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?

Those saying they use cell phone and so do all around them, are you in the UK (obvs excluding those who explained they were abroad)? I'm in Yorkshire and have a lot of friends in the south but have never heard anyone British refer to it a cell phone but I'm intrigued by how language evolves.

I definitely have adopted some of the language patterns described in here and didn't even realise they were American.

Americans express exactly the same reactions to British English accents and vocabulary, especially RP... I remember starting to learn Japanese for a job in Japan and a group of Americans on the course making jibes about my "limey" accent.

Most people only feel irritated when people seem to adopt accents and vocabulary as an affectation though, not when it's authentic.

blueskies - they probably wouldn't be, tbh, if they were watching a lot of Downton Abbey. . Anyway, this isn't (surely?) about adopting wholesale American accents or completely changing one's vocabulary. I am guessing that if a linguist did an analysis on the vocabulary of these Americanism-adopters, about 95% of their usage would still be recognisable as 'British' (and probably regional within that).

I just think there's something restrictive in itself about this fear that a bit of media exposure and the selective (does not = conscious) adoption of particular extra-cultural linguistic habits is going to completely squash one's own variant of a global language. It seems prickly, and I think there's a mourning of a loss of former superiority in there (not necessarily saying this is true of you specifically - just observationally). If you're in the same place as I am, there's still a belief among learners of English that British is the 'correct' variant and American is 'slang'. It's sort of nice to get that kind of respect.

If he starts saying rowt instead of root for a journey then Ltb, same applies for the US version of aluminium.

It sounds a bit strange that people who aren't American and have never been there use those words. If it''s because of TV then they must spend a lot of time watching it!

‘
Children should still know the difference between a mobile phone and a landline. Landlines very much still exist, in the world of work if (for some people) nowhere else. Not having the vocabulary to differentiate is not a good thing.’

They’re both phones. I can’t think how I’d get confused between the two.

I'd hate it if DH did that and would take the piss mercilessly until he stopped. I would expect the same from him if I did it.

10 years seems like a long time to be trying to break him of this habit. Did he not do it while you were getting to know each other?

I’m pretty old and call it a phone

piggy that's a good point about mobiles, made me laugh! I'm 32 but already see huge differences in how things were from my teenager years to now.

AndItStillSaidFourOfTwo where I live they learn British English until year 8 and American English in years 9 and 10. Older people (parents) only learnt British English.

It makes sense to learn the variant most locally spoken, just as Europeans learn the Spanish spoken in Spain first despite their being more Spanish speakers in Latin America.

There are so many variants of English though - isn't India actually the world's second largest English speaking country. Indian English is certainly a distinct form of English, yet it's not taught in European schools.

What most learners of English as a second language want is an English they can use to make themselves understood universally. Most Europeans interested in English beyond having to get a passing grade at school will visit England, fewer will visit the USA. In actual fact though many see English as a communication tool to facilitate travel to non English speaking countries in Europe and to use at work when communicating with China or India, and a European English based on but not identical to British English is currently that tool.

English as a foreign language is a toolkit though.

Native language is totally different and is part of a person's identity.

I always thought using the word 'bug' in that way was quite American. Am I wrong?

It’s rude to correct people.

But on a lighter note, I have an English friend who has lived in Germany all her adult life and her DC were all born and raised there so are bilingual German/English speakers. I was puzzled recently by the youngest child’s accent which is different to the rest of the family. Apparently he watched Rastamouse so often he now speaks English with a Jamaican accent despite having no Jamaican friends or relations or ever having set foot in Jamaica.

I'd correct him every time. We probably wouldn't have made it to 10 years.

There is a cleek of people at my work who speak in a faux, loud, over stereotyped what they consider a 'southern' American accent. None of them have ever been they just think its 'cool' for some reason. (Its not you arent teenager's ffs!) But i just grit my teeth and let them chatter on.

Its really grating on the ears as its so awful and affected but i wouldnt tell them to "stop you sound ridiculous " its thier choice.

Tbh i am sure i use the odd American word after years of tv (Loking at you in particular Buffy😀😀) i have been to USA on holiday but i didnt come home talking like i was born there'😀)

No problem with Americans either and i love different accents and language.

YABVVU I'm afraid, I'm surprised he's still with you, if it were a man constantly correcting your speech everyone would be shouting LT Abusive B. I once dumped a boyfriend for very similar behaviour

More people seem to use the word 'pissed' instead of 'pissed off' which I find weirdly annoying

I teach English as a foreign language, most people learn/teach British English at least in Europe, but also in many Asian countries with historical British influence, much of Africa, etc. (I think American English may be more common in China/Japan/Korea, and certainly Latin America)

Also as someone growing up teaching their kids English as a minority language, no, the forms don't matter to me. In fact I find adults who have grown up speaking English but not in England whose parents have been very careful to enunciate and ensure that they speak "proper" English end up with quite strange accents, nothing offensive, just out of place and I couldn't work out for ages what it was until I realised that it's simply what an English RP accent was like a generation ago. And it has changed even relative to a Home Counties accent today. There is nothing wrong with that but I think on balance I'd prefer my DC to sound like their peers rather than some relic of my generation even if I think it sounds nicer.

I once broke up with someone because they called sweets 'candy' and it was just a glaring example of his weird affected behaviour. So I'm with you!

Who cares if he uses American words?

He’s watched a lot of American TV and so what? Culture and entertainment has always influenced language across the world.

Language does evolve, as long as you understand what he is saying what is the problem.

I’m biased and touchy about this issue. I have an accent and I used to work with someone who constantly correct my speech patterns, she could understand what I was saying but refused to carry a conversation on with me until I pronounced the words “properly”. She did it in a lighthearted way, and because I liked her I pretended that it didn’t bother me, but it did..In the end I had to tell her that I didn’t appreciate it. If she didn’t understand what I was saying then I was happy to repeat myself or try to explain it another way but if it’s just because she didn’t like like my accent or the way I said certain words then I wouldn’t play along anymore,

It’s condescending.

Captain if someone watches so much TV that they start to speak like people on TV rather than speaking like the people around them they watch too much TV!

Or most of the tv they watch is American. Instead of watching soaps and the like they may put on Netflix.

People are like sponges they pick up bits and pieces from around them. The OP’s DH isn’t using an American accent, he’s just using some words which have soaked into our own culture.

Language evolves and many of our "English" words have evolved from French and Latin, so this insistence on a pure "English" vocabulary is ridiculous.

Isn't globalisation supposed to be "the thing" now? If so, we will all be speaking the same eventually.

Surely a worldwide common language would benefit us all?

Piggy is right about the phone/mobile/cell, my DD calls it a phone although I referred to a mobile upthread!

If DH announced that he was pissed because he couldn't find his pants, I'd worry that he'd got himself drunk and was going commando. Not that he was annoyed and trouserless. Context matters. I know what an American character on TV means, but to hear it from a person with no meaningful link to America interfers with their communication because it puts a layer of translation and doubt into the mind of the person they are communicating with. That is where it gets annoying to people like OP.

As it is, DH does have a variation on vocabulary to mine which is fine because that is the context he was raised within. I'm fine with the warm cupboard in our bathroom being both an airing cupboard and a hot press. I might say "hot press" if I'm getting some towels out at MiL's but I don't generally throw the phrase around and would get puzzled looks if I did. That doesn't mean it's not valid vocabulary in the global variations of English, it's just not widely understood by the majority of ethnicly English English speakers in the UK (I'm not going to vouch for localities in the UK more strongly influenced by an Irish diaspora).

Although personellement I pense that going back to the roots français of the English langue makes me sound trés sophistiqué. Je should use vocabulaire française more often. Mange tout, mange tout

I can totally understand why you find it annoying. Especially as he has no connection to the U.S. It just sounds pretentious. It would irritate the hell out of me.

But correcting him all the time is equally annoying so I think you're both as bad as each other.

I used to work for an American company and spend a lot of time working in the U.S. so I use some American words when I speak with American colleages but I also revert back to my usual English words when I'm not with Americans. Just like I speak French when I'm in France talking to French colleagues. It doesn't mean I forget how to speak English though!