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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:
VestaTilley · 10/12/2021 22:01

YANBU, our cultures are becoming completely blended, and I don’t see that as a good thing.

EmWry · 10/12/2021 22:06

A piece is a slice of bread and butter round my way

Skyll · 10/12/2021 22:07

A piece is a sandwich

EBearhug · 10/12/2021 22:09

I think there's a fair way to go yet before it's homogenous (I doubt that will ever happen, anyway. Things change all the time.)

I wrote up the minutes for a global work meeting, asomeone responded that I had misspelt color. While I was pondering how to respond, another of the Americans pointed out I am British and had consistently used the correct British spellings throughout. So I thanked her for her response and left it at that.

BiBabbles · 10/12/2021 22:27

One I will not miss is crotchet and similar music terms. I'll stick to the maths-based version.

Both the US and UK have hundreds of dialects and many US ones are rooted in regional British and Irish dialects. Finding specific 'Americanisms' that weren't already said here can be a lil' difficult. I naturally speak a weird mashup from moving around the US and UK and I actually had to think through trying to figure out which of those is which because it's not really as universal as some seem to think and making a sharp divide between the two I find unhelpful.

I think there is still a lot of linguistic diversity, even if it's not well represented in media. There has been a push for accent and dialect positivity in some circles, though largely in academia that I've seen so far. I actually don't think kids are more open to it, I've seen just as much if not more viciousness from school kids as I see on here about Americanisms.

It’s why Chaucer wouldn’t have a clue what any of us are saying here, and why we don’t yearn wistfully for his prose.

I mean, "Why is thy lord so sluttish, I thee preye," is a fantastic line...

steff13 · 10/12/2021 22:29

I just saw the phrase "crimbo biccies" on another thread. Is this the language you're trying to preserve? We certainly don't use that in the US.

LuluBlakey1 · 10/12/2021 22:39

@steff13

I just saw the phrase "crimbo biccies" on another thread. Is this the language you're trying to preserve? We certainly don't use that in the US.
'crimbo biccies' are not words in the English language that I would use or want to preserve. They are just crass vulgarisms.
Lndnmummy · 10/12/2021 22:48

I can't get worked up over this tbh

StrychnineInTheSandwiches · 10/12/2021 22:55

I'd quite fancy a crimbo biccie if someone on the thread is handing them out. Not if it contains dried fruit though.

Bitofachinwag · 10/12/2021 23:05

@EnrouteNOTonroute

I know what you mean OP. It’s like when people say they’re pissed. In British English that means drunk. In American English that means angry.
I've noticed that on here. Also, people saying mad when they mean angry.
TomPinch · 10/12/2021 23:09

Pissed can mean angry in Scotland too.

HollaHolla · 10/12/2021 23:12

@Peregrina

never mind the 'gotten'

Got wrong for..... is a very N East type of saying. It also reminds me of a friend living in Scotland and the children would come asking for 'a piece'. A piece of what, she wondered.

Or even a playpiece. Which was the snack we got for morning break at school. Often fruit/a cereal bar/occasionally a sweetie.

I did linguistics as part of my UG degree. Trying to do RP phonetic translation with an east of Scotland accent was always a challenge. (But I can say ‘baaarth’ now. It’s still a bath. 🤣)

TomPinch · 10/12/2021 23:12

Also cricket. I love cricket, but the rising version of it - twenty20 - is like baseball.

TrashyPanda · 10/12/2021 23:17

@PurBal

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

I’ve never spoken in person to anyone who talked about Father Christmas. But I accept some people use it instead of Santa.

My late DM was the same age as the Queen and she always talked about Santa, so it certainly isn’t anything new.

IMO Santa sounds much friendlier.

Storminamu · 10/12/2021 23:19

The younger generation don't speak British English. I speak British English, but my teenager speaks American. The most obvious difference is that they use the past simple where I use the present perfect. Eg: I forgot my coat! I've forgotten my coat!

TrashyPanda · 10/12/2021 23:20

Trying to do RP phonetic translation with an east of Scotland accent was always a challenge

Snap!

I remember a textbook by Gimson, Introduction to the Pronunciation of English that was virtually impossible for this Scot.

Alltheblue · 10/12/2021 23:22

The differences are endless. They're not remotely in danger of extinction.

HollaHolla · 10/12/2021 23:24

@TrashyPanda

Trying to do RP phonetic translation with an east of Scotland accent was always a challenge

Snap!

I remember a textbook by Gimson, Introduction to the Pronunciation of English that was virtually impossible for this Scot.

Maybe we did the same UG degree! I was very glad of the preponderance of English students in my cohort, so I could get them to say things for me to transcribe. 🤣🤣
JaneJeffer · 10/12/2021 23:30

There's also US English, Australian English, Canadian English, Indian English
Don't forget us Hibernians Grin

yuletidefelcitations · 10/12/2021 23:47

Season instead of series is the one that infuriates me

AnotherOneWithNoGoodName · 10/12/2021 23:51

'crimbo biccies' are not words in the English language that I would use or want to preserve. They are just crass vulgarisms

Yikes, if you think biccies is crass and vulgar you must have had a sheltered life Grin although I do agree "choccie biccies" is very annoying!

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 10/12/2021 23:51

@YetAnotherManicMonday1234

Beowulf wæs breme blæd wide sprang, Scyldes eafera Scedelandum in. Swa sceal geong guma gode gewyrcean, fromum feohgiftum on fæder bearme, þæt hine on ylde eft gewunigen wilgesiþas, þonne wig cume, leode gelæsten; lofdædum sceal in mægþa gehwære man geþeon.

Bring back proper English.

Sounds like my Geordie grandad after 2 pints
SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 10/12/2021 23:56

@Peregrina

never mind the 'gotten'

Got wrong for..... is a very N East type of saying. It also reminds me of a friend living in Scotland and the children would come asking for 'a piece'. A piece of what, she wondered.

'Got wrong for' is better than 'got wrong of' or 'telt off'

Me, a Geordie Vs my mackem cousins

Ginger1982 · 11/12/2021 00:02

@TomPinch

Pissed can mean angry in Scotland too.
Hmm, 99.9 times out of 100 if you ask a Scot if they're pissed, it's not about being angry!
dreamingbohemian · 11/12/2021 00:08

Imagine being born with the privilege of speaking the most widely spoken language in the world, a true global language, and instead of being grateful, you get upset because people say 'season' instead of 'series'

There are hundreds of varieties of English in the world and they're all beautiful, why not be proud instead of xenophobic

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