The worst Americanism I ever heard was when someone was talking about their home being burglarised.Or just as bad, on that front, is the American (and fake American/American wannabes - particularly poshos in the City) use of adjectives for adverbs, so with your example "I'm real hungry" rather than "really".
Has anyone mentioned the idiotic usage of "Can I get (usually pronounced "ged")?" by similar twats - usually when ordering some fake American poncey sandwich involving smoked salmon and avocados, which is always "on" a certain type of bread (usually "rye" whatever that is), when surely a sandwich filling is "in" bread or just a "ham" or "chicken sandwich" for most normal people.
American tautology grinds me too, e.g. "taxi cab", "eye glass", "neck tie", or when referring to places always naming the country, even though it is blatantly obvious from the context that "London (is in) England" or "Paris France".
Super as a substitute for really. As in I'm super hungry or that's super great. Americanism that's being used more and more.
I get a lot of emails which mention "reaching out" - when "contacting" would have been quite sufficient and far less irritating. Also, any talk of a "journey" when no one has physically travelled anywhere.
Often rendered as "Er, basically..." as per Dave Spart.Not sure if been mentioned,but add to previous word using “So”,how about the use of the word “Basically “
I've O's in Lit and Lang."Lit" originally used by American rappers to explain how lively an event is and has now crossed over to English youngsters.
"You love to see it" really winds me up for some reason, it seems to have evolved from twitter which I don't even bother using.
I first heard this stupid term about 3/4 years ago when dealing with a contact in the US, so presume it originates there, like a lot of wanky terms. And, as with most, it soon gets picked up by clueless impressionable American wannabes - hear it used over here quite often now. My instinct as a principled Brit is to avoid and resist such Americanisms at all costs and continue to use proper English in response no matter how much I am deluged with such annoying jargon and catch-phrases.
There is little point in bemoaning the fact that the English language now belongs to America and those who learn American English worldwide. We are as Portugal is to Brazil.
It is also worth noting that much of the vile use to which our language is put originates in the world of business and we can't blame the US for all of that. Business management speak is the culprit here but why, oh why are so many so eager to embrace it. It doesn't make you sound cool, David Brent at best.
I have less argument with the hybrid language spoken by the young. It's the product of new people and new peoples and its destination is unclear. It's quite funny sometimes.
Even worse for me is when people say their house has been robbed.......no it hasn't, it's been burgled, people get robbed, buildings get burgled.The worst Americanism I ever heard was when someone was talking about their home being burglarised.
PS surely you'd always prefer your sandwich to be made of sourdough?
Or asking the cashier “can I get a ...” implying they want to jump over the counter and get something themselves.The worst Americanism I ever heard was when someone was talking about their home being burglarised.
PS surely you'd always prefer your sandwich to be made of sourdough?
Sorry Jokerman, you've completely lost me there. Never heard of what you are talking about, whatever that is. Too complicated for me. Can you give me a Noddy version?'splaining as in mansplaining, tansplaining (British people talking about Irish history), etc.
It's a hypocritical piece of rhetorical repression designed to close down discussion by de-legitimizing the identity of the target.
Yes. Good point. In the same league as the robbed/burgled one.Fucking hat it when people use the word ‘barter’ when they actually mean ‘haggle’.