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

The one I really dislike seeing at work is "offer up". What's wrong with just "offer"? We are talking about a revised commercial proposal here, not a sacrificial goat

Seeing "swap" with an o rather than an a makes me cringe.

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.

Oh yes, sorry I forgot. Those Founding Fathers were all over it with their 'you go girl', you got this' and their 'I'll get my people to reach out to your people.'

@SickAndTiredAgain

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?

Measured by corpus linguistics studies (literally observing the frequency of language "items") I don't know why it happened- you'd need a historic/forensic linguist for that, but at a guess, Britain is nearer geographically to other countries (and certainly socially was at the time) and was in a phase of expansion. America as we know it was being born. Colonialism went outwards and brought back words which modified language, it probably didn't happen at that time, at that rate at least in America. Language evolves slowly.

I don't know though, as I said, just a musing.

Going to the hospital Vs going to hospital (I don’t like the former; it sounds childish)
When I was a kid (80s), people would talk American to try to sound cool so I find it cringey and flash, these extra prepositions.
My DD says “on the weekend”. No!!! AT THE WEEKEND

@berlinbabylon

No, the original verb "gift" was used, from about the 16th century onwards, to mean "give something freely" It then fell out of use but is now becoming more widespread again.

My main issue with 'can I get' is not that it should be 'can I have' but rather 'may I have'.

@Siameasy

Going to the hospital Vs going to hospital (I don’t like the former; it sounds childish) When I was a kid (80s), people would talk American to try to sound cool so I find it cringey and flash, these extra prepositions. My DD says “on the weekend”. No!!! AT THE WEEKEND

To hospital- the sense is you are going to have some sort of treatment in there. To the hospital- more generic sense, and your focus is on the building itself.

Think about school- it's the same.
My son is at school- he's not here, he's somewhere else, he's doing an activity, presumably academic, in that place.
My son is at the school- St.Mary's schools next to Tesco. He's gone to collect his sister. Etc.

@NashvilleQueen

My main issue with 'can I get' is not that it should be 'can I have' but rather 'may I have'.

Can Could May Might

In order of formality. May/might considered to be pretty archaic these days.

@YouJustFoldItIn

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.

Oh yes, sorry I forgot. Those Founding Fathers were all over it with their 'you go girl', you got this' and their 'I'll get my people to reach out to your people.'

Your examples aren't Americanisms. You've actually got 3 different linguistic usages there You go girl- neologism You got this- see pp about past simple/present perfect I'll get my people- multi-word verb, been around 300-400 years.

the weirdest use of 'curated' I've seen recently is to describe a random selection of earrings worn together
www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/curated-ear-trend

Your examples aren't Americanisms. You've actually got 3 different linguistic usages there
You go girl- neologism

Surely something being a neologism doesn’t preclude it also being an Americanism?

@hotmeatymilk

Waiting on.

Yes! I hate the use of waiting on instead of waiting for

I don't like "done", as in "We've done Machu Picchu". Done what to it? Suggests you know everything there is to know about the subject, when in fact you've most likely just taken the tour. However, it's everywhere; even my Dad says it. The same person who used to pull me up on "fine", as in:

Dad: would you like some more potatoes?
Me: I'm fine, thanks
Dad: I'm glad you're fine, but would you like some more potatoes?

And so it goes on...

There was an awful whiny pop song a few years back where some wet-sounding young man was snivelling, "Must I always be waiting, waiting on you?"

I imagined her always inspecting the cutlery and telling him, "Garçon! This is not clean! Bring me a new fork, and make it snappy!"

@SickAndTiredAgain

Your examples aren't Americanisms. You've actually got 3 different linguistic usages there You go girl- neologism

Surely something being a neologism doesn’t preclude it also being an Americanism?

No, of course not. But the poster was insistent that the three (perfectly correct) usages that she doesn't like are Americanisms. They aren't.

Your examples aren't Americanisms. You've actually got 3 different linguistic usages there
You go girl- neologism
You got this- see pp about past simple/present perfect
I'll get my people- multi-word verb, been around 300-400 years.

The phrases ARE Americanisms. All of them are commonly heard used in popular British culture now, but they originated in America and transported via the mediums of TV and the internet.

But the poster was insistent that the three (perfectly correct) usages that she doesn't like are Americanisms. They aren't.

No is wasn't.

@YouJustFoldItIn

But the poster was insistent that the three (perfectly correct) usages that she doesn't like are Americanisms. They aren't.

No is wasn't.

Were you talking about some other country's founding fathers?

@Ifailed

A swap file is used to create extra virtual memory on a hard disk. Memory in this context is the faster RAM which programs use to store themselves and their data when running. When RAM starts to fill up, the operating system will swap -out the least used parts of RAM to the relatively slower hard drive.

Fuck knows what that has to do with swapping chips for new potatoes.

Micro chip probably

@YouJustFoldItIn

*Your examples aren't Americanisms. You've actually got 3 different linguistic usages there You go girl- neologism You got this- see pp about past simple/present perfect I'll get my people- multi-word verb, been around 300-400 years.*

The phrases ARE Americanisms. All of them are commonly heard used in popular British culture now, but they originated in America and transported via the mediums of TV and the internet.

Their origin isn't America.

Where is it then?

Very unique is just as bad.

@StormOfSekhmet

I have also heard 'Bleeding out', it's just bleeding!! It annoys me too, this adding 'out ' to things.

It's a thing.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/dictionary.cambridge.org/amp/english/bleed-out

And it has a different meaning from simply bleeding.

OMG.. I work in IT and I say swap out all the time and I have no idea why (and to be honest I never thought about it till you post this thread)

I'll swap out a hard drive, memory etc.. I don't use it in any other part of my life

So thanks @Bluesheep8 I will be questioning myself every time I say it now

@YouJustFoldItIn

Where is it then?

Which one? Reach out comes from old Norse. My people (used to mean "staff/colleagues etc) used 300+ times in Shakespeare. "You go girl"- I don't know, as I said, I'm not a historic/forensic linguist and the phrase itself is grammatically too generic as its base meaning has actually been elided. "You go (and keep doing what you're doing)" "You go (on like that, and you'll win) Etc.