DH using American words... AIBU?

[Sleeplesss]

I met my DH 10 years ago and we have a really good relationship. One thing, though, that has always bugged me a little is that he uses some American words. Think along the lines of calling a lift and elevator or calling a mobile phone a cell phone. I have never made an issue of this but normally correct him in a jokey way rather than make a fuss of it. Tonight he said cell phone and I did the jokingly correcting him thing and he has got really upset with me. Saying I'm making him feel stupid. Obviously that is not what I'm trying to do but at the same time, it really really grates in me. I explained to him, in the nicest possible way, that if it were me, I'd rather be corrected as it's a habit I'd want to break. He's been to America once and doesn't have any American friends/family so it obviously must come from watching American tv. When I suggested that to him, he said that I don't know that for certain. Yes I do, where else could it possibly come from?

So I'm just wondering, is it wrong of me to want him to break this habit? AIBU?

You’re not even correcting him though because what he’s saying isn’t incorrect. (Though it’d still be annoying if you if you actually were correcting him) It’s just a different dialect to the one you use. YAB-massively-U to treat him like he’s stupid and try and control his vocabulary.

When I first saw Duran Duran back in 1984 here in the U.S., the lead singer, Simon le Bon, sang in “Planet Earth,” “I can’t see you,” flattening the “a” in “can’t” like people do in the U.S. Midwest I loved his British accent and really didn’t want him sounding like me.

I saw them again in 1987 and 1993, and then the last time in 2016, when I made it a point to listen to how he said “can’t” during that song. I was gratified when he pronounced it the British way, “cahn’t.”

@Gone4Good

Fucking Americans.

Yo, awesome language there, dude. Like, totally. Y’all are entitled to your opinion. But was that really necessary?

And who cares where he picked it up from. Most Brits have seen a fair bit of American TV and even if they don’t use Americanisms will certainly understand them, and lots will have picked up words or phrases they never even realised were American in origin

My DH and I are both originally from the UK but we'd lived in various other countries, most of which are English speaking. They all have their own versions of these words. You easily pick them up and I've found that both of us use various "versions" of these words in natural conversation and it's really tiring and clunky to have to stop and correct yourself. It's even more irritating to have someone else correct you all the time, especially when it's the one person that you feel most comfortable with and aren't supposed to have to stand on ceremony for. As long as you both understand each other then who cares?

I do this to my DSs, but not my DH.

But if he kept miscalling something, I'd probably say "yer what now? the what? I'm sorry, what are you talking about?" until he used the UK word.

But then my DH is Aussie so some things you just have to get used to.

Yes, you are.

Listen, it's one thing if they are using improper grammar. It's one thing if they were pronouncing a word egregiously wrong. (I knew someone once that said "volleyvall" instead of "volleyball") It's one thing if they are in the habit of saying something wrong, because they just have always said it that way, and have never broken the habit. (My whole life, I thought reprise was pronounced prize and not preez. It's hard for me to call it anything but re-prize)

But, this isn't about grammar or pronunciation or anything like that...there is nothing wrong with him using American terms. Nothing. Think of it this way....if a couple is in the US, and the guy says mobile instead of cell or flat instead of apartment or that he's going to the toilet instead of going to the bathroom...if his woman was correcting him, not because he is WRONG, but simply bc she doesn't like British phrases and words, wouldn't it seem a bit much?

@badlad, the saying is 'Couldn't care less' .

These are all words used in Australia too so they all sound normal to me, I actually can't see why the use of what YOU consider to be the correct word should trump what HE thinks to be the correct word?

I’m can’t abide English people using Americanisms. They are SERIES not SEASONS.

notangelina no, although to be honest we usually refer to our mailman ( ) as "the RD guy" = we are in NZ and live on what is referred to here as a "lifestyle block" and our mail service is called Rural Delivery, ergo RD guy.

They are SERIES not SEASONS.
So you would ban everyone from watching the next season of 'The Walking Dead'? I suppose you would also ban my DC from going to the school Prom. Would I be allowed to 'touch base' with my friends? And does that mean Pi day on March 14th is cancelled? Must also mean English Billionaires are really 'Milliardaires'.

@e1y1

Quite, cell phone makes no sense, is it made up of cells?

Yes, yes it is. Hence the name cellular phone. (Not biological cells, mind you, before anyone gets Stupid MN Literal™️ on me.)

the saying is 'Couldn't care less'

Well, yes, I bloody know that, @StoppinBy but when I hear it from Americans, I usually hear it without that vital "n't".

Hence mentioning it.

Blimey, never heard it called a mobile phone before, it's always a cell-phone around here.

The thing is (and this is probably why the OP finds it irritating) the American version of English is slowly taking over. And in many countries students learning English are taught American English by default, also it's the default on computers etc. British people shouldn't really go along with this if we want to preserve our own culture.

American terms are heard quite frequently by people (especially young people) in films and TV (that should be telly I suppose!) and then they begin to use these phrases themselves. For instance my niece, in her twenties, often uses the phrase 'I'm good' instead of 'No thanks' when offered a drink for example. Very irritating. And younger parents seem to tend to choose American style names for their DCs, eg Cody, Harper etc. , I think this is part of the same phenomenon, ie Americanisms thought of as fashionable. Fair enough if it's a useful word, but like a pp said, what on earth is the point of exchanging a perfectly good word like 'pushchair' in favour of 'stroller' etc?

We should be proud of our own version of the English language, which after all was the original. So no, people objecting to American terminology are not being snobby, they are sticking up for British English, which is the minority version.

Some proper disingenuous types on here. You really dont find pretentiousness or adopting words from the TV like a 3 year old unattractive? and i not sure what the point about old english is unless you'd be ok with breaking out into Chauceresque 'methinks' over dinner.

I assume you would all never correct them using 'babe' or 'hun' every day of your life of course...

The OP's DH probably thinks he is very cool.

But I have to admit I do prefer the occasional American term. Cell phone to me would make more sense than 'mobile' as to me a mobile was always a thing you hung from the ceiling over a baby's cot! (I am old). However as I'm in the UK I would say mobile phone.

I explained to him, in the nicest possible way, that if it were me, I'd rather be corrected as it's a habit I'd want to break.

And you don't find this equally disingenuous / absurd?

If it was a habit he wanted to break - if he cared less about it! - he wouldn't use the words.

@Pemba

We should be proud of our own version of the English language, which after all was the original. So no, people objecting to American terminology are not being snobby, they are sticking up for British English, which is the minority version.

‘Erm, I’m guessing you surely mean English English, Scottish English, Welsh English, and Northern Irish, don’t you, since those all have different variations and have influenced American English? Not to mention ROI English being a huge influence too.

Or did you only mean English English when you said “British”? 😏

Many of the words used in American English are either very old versions from Britain i.e. how British people spoke in the 1700s, or have come via Ireland where a huge portion of English-speaking migrants came from in the late 19th/early 20th centuries.

It is not "wrong" or "bad" it is just different.

No I mean British English all varieties. Which are different to American English. Yes I'm aware of Scottish English etc. and also regional variations of the language within Britain and Ireland. That would take a tediously long time to type out though.

My point was that American English is taking over. Don't you think this is happening?

people objecting to American terminology are not being snobby, they are sticking up for British English, which is the minority version

Also known as a little Englander.

Nonsense.

I think of the French, didn't they have their Academie Francaise or whatever it's called, where they tried to stop English words becoming part of the French language (like 'le weekend'). It was a noble effort, but of course it didn't work in the end.

Of course American and British English are just different variations of the same language, but really it's part of the same process that kills off less widely spoken languages. One day probably everyone in the world will either speak American English or Mandarin Chinese, possibly Spanish, and Arabic, that'll be about it.

Does he work with Americans?

In any event you sound ridiculous and owe him an apology. You knew exactly what he was referring to otherwise you couldn't have corrected him.

YBU. Nobody’s perfect, and if that’s all that’s wrong with him you’re a very lucky woman.

So no, people objecting to American terminology are not being snobby, they are sticking up for British English, which is the minority version.

I wonder if Australians or Canadians are so stressed out about this...