"Separated by a common language"? Tabloid claims British English invading America

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wfgodot

wfgodot

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Not sure this is exactly correct (translation: "This is bollocks") but an interesting try nevertheless.

Brilliant, it's spot on: How the British language has invaded America (Daily Mail)
They say America and Britain are two nations separated by one common language but linguistically the transatlantic allies are increasingly starting to borrow colloquialisms from each other.

One U.S. language watchdog, Ben Yagoda, is on a quest to track the British language invasion into the vernacular of the former colonies, pointing out the use of Britishisms like 'brilliant,' 'sport' and 'carry-on' in everyday use.

And imitation is indeed the highest form of flattery.
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Mail also provides a "translation" list they took from elsewhere:
TOP BRITISHISMS HEARD IN THE U.S.
Barman: bartender
Bent: dishonest
Bespoke: custom-made
Bit: part
Chat up: to hit on
Cheeky: saucy
Cheers: thanks
*advertiser censored*-up: screw-up
Daft: stupid
Da: father
Do the washing up: wash the dishes
Effing: fricking
Faff: to fuss
Fancy: to like
Full stop: a period at the end of a sentence
Ginger: red hair
Go missing: disappear
Gobsmacked: flabbergasted
Journo: journalist
Keen on/keen to: to like or be eager to do something
Kerfuffle: commotion
Loo: bathroom
Minder: one who looks after something
Move house: to move
Nutter: crazy person
On holiday: on vacation
One-off: something that only happens once
Posh: fancy
Run-up: lead-up
Sacked: fired
Snog: to make out
Sell-by-date: expiration date
Spot-on: perfect
Tick: check a box
Top up: fill to the top
Trainers: sneakers
(Source: britishisms.wordpress.com/list-of-entries/)
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more at the link

So....any U.S.-ers use any of these? Heard any used here?

I'm a hopeless anglophile, I have spent untold years reading British literature, but one of the only phrases I've used at times (somewhat self-consciously) is the rather archaic "bang to rights" (not listed above): "They've got him bang to rights," i.e., hook, line and sinker; nailed with the goods; no defense for this crime (etc.). Oh, also, calling someone a "daft bugger" is pretty irresistable too. I've heard people use "gobsmacked," but that feels like stealing. But a "nosy parker" translates in any language. Let's see...."effing," have used that not knowing it was specifically Brit English. Bet there are others on the list which fall in that category.
 
Interesting but probably a bit of a stretch. See how I used "bit"? LOL

Words that I have commonly used all my 50 American years of life or have heard others commonly use and a few that I only use/hear occasionally (and meaning the same as the British versions):

Bit - "Hang on a sec, I'll be done in a bit."
Cheeky - "He's a cheeky little bas****."
Daft- "Don't be daft, of course I want some chocolate!"
Effing - very common - "That idea is so effing stupid."
Fancy - this is pretty old-fashioned. "If you fancy that car then why don't you buy one?"
Posh - also old-fashioned. "We stayed at a posh hotel."
Sacked - a little old-fashioned.
Spot-on - "His speech was spot-on."
Gobsmacked, Tick and Bent (very infrequently).

Ginger - isn't that a Conon O'Brien thing?
Top-up - one of the pay by minute cell phone companies uses this expression to mean "add money to your account so it's fully funded again"

"Trainers" always cracks me up because I imagine a child's potty training pants, not shoes.

I don't think anyone would say "do the washing up" to mean dish washing because we already use "wash up" to mean clean yourself up (hands, face) - "Let me wash up and I'll be right over." Same thing with "move house" because we just say "we're moving", no further explanation of 'house' necessary.

I also thought that Cheers meant goodbye. :D

Some of those words/phrases on the list are obvious slang and maybe some of the younger people are using them and I have a feeling that people Simon Cowel from American Idol has something to do with it.
 
i have been married to a Brit for 10 years and his language hasnt rubbed off on me LOL some of my redneck words have rubbed off on him, though!

we maintain our accents just fine, and still find some words/phrases that need explanation.

oh wait. i did get "lady-bits" from him!
 
Looking over list again.....I've used kerfuffle for a hundred years; didn't know it was a British usage......nutter, yes, great word......am never going to call my sneaks "trainers"....."mustn't grumble" is an unlisted favorite (or should I say, "favourite").....another is the construction "I am sat in front of the computer," product of way too much Brit lit reading..... "minder" is useful ("Don't tell me Ms. Lohan is out without her minder!"). "Minger" is a good one, whereas "minge," well, er, (cough-cough).
 
One on the list I picked up from my parrot: "Bloody hell." Don't know where she got it, but I've since learned it from her. MayraMM want a cracker?
 
MayraMM said:
One on the list I picked up from my parrot: "Bloody hell." Don't know where she got it, but I've since learned it from her. MayraMM want a cracker?
Click to expand...

i also got Bloody 'ell and knackered (wore out/tired)
he got Ya'll which almost makes me wet my britches when he says it LOL
 
"Trainspotter" is a handy word, even (or especially) when used apart from its original meaning.
 
And now Guardian's gotten into the act with an article penned by a Yank:

Britishisms in American English? Brilliant!
The British are coming! The British are coming! For decades, you British have been kvetching (or as you might say, "whingeing") about the way we Yanks have been spritzing our two cents plain ("sparkling water" to you) American argot into the limpid, lambent loveliness of the Queen's English.

And though I generally try not to be "chippy" about the widely held view that my countrymen and women are bunch of rubes and yahoos – on display most recently in Downton Abbey, where Shirley MacLaine's caricature of a rich American finally drove me out of the room with annoyance – whenever I am asked to assent to the proposition that American influence is driving the English language to hell in a handbasket, my response is: get over it!

Well, that's the polite version. I mean first of all, when did the British need any help from anyone else with being vulgar? Ever heard of Geoffrey Chaucer? And second of all, just as I hope we are properly grateful for the immense linguistic riches bequeathed to us by Shakespeare and the committeemen who wrote the King James Bible (and no, I'm not being ironic. Americans don't do irony – or so my children tell me), so you ought to thank us for the swell examples of colloquial communication found in Hollywood films like His Girl Friday or Bringing Up Baby. I mean what's not to like?
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the rest at the link above

I do like and use "whingeing" also.
 
Bent meaning "dishonest" appears in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE by Tennessee Williams in 1947. Or rather it's antonym appears: Mitch to Blanche, "I don't mind you being older than I thought, but I was foolish enough to think you was straight." (Mitch means "as modest as you act". He has found out Blanche has a reputation for being promiscuous.)

"Bent" and "straight" meant dishonest and honest in the U.S. in the 1940s; you can also hear the words in film noir of the period from Hollywood. Later, the same words came to mean *advertiser censored*- and heterosexual.

I'm not sure the author is describing a new process here, though no doubt the ease of modern communications has sped up the exchange of words.

CORRECTION: after more reflection and a little research, I think I'm wrong about Mitch in STREETCAR. He would use "crooked" as the opposite of "straight", not "bent."
 
Nova said:
Bent meaning "dishonest" appears in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE by Tennessee Williams in 1947. Or rather it's antonym appears: Mitch to Blanche, "I don't mind you being older than I thought, but I was foolish enough to think you was straight." (Mitch means "as modest as you act". He has found out Blanche has a reputation for being promiscuous.)

"Bent" and "straight" meant dishonest and honest in the U.S. in the 1940s; you can also hear the words in film noir of the period from Hollywood. Later, the same words came to mean *advertiser censored*- and heterosexual.

I'm not sure the author is describing a new process here, though no doubt the ease of modern communications has sped up the exchange of words.
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Same in England re: the homosexual meaning*; that was an earlier usage than the other two: bent meaning crooked and bent meaning illegal or stolen, as in "bent goods."

ETA
I'm wrong about the timeline of the "bent"s (see below).

*"bent as a nine bob note" being one of the examples given; here, I've heard "queer as a three dollar bill"
 
wfgodot said:
Same in England re: the homosexual meaning*; that was an earlier usage than the other two: bent meaning crooked and bent meaning illegal or stolen, as in "bent goods."

*"bent as a nine bob note" being one of the examples given; here, I've heard "queer as a three dollar bill"
Click to expand...

I don't think the sexual orientation meaning was earlier, godot. That's a pretty recent concept. I believe (but don't have time to reread the entire play) that "bent" meaning "dishonest" appears in John Gay's THE BEGGAR'S OPERA, written in the early 1700s. The idea and word "homosexual" weren't coined until the late 1800s.

Also, "fancy" meaning "to like" appears in OKLAHOMA! in 1943 (and every cowboy movie ever made), so I don't know how that qualifies as a "Britishism" 70 years later. Granted it has remained more common in British English and probably crossed back over, but the word has a long history on this side of the pond.

I think I'm wrong about STREETCAR, however, and I'll correct my post above. Mitch would have used "crooked" as the opposite of straight, not "bent".
 
P.S. to wfgodot: Yes, "queer as a three-dollar bill" was quite common in the 1950s and 1960s to mean homosexual.
 
Nova said:
I don't think the sexual orientation meaning was earlier, godot. That's a pretty recent concept. I believe (but don't have time to reread the entire play) that "bent" meaning "dishonest" appears in John Gay's THE BEGGAR'S OPERA, written in the early 1700s. The idea and word "homosexual" weren't coined until the late 1800s.

Also, "fancy" meaning "to like" appears in OKLAHOMA! in 1943 (and every cowboy movie ever made), so I don't know how that qualifies as a "Britishism" 70 years later. Granted it has remained more common in British English and probably crossed back over, but the word has a long history on this side of the pond.

I think I'm wrong about STREETCAR, however, and I'll correct my post above. Mitch would have used "crooked" as the opposite of straight, not "bent".
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You're right. I read the thing wrong. Mid-1900s to mean gay, early 1900s for the other two.

http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/b.htm
 
"Dodgy boat, well-painted" is cockney for an older lady wearing a lot of make-up!
 
Speaking of cockney, the ORIGINAL usage - back before "within the sound of Bow bells," meant someone living in suburban London. A host of Romantic poets - including Keats and Hunt - were said - dismissively - by the establishment critics of the time, to be "cockneys."

Here're a couple of cockney rhyming slang sites:

http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/

http://www.thornton-cleveleys.co.uk/cockney.htm

I have used "I don't Adam and Eve it" a time or two.
 
Marie, I never heard "ginger" to mean redhead until I became a fan of Graham Norton on BBC America. I think Conan got it from Norton and it IS a genuine "Britishism" making its way west across the Atlantic.

Either that or Irish-American families such as the O'Briens have been using it in the U.S. for decades and we non-Irish simply didn't notice.
 
Nova said:
Marie, I never heard "ginger" to mean redhead until I became a fan of Graham Norton on BBC America. I think Conan got it from Norton and it IS a genuine "Britishism" making its way west across the Atlantic.

Either that or Irish-American families such as the O'Briens have been using it in the U.S. for decades and we non-Irish simply didn't notice.
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I've heard the diminutive form - "ginge" - used dismissively, which I suspect betrays an anti-Irish bias.
 
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