pigletmania, you can take your face back now. These threads always start the same way. Someone has a pop at something because it's an Americanism (or they hate the way we pronounce things, or we're stupid, or we can't cook, etc, etc, blah blah blah-di-blah). And loads more people pile in.
It's been done before, a zillion times. Fine, you say you didn't intend to start an American-bashing thread. At least admit that you're being repetative and BORING.
CheerfulYank, I appreciate YOU are not offended, but please remember YOU do not have to walk out of your door every day and mingle with people who are potentially judging you and taking the piss out of you because of your nationality. It's been nearly 8 years for me and it is taking its toll. I went to a MN meetup in Manchester not long ago, and it is crushing to think any of those lovely ladies thought my accent or phrases I use are annoying. I have bent over backwards to integrate, use British spelling, slang, and pronounciation, and have generally changed so much my family back in the U.S. has trouble understanding me. But it's never enough is it?
I hear you all saying 'oh but it isn't personal', 'you're being too sensitive', etc. Yeah, probably. If this thread was a one of, definitely. But it isn't a one of, it's the same old shit that is churned out over and over.
And for the record, I've never used the fucking word 'playdate', and never heard it till I came to the UK.
Going to hide the thread now. I stopped trying to pull people up on this casual American-bashing (which has been going on waaaaay before the oil spill) a long time ago, and I should have just ignored the thread in the first place.