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?

Oh, I like that first option!

A season on the TV, no, it's serial.

That doesn't mean the same thing though.

Gavin and Stacey is a series/is serial (consists of multiple episodes).

It has three seasons (plus some specials). Apologies if I got the number wrong..

In US terms yes and nearly universally these days but traditionally in the UK it was series for both. Gavin and Stacey is a TV series. I'm currently watching series 2 of it.

Season is a useful word to have to give clarity.

Yeah, after I posted I realised that i often see 'series 1, series 2' for things.

I think in this instance the American way is better.

Thanks.

Plus different spellings of words often occur in countries which have different alphabets to Europe (including UK) and north America. You could say things get lost in translation.

Indeed.

It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside 🙄

Agree... it would be more like:
When do you want to go?
Whenever. (Doesn't matter)

It's all in the tone and accompanying look of disdain. 😂

Parliamentary recess has a very similar meaning to the American school recess meaning. Imo it's a more elegant term than lunch break or lunch time or other terms that are used in the UK.

Moving pictures was the term used in both the UK and US when they first appeared, and "movies" comes from that. The term movie is more specific than film since it refers just to the finished product after the filming and the editing of the film.

Butt has several meanings, all originsting in British English.

Diaper has one specific meaning while nappy has several, some of which are considered racist. A preference for specific terms seems to be a feature of American English.

........
All that aside, surely the role of a teacher is to encourage curiosity about other cultures and broadening of vocabularies?

There is a great deal of literature in English that is rendered accessible when students are familiar with vocabulary and phrases from other English dialects. American authors tend to use American English.

Have you not said previously that you are an Irish emigrant to the United States?

You can’t be an authority on both British American English. (Other than a self-appointed one of course)

I can understand this. I come from a part of Ireland which (just like every other part of Ireland) had its own words/expressions/slang. Many of them have fallen out of use now. Of course language has to evolve but it is sad when fabulous local words and expressions are lost.

What a strange question. There's a lot to unpack there, I suspect.

Yes, of course I can be simultaneously Irish, a native speaker of British English (thanks to the fact that half of my ancestors are British, with the cut glass accents to prove it), a native speaker of Hiberno English thanks to the other half of my roots, and also a fluent speaker of American English as a result of decades of exposure. I also speak Irish and German - mind boggling, right?

This is offensive to Americans.
I'm sure there is a lot about British language that annoys them. Or maybe not, because they're just nicer people...🙄

Having ancestors/ relatives brought up somewhere different to you does not make you a native speaker. I am a native speaker of Scottish English. My son was born and brought up in England, by me. He recognises some dialect words/ regional phrasings and of course has no trouble understanding my accent, but would not use those words or phrasings himself and he has no instinctive knowledge of how a Scottish person would say something.

Also, I would never describe myself as a native speaker of English English despite living in England for 32 years since the age of 18.

Why would my mind be remotely boggled that you speak German? I also speak French, Spanish and Portuguese, so what?

All I am saying is that sometimes you seem unwilling to accept what others are saying and you can’t possibly have superior knowledge of everything.

Fit like Rara?

I am guilty of Americanisms, having worked with Americans since graduating, eons ago.
But you are not wrong with respect to losing Doric. I would like to see more emphasis on Doric and less Gaelic, in our corner of Scotland. More reading in dialect in schools, and perhaps Road signs showing actual Doric names rather than English and Gaelic

Sorry, thread derail.

@mathanxiety you absolutely do not get to tell me squat. You can share your views, give your opinions, even provide some facts.

And you're definitely American. Surely only an American would be that didactic and arrogant.

There are quite a few arrogant Brits on this thread, with an insistence that British pronunciations are superior.

Right because it used to be a season like a football season. New programs would start in September and end in May. So it was a season.

Yup 100% this. And it’s quite discriminatory to assume a person is arrogant just because they are American.

And you're definitely American. Surely only an American would be that didactic and arrogant

Pot/kettle?😂

Mathanxiety may well be American and perhaps you object to their views or their tone, but that comment is absolutely uncalled for. Some of the rudeness towards Americans on this site takes my breath away.

Ooh I can't read all 21 pages but I'd like to point out that the OED prefers realize to realise! They say that the English switched from -ize to -ise to copy French and the Americans are correct. But not for -yse, so it is analyse and not analyze. Americans made the opposite error.

In some cases (not centre, colour, but some others) the changes are because English spelling was not properly standardised until the 19th century.

I've lived in the USA over a decade and I'm used to it all now. A friend of mine was complaining that her child had picked up the construction "needs washed" which is regional dialect where they moved to. As in, "those jeans need washed," instead of "those jeans need to be washed." There are some fascinating regional dialects in the USA. Along with "needs washed," you get "yinz" for plural you and "crick" for creek. (It's Pittsburgh, and if you ever see an old video of Fred Rogers, he has the accent.)

Some of the things, interestingly, have parallels in Spanish. In Spain, you have un móvil, in Latin America you have un celúlar. Loads of different slang, even some different grammar.

Also, soda is primarily the Northeast, the Great Lakes are pop, and down South it's all Coke. "Soda" is a catergory like "soft drink".

“Needs washed” is the standard construction in Scotland, whereas English people tend to say “Needs washing”. Perhaps the part of the US where your friend lives was heavily populated by emigrant Scots. It’s always made more sense to me than “washing” because it’s just a contraction, cutting out the “to be” in the middle.

You’re absolutely right @Funnywonder.

@mathanxiety has already told people her nationality and heritage anyway. She’s Irish as she already said (and is often found on threads about the Irish language). She’s already been very clear that one side her her family is British and about the fact that she’s lived in America for decades now. She has experience of a number of varieties of English.