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

[daimbarsatemydogsbone]

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.

Having said that I've also noticed an awful lot of terrible grammar: 'he was sat' 'she was stood' were the sort of phrases that liberally peppered a book I read recently, so perhaps some writers don't actually know what is UK English and what is American English in the same way that some of them seem to have a very tenuous grasp of English grammar

I've noticed that too, @pigsDOfly, along with a lot of contemporary usage in dialogue in novels that are set in earlier times. (This gives me a "nails on blackboard type" shudder, I find it really grating.)

I've been putting it down to pisspoor editing, but I'm 66 and was at school in an era where "different to" in an essay would have got you a big red cross in the margin. Younger colleagues don't see anything wrong with it.

@RobinRedbreasts

Well unfortunately kids are growing up with their computers constantly telling them that they are spelling words wrong when they are not. That bloody red line makes me question things even when I know they are correct!

That shouldn't be happening if you've the settings correct.

Word will sometimes default to to 'English (US)'. You can select the appropriate English for your location eg English (Ireland).

I absolutely have to make sure that's selected as I can't stand 'realize' instead of 'realise' for example.

@Dita73

I’ll tell you one that winds me up so much. When English people say or write “ass”. This is absolute bullshit. WE SAY ARSE! I don’t know why people have started using it. Oh and an American word that English people can’t say without sounding like a twat is “awesome”. I’m sorry but it just sounds ridiculous

"Arse" is a wonderful word and it would be very sad if it fell into disuse.

It's surprisingly versatile, too: you can arse about, if you can be arsed, and I like the metaphorical use as in to "kick the arse out of" something.

Momentarily instead of in a moment
Multiple instead of several
Released instead of discharged

And don’t get me started on excited for instead of excited about.

Super happy instead of very happy. It's very annoying.

I live in Australia, but when I visit the UK I do notice that regional accents have all but disappeared. My family in Devonshire used to sound very distinctive, but these days they all sound like BBC news presenters. I think our speech and language are just evolving because of good communication.

You are having a baby, I am excited for you . Fine
I am excited for Christmas. Crazy

@Stopsnowing

And don’t get me started on excited for instead of excited about.

That annoys me too, but I've never heard it anywhere but the UK.

Do they use Santa in Scotland? I seem to recall that it's why Canadians use it rather than Father Christmas

We do!

Father Christmas sounds very formal.

@RestingMurderousFace

'Addicting' has me muttering 'addictive' every time.

I've never heard "addicting" used in that way.

"Can I get...", however, makes me feel positively murderous. My inner pedant silently screams "May I have, you fuckwit, may I have..." (although "could I have" is equally fine).

I live in dread of the inner pedant escaping one day and embarrassing me in a shop.

I find it genuinely curious how British people who live in a bungalow in a cul de sac can get on their bicycles to go into town to visit the cinema followed by having a nice casserole at a restaurant before deciding to have an early night rather than go on to the karaoke bar because the following day they need to take their kid to a gymkhana… can then bemoan the English language being beseeched and cultural traditions lost because the frightfully ignorant American barista making their lattes in the cafe earlier asked them if they wanted a cookie when she was clearly pointing at a biscuit.

I'm just here to snigger about a 'fanny pack'. Also 'pants' instead of trousers (what are pants called??), 'chips' being crisps and chips being 'fries'. 'Cookies' are biscuits but how do you distinguish actual cookies from biscuits?

Anyway, apologies if these have already been mentioned. I was too excited about posting these to read the whole thread.

But I agree, OP. So many Americanisms abound! I saw 'Clifford The Big Red Dog' yesterday and one of the characters was attempting to sound British by saying 'bollocks', 'collywobble' and what have you (deliberate part of the script) and it sounded hilarious and so wrong in the midst of a US film.

Father Christmas sounds very formal

No!!!!!

He's the jolly old pagan version, a version of the Green Man

Not the Christian saintly Nicholas version that is the root of Santa Claus

I can tolerate everything else except "my bad"

@Apiddleawiddle

Daughter says garbage instead of rubbish. Naw darlin, yer scoattish, no American, speak proaper 🤣

For years, I didn't realise garbage was an Americanism. My parents, born in the early 1930s, both used "garbage" for rubbish and that was what I grew up using.

I was well into my teens before someone took the piss out of me for using an Americanism.

@OldTinHat

I'm just here to snigger about a 'fanny pack'. Also 'pants' instead of trousers (what are pants called??), 'chips' being crisps and chips being 'fries'. 'Cookies' are biscuits but how do you distinguish actual cookies from biscuits?

Anyway, apologies if these have already been mentioned. I was too excited about posting these to read the whole thread.

But I agree, OP. So many Americanisms abound! I saw 'Clifford The Big Red Dog' yesterday and one of the characters was attempting to sound British by saying 'bollocks', 'collywobble' and what have you (deliberate part of the script) and it sounded hilarious and so wrong in the midst of a US film.

They say “bollocks” in a kids film? That’s mad!

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

Is Scottish English not real?!

@TrashyPanda

Do they use Santa in Scotland? I seem to recall that it's why Canadians use it rather than Father Christmas

We do!

Father Christmas sounds very formal.

Agree with this, I don't know anyone in Scotland who uses Father Christmas.

@TomPinch

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

Yes to this! It's bollocks and I don't care if that opinion makes me an old fart.

I reluctantly accepted limited over cricket, but for me the 5-day game is the only one that really counts. Much more complex, more strategic and more demanding of both players and spectators. I bloody love it.

And to bring this (almost) back to the thread, it has given us some lovely phrases - sticky wicket, close of play, bowling a bouncer ...

I hate the ‘can I get’ with no please or thank you, when ordering things in cafes/coffee shop. Americans don’t seem to like saying please or thank you. It’s very rude.

It isn't rude not to be the same as English, that is very closed minded thinking.

In fact, I find Americans to be incredibly polite, "Sir, Ma'am etc" Also very hospitable and friendly.

Oh I agree!

Don't get me started on 'normalcy' 'burglarise' and 'could care less' - the latter from the amazing writer David Baldacci. I was tempted to tweet him about it but bottled out!

I continually berate my adult son about putting the 'trash' out 😡

In fact, I find Americans to be incredibly polite, "Sir, Ma'am etc" Also very hospitable and friendly.

I agree with this. I did a residential week long course in the States a couple of years ago. I really noticed their manners, I think of myself as polite but felt a bit boorish on occasion. They really go out of their way to greet & ask about you - every day!

The kind of casual friendliness I'd be used to in Ireland / UK, less so. For example, when out for a few drinks, they were perplexed when I offered to get a round of drinks.

@starrynight21

I live in Australia, but when I visit the UK I do notice that regional accents have all but disappeared. My family in Devonshire used to sound very distinctive, but these days they all sound like BBC news presenters. I think our speech and language are just evolving because of good communication.

It's the BBC presenters really whose pronunciation has changed. I'm old enough to remember when no regional accents were heard on the BBC.

Thankfully, all that snobbery and superiority has been eliminated.

The Queen is an interesting example. If you listen to her speech from about 30 years ago, it's completely changed. And, it's interesting that Kate's accent is far more similar to RP (which has all but died out- what many call RP is just southern standard these days) than William's. That's because she was taught to speak that way, and he wasn't.

(Lots of interesting threads on this kind of thing in Pedants' Corner for the true language nerd- as opposed to the "I don't say it like that so it's wrong" silliness)