"Not One-Off Britishisms" (UK expressions that have taken hold in the US)

[ailsagirl]

http://britishisms.wordpress.com/

[oldironside]

1. Interesting reading...

... particularly for me as a language teacher.

Cross fertilisation from one language or one dialect to another is both unavoidable and unpredictable. The US influence on British English is well documented, but this is the first article I've seen on the other direction.

Aside from the obvious grammatical differences (an American is far less likely to use a present perfect than a Brit - Did you ever... ? rather than Have you ever... ?) it's the colloquialisms that I find most fascinating. Okay, and the swearing.

I wasn't aware that "wanker" had taken a hold in the US (no pun intended), but it's still a rare Yank who knows what bollocks means. Oh,and, for us, "Honk for Jesus!" has a totally different meaning. Now if I could only get my students to stop insulting me every time they want to emphasise "two" or "twice".

[ailsagirl]

2. I'm glad you enjoyed it

I, too, had always thought that the Brits were influenced by US English but then, there are arguments for both sides. I love idioms-- whether British or American. There's an English group I listen to and that's where I learned the phrase, "the penny dropped." I've since used it in emails and no one has ever asked what it means. Another British group had a song called, "Keep it Dark" and the title puzzled me. I didn't know what it meant-- even contextually. Then I realized that it's really no different from the American, "Don't keep me in the dark."

I've heard Americans refer to the bathroom as "the loo," and, again, people seem to know what it means. I believe Brits still say "spot" instead of "pimple."

But now I now hear Brits say "flashlight" instead of "torch," "bedspread" instead of "counterpane," and "parking lot" instead of "car park."

The lists go on and on...

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. I had no idea 'bedspread' was American in origin

And 'counterpane' would seem 19th century to me.

But the great new thesaurus feature of the OED supplies 19 alternatives. Of which the best is surely 'hap-harlot' - 'a coarse coverlet'.

[Spider Jerusalem]

4. I've seen that blog, It seems like the blogger has a chip on his shoulder.

Strikes me as the same sort of whingeing you see from some people in the UK about how the spread of "Americanisms" in British speech is a Very Bad Thing.