Americanisms

To "wait on" instead of "wait for" when you're not a waiter - once read a friend's comment about being in a station waiting on a train. Yes, to "wait on" also means to be a waiter, but writers from Chaucer to Milton to George Eliot used "to wait on" in various senses including "to observe", "to lie in wait for", "to await" and more.

He does realise that Chaucer and Milton were both dead centuries before American independence, and that literary use of language can be very different from the normal spoken language, right?
 
At the very mininum one of the three people in front of you will begin their order with "Can I get....." or "I'll take...." (as opposed to "I'd Like...." or "Please may I have......")
It's likely my Americanism shining thru but I really don't understand the problem Brits are supposedly having with this (at least in 21st century). Languages surely evolve, we no longer taketh or seeketh, and "Can I get" seems like a perfectly acceptable way of speaking in casual situation. Of course I use it often in coffee shops, bars, stores, etc, but when I am at say a restaurant or in a setting where more formal/polite use of language is called for, I would never, ever say "Can I get..." but always "May I have", "I'd like". I also see other people, i.e. Americans, in similar situations doing much the same, actually "I'd like" is fairly common even in everyday situations. Of course there are simpletons everywhere but as a general rule, that's my experience anyhow.

Although it may well be, that in the USofA, we hardly ever have time/chance for more formal settings in everyday lives, we've never any time, nor cultural history to speak of, nor a Queen to bow to, so "Can I get..." it is - most of the time.
 
Sure, language evolves and I'm all for that. The richness and constant evolution of the English language gives me pleasure virtually every day and I am humbled to have it as my native tongue and to have had an education that allows me to exploit its wealth of possibilities.

That said I can assure you that the people of whom I speak are doing it purely as a douchey affectation in an effort to seem cool and 'Murican, almost as if being British isn't enough and they need to appear better.

I love the States, and if there were a way I could live and work there then trust me I would be there in a heartbeat. But I would never pretend or affect to be an American.
 
There is one particular Americanism that I can't seem to acknowledge.

Biscuits.

When I hear the word biscuit, I immediately think of cookies...and so does the rest of the world. It seem that only North Americans call their biscuits cookies.
 
What do the UKers call biscuts? I have always wondered this.
 
What do the UKers call biscuts? I have always wondered this.

Scones, I think.

The last time I was over there, I was going to make sausage gravy over biscuits for breakfast...and no one had 'biscuits' Scones were the closest thing I could find.
 
We don't American biscuits. The closest equivalent we have are scones. :D
 
There is one particular Americanism that I can't seem to acknowledge.

Biscuits.

When I hear the word biscuit, I immediately think of cookies...and so does the rest of the world. It seem that only North Americans call their biscuits cookies.

Etymology:
Its name derives from the Dutch word koekje or (informal) koekie which means little cake, and arrived in the English language through the Dutch in North America.
 
Whereas the word biscuit is French. Probably entered the US language in its current form from the French speaking parts of the South.
 
He does realise that Chaucer and Milton were both dead centuries before American independence, and that literary use of language can be very different from the normal spoken language, right?

He is arguing that many "Americanisms" are in fact older "Britishisms" that the British have since given up or changed. One example is the word "Fall". In Britain it was eventually replaced entirely with "Autumn" but in North America the older version stuck around.
 
Another word the French gave us. Along with spring(time) from printemps, yet summer and winter we got from Germany. :dunno:
 
There is one particular Americanism that I can't seem to acknowledge.

Biscuits.

When I hear the word biscuit, I immediately think of cookies...and so does the rest of the world. It seem that only North Americans call their biscuits cookies.

We use biscuit, but it refers to a particular type of small round bread...
 
Ye gods, that article was painful. It makes my blood boil and I lose all control over myself as I enter into a primal rage whenever I hear someone say "Later." Is not "goodbye" good enough anymore?! What has this world come to!

I love the States, and if there were a way I could live and work there then trust me I would be there in a heartbeat.

Why? :|
 
Because of all the s**t we get here. I am with MWF.

If I were Irish I could get in no trouble btw, but as only my mum was I do not qualify - not diverse enough.
 
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Well there is always Kanukia.
 
Nope, they do not let us in either without a degree and a sponsorship. Oh and apart from the far West its too cold in winter. Plus the place is full of 'loonie' (sic) French speaking people who appear to not want to be in the country any how.
 
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He is arguing that many "Americanisms" are in fact older "Britishisms" that the British have since given up or changed.
Yes, that was my point. As someone else here said "Languages surely evolve". Ours has and yous hasn't, hence those things are now "Americanisms", definitions of which include:
A word or phrase peculiar to or originating from the US.
A word or phrase considered typical of American English, English as spoken in the United States.

Saying a word was used some centuries ago in Britain and therefore is not an Americanism is like saying the usage is French, German, or Latin because that's where they came from some centuries before that.
 
a couple that I've come across recently; take-out instead of take-away (I must have missed the boat on that one, lol) and offline now means meeting with someone later, not that you've disconnected from the internet :lol:
 
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