To ask why some Mumsnetters find the use of American English suspicious?

[MonaLisaDoesntSmile]

Some while back I wrote a thread under another username, and was accused by a few members to have written a fake story because I used words that are much more commonly used in the US. For the record, I learned English as a second language and my secondary school teacher was from the US, I also spent my teens watching American shows and films. 15+ years in the UK and I still use flashlight, trashcan, gas, fall, intersection and a number of other words that got stuck in my head.
I have it happen since a few times to other people- today someone decided a thread posted by a user was done by chat GTP because it sounded 'American'.
Why are people so baffled by the fact that there may be American users on the site, or people educated in the US/international American schools, or just people who have learned English with the help of American media rather than BBC?

I only know it’s a Midlands thing. Personally I say and write “mom” and most people I know from where I am do similar.

According to this it is just Birmingham and other parts of the Midlands. Nowhere else in the UK.

Here in the West Midlands we have a very distinct way of speaking. One of our peculiarities is the way we spell the abbreviation for mother. Most people tend to call her ‘mom’ - which is generally considered American - as opposed to ‘mum’ which is the most popular English term, according to analysis by Oxford University Press

OUP looked at short stories written by children across the country and found that ‘Mom’ was the top word used more in the West Midlands than any other area. This suggests that most other regions plump for calling their mothers ‘Mum’. But it’s popularity in the West Midlands shows it may be a regional pronunciation, maybe influenced by the Brummie accent

https://www.birminghamworld.uk/news/birmingham-accent-mom-mum-4193963

Yes, we are also Midlands and it's been "mom" all my life.

What some British people don’t seem to realise is that a lot of ‘Americanisms’ are just older forms of English. Some of the expressions didn’t die out everywhere on this side of the Atlantic either. It’s really very annoying to be corrected on here for your use of a word like ‘gotten’, and to know that an assumption is being made that you picked it up from watching too much television! 🤯

Does it sound like mom? I’ve often seen it spelt that way from people in the midlands, but I can never picture how it sounds!

Yep I learned this. A lot of the American terms are actually how the original English was before we became heavily influenced by French (which was seen as more fashionable / sophisticated) in the 17th+ plus centuries?? (I may have the time period wrong.)

I say “mom”. So yep it is spelled and sounds like that.

There are a fair few Irish people on here.
So, not British, but with English as a first language.
There are Irish parenting sites, but they’re smaller with much less traffic.

I say mom for the pp who asked, but spell it Mam.

Yeah! m-o-m!

Why do you assume American? Other countries use those words too

Do you mean 'aluminum' ? Pretty sure Americans aren't saying 'aluminium'

My point was its not a big deal.

I wouldn’t dream of commenting if someone online used Americanisms. I’d just assume they were American.

However if my kids use Americanisms - eg ‘can I get’ rather than ‘please may I have’ then I definitely pick them up on it. I think it looks uncultured to use Americanisms if you’re English - like you watch too much trashy American TV (which my kids do 🙄😂).

Actually I agree with this. My children do it too. "Can I get" in an English accent just sounds wrong. (Presumably that makes me a terrible snob but I don't really care.) My children don't listen to me anyway and still do it.

I’ve been on MN for 9 years and it’s always been like this, alongside the seasonal threads of santa vs Father Christmas and why are we doing Halloween and all the usual BS. It’s very England (and sometimes London) centric on here.

It’s trendy and “classy” to look down on americanisms. If a few immigrants get lumped in with the stupid, inbred cousin as well , it’s not the end of the world. They SHOULD be speaking English after all. The proper one.

Some people don’t realise America is not the be-all and fucking end-all. Mostly American people. An assumption of “American as norm” is endemic in social media and I love the fact that MN is British. Americans should make their own MN equivalent.

So true. Wise words. Proper English is the best.

"I love the fact that MN is British. Americans should make their own MN equivalent."

I'm sorry, did you mean to be so xenophobic?

That's not xenophobic.

I find use of Americanisms a bit grating, tbh. Like ‘sidewalk’, ‘movies’, ‘mad at’ etc. It’s not that I hate Americans, it just feels a bit try-hardy, as though the poster has been watching too much US-based TV and is trying to imitate them.

I wonder what makes the dam break , so to speak? You'd see expressions like 'that sucks' or ' I'm rooting for you' in comics or hear them in children's TV shows way back in the 60s and 70s. But nobody would dream of using them on this side of the Atlantic. Now it only takes months for some American neologism to be current in Europe.

I agree with other posters that many American / Canadian usages are older forms of English. This is true of Canadian French too.
Incidentally , I use 'can I get?' I picked it up from Scottish flatmates in the 80s though.

I was questioned the other day. She said I used a strange mix of sounding both American and from the UK.

I've been asked this before and I think it's to do with being ND. The way I speak can have a weird mix of cultures too, I'm a sponge if I spend any time somewhere.

The reasons aren't always nefarious as to why someone sounds unexpected in the way they type...but I can understand why people are suspicious.

MN has been inundated with Reddit users and bots in the last couple of years. They detail things with their agendas and we have loads more "creative writing" being done by OP's.

It's not nice being questioned, but I understand the sentiment of wanting to keep MN true to the core of what it has always been. I've watched it change over the last 10 years and it is sad.

Saying British English is such an American thing to say 😉🤣

I have no issue with people holding onto and defending English as it is spoken and spelt in Britain and Ireland. I have 3 teenage daughters and due to social media and American centric apps such as tic toc they are actually getting mixed up with how we spell words such as colour and they sound ever so slightly American when they speak. It is important to pull back from this before American English becomes the accepted norm.

Yes, but what if it is an American person posting? Or someone brought up in the US? Are they not allowed to use the words that come naturally to them just because this site was launched in the UK?

It is a phenomenon called “uncanny valley” where slight changes and differences stand out and annoy people more than large changes. It’s a trait we have from the days where we used to give Neanderthals the side eye. So American English looks almost like ours but is slightly different and therefore suspicious to our animal brains like a Neanderthal coming to steal our children