to not understand why Americans call a main course an entrée?

[flummoxedworried]

Does anyone understand why this happens?

As a languages teacher though, I can see it would be useful to have 'y'all' as a plural 'you' equivalent to the plural 'you' in other languages! I find it hard to say itt withput doing a (bad) impression of a Southern US accent though, so I don't think I'll try it in class...

Ah yes but do you say "All y'all"??

Another one that has never sounded right me is that in the UK you say "each to their own". To me it should be "to each their own".

y'all=singular or plural
all y'all=plural

Some people use y'all as singular, but that's not really correct. Y'all is plural (contraction of you all). It came about to deal with the fact that English doesn't have a second person plural that is different from the second person singular.

Eolian when we were doing our PGCEs in Liverpool, the languages teachers found the Scouse 'youse' (as in 'Youse are all dead shady!', which was a common teenage complaint of the time) pretty handy in teaching the plural form of you.

I like y'all but would sound really artifical in my English accent! Love it from American friends, always sounds friendly over there.

Another one that has never sounded right me is that in the UK you say "each to their own". To me it should be "to each their own".

Shouldn't it be 'each to its own'? Or 'to each its own'?

Now I'm confusing myself :-D

That reminds me of the confusion when hosting some Americans and offering a drink on arrival and they drawled replied 'Mallset' - well that's what my untuned ear heard. I thought they were asking for a specific type of drink. They actually said "I'm all set." Which translates to - no thank you, I don't want a drink.

That reminds me of my mum, who hates it when we reply with "I'm fine thanks" in response to an offer of something. She'll answer "I know you're fine, but would you like a cup of tea or not?"

Two American expressions I like and sometimes use 😉are:

We are 'on the same page', and...

'Let's touch base' on ...

😀

I like those expressions too, especially touch base which comes from baseball. I love baseball and all the language from it that has moved into normal American English.

OK each to HIS OR HER own then!!

I like sports ones too.

Cannot stand "reaching out".

I've always found Brits use far more idioms than Americans and will do so even on international conference calls which causes no end of confusion.

Japanese lady in quality brings up an issue. British CEO mumbles 'worse troubles at sea'. German research team now asking questions about the sea. Brazil team couldn't even get the words through the mumbling. American volume and clarity comes into its own on those concalls! On the tube, not so much!

Where I grew up, we did not say y'all. Instead, the common phrase was, and still is, yins all. The regional accent is very strong and unique, thus clearly indicating to me, no matter how subtle due to moving out of the area, that a person grew up in SW Pennsylvania. To a stranger, it has a weird southernish twang despite being a northern state. I think that trade along the Mississippi River affected the accent, but that has always been my hunch and never really researched.

Writing about the accent from the area I grew up in reminded me to catch up on a local comedian's You Tube feed. He rips into the local culture and accent in his clips, and I had to post this one - HE MENTIONS DIPPY EGGS! Yes, they are a thing in the US, well at least in pockets of Pittsburgh. It is at the very end of clip.

As a languages teacher though, I can see it would be useful to have 'y'all' as a plural 'you' equivalent to the plural 'you' in other languages! I find it hard to say itt withput doing a (bad) impression of a Southern US accent though, so I don't think I'll try it in class... grin

Irish people use "yee" as the plural of "you" a lot of the time. It is very handy.

My favourite southern expression is "why, bless your heart"

It's possible that "y'all" has Scots-Irish roots.

dialectblog.com/2011/02/15/the-remarkable-history-of-yall/

Just rtft and the dish/crockery thing reminded me of the Demi Lovato interview where she was asked what her favourite dish was and her answer made me laugh.
Another one for the UK/US usage debate....

@Urgh247 I think her response was a rare one.
Celebs are sometimes a bit slow

I always hoped she knew exactly what she was saying and was taking the piss out of the journalists! Good for a chuckle either way

Eggs over-easy.

What's that all about?

Eggs over easy are fried eggs with the yolks still runny instead of fully cooked through.

I hate the phrase 'can I get'. My dc use it all the time and it winds me up. It just sounds wrong. 'Please may I have' is the phrase I was taught. They continue though 'can I get a lemonade please' ahhh

I was just watching West Wing again, and a common question Josh (and even President Bartlet) used was "What do you got?". I think it means "What's up?" or "What do you have for me?" but the grammar is just bizarre, and these are educated people so I guess it's a common phrase. Any info on why it's used or where it came from?

Crabb, that to me would be short form/slang for "What issues do you have for me to address?" or knowing Barlett, "In 20 seconds or less, what are our agenda items and what can we knock off the list in the time it takes to do 3 circuits of the West Wing at top speed dodging interns along the way?" I think it's "what have you got?" in this case being synonymous with "what do you have".

Bloody love that show