Comprehensive list of Americanisms

[12fromcold]

Some I love, some I hate. Let's try and get them all here! Especially interested in the ones that are only a slight variation from the British counterpart.

Macaroni AND cheese
Hide and GO seek
GotTEN

I'll remember more and come back.

I thought a juggernaut was specifically one of those big American style lorries with a bonnet and a huge smoking engine out the front.
Is a juggernaut just a bog standard large lorry?

It's one of these: www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/m1-car-crash-personal-experience-lorry-truck-hit-car-what-happened-august-bank-holiday-cancer-impact-a7958676.html
'Me and my wife were hit by a juggernaut on the M1 – doing 60mph – and survived to tell the tale'

It appears I am not the only person on the face of the planet to use the word 'juggernaut' for an articulated truck.

www.tripsavvy.com/uk-driving-terms-explained-4114591
'What is a lorry'
Lorry vs juggernaut vs truck

Knittink, someone was complaining about the American (French ) pronunciation of fillet up thread too.

@OlennasWimple

Step Up to the Plate!

Yep, that one too, mathanxiety. The funny thing is, neither way is more correct, since French words don't have inherent lexical stress on any of their syllables! So the emphasis should be equal, but that's pretty alien to English speakers (and anyway, words are always ar least a bit anglicised when adopted into English).

Last night I was at a meeting and we all looked at my phone to decide on a date. One person said, "Ugh! What's up with your phone?! Why are your days funny?!"

Another said "yeah your weeks are all mixed up".

Most calendars here start on Sunday. I changed mine.

They said 'why do you think the week starts on Monday?"

I mumbled something about God creating Sunday on the last day and got blank looks.

Then I said, "well Sunday's in the weekEND ffs" and everyone's mouth dropped open. Mind blown.

and then there's the US date format ...

The US date format makes the most sense,you get to the point more quickly. Every month has a 10 or a 23, doesn’t it make sense to start narrowing it down from the outset?

So if you were to order a filet-o-fish at McDonald's, would a Brit say fill-it -fish?

This has only just occurred to me and I can hardly imagine it.

@WhyDidIEatThat

The US date format makes the most sense,you get to the point more quickly. Every month has a 10 or a 23, doesn’t it make sense to start narrowing it down from the outset?

Like fuck it does. 8 years on and I'm still getting it wrong. Makes no sense. And on US passports they actually show the correct () way that the rest of the world uses.

My favorite baseball expression is particularly Southern, I think. When someone is really busy, especially because others are shirking duties, he or she might say "I'm pitchin' and catchin' and takin' up tickets."

"I'm kicking ass and taking names."

For some reason that one delights me.

Do people in the UK use the word 'salty'? My kids use it all the time eg "Lisa's being all salty because she doesn't like the part she got in the school play."

I bloody love salty.

I use 'melt' which American's don't get at all.

I also love 'po dunk' and 'butt fuck nowhere'.

@Stupomax a local island print works so this tee which I'm eying up.

I think we'd say 'filit o fish'

I had a server crack up laughing when I ordered a fill ay.

The US system for writing dates numerically does NOT make the most sense. UK (and rest of the world?) system is more logical. You have the day first as it is the smallest unit, then the month, and then going up to the year, ie today is 15.01.19. Why would you jump from the month down to days then back up to years.

Today in the American system would be 1.15.19 I suppose. Everytime I see an American date I have to do a double take and find it confusing.

Today in the American system would be 1.15.19 I suppose. Everytime I see an American date I have to do a double take and find it confusing.

Every time I see a UK date I have to do a double take.

It's just what you're used to. Neither is right or wrong, or less/more logical.

I name most of my files starting with a date, and doing mm-dd-yyyy organises them by month which works out well for me. TBH yyyy-mm-dd would work best if I was completely logical about it.

Dodgy tummy
Actually anything dodgy
Squiffy as in a bit tipsy
Fanny means bottom

Why would you jump from the month down to days then back up to years.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but IIRC this system was actually imported from the UK during the colonial period. Back then, months were worded, with days and years numbered. So for eg today's date would be written as January 15, 2019. We eventually moved on to the DMY format, they didn't.

Actually anything dodgy

Every time I hear this word I can't help but remember that incident where Dennis Skinner was asked to exit the House of Commons for the rest of the day because he referred to David Cameron as "Dodgy Dave"!

So if you were to order a filet-o-fish at McDonald's, would a Brit say fill-it -fish?

We say "fill-it-o-fish", yes - much easier to pronounce!

And on US passports they actually show the correct (grin) way that the rest of the world uses

Thank fuck for international standards for travel documents! Though US airlines don't always do it the "right" way round on their websites, which can be a pain if checking in online quickly

Squiffy is used in UK a lot too isn't it?

I just printed the UK version on four forms at the dentist. Nearest I get to being a crazy rebel these days!

I worked in McDonalds in the UK as a teen and we were trained to say 'filay-o-fish' but most of our customers said fillit.

I also learned to say shedule rather than skedule, which drove my mum bonkers.

I guess the insidious Americanisation of the UK has been going on for quite a while now, as that was 34 years ago

I’ve never heard salty or melt before

Mention of juggernauts reminded me that when I lived in the US I was puzzled by traffic reports of accidents on I-95 involving 'tractor trailers' ...wtf were there so many agricultural vehicles having trouble on major roads? Took a while before I realised they meant 'articulated lorries'.