being “English” or of “English ethnicity”, if it means that much to you….
I’m surprised that anyone would have such an issue with the separation between ethnicity and nationality…however, I do realize when race is brought into the equation, people often start looking for agendas and loopholes where there are none.
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I think most of his remarks are pointless – after all we called the ‘language’ we are using here English because it was first spoken by the Anglo Saxons and moved on as most languages adopting words from others, invented or created or added words — so why do the Americans believe they have the right to pretend it is ‘thier’ language? And tell the British not to use thier language because they don’t understand some words? That feels like bullying others into submission to thier own way of life and I honestly had hoped that kind of behaviour had since long been considered as ‘bad and rude’ to say the least? Is the next stages – telling the French, Germans, Belgians (like me!) Russians, Spanish to stop using thier native language because ‘you’ have a problem understanding us? If my historical facts are correct – if one more Dutchman had voted in the late 1700s for his own language and not for English the US would today be a Dutch speaking nation — like South Africa! Grow up and accept the fact that English isn’t ‘your’ invention and ‘your’ language you just use it as I do when I travel abroad and have to speak to people who language I don’t understand like Italian, Danish etc.
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“ethnic English/Anglo-Saxon (aka white), as opposed to the more generic British (not white)”.
– – –
Nope. I never said (or even thought) any part of that.
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Whites in the UK, regardless of ethnicity/national origins, are also referred to as “British”.
I wonder how many more times I’ll have to write ‘regardless of race, ethnicity and / or national origins’?!
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There are quite a few similarities between British words and phrases and Canadian ones. ‘Sweet bugger all’ comes to mind. I am familiar with many of these words and meanings, not all obviously eh?
That post on the c-word was timely as we use it in the same manner as the Brit’s do, but we also have an aversion to it to a certain extent. I like the Black American accents personally although I can’t understand some of the dialects when spoken. I absolutely adore the Jamaican cuss words! As for the British words? Much of it is already in our vocabulary as we are still a ‘colony’ ( not officially though),of Great Britain with the queen as our head of state
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Being born in England makes one no more of an ETHNIC English person than simply being born in the US, eating cornbread or dying for one’s country, makes one a Cherokee, or any other indigenous American. It’s that simple….and nowhere near as convoluted as some are attempting to make it.
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“Since “the English” are the Anglo-Saxons as you say, and not the black and brown citizens of the Great Britain, the more “generic” British you describe must therefore INCLUDE those who are “not white” too!”
– – –
Bulanik, yes, “British” includes whites, Blacks and Browns, and is not limited to any one group/race within the UK (how many different ways can I repeat this?). “Generic”, as in “more generalized”, which is not meant as an insult; a proper euphemism simply did not come to mind when I wrote the comment. My apologies for having used the word “generic”….
It seems that you’re looking (for whatever reason) for some sort of a slight or persecution to Black and Brown Brits from me, which simply is not there. I have no reason at all to put them down and have actually studied the history of Blacks in England from the Middle Ages on up to the post WWII arrivals of Blacks from the Caribbean. I’ve imagined on occasion that if my family had been from Jamaica instead of Tennessee, we might have ended up in London instead of NYC — which would have been fine by me.
And now I’m done with this witch hunt. 😦
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Fiamma
When you think of the “English”, you think of white people. However, you know that is not the reality. (At least, you know now).
Ethnicity, here, is an irrelevant concern, and counts for so little that it exposes your thinking as vapid. Celts have been in England, Romans have too, as have the Normans/French, and so on. Whom do you cite for “ethnicity”? When so many people have been on a territory, how can you claim that “ethnicity” matters?
When I think of “English”, I think of someone from England, full stop. Your notion of ethnicity means absolutely nothing (in logical thought).
Being born in England doesn’t make you “ethnically” English, but that counts for nothing and, again, is a pretty senseless notion:
You’re effectively telling me that an American with “ethnic English” ancestry would have some greater claim to being English than I, who have lived here all my life, but am not white. THAT is why your notion is senseless. You think that “Englishness” is a matter of ethnicity, and you are wrong.
And I’m not pining to be considered English, trust me. My concern is that your type of thinking is divisive and just creates needless trouble and insult.
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Some friends and I were just having this discussion the other day. In my experience Brits get downright insulting over what they call “Americanisms” or and American’s use of the “wrong” word.
Brits seem to take the differences in English as personal assault. Americans regard the differences in our common language as an interesting and fun. Brits get ridiculously angry. Americans are like, “Hey, that’s cool, I learned something.” (Please note that I probably just pissed off a Brit using the word “like” in that manner.) I sometimes amuse myself reading the various articles listing Americanisms that Brits “get their knickers in a twist” over. Just search for “Americanisms” or “50 hated Americanism”. Americans will be amused. Brits will be nodding their strident agreement.
Just know this Brits: We got mad love for ya’ll. You have given us Monty Python, Masterpiece Theater and Harry Potter. We get to envy your Royal Family as though we never fought a war over such a thing. And last but not least, we think your way of speaking is pretty darned cool. So chill out already.
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Some years ago I went to London. When packing I was asking what to pack. It was almost spring. A british nurse I worked with said it would be a bit cool so pack a jumper. I had no idea what a jumper was. I thought London was great. I hated the food. Thank goodness they had KFC and other American fast food places there. I like that you could walk the streets at night without being afraid. I noticed the police or I think they were called bobbies didn’t have guns just night sticks. I thought the tower of London was cool. And I liked Trafalga Square. I would love to go back there. The black people there laughed at me when I asked for directions to the Royal Albert museum. They knew I was American and asked where I was from. I told them I was from Texas. They asked did we ride horses. I thought it was fun to see black people like myself and hear them speak in their very proper English accents.
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This post was quite funny and informative
I am know properly scared to death of ever visiting the UK (Britain? Great Britain? England? idk). There are so many differences in speech I can foresee being the cause of several embarrassing ‘lost in the same language’ moments. Just imagine the trouble caused by an American tourist in the UK after exclaming, “she/he’s got spunk!” lol
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*now
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@Bulanik,
Let me admit that, although I interact with people from Britain almost daily, I have only been there once, and am not really that well versed in status of certain foods. So, I tried to give examples of other places to illustrate what I meant when I was trying to contrast locally popular foods versus local cuisine.
I guess an element should be one of perception. Pizza might not have been invented in the USA, but it is so much part of what is eaten in America that no one thinks of it as “foreign” or anything but American. Maybe Chicken Tikka Masala, at least the version of which is popular in Britain, is so much part of the hearts and minds of Britons that no one thinks of it as anything but British. That Britons across all sorts of ethnic groups will even cook it at home and simply look at it as local style food. Even non-British (say from Brazil and Malaysia) would even look at it as quintessentially British. If that is the case, then yes, it is part of British cuisine.
But, . . . , I saw that Wikipedia classifies it as Indian Cuisine for their article entry. So I am still not sure if domestically and internationally, despite its immense popularity in Britain, if it is considered local cuisine, or simply locally popular food.
I guess (sorry, is that an Americanism? I think Briticisms use “suppose”) that you are 100% sure in your mind what you think.
But if we base it just on popularity, then even McDonald’s Big Mac would be considered the local cuisine of hundreds of countries and regions.
Pizza is popular in HK, even though the most popular versions of it locally are not exactly the kind you would find in the USA or Italy (although places which serve versions which come closer to the versions popular to those places could be found as well). But, I don’t think most people perceive it as local cuisine per se, even the local versions. Spaghetti is even more ubiquitous in HK – every single block has several places where you can get spaghetti, and it is available in all LOCAL fast food chains. Everyone eats it, yet I don’t think it is perceived as local cuisine.
So, there must be an element of perception as well.
Nowadays, things spread so quickly, it may be more and more difficult to classify things now. Bubble tea first appeared in Taichung, Taiwan around 1988, and spread over the whole island within a couple years. But it didn’t stop there, it spread quickly across East and Southeast Asia and by the mid-90s, it could even be found in Los Angeles and cities in the USA, as well as Australia and further afield. I have met people who grew up in LA which think of it as a locally available drink. If they think about it, they might think that it was something which originated in Taiwan, but they would not know the details. I could even find it easily in New York. I just read that it is now served at the McDonald’s in Germany and Austria.
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To call someone a ‘queer’ is english for homosexual, ‘prick’ means penis or an insult – “you prick” means someone who annoyed you, ‘shag’ means to have sex, it’s also a name for a bird. ‘Bollocks’ are testicals and the list goes on.
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“Pretty darned cool”?. “Chill out already”? Hey Sir, we are British after all. Stiff upper lip and all that!
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Simon Le Bon was once voted Wally of the Year – tho’, Google stands in defiance of my memory of said occasion.
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I read this a couple weeks ago, it’s really funny (if you’re a Yank):
Americanisms: 50 of your most noted examples
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14201796
Dare I say it, it sounds like ‘British’ is a more inclusive term, in an ethnic context than ‘American,’ vis a vis “African-American,” “Korean-American,” et al.
That is very interesting.
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ThatDeborahGirl:
Some friends and I were just having this discussion the other day. In my experience Brits get downright insulting over what they call “Americanisms” or and American’s use of the “wrong” word.
Brits seem to take the differences in English as personal assault. Americans regard the differences in our common language as an interesting and fun. Brits get ridiculously angry. Americans are like, “Hey, that’s cool, I learned something.” (Please note that I probably just pissed off a Brit using the word “like” in that manner.) I sometimes amuse myself reading the various articles listing Americanisms that Brits “get their knickers in a twist” over. Just search for “Americanisms” or “50 hated Americanism”. Americans will be amused. Brits will be nodding their strident agreement.
Just know this Brits: We got mad love for ya’ll. You have given us Monty Python, Masterpiece Theater and Harry Potter. We get to envy your Royal Family as though we never fought a war over such a thing. And last but not least, we think your way of speaking is pretty darned cool. So chill out already.
Didnt we have this conversation just the other day? I would love to know what your experience is of British people and culture – do you travel to the British Isles regularly or is your 'experience' based on an article you read? You seem to get a kick out of potentially offending British people with 'Americanisms' – trust me, the most irritating thing about some Americans as far as Brits are concerned, is not restricted to the way they talk!
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@Omni – I got into Potter deeply in the 90’s and that led me to make a lot of friends online, most of whom I Skype with pretty much every day. We’re a mixed bunch of Yanks, Aussies and Brits so our language barriers are practically nil because we’ve been friends so long. Even after over a decade of friendship, there are still some misunderstandings (always quickly resolved 🙂 I only ever went to London once and that was for a Potter convention where we all met up (I am the geekiest black girl ever). I stayed a week, had a great time and I was the noisiest American of them all (but you knew that already didn’t you?)
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@Bulanik
I have heard many Britons tell me that they commonly eat curry in Britain, but I have yet to see any place (outside of Britain that is) which specializes in British cuisine that puts their curry dishes at the forefront of their menu. Even better, why can I not find a British style curry house outside Britain, not to mention British cuisine restaurants that serve Chicken Tikka Masala?
Yet, most of the “American” restaurants I have encountered outside the US do serve pizza, or even specialize in American style pizza. However, the American restaurants I have been to outside the US generally do not serve chop suey. I do think, it is possible to find an American style Chinese restaurant outside the USA which may serve it.
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I like the commercials. Words like dishwashing up liquid for dishwashing liquid. I like the word digestive bisquits for cookies. And nappies for diapers. Alumini-um for aluminum foil. They were kind of cheap with ice for beverages. I really liked London. I enjoyed going to the theater there that was great. Lots of culture and history. The changing of the guard was cool too. I liked making face s and the soilders stand stiff and straight as statues. The beefeaters were cool at the Tower of London. The big red double decker bus was fun. Going down the Thames River was cool seeing Big Ben. I was such a tourist. I think I could live there.
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@b
kedgeree – i haven’t had that i ages, my mum makes a brilliant kedgeree
(there’s another, mum is my mother, also mum’s the word means to keep quite about something)
@vagabond
another picture of Freema I see
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I’m surprised that the word “bloody” wasn’t listed. Is it not used as much anymore? And what exactly does it mean? It seems to add extra oomph to expletives.
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@ mochasister
“Bloody” is a Briticism, maybe a Commonwealthism, but it is not one that causes confusion, so I did not list it.
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It must be very strange for a British person to hear an American use the word “spunk” in the fashion or style sense.
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“Bloody” is an old English blasphemy short for ” By the lady”, probably something to do with the Tudors, Originally used as an expletive asin ” Bloody heck!”, that should confuse our transatlantic cousins!
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Some might say that “bloody” is an English shock word popularized by Shakespeare, referring to “God’s blood/teeth/wounds”, as this was an Elizabethan’s way of swearing.
Perhaps bloody became that in the way like “golly” was used instead of God, “darn” instead of damn, or “sugar” instead of sh*t.
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[…] style guide: Briticisms […]
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nancy boy, means an effeminate male, snogging means kissing. I heard that word snogging on Harry Potter.
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Getting one’s knickers in a twist, being upset about something.
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The Loo, the toilet.
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