To ask where this stupid phrase has come from?

[Bluesheep8]

"Swap out"
Why the addition of the word 'out' ?
I was in a restaurant last week and heard someone say "can I swap out the chips for new potatoes?"
The word swap says all that's needed surely? It just makes no sense

spelt/spelled
dreamt/dreamed
learnt/learned etc

Both correct, the irregular ones will probably die out, and indeed already are doing so. All linguistic verbal neologisms are regular. (It's definitely "texted" and not "text" for example) Both forms have been around since about the 15th century- Shakespeare uses both.

"Not among most Britons, I've never heard it though I don't watch wall to wall US shreiking sit coms"

Wall-to-wall whatting whats?

Gotta love Muphry.

Arghhhh! I hadn't noticed that one creeping in, but now you have said it, it's everywhere!

@shallIswim

My husband is Cornish and you my pedantic English ears gets a lot of prepositions muddled up. He switches 'out' a light for example. Errr no you switch it off!

That's like Americans saying "Fill out this form"

I'm all "No! You fill it IN!'

And here in Australia where most toilets have a push button instead of a handle or chain, MIL says "Push the button" instead of flush the chain.

@FortunesFave

Pockets I'm almost 50 and have never spelled it "swop". Not once! I'm English too.

Fowler's Modern English Usage considers 'swop' the dominant form in BrE throughout the 20th century. Sorry to hear it passed you by.

@FortunesFave

Depends.

"fill in"= the relevant bits
"fill out"= all of it.

Can we just add a MN sticky note entitled: "Whatever it is, let's blame the Americans" That'll cover the majority of the unnecessary rants here.

Why can't we blame the Australians or the Canadians for a change? Oh wait...

@FortunesFave

And here in Australia where most toilets have a push button instead of a handle or chain, MIL says "Push the button" instead of flush the chain.

It's been a long time since I've seen a toilet with a chain tbf. I was probably about 6 and the loos were outside ones. I think we said "pull the chain" and "flush" started to be used when the push-button toilets became the standard. Flush the toilet though, not flush the chain.

Pockets "swop" also passed the BBC by since they spelled Multicoloured Swap Shop...like that. And not "Swop Shop"

So I'm in good company.

@Stath

Same with ‘switch up’

They seem to be of the same ilk as the absolute bugbear ‘off of’

Yes! Oh so much yes!

I've told my students I'll fail them if they write this (only slightly joking)

"Come along and join us" is one of the most redundant phrases I've heard since moving to the UK. My church used to write this all the time in their newsletter and it used to drive me mad.

Doesn't help when Tesco says "every little helps".

No! The phrase is "every little thing helps"!

Little is an adjective not a noun and I wish they'd stop using it as one.

Geamhradh Gah, I meant pull the chain not flush the chain!

@SunnyMustard

"Come along and join us" is one of the most redundant phrases I've heard since moving to the UK. My church used to write this all the time in their newsletter and it used to drive me mad.

Lol why? It seems pretty inoffensive to me!

@SmudgeButt

Doesn't help when Tesco says "every little helps".

No! The phrase is "every little thing helps"!

Little is an adjective not a noun and I wish they'd stop using it as one.

Really? I've only heard "Every little helps" as in...add a bit to the mix.

A little bit...some more... "Every little helps"

@worriedstar

another one is things being "curated"....e.g. putting ornaments on a mantel piece, organising your wardrobe etc

Oh yes. I strongly dislike this. Curating isn’t arranging some books and a vase on a shelf.

There is no "slow creep" of Americanisms into British English- it's actually the other way round. British English is the one that has evolved and been modified since the first settlers went over (taking with them the standard English in use at the time) American English usage is far nearer the original English used back then than the British English in use today. Unfortunately, that doesn't sit well with the anti-American sentiment on MN and elsewhere.

I’ve heard this before but why is this the case? I’d have thought that language evolution would happen at a similar speed, if you start off with the same language. So while they might evolve differently, why would English in America evolve less? Is American English actually closer to English at the time, how is this measured?

@HerBigChance

'Station stop' is another when travelling on public transport.

It's a station, or it's a stop. It's not both.

I think that is to distinguish it from the many unscheduled stops unreliable trains make in the middle of nowhere! I guess they could say the next scheduled stop is Liverpool Lime St rather than the next station stop.

I don't actually mind "swap out" but "reach out" is really irritating.

"little" is an adjective, an adverb and a noun.
"Every little helps" uses it as a noun and it's correct.

Why can't we blame the Australians or the Canadians for a change? Oh wait...

The Australians got blamed plenty when that upwards inflection thing started in the noughties as a result of the Neighbours/Home And Away effect.

And "needs sorted" is Scottish, NI and Pittsburgh English

That doesn’t make it any less annoying. It’s still butchered English.

@Rosscameasdoody

American I think. I’ve heard the term ‘swap out’ used for things like changing batteries or changing a brand of something - I don’t think it’s meant as terminology for actually swapping things. I tend to avoid phrases like this as some of the Americanisation of the English language really annoys me. ‘Normality’ becomes ‘normalcy’ - that sort of thing. Also spelling differences - taking the U out of OU words like colour, odour and son on. Sorry - that was a bit of a rant !!

As regards the differences between English and American spellings, there was an American lexicographer, Noah Webster, who in the early 19th century, worked to simplify the spelling of English words. So for example, he dropped the 'u' from words that ended in 'our', turned 'theatre' into 'theater'. The spellings he promoted were already accepted alternate spellings. Some of it was influenced by where the words had come from, eg he decided to revert to Latin suffixes for words of Latin origin. Quite a lot of his suggestions never took off, eg 'women' to 'wimmen'. So it's not a case of those dumb Americans, it was a project.

@SunnyMustard

"Come along and join us" is one of the most redundant phrases I've heard since moving to the UK. My church used to write this all the time in their newsletter and it used to drive me mad.

It scans better. 'Come along and' creates two lively little trochees before the final spondaic foot puts the emphasis on 'join us'. 'Come and join us' stomps along in comparison.

@GiantCheeseMonster

“Gifted” is my bugbear. Everything is “gifted” to someone these days. Nobody ever gets given anything any more.

Yes I hate this too. You gift land and give everything else.