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?

Isn't "brit" an Americanism? With American vowel pronunciation it's too hard for an American to say "briton".
And no-one on mumsnet uses "oblige" any more, only "obligate". I see "license" used as a noun all the time. The pp who said US English is the future is right. Even those of us who rail against Americanisms use them all the time.

I'm from Birmingham and it's definitely 'mom/mommy' for mother as the familiar term. Interesting when one of the 'Reception first 45' words that should be read and written (about a decade ago!) was 'mum' - children never heard the word mum!

[Except for from me - I've always said 'mum'. But I also say the long 'a' sound in grass/path/ask etc. And I don't have a Brummie accent to speak off, despite having family with strong Birmingham accents. I'm just generally weird.]

I've lived in the UK for 13 years, all the while a mother, and I cannot abide 'mum'. I don't understand how's it's considered the standard rather than slang IYSWIM? My husband and I are Mommy and Daddy, and that's the end of that.

My (annoying) DH mowed the lawn at the weekend. Then he spent the rest of the weekend telling me that he'd done his 'yard work'. It was deeply irritating. He doesn't call the garden a yard so he's just being a wanker.

It's not just Americanisms - he's currently packing a case to go away for a couple of days. He keeps saying how he needs to crack on and just now he said 'do you know what I mean when I say crack on?' He has been given the look he deserves.

My DH tried saying "reach out" instead of "talk to" only once. He couldn't take the shame when we fell about laughing and asked him when he joined the Four Tops.

YANBU! DD does this loads, yes we have been to the US about ten times but once a year or every other year.

She calls a vase a vayse and a worktop a counter and all sorts of irritating things like that.

I actually blame it on too much US TV rather than thinking she is American. She is 20 though and lives away from home, what can I do?

It's weird how they say lieutenant the way it's spelt but not aluminium.
My school teachers were American in a small village in the home counties in the 60's and so all the kids spoke with an Iowa accent and referred to faucets, trunks, sidewalks and garbage cans. The local comp and grammar school teachers could tell which village we at been at primary at, just from that alone :) I still use a lot of these words but I have tried to squish the urge over the years as it does sound pretty pretentious.

CiliatedEpithelium we spell it ALUMINUM in the US, not ALUMINIUM so we're pronouncing it as we spell it.

I read the scientist to discovered the element named it the way the US calls it now and the UK actually changed it to sound more like other elements!

My DH tried saying "reach out" instead of "talk to" only once.

This is hands down the absolute worst Americanism of all. I'm genuinely embarassed for people when they say this, that being said I've heard some otherwise very intelligent Americans use this - it's rampant.

My sister uses it.-

I really don't like "reach out" either.

Or "gift" something. It's "give"!

And whenever I see impact used as a verb in a work document I change it to affect - or "have an impact on".

I do use "snuck" instead of "sneaked" from time to time though.

If I was talking to people with English as a second language who I knew were more familiar with US English I wouldn't use the American expression on its own (assuming I know it), I'd use the British expression and say "that's x in US English". But on the whole I think I am quite good at modifying my language for non-native speakers - sometimes the BBC interviewers make me cringe because they use so much idiom with foreign interviewees.

Do any of the faux Americans say my favourite 'doody' for the word duty? It always makes me giggle when I hear it.

Newbian - Sir Humphrey Davy first called Al Alumium in 1807 then Aluminum, settling on Aluminium by 1812 www.worldwidewords.org/articles/aluminium.htm . Aluminium is the standard spelling as defined by IUPAC but Aluminum is considered acceptable.

Ah Newbian see, I did not know that. I have just discovered we have loads of relatives in MN and I am very excited about it.

How did we ever get leftenant from lieutenant I wonder?

OP, language doesnt appear out of nowhere. If someone is using words such as 'diapers', they are hearing it from somewhere. So who is he talking to? Is he part of an online community?

I just asked for paracetamol in Walgreens when I was there. The pharmacist knew what I meant. and in fact recommended and sold me some super-duper painkillers that make your head tingle pleasantly before killing the pain

It irks me when Brit Mums refer to themselves as "Mom" or "Mommy" too.

You have indeed raised the ire of this 100% british mom IHateUncleJamie. 6.5million people in the West Midlands and the vast majority say "mom" not "mum". It rhymes with bomb rather than the a-type marm type American sound so yeah, you'll need to get over that one

I'm about 4 steps behind then. I don't say "We're going to the movies" or even "We're going to the cinema". I say "We're going to the pictures"

Yep I go to the pictures too.

I think my kids say cinema.

I'm an American living in the U.K. and would feel like a dick head if I went around correcting my vocabulary to match British English. I was raised speaking American English and just can't shake it.

I also find it incredibly rude and arrogant when brits try and correct my speech when they clearly can understand my meaning.

Language is just there to communicate. As long as we can understand each other, who cares?

figaro because language is not just about direct communication. It also fulfills a social role that tells us about the person we are speaking to and creates bonds. When someone uses words that we don't typically use, it can create a feeling of alienation from that person.

Oh! squoosh sorry, I didn't pick up on the fact you were joking. ☺️

I just had visions of accidental opoid addiction! 😱

Ah, re "mom/mommy" I apologise to the good folk of Birmingham. 😘

And presumably the rest of the West Midlands unckeJamie?