To hate Americanisms...?

[Groof]

I think maybe because it feels like all English-speaking cultures are becoming boring and homogenous.

New ones I've noticed that people in the UK didn't routinely say five years ago but are now EVERYWHERE:

• birth control (instead of 'contraception' or 'the pill')
• wait list (instead of waiting list)
• reach out

Which ones do you hate or AIBU?

I was responding to a comment which suggested the poster might find peace if they stopped caring about something they believed was important. And that it would make them happier. Caring about nothing is not making people happier.

Stoicism was really just borne to help soldiers endure intolerable conditions and circumstances.

The comment you responded to suggested not bothering about things you can't control, not that they shouldn't bother about everything that's important to them.

Rather more like the 'serenity prayer' than nihilism I think. And in this case about a relatively trivial matter vs the sorts of situations it's often applied to.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer)

British people saying "zee" vex me.

The second wins!
Thank you, perfectly brilliant!

I'm curious-- do you think I don't know this and you are giving me some valuable information? Do you disapprove of my gently ironic tone?

Irony often doesn’t come over in the written word. I’m a little surprised you don’t know that 😬.

Trash is English - Shakespeare used it. Quite often a word in American English is the one that was in use when the English started settling the US - same goes for pronunciation, sentence structure etc. We changed, they didn't (this is particularly in evidence with the rhotic / non-rhotic thing). The modern US accent is probably closer to the English of 400 years ago than modern UK English is. Aspects of the language are always going to cross-pollinate with all the other parts of the world that speak it. You might as well complain that we're not speaking the language "correctly" because we no longer say thee and thou and rhyme proved with loved or whatever. The only languages that don't change constantly are the dead ones.

We know what the fuck it means. It's the use of it in the UK by English /british that is fucking galling given the we don't have bastard dimes.

Haven’t RTFT and am sure someone will have said that other areas of the UK sometimes do pronounced things differently - eg harassment in Scotland is like the American pronunciation. So many more listed that I won’t go into!

Something currently irritating me on social media is young American influencers using ‘mind you’ in the completely wrong context. Anyone else noticed this?? It’s as bad as the excessive hand movements on TikTok.

Gotten used to annoy me, then I discovered it's actually English, just became defunct here.

"Santa Claus" or "Santa" instead of Father Christmas.

"Pissed" to mean annoyed (instead of drunk).

"Mad" to mean angry (instead of insane).

"Can I get" instead of "May I have".

"Momentarily" to mean in moment instead of for a moment.

The thing is though, whether we like it or not, language evolves.

@CuddlyDodoToy "Santa Claus" or "Santa" instead of Father Christmas.

Santa Claus isn’t an Americanism, only the English say Father Christmas. It isn’t even UK wide at all.

• Santa Claus
• The modern Santa Claus originated in the United States in the 19th century. The character evolved from Dutch gift traditions surrounding St. Nicholas, and was influenced by the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas".
• Father Christmas
• Father Christmas has a much longer history than Santa Claus, and originated in ancient British mid-winter festivals. He was originally a pagan figure who represented the coming of spring. In the 1850s, the American myth of Santa Claus arrived in England, and Father Christmas began to take on Santa Claus's attributes.

Americans don’t say “the Feds” as street slang for the police. “The Feds” in the US are people who work for the federal government - FBI, CIA, et cetera. Someone might get arrested by the Feds, but only if it’s a federal crime, like drug trafficking.

in the US, braces are the metal things bonded to your teeth. A retainer is the plastic thing you wear over your teeth after your braces have been removed.

If Father Christmas was originally a pagan figure, surely his name wasn’t always Father Christmas?

I think the braces vs retainer distinction is the same on both sides of the pond, but the popularity of things like invisalign has muddied the waters.

Eh?

I didn't realise there was much of a difference in the English pronunciation of these words. Maybe I've only ever heard English people say 'arse' but it could be either to my ear.
Depending on the English accent I suppose, ass would have a shorter more 'clipped' sound with an 'a for apple' pronunciation, whereas arse would have a longer softer 'aw' sound.

You need a good strong rhotic accent to truly appreciate the beauty of the word arse.

I never said that “the Feds” had been correctly imported. Clearly that would be impossible given that we don’t have a Federal system here.

It’s clearly picked up from US crime movies and TV though. That is the only point I was making.

New ones I've noticed that people in the UK didn't routinely say five years ago but are now EVERYWHERE:
birth control (instead of 'contraception' or 'the pill')

Birth control was standard in the UK in the seventies & eighties. I don't know when the word contraception came into common use (I lived outside the UK for most of the nineties).

Unless you're in Belfast and it's 'lurry'

Surely Father Christmas was originally English rather than British?
Scotland and Ireland (not sure about Wales?) have used Santa Claus ever since the bearded dude became part of the whole Christmas extravaganza - bearing in mind that Christmas itself was far less of a Thing in Scotland until the mid 20th century.

Obligated, whilst not incorrect, really seems to have taken over. When I say obliged it almost feels arcaic. 😔

In Ireland in the 80s it was Santy or Santy Claus.

I've always wondered - there are loads of Americanisms creeping into our language - my current pet hate is snuck - do they adopt UK words and phrases to the same extent?