Americanisms

[SecretsInSpitalfield]

I have family in the US. I love going there. Since lockdown my DS’s (9 and 11) have said ‘OMG’ and ‘like’ about a thousand times a day!

Do our lovely cousins across the pond have this with their DC? Is it normal?

How about.. elephant? Or pedant? Are those 'e's short?

Yes, those ones are short for me

t's not "American bashing" to think that it's a bit silly and lazy (I assume they think it's ""cool") when speakers of British English start using American words, especially when they've never lived there.

You assume wrong. Many of us think nothing of it. Plus, again, many American words are from England with words from other countries mixed in. The English did establish the first settlement in the States in the 17th century.

Why is it silly and lazy? You act as if there aren’t any words in the UK that British people use that aren’t from somewhere else despite Brits not living there. Who even says you have to have live somewhere before to use certain words?

It's silly when we don't really understand what the saying is. Although we don't play cricket as much as we did, most of us know what hitting a six is about. I didn't know until I read it here that hitting it out of the park meant the same thing. It doesn't evoke quite the same image, because we play cricket and football on pitches, and parks are things with grass and flowers and children's playgrounds.

Perhaps the Craig/Creg thing came about from the surname Greig, pronounced Gregg?

hitting a six is about. I didn't know until I read it here that hitting it out of the park meant the same thing. It doesn't evoke quite the same image, because we play cricket and football on pitches, and parks are things with grass and flowers and children's playgrounds.

I’ve lived in the UK for almost eight years and have never heard anyone say hitting a six and my husband and in-laws are cricket enthusiasts.

Hitting it out of the park is a reference to American baseball. Baseball stadiums are also known as ballparks. That is where the park bit comes from. Also, in many parks in the States, you will find a baseball diamond (also called a baseball pitch) or people making their own with things they’ve brought from home. People would easily be able to knock it (a ball) out of the park. The park still has grass, flowers, and playgrounds.

The __ing it out of the park is possibly regional American. I'd say knocking it out of the park, my father is from across the country and says batting it out of the park mostly. And yes, we definitely make our own baseball field/diamond (not pitch where I'm from ;) ) in parks that don't have them.

I've noticed 'super' the last couple of days on here.

A super sweet pudding
He was super stressed

It makes me want to gouge my eyes out.

I'm in NE England and it's normal here for 'like' to be used very frequently, as a pause in a sentence. Often many many times in same sentence. Has been my entire life and not from American TV. It's just how we speak but that might not be entire NE.

Also NE and same.

For example, as I've just said to DS about his rejected lunch "do you not want it, like?"

Pants for trousers.
Santa or Santy.
Gotten.
We often use "the" instead of "to" at the start of a word as in "the day" (today) or "the morrow (tomorrow) and "us" (pronounced "iz") is frequently used instead of "me".

Geordie accents variety by region too. I'm from Northumberland, my friend is from the West End of Newcastle, our accents are not the same.

Yes, what I find odd and jarring is people parroting phrases, from any other country, the meaning or context of which they don't really understand.

I sometimes feel this about 'step up to the plate' and want to ask 'what plate, exactly?'. I think it's baseball and that the batter 'steps up' (across, without ascending, I think) to the bit of ground from which they will bat. So I can see it's about taking your turn in the spotlight but not quite how it means 'taking responsibility for a group endeavour', as it sometimes seems to be used.

But, I do understand that now, many people here will be more familiar with baseball than they are with cricket and 'sticky wickets' etc. 'Walking onto the crease' doesn't have such a sense of urgency, does it.

But, I do understand that now, many people here will be more familiar with baseball than they are with cricket and 'sticky wickets' etc. 'Walking onto the crease' doesn't have such a sense of urgency, does it

People here aren't even familiar with cricket metaphors anyway. Hence so many people think it's "off your own back" rather than "off your own bat"

I don't know what a sticky wicket is in cricket, but I do know what's happening when someone is batting on a sticky wicket in real life.

It's like this 'three strikes and your out'. Strike to me would mean hitting or striking the ball. Isn't that what you are supposed to do? I can understand that it's three misdemeanours and you get punished, but the sense it has for Americans is lost over here.

As for 'Step up to the plate', why not 'step up to the mark', because a lot of games have a mark where you have to take some sort of action?

There is nothing wrong with "can I get" unless you want to quibble with the can/may distinction, which will probably be gone in a few years anyway. Get means "come to have or hold (something); receive." It does not have some sort of built in reflexive. To ask someone "can I get" can mean "can I receive".

I am not sure that get and have are so interchangeable.

We ask, 'Can I get you a drink?' We don't ask 'Can I have you a drink?'

I’m glad ‘momentarily’ has been mentioned. I first heard it on an AA flight when the air hostess announced that they would be ‘serving drinks momentarily’. I was confused .

I love the way Americans say herbs as ‘webs’ like they are really trying to sound like a French chef.

That should have said ‘erbs

And "we/wuh" (same sound)
There was 10 of "wuh" and "we" all got wrong.

I am not sure that get and have are so interchangeable.

Not in every case, no. But one meaning of "get" is "receive". For that meaning, they can be.

As for herbs, there are several words of French origin for which Americans use a more French influenced pronunciation than British people do (filet, valet, garage, etc.). I read somewhere that may have resulted from historical antipathy to France (and so a desire among the British to Anglicize French words more), but I have no idea if that is true.

It's like this 'three strikes and your out'. Strike to me would mean hitting or striking the ball. Isn't that what you are supposed to do? I can understand that it's three misdemeanours and you get punished, but the sense it has for Americans is lost over here.

It has come to mean an unsuccessful attempt to hit the ball, to distinguish from a successful attempt, called a hit.

As for 'Step up to the plate', why not 'step up to the mark', because a lot of games have a mark where you have to take some sort of action?

In baseball there is an actual five sided rubber plate set into the ground. It's the goal for runners trying to score a run and defines the strike zone that pitchers must cross when they throw the ball. So "step up to the plate" is meant quite literally, not figuratively when playing the game.

The more general meaning is that to compete and succeed you must take the first step.

As for 'Step up to the plate', why not 'step up to the mark', because a lot of games have a mark where you have to take some sort of action?

Again, baseball reference. The little white thing that the batter stands on the side of , where the pitcher aims the ball to and what the catcher squats behind is called a plate (home plate).

Lots of great expressions come from baseball.

American here, from the Midwest. My colleagues constantly ask me to say 'Craig' so they can have a laugh. I honestly don't understand what is funny about it. I also don't hear a big difference between egg, plague, and Craig. I suppose plague and Craig may rhyme slightly more with each other.

I researched the Craig thing once but now can't find it. If memory serves, there is some reason for different pronunciations that may be related to Scots Gaelic, similar to different pronunciations of "plaid."

Ohhh, good point about plaid.

dellacucina, could you scroll back to my examples of rhyming / not rhyming upthread and see if any of those make sense to you?

Are you saying 'Cregg', or 'ayg'?