To hate Americanisms...?

Many of the ones I have already seen in the comments I have read. But adding my own- my daughter says she’s going to the ‘bathroom’ when we are out, not ‘toilets / loo’ etc.
One of my children corrected me when I said to apply sun cream. They told me it’s ‘sunscreen.’ 🙃
In the past, they have said ‘paci’ (pacifier) instead of dummy. Diaper instead of nappy.
A lot of ‘hey guys‘ and ‘I know right’ (even said in a slight American accent)
Many mispronunciations of words… off the top of my head; garage, privacy.. sure there are lots more! Drives me insane

I cannot stand, From the Get go.
and Normalcy instead of normality.
Movie instead of film.

@Tumblingthrough I think the 'h' words where the first letter is silent tend to be ones we picked up from French; hour, honour etc. So herb should have a silent H, and it is the Brits who created the anomaly.

I haven’t heard anyone from the UK using these terms

@BarbaraHoward the thread is americanisms we dislike. that is an americanism i don't like. i don't find it useful either 😂

Thank you for that.

I was actually thinking about this over a month ago. I will now drive myself crazy trying to remember who I was talking to about this. The person had never heard of it.

For the record, my father, a Newfoundland born Canadian, (before Newfoundland was part of Canada) used to say this all the time. I wonder if he first heard it in his childhood in the 1930s, or as an adult.

I am 60+ and it has always been called birth control, amongst other things.

Hopefully the picture adds this time!

This is what Irish signs look like - the Irish is above the English and in a smaller, italicised font. Works well. Never heard of it causing confusion.

To be fair we live near 2 of the roads with the highest rate of fatalities (per population) and there is enough of an issue with overseas tourists driving on the wrong side of the road and not knowing how to negotiate roundabouts without complicating matters further by having bilingual road signs. For some reason the Garelic name was to be above the English one which I've never understood.

Agree the signs should be more regional in Scotland, but, done well, I don’t think they’re a safety issue.

That's fine, I just think the safety angle is a bit silly when dual language signs work perfectly well (I'm guessing not just in Ireland either).

I could probably see it as more meaningful in Ireland, but I live in NE Scotland, as I think does @RaraRachael and Gaelic is not native to these parts. We were Picts, and have our own local recognised dialect. So no need or expectation of signs in Scots Gaelic.

Yes, I don’t live in Scotland any more and I find it crazy to see things like this when I go back

Do you mean nobody talked about season 4 of Only Fools and Horses?

I actually don't like when they Americanise books (though I'm not fussed if it's merely spelling or typographical conventions, and by the way, it would be nice if British publishers standardised their use of single versus double quotes. The one thing you can say for Americans is that they are consistent!) I suppose it's one thing for small children but it's really unnecessary for adults these days! I want to hear the characters as the author intended. Slang and dialect can be very evocative of the background the author is setting.

I would not say "linguistic progress" because that assumes it's an improvement, but language surely changes.

I agree that there is no good reason to put signage in Gaelic in areas where historically there was no Gaelic. Not so sure they lead to bad accidents, not if they’re done well anyway. This New Zealand article looking at dual language signage in Ireland suggests that it’s not really a problem for people.

https://www.teaonews.co.nz/2023/06/17/what-happened-when-ireland-got-bilingual-road-signs/#:~:text=What%20does%20the%20research%20say,unsubstantial%20effect%20on%20drivers'%20behaviour.

Transport Scotland looked at it too. Their report suggests that “while there is reasonable evidence to infer bilingual signs increase the demand of the driving task, drivers appear able to absorb this extra demand, or negate it by slowing down, which ultimately results in no detectable change in accident rates”.

Just because something is new doesn't mean it isn't useful - I doubt you had the internet when you were watching season 4 (only one series) of Only Fools.

A series will be comprised of multiple seasons, often each season has a different focus or different writers and so you will hear fans of the show arguing that season 3 is better than season 4 and the like. A season finale means it'll be back in a few months, a series finale means it's over forever. Like I say, the distinction is useful.

here is another explanation of where 2 bits came from, do not know if it is true
https://sunfarm.com/images/2bits.htm

Irish is used on road signs in Ireland despite most people not having more than a cúpla focal. It's definitely not a safety issue. I don't speak Irish but I like to have that connection to our history and it would be a shame to lose it.

@BarbaraHoward not to me! tv programmes never had seasons until recently here in the UK.
no one talked about series 4 of Only Fools and Horses

Then there is the tune: shave and a haircut, two bits. Don’t know if this has reached the UK. My British DH didn’t know what it is. It was on Looney Tunes cartoons.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shave_and_a_Haircut

The tune has different meanings in difference languages. This TikTok is interesting
https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewtoworld/video/7260722587716848942?lang=en

There are English versions of American books too, but not as prevalent as American English is becoming the standard.

I suspect what people are not happy about is the above is happening. It would be nice if we were global citizens rather than tribes, but I’m not sure humanity is going to be able to evolve like that. People like to be parts of a group and distinguish themselves from other groups, and they enjoy status hierarchies.

Yes, some authors like Joyce use dialect. Lear used nonsense language. If specialist publishers want to spend the money as there is an audience for that, fine. But again, language is for communication; clear communication solves a lot of problems.

I don't mind languages evolving but not to the detriment of local dialects etc.

Fed up of the pushing of Gaeiic where I live. Every train station has to have 2 versions of its name. There was even some nonsense about using it on road signs. We have enough often fatal accidents caused by tourists without this added confusion. It's OK if you're in an area where Gaelic is prevalent but don't impose it on people who have no interest or knowledge of it.