AIBU to find his Americanisms really annoying

[WonderLime]

My DP is British. He's lived in England his whole life. His father is Irish and mother English. They both speak like respectable Brits.

He doesn't have any American friends. He's only visited America once - with me two years ago.

Despite this, he has a really annoying habit of using odd Americanisms in everyday conversations. For example, we were just talking and using letters in our conversation ("If you do A and B, you'll get X"), and he replied with "or you'll get 'Z'", as in 'Zee'.

I asked him what he'd just said, assuming he'd correct himself, but no he just 'Zee'!

It happened a couple of days ago too. We're having our first baby and were looking at nappies. Throughout the whole shopping trip he kept referring to them as 'diapers'.

I don't have any other active examples at he moment, but I know there has been their incidents. I'm sure it's getting worse the older he gets as I don't remember this when our relationship began 10 years ago. I think it's because he watches a LOT of American TV. Anime with American voiceovers, American dramas, American comedies, American Youtube videos, etc (also annoying but a separate issue).

I Just find the constant use of Americanisms really annoying but he thinks it's fine. I don't want him teaching our son this. AIBU?

Diapers is such an odd word

My DD is 40 and for many years has said, "Can I get..." not just in cafes but also when she's asking if I can take something to hers. I always reply, "Yes you can come and get it whenever you like." Hate it!

'cookie' is fine if it actually is a cookie, rather than a biscuit. 'Cookies' are softish and really need to be eaten fresh, 'biscuits' are crisp and (theoretically) keep well in tin. If it gets softer as it goes stale its probably a biscuit.

Yanbu. My ds1 has loads of americanisms he says "fig-yure" for figure & "rec-ud" for record -just 2 that spring to mind.
It is very annoying.

"Can I get" is another one of those irrational British obsessions I just don't, umm, get. While I do try to teach my DCs to say "please may I have" when asking for something I don't fuss if they use "can I get" instead, provided they have also said "please".

"Dude", on the other hand, I can totally understand hating. It presumes an overfamiliarity that is probably unwelcome. (Doesn't stop me using it with DS and DH though. It does wind DH up. )

My standard answer to "Can I get..." is always "You probably could if you asked for it."

'gotten' is widespread in Ireland. Not a recent thing though.

There seems to be an abiding misunderstanding among many MNetters about the meaning of "can I get?" The definition of "get" is "to come to have or hold (something); receive". So "can I get" is as correct as "can I have." "Get" does not have some sort of built-in reflexive as so many posters on MN seem to think.

And the can/may distinction is on its way out on both sides of the Atlantic. It will be gone in another generation.

Americans use both "speaking to" and "speaking with." There is a different meaning to each as an earlier poster pointed out.

It is true that Americans avoid using the word "toilet" unless absolutely necessary, and that is true among all regions and cultures. And the word only refers to the actual fixture, never to the room that houses it. I probably say the word maybe twice a year, as in "Honey, I need you in the downstairs bathroom; the toilet has overflowed." (And the downstairs bathroom does not, in fact, have a bathtub in it; it is what is called a "half-bath" or "powder room."")

Quite right Seneca - polite Americans will always avoid describing bodily functions unless they absolutely have to. I cannot imagine having said in my house growing up "I need to wee" or "I need to poo"! But we all say it all the time here DH obsessed with bodily functions, is that an English thing?

I hate hearing the criticism of American English variations as if they are wrong and Americans are incapable of using 'our' language. They have their own form, which has evolved separately to ours.

I have no problem with, for example, American people speaking in American English. That seems perfectly reasonable to me.

And (as a Scot) I totally agree with the comments that much of what is derided on MN is perfectly standard Scottish (or, it appears, Irish) usage.

My standard answer to "Can I get..." is always "You probably could if you asked for it."

If you actually say this, then the recipient definitely thinks bad things about you. Only on MN will you find people who think that sort of thing is anything other than obnoxious.

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I was going to add in the middle there that what I do have a problem with is specifically my DH saying things like 'I'm doing my yard work' or referring to 'sidewalks'. He really is just irritating.

BoysofMelody my job requires consistency of language and using americanisms when everything else is British English is not consistent so I am not being rude to my trainees I am enforcing a requirement if the job. And I am the boss so I get to decide.

*My standard answer to "Can I get..." is always "You probably could if you asked for it."

If you actually say this, then the recipient definitely thinks bad things about you. Only on MN will you find people who think that sort of thing is anything other than obnoxious.*

I'm pretty sure most people on MN would find it obnoxious as well.

I do find it amusing that Americans are so appalled at the word toilet casually being bandied about.

I'm pretty sure most people on MN would find it obnoxious as well.
I've not yet had cause to use it on MN, but it seems to go down all right in RL.

Cookie is fine as long as it's an actual cookie as in a round, flat, with chocolate chips. I'd give a side eye at anyone who called a custard cream a cookie though.

in the US people get just as wound up (which yes, is a term not used in the US as it is here!) when Americans use "British" expressions and don't have a "reason", like a British parent or upbringing.

I read an article about anglophile hipsters who adopt words like 'brilliant' and 'rubbish'.

It does cause confusion. The most obvious being the American definition of pants.

I had a baffling conversation with my youngest when he insisted he had put something in the "claw-zet"
It became clear he meant "closet" aka wardrobe.

Americans, at least ones in the South where I live, use "wound up."

squoosh I never heard my grandmother use the word "toilet" and I was very close to her and spent a lot of time with her. If necessary to refer to the fixture, she called it a "commode," which was particularly interesting to me because she also had a little mahogany chest that she called a "commode." I have it in my guest room now.

When I am in the UK, and not wanting to get into the whole class toilet-loo debacle, I just ask for the ladies' room. I just can't bring myself to say toilet out in public like that.

LostIt - there is nothing like toilet (that word again!) training a toddler and forgetting your inhibitions about whether you're being "pretentious" or not. When you need to get all their clothes off super-quick the last thing you want is to confuse them - you have to use terminology everyone else around them (father, grandparents, nursery staff) use with them every day. "Trousers down, pants down!" When my own American parents came to stay with us I had to insist they do the same.

Hmmm, Seneca, I've never heard Southerners use "wound up" in the way it's used here (i.e., to tease).

But yes, my Southern grandma used to call the toilet the "commode" too . And I also struggle to say "toilet" in public too .

'I just ask for the ladies' room. I just can't bring myself to say toilet out in public like that.'

Because you're a proper Southern Belle!

I'm pretty sure most people on MN would find it obnoxious as well.

Oh I'm sure they would. It's more that on MN they'd find (some) people who think that kind of obnoxious nonsense is big and clever.

Come to think of it, mommy, it's used more in the sense of someone being upset or overly tense about something as opposed to teasing. As in "wow, Donald Trump sure is wound up about that Comey thing."