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The other British invasion: how UK lingo conquered the US

theguardian.com

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Re: The other British invasion: how UK lingo conquered the US

#131

Post by noelwelsh »

a_e_k wrote: post #78
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…

I'm not sure about other Americans, but I'll sometimes say "swim[ming] trunks" if I'm specifically referring to male swimming attire. Otherwise, yeah, it's often "swim[ming] suit" or "bathing suit" here.

The Australian term "budgie smugglers" is really the best to use in this specific situation.

Re: The other British invasion: how UK lingo conquered the US

#132

Post by unfunco »

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!

When I lived with an Australian in London, he'd say you can beat an egg, but you can't beat a root (pronounced like beetroot) – I think it was a type of joke.

Re: The other British invasion: how UK lingo conquered the US

#135

Post by jajko »

habosa wrote: post #126
thecosas wrote: post #81

As an American, I still get hung up when hearing about a government "scheme" [0] in Britain without any negative connotation whatsoever. [0] https://www.cjr.org/language_corner/scheme.php

It’s so good hearing about a “bike to work scheme” and trying to imagine what the evil part is.

Healthcare providers getting fat paychecks from all the treatment from accidents, or in later age prolonged lung cancer treatment? Funeral services?

Or maybe just bike sellers being happy to sell junky overpriced fashionate ebikes that will drop embedded non-replaceable battery's capacity significantly within few years (or replace them for exorbitant costs).

With the right mind the world is there to screw over, just look at the politicians and other high functioning sociopaths.

Re: The other British invasion: how UK lingo conquered the US

#136

Post by a_e_k »

inkyoto wrote: post #109
a_e_k wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure about other Americans, but I'll sometimes say "swim[ming] trunks" if I'm specifically referring to male swimming attire. Otherwise, yeah, it's often "swim[ming] suit" or "bathing suit" here.

Since male swimming attire comes in different shapes ( ahem designs), I hear people use «swimmers» more and more. Save for one singular design which, it would seem, distinguishes itself with such remarkable uniqueness as to warrant the bestowal of its very own appellation: «budgie smugglers» (AusE).

Okay, now that last one is just hilarious.

Re: The other British invasion: how UK lingo conquered the US

#137

Post by kitd »

smcin wrote: post #110
gerdesj wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they only pant. ----------------- OK, at this point I really need to explain what on earth is going on here: "what does "pants" refer to?" - pants refers to trousers and pants refers to underpants and of course pants refers to pants as a noun. Pants also refers to heavy breathing as a verb. I have absolutely no idea how we ended up with this situation, where pant(s) is a noun and a verb and really odd. I'm going…

> how we ended up with this situation, where pant(s) is a noun and a verb and really odd. I'm going to blame Britain, US and Italy (via Latin) and not necessarily in that order. Because (in English) adding -s(/-es) makes plurals of (most regular) nouns, and also makes 3rd person singular declension of (most regular) verbs. Other examples of noun+verb collocations: books, shows, scents, raises, views, votes, comments,…

Eats, shoots and leaves?

https://g.co/kgs/UzZtYRr

Re: The other British invasion: how UK lingo conquered the US

#138

Post by 082349872349872 »

mmmBacon wrote: post #64

Yeah I don’t think UK lingo has conquered anything here in the US. I find most UK lingo rather dorky and quaint. To me it’s like talking to cousins you like from a quaint town that’s woefully behind the times. It’s not their fault though and it’s kind of endearing. However, Americans who use British lingo are the absolute worst; they remind me of a Will Farrell character except they are not funny.

At some point after the 1950s, en-gb speakers had to resign themselves to the dominance (if not prestige) of en-us; might the same process happen with en-us and en-in?

(and then there's en-gb vs en-eu...)

Re: The other British invasion: how UK lingo conquered the US

#139

Post by bloqs »

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 find it fascinating that anyone in the US has this issue, as a Brit this was an issue for anyone with early internet exposure, but I hadn't considered the volume of British/Canadian/Aussie English to have an impact the other way round!

Re: The other British invasion: how UK lingo conquered the US

#140

Post by kitd »

stephenjt wrote: post #105
rgblambda wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I’ve never met a fellow Brit who would say ‘dump’ instead of ‘tip’ in this context. I also call my discount-loving fellow Brit friend ‘coupon boy’ rather than ‘voucher boy’!

I use both. I believe "dump" was more common but, for some reason, has been superseded by "tip". Or it may be regional.
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