to wonder when UK English got so Americanised?

[Ringsender2]

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?

Closet instead of wardrobe

If people are saying this then they don't really understand what a closet is, or perhaps they don't understand what a wardrobe is.

A closet is built in. You often find them in the following configuration in older American homes and apartments: goo.gl/images/5gnbSA (Between the Guest bedroom and the Master bedroom are the closets.) They are tiny rooms with a door. You might be able to walk in.

A wardrobe is usually a free standing piece of furniture, though you can have a built in wardrobe that is like a big cabinet for clothes and shoes.

Apartment instead of flat
Apartments are as much French as American.

@FeminaSum : roommate is used interchangeably for sharing a room and sharing an apartment. Most often the former is during college (university), where everyone's in the same room, while the latter is used for other occasions. When I shared an apartment with a friend, she was my roommate. You might say housemate, but most people who share a house together platonically still call each other roommates. [Fun facts!]

'I'll take a...' (coffee / tea /ponceiarto frappacappachino) is one I'm not hugely fond of when a barrista in asks you what you'd like.... No you won't 'take'!! It's 'I would like a.... please.' Grrrrrr.
Pedants unite.

"Dreadful American words like zucchini"

My Dd is half American bit we live here. So some of her words drive me crazy.

I really hate ‘ fly out of’ instead of fly from.

Just spoken to my ex he said ‘ We are flying out of Manchester “ Grrr!

If people are saying this then they don't really understand what a closet is, or perhaps they don't understand what a wardrobe is.

And this is an important distinction in the US. In most states, you can't call a room a bedroom (in a real estate sale setting) unless it has a closet in it. We once lived in what was called a three bedroom house that had a room built to be a home office and had no closet. We wanted to use the room as a guest room so we put a bed and a wardrobe in it. But when we sold, we could not advertise the house as a four bedroom because that room did not have a closet.

My friend who is half Irish uses gotten and mom - I think it's an Irish rather than American thing when people do it here. Store for shop does bug me a bit, I have to admit. One thing I used to find annoying when English people said it, but have increasingly noticed myself doing in writing at least, is "I just did such-and-such" instead of "I've just done such-and-such."

As for "pinky" - what about people whose "pinky" isn't pink?

Zucchini is Italian. Actually should be zucchine as is feminine. She sniffs.

Well Trotsky. Quite

As for "pinky" - what about people whose "pinky" isn't pink?

Everyone's pinky is pink in relation to their other fingers. The world's etymology is from Dutch to Scots to American English meaning "little" not reference to a color.

But when we sold, we could not advertise the house as a four bedroom because that room did not have a closet.

That's correct. It has to have both a closet and a window to be called a bedroom here. If a wardrobe counted you could stick one in any old room and call it a bedroom.

Hello, OP here. Didn't think i would stir up a hornets' nest and personal attacks, but then this is AIBU so I should have known, really. ...

The reason for noticing the use of words and querying their usage was actually me wondering whether they were a reliable indicator of posters not being quite who they seem. i just didn't want to make it too easy for the underhand by flagging it overtly. Mom and gotten i know are in regional usage. I have never heard anyone in my day to day life, living in many different regions and different English-speaking countries, say that they are going to the store or have bought something from the store. Shop, corner shop, Asda, Tesco, m&s, Argos, etc, yes. Store, no (apart from BHS).

But seemingly some people do, so there's me put in my box.

Thanks for all the interesting snippets about the English language, and language evolution in general.

Department store, store manager. It is not an unEnglish word.

It has to have both a closet and a window to be called a bedroom here. If a wardrobe counted you could stick one in any old room and call it a bedroom.

So a closet is a walk-in wardrobe?

No @Shatnersbassoon, it's not an un-English word. I just have never heard it used in day to day spoken English. Hence the post and question.

It can be a walk-in foxtiger but not all of them are that big. The point is it's built-in, i.e part of the design and structure of the house. They can be any size from a simple full length but fairly shallow hall cupboard where you hang coats to wide, deep, fitted wardrobe-size with sliding or louvred folding doors to almost full bedroom-sized spaces with room for a dressing table, chair, freestanding chest of drawers or whatever you like. We have friends who keep a big gunsafe in one of theirs. A freestanding wardrobe here is most often called an armoire.

goo.gl/images/b36wEZ
Not a closet. These are 'built-ins'.

lemongroveblog.com/rachels-palace/
Scroll down a little and you will see a closet.

That is a really sensible building regulation which might help prevent landlords renting out broom cupboards for people to live in.

StripySocksAndDocs

It started 16th May, 1981. About 9.43 a.m.. A very sad day indeed.

15th May, 1981, I miss you.

(tuppencenonethericher)
Do you mean May 16? The dates thing bugs me in UK publications/adverts. If I'm reading it, I end up reading it at least twice as it's not the order my brain is expecting! If it's spoken, it makes me visibly cringe.

No I didn't. But I'd say it in that order too, unless I was reading it and it was written in the other order.

Though it's the reason dates are written differently in the USA: 05/16/1981 rather that 16/05/1981. (I've come across people in real life saying that it's 'stupid', but it's not really as it just reflects a different speaking logic.)

Now if anyone had appreciated my very, very witty post just after the one

tuppencenonethericher quoted, they'd have noticed my reference to the differences in writing dates. But I go on unnoticed. I am destined to be forever unappreciated; such a hard and sorrowful life I live. ...

It irrriates me when British people say 'ass'. I have an ARSE thank you very much, an ass is a donkey type of animal!

Unicorn, my grandfather b1884, English, used to tease us and call one of us a silly ass on occasion. Pronounced arse. Therefore current confusion. Arse, as in bum, was a fairly unmentionable word really whereas in USA its pretty common usage.

I remember as a kid finding it confusing why one was better than the other (because if they said no then I couldn't so both equally accurate) but it was considered improper and impolite. I'd guess it's more a coastal thing which would explain why it shows up in US films and shows.

Were you never told, "you can go to the bathroom but you may not*?

Oh I do hate English people saying "hey" - it sounds so affected. Those of us born in areas that were once under Viking rule say 'Hey' in the same way modern Swedes say, 'hej'.

We also know that streets are gates (have a look at a map of Leeds or York) that 'laking' is playing and if we think better of a situation we 'bethought mysen'.

*It has to have both a closet and a window to be called a bedroom here. If a wardrobe counted you could stick one in any old room and call it a bedroom.

So a closet is a walk-in wardrobe?*

No, a closet is a very small (or sometimes not so small, depending on the house) room in the house, usually for putting clothes in. Harry Potter lived in a closet under the stairs. Here closets are never pieces of furniture. I would call a piece of furniture that has a bar for hanging clothes inside it a wardrobe.

Closets are different from cupboards, though. Cupboards have shelves that fill most or all of the space. You could never sleep in anything I would call a cupboard.

No, a closet is a very small (or sometimes not so small, depending on the house) room in the house, usually for putting clothes in.

Exactly. The pictures are of DH's closet in the dressing area off the master bath. I like the way they are sectioned across the middle to more efficiently use the space. We have other closets that are not devided like that we use for long coats, my dresses, etc. This is in an American house built in the late 1980's.

Hey! Affected to say hey? Do explain