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?

Pantyhose is much better than tights though, you’ve got to concede that one.

Really quite a long time ago. I've been a teacher for 30 years. It's certainly been around for pretty much all of that time, but has been the norm for maybe 20 years. We no doubt all have neologisms that irritate us a bit, but calling a simple abbreviation a linguistic abomination seems a tad dramatic!

Back in the late medieval period when I was a student (in Ireland) "uni" wasn't used either. It was "college" even though there were colleges that weren't universities in Ireland.

I don't see the issue with, "Can I get...?" It is a practical question, and pertinent responses might be, "Sorry, we're out of X," or "Certainly."

I do, however, feel that, "May I have...?" is problematic in the context or placing an order. You're not asking the barista for permission to have a coffee.

"I'd like a... please," might be a better phrase.

Actually, we didn't. Anglo Saxon was a Germanic language.

And then there was a big injection of Norman French, of course.
And latterly significant contributions from elsewhere.

Someone upthread complained that 'It's the death of culture. All distinctions are being eroded. We're all going into the blender now, it's big America globohomo' but that's really not what I see happening. There's interchange and evolution, with many subcultures. I think the Anglosphere is all the richer by not being bound by a stultifying equivalent of the Académie Française.

It was introduced by neighbours!
I remember Toady et al talking about 'uni' and being 🤔. Then it became part of every day language. This is like 30 years ago

I tend to say “Could I please have a…?”

The terms are used interchangeably in the US, partly because college is a shorter word than university but also because technically, when referring to an undergraduate education, college is correct.

Historically, in the US, undergrad studies were undertaken in the college part of a university (i.e. the undergraduate schools). The distinction between college and university is that one awards undergrad degrees only and one awards both undergrad and postgrad degrees. Liberal arts colleges award undergrad degrees only. They are not second rate third level institutions because of this - many are extremely selective and have endowments on a par with the leading Ivies.

Some universities preserve the historical distinction between undergrad and post grad education - examples are the University of Chicago, where undergrads apply to and graduate from The College, Georgetown University (College of Arts and Sciences), Harvard College - there are many, many more. Colleges include leading institutions such as Amherst, Williams, Barnard, and there are many more.

Within each university or college there are schools - School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois, for example. Some universities have both colleges and schools - the University of Washington has a School of Computer Science and Engineering and a College of Engineering. For some universities, you need to apply to a particular school within the university, not the university in general.

Anything is possible I suppose. I’m 57 and have been hearing it since I was a child. Maybe we all collectively heard it (you know, all of us in Ireland and Scotland) on Starsky and Hutch or Columbo or Sesame Street during the seventies. And it spread like a social contagion.

Edited because I left out an ‘it’!

I live in an area where we have our own traditional words (Doric). It's very sad that it will die out as children are more likely to come out with American words.
My former pupils will no doubt remember me as the teacher who used to say "We're not American" in response to butt, recess, movie, diaper etc 😆

My "linguistic abomination" reference was a bit tongue in cheek, but I do actually hate "uni." It's not just an abbreviation, it's a diminutive. I think that is the source of my distaste for it.

But if you think about it, we have some many abbreviations in every day speech. ID for identification is one that springs to mind immediately, but there are lots of others.

Interestingly it takes longer to say “WWW” than “world wide web”.

There isn’t one ‘standard’ form of English though. I think people think there is and that’s part of the problem.

"Enough already" is a direct translation of the Yiddish "Genug shoyn"/ "enough already", which implies "Enough is enough". It made its way into American English from Yiddish speaking immigrants.
The "already" part of the phrase has migrated into other phrases, usually where the context is impatience, exasperation, or being fed up.

Other phrases translated from Yiddish are "...like I need a hole in the head" and "OK by me". There are more of course, and many individual words.

You can't discuss Americanisms without discussing word origins.

In the case of pajamas/ pyjamas, people might not be so upset about the different spelling if they understood that the word wasn't originally English and therefore no specific spelling can claim authenticity.

Just for clarification, smart Americans, like myself, know it is "I couldn't care less" as "could" is obviously wrong for what you are trying to convey. The only people I've ever heard use "could" are the same people who would say "irregardless", aka, dummies.

I dislike the bastardized sayings like 'could care less' when they mean 'couldn't care less' and some of the clunky grammar, for example 'on accident' rather than 'by accident' or 'on Christmas' rather than 'at Christmas'.
I also have to confess that 'in back' rather than 'behind' does boil my piss somewhat.

@WiddlinDiddlin

"In back of" is a parallel of "in front of".
"On accident" is a parallel of "on purpose".
These phrases are at least systematic.

"On Christmas" has a similar system to it.
It usually refers to the day itself, whereas "at Christmas" usually refers to the festive period centered around Christmas. On Christmas (Day)/ at Christmas (time).
Speakers of British English wouldn't say "at my birthday" unless they were referring to a party, nor would they say "at the first of May", etc.

It's worth noting that "On Christmas" has only crept into American English relatively recently, and it isn't universal.
American English evolves too...

This is just a pronunciation of the letter T. Americans don't spell it with a D.

It’s much quicker to type www though!

Lots of people do all over England - cockney, west country, etc.

The H in herb is not pronounced just as the H in hotel and history (and more) used not be pronounced in British English.

There are lots of words in British English that still feature the silent H - honest, heir, honour (and more).

They are all words that came into English from French, and the way they are pronounced now in both American and British English has no consistency to it.

I'm a native speaker of British English. so I believe I do in fact get to tell you what certain words mean.

In the US, a thrift store supports a charity. The charity could be an animal shelter, a drop in site for mentally ill people, a hospice, the Salvation Army mission, or in the case of Goodwill, a chain where people who might otherwise have difficulty getting their feet on the first rung of the employment ladder can work for a while and get a reference to take them to their next job. In this case, the shop is the charity.

A second hand store would be either an 'antique' or 'vintage' store (or more likely "shoppe"), or a 'consignment store'. Antique/ vintage stores would vary from places selling all sorts of crazy crap or junk to places selling carefully curated furniture or designer clothing, footwear, bags, etc. These are 'for profit' businesses.

A consignment store sells clothing, shoes, bags, etc, on behalf of former owners, with part of the proceeds going to the donor and the rest going to the store (and not to charity).

You're conflating the history of the figures with the history of the names.

Santa Claus was used as the name of the jolly old elf in many English speaking countries from the getgo. This includes parts of England. I don't think there are many people in Ireland who ever use the term "Father Christmas".

"Father Christmas" may well be just a regional equivalent.

I could care less, but, frankly, can't be bothered.
I could care less than I do now which isn't very much.
i could care less, and less, and less and I likely will.

In all my decades in the US I have never once heard this expression.