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AIBU?

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Original poster

to wonder when UK English got so Americanised?

219 replies

Ringsender2 · 01/08/2018 06:43

I've read 2 threads this morning where people have gone to the 'store'. Then there's the 'gotten' and 'mom' thing. I feel like a spluttering Basil Fawlty saying this, but when did English in the UK lose its identity so much? Was Friends the start of the rot or was it earlier?

OP posts:
IKnowItsTIMHONKSTIMHONKS · 01/08/2018 06:44

Did your monocle fall off too?

NerrSnerr · 01/08/2018 06:44

You do know that mom is very normal for the West Midlands? Not from America, just dialect.

MissionItsPossible · 01/08/2018 06:44

This should have been titled ‘to wonder why UK English has gotten so Americanized’.

user546425732 · 01/08/2018 06:44

Mumsnet isn't just a site for people in the U.K. Hmm

MissionItsPossible · 01/08/2018 06:45

And yes, ‘mom’ is Midlands and I’ve been spelling it that way since the 80’s.

WindsweptNotInteresting · 01/08/2018 06:49

start of the rot? Wow. Languages evolve, always have done. Even UK English.

Posts like this I feel just make people look superior and small minded.

I suggest if it bothers you that badly that you just don't use the words that offend you.

AuntieStella · 01/08/2018 06:50

'Gotten' and 'mom' are both normal usage in certain parts of Britain ('gotten' is the older form, that fossilised in some regions and in US, when most of Britain took up the new-fangled 'got')

Also 'stores' as in 'general stores' has also been in continuous use in Britain too.

The only in English that really annoys me is the trend to use prepositions differently. One meets a person, but meets with disaster, in British English. You appeal to a higher court when you appeal against a sentence. There is also a significant difference between being pissed and being pissed off. Plus location of fanny, and what you would expect to happen if someone asked to bum a fag

crumpet · 01/08/2018 06:51

Less “book reading” reduces the ability to distinguish between the two (and results in poorer spelling), plethora of US tv, probably dominant US English on twitter/SM.

TanteRose · 01/08/2018 06:52

Was Friends the start of the rot or was it earlier?

sigh, the rot started with Shakespeare...the dirty, evil, Americanised bastard Wink

www.theguardian.com/science/shortcuts/2017/may/16/ill-gotten-gains-why-americanisms-are-a-boon-for-the-british

LaurieMarlow · 01/08/2018 06:52

Mom is used n the west of Ireland too.

Gotten was common in the Middle Ages and up to the 16th century. It's in the KJ bible.

maxthemartian · 01/08/2018 06:53

I noticed "room mate" here yesterday instead of flat mate.

chocolatestrawberries · 01/08/2018 06:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
Ringsender2 · 01/08/2018 06:56

Yes my monocle did fall off! And I do feel very old-fashioned.

'Mom' I have seen discussed and explained in many other threads. But when did 'store' become common currency?

And I do see the process of evolution in a language. However, I also like the fact that there are distinctive differences, rather than an homogenisation. There used to be many local dialects in the UK, with differences even between neighbouring towns. TV apparently diminished that. I think it's a shame.

@Mission... yes!

OP posts:
adaline · 01/08/2018 06:57

Store has been around for years - certainly when I was growing up in the late eighties/early nineties it was being used to describe large supermarkets and such.

NerrSnerr · 01/08/2018 06:59

If you knew that mom was UK dialect then why mention it on the thread?

Language evolves. Is there a reason why it things being Americanised is such a bad thing? Why is it a 'rot'?

AnalUnicorn · 01/08/2018 06:59

Yes also lots of people using US spellings such as “neighbor”.

I think it’s a combination of people reading a lot of American internet content, and US spell check settings being enabled by default for many people.

Lobsterquadrille2 · 01/08/2018 06:59

And British Home Stores ....

But I agree with you in general and I'm not keen on movie instead of film, meet with instead of meet.

AnalUnicorn · 01/08/2018 07:01

Also a lot of use of the word “ass” instead of “arse”. I’ve never heard anyone English actually say “ass” unless they are imitating an American accent, but plenty of people seem to write it like that.

Riotgrrrrrl · 01/08/2018 07:02

The only one that irritates me is people in cafes etc saying "can I get..."

I feel old but I was always taught that it was really rude to ask for things that way and I can't get past it.

AsAProfessionalFekko · 01/08/2018 07:04

I have a newsfeed on my phone - one story from the Sun flashed up and the word 'diaper' was used in terms of nappy. Granted it's a 'newspaper' that frequently gets it's She and He's muddled (and not in a trans way).

DayManChampionOfTheSun · 01/08/2018 07:04

The only time I think about this is when typing words like 'Serialisation' at work and the computer red lines it and suggests a 'z' instead.

That really pisses me off

Lobsterquadrille2 · 01/08/2018 07:05

I dislike "I am done" instead of "I have finished"

As someone (no idea who) said, two nations divided by a common language.

LyndorCake · 01/08/2018 07:07

The real question is though..... Does it matter?

missmapp · 01/08/2018 07:08

I agree with you op.

My pet have is 'season 6 is just starting.'

It is a tv series .........not a season.

And breathe

CurlyWurlyTwirly · 01/08/2018 07:14

Well hopefully the export of Downton and Yhe Crown will have a few more Americans speaking in RP.