The other British invasion: how UK lingo conquered the US

Post by tbrownaw » Sat, Oct 05, 2024, 4:43 AM UTC

rikroots wrote: post #54

hi_hi wrote: post #28

A word of warning as a Brit in Australia. You'll get funny looks when talking about routers and root!

(Note that my HN name is the same as my real name, without the space). On my first (and only) visit to Australia I got stopped at passport control. The security bloke took my passport and looked at it. Then kept looking at it, in silence. His face was straight and sour, but his shoulders were ... twitching. This went on for more than a couple of minutes until, finally, he looked up from the passport, stared into my e…

Post by carlmr » Sat, Oct 05, 2024, 4:46 AM UTC

cardamomo wrote: post #12

How curious! (I feel that I've observed the Britishization of the word "curious" in my lifetime. As a child, it meant only interested, intrigued. Now it also means strange or bizarre.)

Post by robinsonrc » Sat, Oct 05, 2024, 5:04 AM UTC

penneyd wrote: post #77

TheBruceHimself wrote: post #25

Brit living in the US here. Despite being here 7 years now i'll every so often have an American point out how odd something I say is. Recently it was me saying "I'll need to head home and get my swimming costume before heading to the pool". To which the response was "wow wow wow, "swimming costume"? Really? A costume. Not a uniform but a costume; something you wear for halloween? OMG that's adorable" Turns out Americ…

Turns out they actually say swim suit ;)

Post by jcbrand » Sat, Oct 05, 2024, 5:10 AM UTC

hanniabu wrote: post #103

yesco wrote: post #27

Having grown up in the US with what I would consider a higher than average exposure to the early 2000s internet, at least compared to other peers my age, much of my ability to read and write actually came directly from social media, instant messengers and online games rather than books. This meant I often found myself struggling with spelling errors in English class which sadly resulted in deducted points from my ess…

I can never remember if I should use grey or gray

Post by filterfish » Sat, Oct 05, 2024, 5:15 AM UTC

rgblambda wrote: post #92

dekhn wrote: post #3

I once was talking wit some british people whilst in california and said "oh you can throw that garbage in the trash". They laughed and said it sounded really coarse, what did you do with it after? "It goes into a truck which takes it to the dump. Why, what do you say?" "We say you put your rubbish in the bin and the lorry takes it to the tip" which did sound more pleasant.

I'm fairly certain "dump" is the more commonly used word in the UK. There's the classic children's novel "Stig of the Dump" published in 1963. There's definitely cases where UK English has adopted a new word but American English hasn't. I was surprised to see the word "coupon" used in old UK literature. "Voucher" is the more common word nowadays. People would accuse you of being Americanised if you said coupon.