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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask if do (or will) miss British English?

485 replies

daimbarsatemydogsbone · 10/12/2021 18:05

License plate - Number plate
Driver's license - Driving licence
Windshield - Windscreen
Envision - Envisage
Bring (instead of take)

So much British English is being replaced with the US versions.

UK courtroom dramas now feature lawyers shouting "objection!" and judges saying "sustained" - something that never actually happens in UK courts but the writers have all grown up watching US dramas and films.

I know it's inevitable but I celebrated the little differences - they seem to become fewer and fewer each year.

OP posts:
MissConductUS · 10/12/2021 19:42

It's terrible, and those bloody Yanks are doing it on purpose, too. Bastards.

If it makes you feel any better, Americans are now saying jab instead of shot.

😇

KittensWearingWoollyMittens · 10/12/2021 19:44

There's no such thing as 'British' English.
Of course there is! Just like there is American English. How else do you explain the differences in vocabulary and grammar??

jimmyhill · 10/12/2021 19:47

Outwith means "beyond" or "outside"

There is no word in a English that quite means what outwith means. Except for beyond. Or outside.

The Scots are very proud of their unique word for which there is no equivalent in real English.

LemonSwan · 10/12/2021 19:49

To admit I dont know which is the US or British Version

StrychnineInTheSandwiches · 10/12/2021 19:54

So much hand-wringing on MN about Americanisms plopping on your beloved phrases.

To be honest I wasn't quite sure which type of English you were using in your thread title...

PurBal · 10/12/2021 19:55

I know what you mean. But I use the “british” version so I don’t notice it. Santa / Father Christmas is my current annoyance.

Skyll · 10/12/2021 19:56

Why would anyone be annoyed that other areas the British Isles and indeed the world have a different term for Santa?

livingthegoodlife · 10/12/2021 19:56

At my local Christmas market, someone was selling "cotton candy". I had to restrain myself from shouting out "it's candy floss".

ByTheSea · 10/12/2021 19:57

As an American who has made the UK my home for the last quarter century, I am comfortable speaking and writing in both languages, and even some dialects on both sides of the pond. One thing I love about American English is 'verbification', a word I have just coined meaning the ability to make a verb of almost any word.

StrychnineInTheSandwiches · 10/12/2021 19:58

When people say they're annoyed by British people saying Santa instead of Father Christmas I simply assume they don't have much awareness of the UK beyond their own little pocket.

Geamhradh · 10/12/2021 19:59

@StrychnineInTheSandwiches

So much hand-wringing on MN about Americanisms plopping on your beloved phrases.

To be honest I wasn't quite sure which type of English you were using in your thread title...

Muphry's, I imagine. As are many of the subsequent posters. Either Muphry or Dunning-Kruger.
HollaHolla · 10/12/2021 20:00

@AffIt

I work in a global organisation, and have a particular loathing of 'obligated' - obliged is fine, thanks.

In saying that, language is a fluid thing and it changes and evolves with time. I can't get too upset about these things.

I'm also Scottish, so the word 'outwith' is a standard part of my vocabulary and I pity the fools who don't use this lovely, lovely word. Grin

I FUCKING LOVE a bit of outwith. It irritates me greatly when I get a wiggly red line under it. 🤣
AffIt · 10/12/2021 20:05

@ByTheSea

As an American who has made the UK my home for the last quarter century, I am comfortable speaking and writing in both languages, and even some dialects on both sides of the pond. One thing I love about American English is 'verbification', a word I have just coined meaning the ability to make a verb of almost any word.
As they say, two countries divided by a common language. Grin

'Verbification' is a great word.

Ajl46 · 10/12/2021 20:08

@Mittenmob

I hate the lack of 'the' in dates. "This film is out September third" yuck.
Same here - I also hate it when "and" is left out of sentences, eg "Go speak to someone" instead of "go and speak to someone."
JaneJeffer · 10/12/2021 20:10

I hate threads like this 😭

SarahAndQuack · 10/12/2021 20:10

@daimbarsatemydogsbone - really, his prose? Which works?

Anyway. I'm firmly in the 'language evolves' camp. I find it really odd that people think American English is homogenous. It's not. Pick any two Americans who've grow up and lived all their lives different states and you will find there are a few terms one uses and the other doesn't. So it's not as if there's one standard 'American English' being imposed on the poor old Brits.

I don't think dialects are in much danger of dying out, either. They will just change.

StrychnineInTheSandwiches · 10/12/2021 20:12

The only Americanism that sounds really clunky to my ear is 'caught on fire'. The 'on' really jars.

AuntieStella · 10/12/2021 20:12

@livingthegoodlife

At my local Christmas market, someone was selling "cotton candy". I had to restrain myself from shouting out "it's candy floss".
And whatever happened to fairy cakes????
AuntieStella · 10/12/2021 20:17

@LuluBlakey1

'movies' instead of 'pictures' or 'cinema'. In thenorth-east we say 'We're going to the pictures tonight'. I can accept 'cinema' but not 'movies' . And I prefer 'to see a film' rather than 'to see a movie'.
I go to the flicks

(Am I in a Time Warp ? Grin )

PinkArt · 10/12/2021 20:21

Is the mangled use of English - of any kind - in the thread title meant to be ironic?

BeringBlue · 10/12/2021 20:22

I'm a translator, and I often have to tell clients that I don't translate into US English. Of course I can watch telly and understand what I'm hearing, but I can't formulate sentences in the way someone who speaks US English as a mother tongue can.

SarahAndQuack · 10/12/2021 20:24

@BeringBlue

I'm a translator, and I often have to tell clients that I don't translate into US English. Of course I can watch telly and understand what I'm hearing, but I can't formulate sentences in the way someone who speaks US English as a mother tongue can.
This reminds me of something @senecafalls said on a thread like this that has stuck with me - apparently, British speakers of English will tend to say 'a Texan senator' rather than 'a Texas senator' and it will jar for American listeners. It's fascinating how much there is in any language that's not governed by any precise rule, but just sounds wrong if you're a native speaker.
Swirlywoo · 10/12/2021 20:26

Of course languages changes / adapts / evolves. That’s a fact, and doesn’t say anything about the changes themselves or how they affect us. English is becoming increasingly homogeneous and I don’t think anyone who really appreciates language relishes that - I find it a bit soulless not to be bothered by it at all tbh! First we lost dialects and now we’re losing British English more generally. But then, I find any language dying sad (was reading about how Cantonese is threatened by mandarin the other day and was bothered about it - and I don’t speak a word of Cantonese!) so not surprising I’d be troubled about it happening to my own.

This totally. No handwringing, it's just a bit sad.

Anonymous48 · 10/12/2021 20:27

@SarahAndQuack

"A Texan senator" would be jarring for me (living in the US). But also, it would change the meaning. The Texas senator (i.e.. the senator representing the state of Texas) wouldn't necessarily be Texan. He could be from New York, for example, so calling him Texan would be inaccurate.

AllTheUsernamesAreAlreadyTaken · 10/12/2021 20:30

I’ve voted YABU because I’ve never heard those Americanisms being used.