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.

What is British English? Scottish English and Welsh English are different to English English so how can their be a British English?

Theantigardener 'I’ve even seen diaper recently.'

Diaper is actually English, which the Americans have continued to use but we dropped in favour of 'nappy' i.e. napkin. I was shocked when I discovered that a few years ago!

@ComtesseDeSpair

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.

Quite.

@whywouldntyou

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 😡

You'd contact an American writer to tell him off for using correct US English? That would be funny. Please do it. Then show us his reply.

@hotfroth

There's no such thing as 'British' English.

It's just English.

hth

Of course there is.

Adverbs are missing too.

She was driving so slow.....it's slowly!

@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.

But it's always been similar here, ie pissed off means angry.

Having lived in the US for a few years I'm probably guilty of a lot, generally I adopt a lazy policy so will use whatever word is shortest. So trash goes in a bin, I put gas in my car, but I still use a torch not a flashlight.

One thing that's always interested me is most American's say "Jake is in the hospital" not "Jake is in hospital" - anyone know why?

@GerbilCurse I would say 'the hospital' and I'm Scottish. Not sure why.

@GerbilCurse

Having lived in the US for a few years I'm probably guilty of a lot, generally I adopt a lazy policy so will use whatever word is shortest. So trash goes in a bin, I put gas in my car, but I still use a torch not a flashlight.

One thing that's always interested me is most American's say "Jake is in the hospital" not "Jake is in hospital" - anyone know why?

The grammatical difference between "in hospital" and "in the hospital" (in UK English) is that "in hospital" means you are in a bed being poked about by doctors. "in the hospital" means "in the building" so a visitor, at a specific time, could also be "in the hospital". Maybe in US English that distinction isn't made. (It's the same with university/school etc, and sometimes the preposition is "at" but the use of "the" adds the same meaning as above- "he's at university" (he is a student) "he's at the university" (he's at the place, picking up his brother)

@EdithWeston

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 said it sounds formal. I didn’t say anything about the history of the name. Santa is shorter and sounds friendlier. Just as “Ms Jennifer Brown” is more formal than “Jenny”.

The association of a Christian Saint with a Christian festival seems very appropriate.

"In the hospital" in US English definitely means as a patient, you wouldn't say it about a visitor.

I've been working with some Scots recently, and discovered the word timeously which I love - so much more useful & concise than 'in a timely manner'

I use all the English version of the examples given (plus many Scottish ones) the only thing that's invaded most of our lives round here is trick or treating. I've given up correcting it to guising.

@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.

In my part of Scotland pants are called knickers

The grammatical difference between "in hospital" and "in the hospital" (in UK English) is that "in hospital" means you are in a bed being poked about by doctors. "in the hospital" means "in the building" so a visitor, at a specific time, could also be "in the hospital"

Not necessarily. In fact, it’s the reverse where I live. If you are a patient, then the definite article is used.

The main hospital in my town is The Royal Infirmary. If you are a patient there, you are “in the Infirmary”.
People would also say “I was at the hospital to see about my broken arm”.

If you are not a patent but are in the building, there is no definite article. A visitor would say “I visited my friend in hospital yesterday”

@ComtesseDeSpair

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.

You aren’t comparing like with like. Of course English has always stolen words. That isn’t the same as adopting the usage and idioms of the USA pretty much wholesale.

Which reminds me, the “thee” pronunciation of “the” as in the RAF is gradually going too.

@hotfroth

There's no such thing as 'British' English.

It's just English.

hth

Bloody hell, at least make sure you're right if you're going to be cheeky.

I find it genuinely curious how British people

British or English ?

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.

Quite

You could probably click your fingers, go back two millennia, and find the good folk of the 1st century whinging how their backwater dialect is becoming infected with that "latin" that's come over here.

Or go back 1,500 years and hear the complaints about that there "anglo-saxon" that's taking over.

Or 1,200 years and "them Vikings"

Or 1,000 years and "them Normans"

Although I think people are being far too harsh on those that wish to preserve English as it is now - this arbitrary point in time. After all there are plenty of other languages that have been preserved over the centuries. Sanskit. Ancient Greek. Latin ....

@GerbilCurse

"In the hospital" in US English definitely means as a patient, you wouldn't say it about a visitor.

It's interesting isn't it? I found something about the possibility (but it's just a sociolinguistic hypothesis) that maybe Americans have such a different relationship with the healthcare system, that the "the" removes some of the "relationship" between subject>building>what happens in that building. Would you use "at the hospital" for a visitor? (Genuinely curious, this fascinates me and my students are always asking me these things!)

@TrashyPanda

The grammatical difference between "in hospital" and "in the hospital" (in UK English) is that "in hospital" means you are in a bed being poked about by doctors. "in the hospital" means "in the building" so a visitor, at a specific time, could also be "in the hospital"

Not necessarily. In fact, it’s the reverse where I live. If you are a patient, then the definite article is used.

The main hospital in my town is The Royal Infirmary. If you are a patient there, you are “in the Infirmary”.
People would also say “I was at the hospital to see about my broken arm”.

If you are not a patent but are in the building, there is no definite article. A visitor would say “I visited my friend in hospital yesterday”

Yes, I understand that usage, but I'd imagine that's a different use of "the". Because the article is being used for the ONLY example of the thing being talked about. Your other example- the "in hospital" refers to your friend in that sentence though, not you. The grammatical difference is definitely what I said. The semantic difference is clearly more blurred. But I'm not (fortunately) a prescriptive linguist (God forbid!) so I'm happy to observe that others use the terms in a different way.

@hotfroth

There's no such thing as 'British' English.

It's just English.

hth

Umm yes there is. I'm an teacher abroad and I teach in British English. American English is seperate and taught in different schools. There are entirely different text books and resources for those studying British English and those studying American English. If you're British, you might just call it 'English' but that's like how my Indian husband just calls Indian food 'food'. People in other countries are more specific about things from different cultures or it would be so confusing!

When you teach “British English” do you teach RP, Northern British English, Liverpudlian British English, Glasgow British English, Aberdeen British English, Belfast British English, Derry/Londonderry British English …..

Would you use "at the hospital" for a visitor? (Genuinely curious, this fascinates me and my students are always asking me these things!)

@Geamhradh I'm not sure what most Americans would say, I'm English with a few years in the midwest. I just know if someone tells you someone else is in the hospital it's polite to send well wishes/enquire how they are :-)

I don't think it's Midwest specific though, I'm sure I've heard it on TV shows and in films.