Americanisms

_HighVoltage_ said:
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.
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thevictor390 said:
We use biscuit, but it refers to a particular type of small round bread...
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I was going to say... :nod:

Cobol74 said:
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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Who are all confined to one province (Quebec). But you'll also find French speakers in New Brunswick (mostly toward the north).

Anyhoo. I'm a Yank. Why should I be bothered by Americanisms?
 
Dude, that list has issues.

(#45.)
 
The railway (the actual rails) usually doesn't stop at a station, but the trains that run on the rails do. Therefore "train station" makes more sense. :p
 
LeMans GTR said:
Not to mention the one where the guy is annoyed at 'Train station', if anything it makes more sense than 'Railway station'.
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sta?tion/?st?SH?n/
Noun: A regular stopping place on a public transportation route, esp. one on a railroad line with a platform and often one or more buildings.

IOW, 'railway station' is "more correct" because it is a stop on the route. It's the same in German - "Bahnhof" and not "Zughaltestelle" or "Zughof" "("Bahn" being the equivalent word to "railway" or "railroad").

I'm British and these days always say train station, though, and that's pretty common, I think (difficult to say, not having lived among Brits for so many years).
 
NoNeedForAChestWig said:
IOW, 'railway station' is "more correct" because it is a stop on the route. It's the same in German - "Bahnhof" and not "Zughaltestelle" or "Zughof" "("Bahn" being the equivalent word to "railway" or "railroad").
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Then why is a place of approximately the same size where road-going coaches stop to load and unload passengers called a "bus station" instead of a "roadway station?"
 
The only one that gets to me is "could care less" or "could give a damn" just because it makes no sense. A lot of Americanisms sound strange in a British accent but that doesn't make them wrong. Chances are they will sound normal through frequent usage anyway.
 
Why bother when "I don't give a flying fuck" is so much more effective?

The same reason I don't tell people to "piss off" any more when "Can I suggest you go and take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut?" carries much more weight.
 
Peter3hg said:
The only one that gets to me is "could care less" or "could give a damn" just because it makes no sense.
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That's not an Americanism, that's not knowing what the expression is. Mostly uttered by the same people who "Your right, I could of standed over their".
 
RoamingGnome said:
That's not an Americanism, that's not knowing what the expression is. Mostly uttered by the same people who "Your right, I could of standed over their".
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You're right, it isn't an Americanism, but it is a mistake almost exclusively made by Americans.
 
Dates...

07/30/10 Why is the month more important than the day?

14:10 "It's two ten." No, it's ten past two.

August 5th 2011 "August five" (This is from the Captain America trailer, annoys the fuck outta me)
 
Aston Martin said:
Dates...

07/30/10 Why is the month more important than the day?

14:10 "It's two ten." No, it's ten past two.

August 5th 2011 "August five" (This is from the Captain America trailer, annoys the fuck outta me)
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I'd never say the last one.
 
I really do not have a problem with Americanisms, in fact some of them are better, such as the spelling of thru, "in back" as the opposite to "in front" and so on.

:smile:
 
Aston Martin said:
Dates...

07/30/10 Why is the month more important than the day?

14:10 "It's two ten." No, it's ten past two.

August 5th 2011 "August five" (This is from the Captain America trailer, annoys the fuck outta me)
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Because we say July 30th, 2010...we tend to write how we speak.

Two ten conveys the same information using one less word, brevity is a great charm of eloquence.
 
cmb1981 said:
Because we say July 30th, 2010...we tend to write how we speak.

Two ten conveys the same information using one less word, brevity is a great charm of eloquence.
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Exactly. I never understood why Brits and Europeans do the opposite, unless they say "It's the 30th of July", which is still clunky anyways.

I've never heard anyone over here say "August five" either
 
Aston Martin said:
Dates...

14:10 "It's two ten." No, it's ten past two.
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I always just say "ten past" or "quarter past" or "half past" or "quarter til", or... well, I'm sure you get the idea. The only time you'll hear me say "two ten" is if I'm referring to a Chevy or Datsun model.

A lot of "Americanisms" are confined to just a portion of the United States, and the stereotypical "American accent" is only heard on TV. I guess it's our version of RP.
 
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