Mac 'n' cheese...

[PleaseAskSomeoneWhoGivesAFuck]

Another American import that makes me want to bleach my eyes and ears and permanently damage those who use it, especially on chain pub and restaurant menus
I'm pissed. Well, I will be once I open the wine.
Pissed off as that's another import that creates a different scenario to that intended!

I think the issue is that this isn’t just happening in American media but is steadily creeping in here.
Plus you are in Pedants’ Corner where we can be as pedantic as we like - so you can bore off with your “xenophobia” accusations…
I completely concur with your mac’n’cheese irritation OP (which you may have guessed!)

“Smashed potatoes” are double-fried roast potatoes and very tasty they are, too!
www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/crispy_smashed_potatoes_70636

Forsooth, 'tis withering and leaves one vexed when our bountiful verbalises are dismembered such.
May we speak with an equitable formality through time, ne'er erring from our righteous path.

Plus you are in Pedants’ Corner

Exactly. At the risk of sounding like the thread police, it used to be a place where people who love language or needed advice on grammar and usage would talk, not a place to deride and mock other cultures.

I went to the pictures on Saturday.

It's whatever its users want it to be and wish to discuss. I don't see any 'mocking' of other cultures, more a regret that some British language, words, and phrases are in danger of being lost. It's OK to be frustrated and annoyed about this and want to talk about it.

I will call it mac and cheese the same day l call it spaghetti and bolognaise.

When hell freezes over!

I have two children, both at secondary school, and consequently spend a lot of my time saying, "we are not American, please stop using that word/phrase". 🤦🏼‍♀️🤣

As this is Pedants' corner, let me point out that linguistically, this is an odd analogy (also as to the person who attempted to make the same point with "steak Diane.") In both cases, the modifiers Diane and Bolognese, refer to a person or place after which the dish is named. The name "macaroni and cheese" or "mac and cheese" refers to the ingredients. There is a linguistic difference; the name is not equivalent to steak Diane or spaghetti Bolognese.

I was always saying "We're not American" when any of my pupils came out with such gems as diaper, butt, movies and recess.

My teenage niece calls Jammie Dodgers bloody cookies!!!!! She also says Mac 'n' Cheese. I can't bear to call it that and refer to it by its full and proper name. I'm waiting for that other abomination cauliflower cheese to be abbreviated. I like cheese sauce and I also like cauliflower but together bleugh.

Aarrgggh!! I feel your pain
Thoughts and prayers

What's your view of "watching" instead of "looking after" or "babysitting"? My daughter asked me to watch my grandson and I always want to say "why,? What's he doing?"

Could that be a UK regional thing though?

I don't know. I thought it was an American import

NE Scotland here and we say watching the children.
We also say somebody's "getting" a baby rather than "having"

And don’t forget clapping the dog.

I don't really know.

I think that's what I was thinking of.

No idea what clapping the dog means.

Clapping the dog is giving them a pat.

I lived in NE Scotland for many years and MIL is from Fife, so I think I’ve absorbed a fair bit over the years. My sister only recently realised that ‘swithering’ (a favourite of mine) isn’t a made up word.

Clapping sounds a bit more brutal than patting.

I knew a teacher who went to work in Yorkshire. She would talk about people 'getting a baby', as if she had heard the children say it like that.

Corn starch and corn flour, whilst similar, are two separate ingredients.

In the UK cornflour is what Americans call Cornstarch. Cornflour in the US is a type of cornmeal

It's just the same really.
My sister asked her English niece if she wanted to clap her dog so she stood beside it and gave it a little round of applause!