For example, switching out the word ‘boot’ for ‘trunk’, or ditching the word ‘rubbish’ for ‘garbage’.
This is something I’ve noticed my 6 year old does pretty regularly. We went through a stage where ‘sweets’ became ‘candy’, ‘holiday’ became ‘vacation’ and ‘courgette’ became ‘zucchini’.
That last one didn’t happen but if you’re still reading you’ve got my respect, or as the Americans might say ‘…mad props’.
I’m not even sure if I’m honest. NW England, my shits a mix of English, Cumbrian, Yorkshire, Scottish, Madeupish … No doubt some American words in there that have snuck in like a bad smell.
I use loads of americanisms and their spelling for words like color, the way I see it most the world is using English so least we can do is meet them 0 001% of the way on cresting a global odious language
okay, using the words listed at the start of this wikipedia article, here’s where i place myself:
analyze/center/defense/labour/organize/program
or, British 1, American 5, Canadian 4, Australian 2
it’s a nice litmus test to see where you’re at. i knew i used to skew NA in writing style, but i didn’t think by that much
I noticed in Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Gromit cares for a vegetable in his garden that they either call a ‘marrow’ in British English or ‘melon’ in the localized American export of the film.
“How’s that marrow/melon of yours coming on?” -Wallace
I’m American but would really appreciate it if aubergine caught on here across the pond. I know it’s French (and from prior languages) but I commend the UK for sticking with it. In contrast, eggplant sounds so crude and unappetizing. If you’ve Americanized this one, please stop.
Also, we should all bring back a few Old English terms.
What I hate about “eggplant” is that none of the varieties that anybody actually eats look ever remotely like an egg. It’s a massive purple banana-shape. They also don’t taste like eggs, smell like eggs, or get used like eggs.
It’d be like calling cucumbers “cheesefruit” or something. It’s just destined to baffle.
It looks like eggs in an early stage of development, but aubergine is a way better word nonetheless
Call it what you like, it’s an F tier veggie
No way man, it’s a great vehicle for flavor. Soak the slices in a basil balsamic garlic marinade a for an hour then roast them in the oven, simple and delicious.
To each their own garbage
Rubbish*
I’m American. I couldn’t come up with trunk so I called it a boot. Thanks to all those episodes of Top Gear I’m sure. Bonus is that my wife and I watch enough Dr. Who so that she knew what I was referring to.
I’ve picked up “bloody” - as in “bloody hell” or “you’re a bloody idiot.”
I love this one. It has a great cursing sort of feel, but nobody gets on your case about language.
I use often use “movies” and “TV shows” instead of “films” and “telly series” and I am mildily disappointed with myself.
I feel I should use the Old English Fall instead of the French Autumn but it seems a step too far. Perhaps I could use Harvest.
I seem to use movie when describing the blockbuster/B-movie end of the scale, and film when talking about a quality bit of cinema. But I also am more likely to call a US flick a movie and a Brit one a film.
I like the sound of the word autumn, and particularly autumnal. I can see those reds and browns and feel the crisp air. Fall does give more opportunity for puns and easier rhymes, I guess.
I’m in Australia now and it’s zucchini and eggplant here, though in general words are much more like British English. No idea what’s going on with the pronunciation of “cache” here though - I work in tech and it’s mental how they say that. Like, Brits and Yanks are in full agreement about that word.
I’m Australian and it’s always been zucchini and eggplant.
I don’t know what’s wrong with the way we say cache though. How do you pronounce it?
It’s supposed to be pronounced as “cash” or “kaysh”. Americans often pronounce it as cachet (ie. “ka-SHAY”), which is a different word with a different meaning. Needless homophone that introduces confusion.
I’m guessing that’s been picked up by Australia in recent years, but not when I still lived there.
Yeah I’m a cash person along with everyone I know.
I have heard cashay though.
But I prounce sachet as satchet-et so I’m all over the show.
I’m American and I’ve only ever heard it pronounced like “cash”, whether that’s someone speaking or in tv/movies.
It’s not a very popular word and most of the times I’ve heard it is on the topic of geocaching.
I said “gen zed” the other day and everybody frowned and said “Don’t you mean gen zee?”. NO I FUCKING DON’T. Still fighting the good fight in pronouncing schedule with a soft sh but I think I’m in a small minority these days. I’ve given up trying to call it an aubergine emoji, we may as well accept it’s an eggplant now 🍆
You know, I don’t think I’ve ever heard an American say “Gen Z” before, and it literally never occured to me that they were pronouncing it “Gen Zee”. Obvious now you mention it, but I’ve just been assuming that every time I see it written down it’s “Gen Zed” by default.
My friends were the opposite, they accepted that Z is pronounced Zed, but they said that gen zee was different, because “it’s like ZZ Top”. I argued back that it’s not like ZZ Top, it’s just a letter assigned to a generation. They were so used to hearing it said by Americans on TikTok, they refused to even accept that a normal person would say gen zed. “It’s just gen zee though! Nobody says gen zed!”. I’m angry again thinking about it!
I’d argue it’s a proper noun which happens to be a letter long rather than a letter assigned to a generation
That said I believe the correct term is Zoomer which resolves this issue
Lol zed zed top
I used to call him this.
Boy did I get the puss taken out of me
Schedule, yes! We’re very much in the minority on that one, but I’ll keep on using it the right way, even if it doesn’t seem to make sense when looking at other words like school.
Expat in the US. I met a guy called “Z” the other day - I didn’t want to be a cunt and pronounce his name wrong, so I went along with it.
I do pronounce Aaron correctly and not call them “Erin” though.
English is my second language and I despise zee, it gets confused with cee. Zed is objectively superior
Become Canadian. We have poutine.
Any nation who makes cheesy chips and gravy their national dish is a friend and ally in my book
I’m already half way there being a big NHL fan.
Biscuits for the win
I’ve gone the opposite way - I’ve been replacing my American pronunciations with the British ones, like leverage starts with lee, like in lever, and that (software) patent starts with pat not pait.
I think it’s in response to my younger friends and colleagues sounding, to my ears, increasing American - they say gotten, zee, and on accident (things that are often more consistent, but just not
cricketBritish). I’m old enough to remember the sound of dual up, so I probably wasn’t as exposed to US media growing up.I make an effort to speak British English, and not let any American into my vocabulary. Not really sure what the point is, but I’m sure I had a reason at some point.
However, I do like saying “hood” instead of “bonnet”, mainly because it’s easier to say “under the hood” than “under the bonnet” when talking tech.
Do you use hood for actual cars or is it strictly when you are talking about non-car things?
Just for non-car stuff. I *would * use hood for everything, but the people I would talk to about cars would get pissy for using the wrong car words.
Fair enough, I was curious as I quite like these things where the figurative language gets orphaned from its literal meaning. Giving future etymologists something to enjoy.
I like “garbage” when insulting something, it just has a nice guttural sound.
Yes, but British English has superior insults like cockwomble.
“cockwomble” just sounds like you’re trying too hard, like a yank LARPing as a brit they read about on the internet
That’s when you pull out the British understatement and switch to ordinary nouns in a context that implies an insult (“you utter teakettle”)
Teakettle? Isn’t that just a kettle?
It’s a way to call someone extra or superfluous.
Really? Is it regional maybe? Irl I’ve only ever heard it from English people who want to say something stronger than “bell end”.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say it IRL. It’s a pretty minor thing really, use whatever insults you fancy, but if you want something very British you’ve got classics like muppet, nonce, pillock, bawbag.
I myself use the insults of my own culture (NZ), but I just like hearing the British people in my life using theirs.
I know an elderly British woman whose worst insult seems to be to call someone a “rotter”.
I’m partial to ‘wankspanner’. Which is pretty un-American since even if they knew what to wank meant, they’d probably to with ‘wankwrench’ which just isn’t the same. Sorry, I’m moving into rambling territory now.
Honestly, bellend is a wonderful insult in my opinion. I used to watch a lot of sovietwomble and similar youtubers in the past so that and using cunt like a more colorful version of calling someone a dick were something i heard a lot and have a lot more behind them when said. That being said, I live in the US and would have to explain Bellend which would cause it to lose the impact. And cunt is far more negatively received here so you will likely be regarded as a mysoginist and/or get clocked here.
As an American in awe of your insults, I can’t get enough of the English pronunciation of twat. It cracks like a whip. Truly spectacular stuff.
Lol, I’m American as well. But I agree with you 100%. It really feels like most of our insults here are lacking compared to the rest of the world.
Garbage and trash are excellent American words. Much better than “rubbish”
How do you pronounce courgette?
Is it a hard g like get or a soft g like giraffe?
This is one British word I had no idea existed.
It’s the /ʒ/ sound like the s in measure, vision, or the J in the French Jack. So the word is /koːʒɛ́t/ It’s from the French word courge.
Well the word itself does look french when looking at it so just by that going with the french way of pronouncing it makes a lot of sense.
French also has courgette, which also designates zucchinis 😁
Here you go: https://youtu.be/py11JV8mLh4
