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Britishisms and the Britishisation of American English
BBC News ^ | 27th September 2012 | Cordelia Hebblethwaite

Posted on 09/27/2012 5:23:43 AM PDT by the scotsman

'There is little that irks British defenders of the English language more than Americanisms, which they see creeping insidiously into newspaper columns and everyday conversation.

But bit by bit British English is invading America too.'

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS:
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To: miss marmelstein

Nope, it wasn’t sweating -— I’ve heard and used that one for years. However, I DID only hear the “suffering” thing just the once, but it was enough to stick in my mind.

Regards,


41 posted on 09/27/2012 6:42:05 AM PDT by VermiciousKnid (Sic narro nos totus!)
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To: the scotsman

My favorite...I mean favoUrite Brittishism is “dodgy”, particularly when talking about a person. It expresses a vague, but strong feeling that something is not quite right about an individual better than any “American” word.


42 posted on 09/27/2012 6:42:29 AM PDT by Above My Pay Grade
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To: the scotsman
Good thread .. end of !


(but behave in here .. you're surrounded by armed bastards !)

43 posted on 09/27/2012 6:44:41 AM PDT by tomkat
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To: MamaTexan

“What the Bloody Hell?!” has become my recent favorite expletive. And I frequently tell our annoying dog to “bugger off!”


44 posted on 09/27/2012 6:49:20 AM PDT by reegs
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To: Disambiguator

Not me! It has me ticked off!

Where did that come from? :]


45 posted on 09/27/2012 6:49:26 AM PDT by Ditter
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To: secret garden

I’ve been using “brilliant” so long, I don’t even consider the British influence any longer!


46 posted on 09/27/2012 6:50:33 AM PDT by reegs
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To: the scotsman

I hearing a lot more “Spot on!”lately. I think it is an Anglicism, with Americans in recent decades preferring “exactly right” or “dead on.” I have in the last few years heard a few (not many) Americans use “queue” instead of “wait in line.”


47 posted on 09/27/2012 6:51:23 AM PDT by untenured
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To: the scotsman
“Gone Bodmin” from Doc Martin is my favorite. I also rather liked the show “Wisdom,” but it was canceled.
48 posted on 09/27/2012 6:51:50 AM PDT by Excellence (9/11 was an act of faith.)
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To: KC_Lion

My husband’s mother was British, and he also spent part of his childhood in England. One word he says that drives me crazy is ‘drawings’, referring to his artwork, but he pronounces it: drawERings.


49 posted on 09/27/2012 6:53:44 AM PDT by sportutegrl
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To: the scotsman
Just remembered something Mr Ditter hear all the time on the weather channel and the news stations. They use the term “hunker down”. We hate to be told we need to hunker down, where did that come from. People in Texas never said that.
50 posted on 09/27/2012 6:54:39 AM PDT by Ditter
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To: the scotsman

I like watching the English car fix-up show Wheeler Dealers. When there is a lot of work to be done, Edd says that he “best crack on.” But he probably won’t have to if the car “is in pretty good nick.”


51 posted on 09/27/2012 6:57:41 AM PDT by tnlibertarian (Government's solution to everything: Less freedom.)
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To: the scotsman
Whingers is more British than whiners, and it sounds better.

Cheers!

52 posted on 09/27/2012 6:58:10 AM PDT by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: reegs

Guinness


53 posted on 09/27/2012 6:58:50 AM PDT by Ratman83
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To: Little Ray
“Bloody” is a lot worse in British, than it is in American...

I know! Coupled with the fact most Americans currently are so clueless about the King's English (or just about any form of grammatically correct English, for that matter) it's like being able to cuss somebody out in a foreign language.

;-)

54 posted on 09/27/2012 6:59:16 AM PDT by MamaTexan (I am a Person as Created by the Laws of Nature, not a person as created by the laws of Man)
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To: the scotsman

Funny thing about the British mind....
They think Monarchy is “Cute”...
and Democracy is sacrosanct..

The truth is Monarchy and Democracy are both MOB Rule by mobsters..
The British mind has not figured that out yet..
You know... HOW Monarchy and Democracy are sisters..

And since Democracy is the political disease that has socialism as a symptom they are Gobsmacked politically..
The British mind cannot understand the American Constitution..

They are quite dumb politically..


55 posted on 09/27/2012 6:59:37 AM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole..)
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To: the scotsman

I love to watch the British shows on Netflix, Midsomer Murders, Foyle’s War, Inspector Lewis, etc.

They say had a row(rhymes with cow)for an argument, sod off, straight away, muck about???. It just doesn’t right when I say it!


56 posted on 09/27/2012 7:00:42 AM PDT by gattaca ("Great things can be accomplished if you don't care who gets the credit " Ronald Reagan)
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To: Gamecock

That is so true about the British accent. I always tell women they would swoon over a guy who worked on a garbage scow just because he had a British accent.

The Southern accent bias is interesting because there are theories that it has it’s roots in the British dialect.


57 posted on 09/27/2012 7:00:43 AM PDT by reegs
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To: miss marmelstein

“Duck”, or “ducks” or “duckie”, is quite a distinctive regionalism in England. Your great-grandfather was very likely from Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, or somewhere nearby in the East Midlands. “Duck” is used as a greeting even between two unrelated men. Etymologically it is related to the word “duke” and has nothing to do with the bird.


58 posted on 09/27/2012 7:00:57 AM PDT by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order.)
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To: the scotsman
Possibly the best medium-to-harsh swear terms: bugger it! and bollocks! The latter can be pronounced "bollo" (after an old joke about gateaux).
59 posted on 09/27/2012 7:01:12 AM PDT by Riflema
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To: reegs
And I frequently tell our annoying dog to “bugger off!”

Oh, darn! I forgot that one. And I've used it to tell an annoying liberal coworker to 'bugger off', too!

60 posted on 09/27/2012 7:01:20 AM PDT by MamaTexan (I am a Person as Created by the Laws of Nature, not a person as created by the laws of Man)
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