"Americanisms. Yinz hate'em, eh?" Topic

So apparently, a few of our contributions to world language and its usage hack you furronners off…. who knew?

link

Wait, surely that belongs on the main page……

Looks like they just need to get over themselves.

A few of those annoy me, and American English is my native tongue. Most of them, however, are teapot tempests and letter column trolls.

Those are perfectly cromulent words!

They must hate us in Canada too, then. Maybe we should just "boot" them.

French do similar rants versus Quebecois french, too.
--
Tim

You know what I don't get about the British, on the one hand They hate Us and on the other They are totally obsessed with Us.

They've forgotten all their "Britishisms" like:

lift (for elevator);
lorry (for truck, though they use truck as well, apparently);
brolly (for umbrella);
jumper (for sweater);
knickers (for underwear, or is it just ladies(?));
pavement (for sidewalk);

There are loads more…

- French do similar rants versus Quebecois french, too. -

Criss oui!!

YouTube link
33 seconds into it

What is even more humorous is the extent to which they've crept into their language as common usage and do not bother most of the folks using them. Been there, heard that.

JJ

I'm pretty sure that "yinz" is not so much an Americanism, but the responsibility of the Scotch-Irish.

Either way, the Southerners and some of the Brits seem to have an obsession with adding "r"s to words that do not have them.

According to a prof at the University of North Carolina,
'yinz' is a mid-American corruption of 'you-uns'.

'Course, I really don't know, just reporting hearsay…

Dare I link to the Chaz n' Dave song again. Yes I dare YouTube link

x42

They've forgotten all their "Britishisms" like:

brolly (for umbrella);
jumper (for sweater);
knickers (for underwear, or is it just ladies(?));

It's our language, and we'll treat it how we please.

We call umbrellas umbrellas. 'Brolly' is a colloquialism. So is 'gamp', you may need to Google that one.

'Jumper' or 'sweater' defines one's class rather. Like 'sofa/settee' and 'lounge/living room'.

At least we wear our pants under our trousers, not as a substitute for them…

I'm pretty sure that "yinz" is not so much an Americanism, but the responsibility of the Scotch-Irish.

There is no such vernacular as 'Scotch-Irish'. Scotch is a drink. There's no such thing as 'Scots-Irish' either. Have another go.

'Yin', or more specifically 'big yin' is what 'one' or 'big one' sounds like in a Glaswegian accent. See also 'Billy Connolly'

No charge has been made for this English lesson

Guilty as charged!

I do enjoy the 'quaint' use of the English language by those from the other side of the pond. Generally I can understand what they are getting at.

Scotch Irish

link

I don't care what the internetz say, try walking into a Glasgow bar on a Saturday night and calling the patrons 'Scotch'

TMP link

I hate the way the Brits Frenchify words by adding an unnecessary "u" and reversing "er."

A coupla Redneck words by Jeff Foxworthy:

Aorta: Aorta cut the grass down at the ball field. Its gittn' kinda long.

Initiate: My wife et a double cheese burger. Initiate a bag of chips (not fries by the way).

Nothing wrong with language change at all, but I have a question. Does nobody in America die any more? Everyone seems to pass. My immediate reaction on hearing it is what do they pass? The bar exam? A hail Mary? (a great Americanism) The salt? It's not US English I dislike but these wimpish euphemisms for things and corporate speak like "reach out to Kevin". Ugh.

Got to agree with Connard though. Call people Scotch in Glasgow and if you're lucky that's what they'll choose to drown you in.

Call people Scotch in Glasgow and if you're lucky that's what they'll choose to drown you in.

Scots are not Scotch or Scotch-Irish either it was a word invented by people who came to America from Ireland and who were not catholic, it meant Not Catholic.

btw while I consider myself Scotch, I am Catholic.

As to the 'yinz', I surely thought it'd be nailed straight away. Pittsburghese.

link

While not a native speaker and therefore not a 'yinzer', I spent a large amount of time in the region.

pittsburghese.com

link

A stotch catholic?

Gray Ghost – you consider yourself to be a whisky?

I have know plenty of people from Ulster and every one of them, irrespective of religion or politics, considered themselves to be Irish.

We are not talking about people who currently live in Ulster but people who immigrated from there between 1690 and 1770?
This link explains it.
link

This link explains it better, I think.

link

I'm a 'member of the Irish diaspora' myself. It's nothing to be ashamed of.

Related to the "yinz", I grew up in Southern Indiana with "you'uns," especially on my mother's side of the family (Scots-Irish).

Didn't I bring this up last week?

Try Californisms:

Bitchen,Dude,Gnarly,Hectic,Killer,Like,Mondo,Nug,Radical,
Stoney,Tubed,Vegging……

I need to add an americanism, not that I hate it, I actually just giggle every time

saying "poof' when you leave a chat room.

The other is fanny, as m,entioned in the link. John de Lancie gives a great story about being in a convention in either Australia or England 9I can't remember which) where he said that people had been sitting for so long they should get up and rub their fanny's. Brought the house down.

The Scots, like the welsh, aren't selts either.

Yo! BBC!
Get fixed!
And yes, I am from New Jersey (we dont say "Joisey" btw).

I don't mind colourful (the 'u's for Rob at Great Hall games!)terminology, useful abbreviations, or just wacky alternative forms of the language. It's a living thing, and can run high or low as it needs to.

I hate corporate-speak.

"Hospitalize."

"Incentivize."

And I want to punch out whosever gave us "Wellness."

"And yes, I am from New Jersey (we dont say "Joisey" btw)."

Yes, you do. And you blow-dry your hair while driving.

Try Californisms:

Bitchen,Dude,Gnarly,Hectic,Killer,Like,Mondo,Nug,Radical,
Stoney,Tubed,Vegging……

Mostly surferisms, really (with a side order of skiers, skateboarders, and snow boarders). "Killer" has migrated to the software community, and "vegging" still floats around larger circles, but the rest (aside from using "like" as punctuation) are used by a fairly small group.

adding an unnecessary "u" and reversing "er."

Don't blame us for your inability to spell.

pavement (for sidewalk);

We don't need to be told where to find it. One assumes if you say 'pavement' to a Columbine they blunder around in the middle of the traffic, as no one has said it is at the side. Likewise in the States they go 'horse back riding', where as everybody else is able to work out where to sit from the phrase 'horseriding'.

Incidentally – bathrooms have baths in them. I doubt restaurents have this facility.

link

Most of the speech forms hated are actually perfectly legitimate English. And most 'Americanisms' are actually British, with some even being in the King James bible!

Good that will really them off.

Ah Beng wrote:
Jul 20th 2011 5:52 GMT

I read that column in the BBC online last week. The overwhelming feeling I got from it was of condescension – as in, American English is completely inferior to British English… whatever that means. I find it completely acceptable to celebrate one's own regional dialect, but to presume that your own is superior is going to bring you nothing but disdain anywhere else.

I can just imagine the reaction if the BBC writer had instead replaced American English with Glaswegian English or Irish English and written with the same tone. Just see how people in the UK feel then?

A slight elaboration to The Gray Ghost's point on Scotch-Irish self identification: About half the early Irish immigrants to the US were from Ulster. Most were Protestant and settled the South, Appalachia, and the West. They prospered in the US. When the later Catholic Irish arrived in the 19th century, the longtime Irish residents began referring to themselves as Scotch-Irish.

There was a bit more than just anti-Catholic flavor to this distinction. It was also intended to separate the prosperous early colonial descendants from the impoverished recent arrivals.

What cracks me up are all the Americanisms that I find perfectly normal that the Limeys hate.

For whatever reason Amrican-English seems to have retained a lot of phraseology that we've simply discarded.

I've been watching the first season of Justified recently. Assuming it's representation of Kentucky speech is accurate, there's a few phrases there which are familiar to me – coming as I do from rural East Anglia.

The most memorable being 'keeping company with' as a euphemism…

I'm guessing those people in London and other pollution ridden hellholes don't talk like that any more.