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?

Fauchelevent, In our house "sweets" are toffees and a "sweet" is pudding.

no wonder everyone is confused

@MaroonPencil when I first moved out to the US I asked to borrow a torch from someone at work. They looked at me like I had three heads. They asked what I was welding!

Kids adapt. When DS was little and we'd go to mcdonalds he used to ask for nuggets, fires, chips and a drink. He covered all his bases, didn't matter whether it was me or his father asking.

I use a fair few americanisms now interchangeably and I hear DS doing the same. He changes according to who he's talking to.

@MaroonPencil my dd went to America last year. She asked for a plaster. Nobody knew what she was talking about. She didn't even know what American's called them.

Slang is one thing but weird that someone who presumably grew up saying zed and nappies would then consciously switch to zee and diapers. Take heed OP, before you know it he'll be referring to his fanny.

@Funnyfarmer what do they call them?

@Greatballs bandaids!

Band-aid!

Fair enough. We'll let you off the hook this time WonderLime.

Children use Americanisms all the time. They get them from TV I suppose. The pronunciations and phrases will eventually be absorbed into UK English, until the traditional English pronunciation becomes the "wrong" one.

Words that have changed in my lifetime are:
Schedule, commonly pronounced "skedule" (uk = shedule).
Hurricane, commonly pronounced "hurry cane" (UK = hurricun).
Geyser, commonly pronounced "guyza" (uk = geeza).

I'm sure there must be lots more.

When my sister moved to the states she asked loudly on the office if anyone had a rubber they could lend her.

I'm just a bit bemused that a nearly 30 year old man has suddenly adopted this odd way of talking.

I wonder if I could start encouraging him to speak with a Spanish accent if we take up Spanish soap dramas in our spare time.

Out of interest op, does he have a strong regional accent? Does his accent unconsciously change when he e.g. talks to an Aussie? If so it's supposed to be due to high empathy.

Yes, we are fighting a losing battle against "movies" I fear.
My DH comes out in a rash on hearing "Can I get a...?" I can cope with it but will defend biscuits with my life.
Obviously I'm fine with Americans coming out with americanisms but adult Brits just sound like twats to me when they use them.

On here you see 'gotten' and 'I'm so pissed with dp' all the time. I don't like it either but I keep quiet because no one likes a pedant

Thank you @squoosh and @stukinny

Feel daft now. I thought band aid was just the brand name.

Even 'raise dc' rather than 'bring up' and 'work two jobs' instead of 'have two jobs'

Everything annoys me though

Start singing the theme to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air but substitute 'West Philadelphia' with his home town.

@WonderLime thank you so much for this post. I'm learning a lot!
No American influences in my life and my children think the new boy next door speaks strangely as he's from Ipswich so it's good fun to read all the replies.

And good luck with the Spanish; much more romantic than diapers and pacifiers 😁

I think it is just the brand name Greatballs but it's stuck as the generic name. Like Kleenex. Or like Hoover in the UK.

Band aid is a brand name. Does your husband do the hoovering OP?

Out of interest op, does he have a strong regional accent? Does his accent unconsciously change when he e.g. talks to an Aussie? If so it's supposed to be due to high empathy.

Not particularly. He has a faint Geordie twang to his accent from his mother, but since we've moved to the Midlands everyone thinks he sounds southern (I think I'm the only one who notices it really).

I haven't noticed his accent changing as such, but then he is rather impressionable so I'll need to watch out for that.

@iklboo

Oh, I'm interested to hear that this is happening with kids in the UK. We're British but live abroad and while my DS broadly speaks with our northern English accent he also has quite a few Americanisms. I tell him what we say in British English but also say it's fine to use the American word as people will understand. I thought it was because he has limited access to English speakers!

locked me too, my husband is Korean and learned American English so I'm always on about trash and diapers and such these days.

I'm teaching him the proper words though.

I realised the other day that I refer to films as "movies" now. It's totally unconscious change, no idea when it started!
I did stay in the US for a few months as a teenager, and came home and kept saying things like "sidewalk" and "trash can" so I think I do absorb different ways of saying things quite easily.