To hate Americanisms...?

People do tend to fall over themselves to claim Americanisms 'don't make sense', without making any allowance for some words' range of meaning (even in Britsh English).

I think I love you.

People being English people😅 I strongly suspect you are right.

@Funnywonder same here in Scotland. Maybe it's a case of people thinking the UK just consists of England.

Oh dear. That’s a bit extreme. I think you’ll find that many on here also have an issue with the ‘can’ part of it. As in it should be ‘MAY I have …?’ I don’t mind though because we’re can-I-getting all over the place here in NI. The Americans probably got it from us😅

It's. Can. I GET. In. Much.Of. Britain.

How many times?

'Can I get?'
It's only a matter of time before I explode in the Starbucks queue and scream 'It's 'Can. I. HAVE!!!!'

Kidos ....why just why

I'm not American and everyone where I am says "can I get". Everyone.

Agreed. It's very widespread, and I really can't see much wrong with it. On a web site where 75% of people don't know the difference between "bear" and "bare", between "ball" and "bawl", etc., and where anyone who corrects someone's grammar/spelling is attacked vigorously, it's suprising to see so much vitriol about a common and trivial variation from "standard" English.

Someone told me the word university or uni, even, was considered pretentious in the USA, they say 'college', or even 'school'.
I refer to it as 'uni', sorry!

But "uni" isn't a word: it's a prefix. I recognise it's now so widespread that it's listed in dictionaries as an informal usage, but people saying "uni" instead of university irks me far more than most of the examples in this thread. If you really can't cope with five syllables, I think college would be preferable to "uni".

Declaration of interest: I am a member of academic staff of a university.

The worst Americanism we are lumbered with is Trump. Which, interestingly, means something different in the UK 😀.

It depends. People do generally say "going to college" for anything from the local junior college to Harvard. But the need to use the word "university" arises often. For one thing, there are colleges that are not universities, and the distinction sometimes needs to be explained. And, of course, most universities have the word in their name. The word "university" is often used in the US, and no one shortens it to "uni."

Are “I can’t speak to that” or “with that being said” phrases that originated in the US? I’m sure I’ve heard them more said by Americans but I could be wrong. Anyway they irritate me.

I'm not American and everyone where I am says "can I get". Everyone.

But I think - as has been mentioned multiple times already - "can I GET..." has to be the very worst Americanism we now seem to be lumbered with.

But, as has been pointed out before it's not American. It's the normal way to ask for things in Scotland (and I believe Ireland).

"Please may I have...." you'd be laughed out of the shop where I live

We say college in Ireland too (south of the border, it's uni in NI).

But I think - as has been mentioned multiple times already - "can I GET..." has to be the very worst Americanism we now seem to be lumbered with.

I give up!!!🤯
(Hopefully you are joking??)

Someone told me the word university or uni, even, was considered pretentious in the USA, they say 'college', or even 'school'.

I refer to it as 'uni', sorry!

Oh god, where to start!

I spend a lot of time working the US and on calls with US customers which is bad enough but then hearing all the Americanisms when home drives me insane.

I've heard several British born and bred people using American pronunciations, now, too.

o-REG-ano for oregano
Bay-zel for basil
Rowt for route

Then there's "license plate" instead of number plate (and yes, it's always 'licenSe' instead of 'licenCe' when they do it.

Windshield instead of windscreen, etc., etc.

But I think - as has been mentioned multiple times already - "can I GET..." has to be the very worst Americanism we now seem to be lumbered with.

What I hate, are people trying to convince others that words and events are Americanisms, when they have existed in this country for way longer than living memory - just not in the south of England.

Thinking as examples - gotten, Santa, trick or treating (although when I was child, it was called 'guising', but it was the same thing)

But Scotland, Northern Ireland, the North of England apparently don't count....

Sorry I don't know why that posted twice!

I'm American and definitely not familiar with several of these Americanisms, it's a big country with huge regional variations though. This thread did remind me of this light-hearted sketch though :)

I'm American and definitely not familiar with several of these Americanisms, it's a big country with huge regional variations though. This thread did remind me of this light-hearted sketch though :)

Oh absolutely. I was just trying to give pp some examples of the senses in which it’s commonly used. It can mean much more than ‘obtained’.

Language evolves and that is exactly what I find so fascinating about it. We don't speak or write in the same way as people in Shakespeare's time. In fact Shakespeare was keen on churning out new words and expressions, many of which have remained as part of modern language. But then he was English of course, not American, and there's nothing like a good old dose of xenophobia to bring people together.

I hear non Irish people using the word 'craic' sometimes and find it both funny and quite heartwarming. I will defend 'gotten' to my last breath! It is completely and utterly commonplace in NI and definitely not an 'Americanism' - not that it matters. Maybe I'm more relaxed about language changing because of the history of suppression of the Irish language. I can't help but think 'hell slap it up ye', as we like to say around these parts😆