TheaterFire

Is movie now the standard word for film in Britain?

Posted by Perfect_Technology73@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 69 comments

On the BBC they often say movie and I was wondering if people generally feel that is now the standard word. It's makes me a little sad .

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69 Comments

GoodTato@reddit

I prefer using movie because it's not shot on film anymore and I'm exaaaactly the kind of rotter to care about that.
View on Reddit #51714064

dentbox@reddit

And it is a moving picture
View on Reddit #51714835

idontlikemondays321@reddit

I’ve never considered movies is short for moving picture.
View on Reddit #51731589

Appropriate_Wish8997@reddit

haha yea when i found this out i was like "ohh that makes sense".
View on Reddit #78185858

CoolExtreme7@reddit

It's still fil-m for me.
View on Reddit #51713975

Leader_Bee@reddit

Fillum
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Oohoureli@reddit

Is it a nudie fillum, Father?
View on Reddit #51875979

TMI2020@reddit

Oh Ted, can I stay up tomorrow night to watch the scary fillum
View on Reddit #51715573

New_Expectations5808@reddit

People are coming from Gdansk to watch the fillum!
View on Reddit #51732851

blainy-o@reddit

Fil-m? I barely know 'em.
View on Reddit #51721105

blloomfield@reddit

Film when it’s Oscar worthy Movie when it’s a popcorn flick Kino when it’s perfection Motion picture when I talk about it
View on Reddit #51717048

Perfect_Technology73@reddit (OP)

Porn film or porn movie?
View on Reddit #51717108

pinkthreadedwrist@reddit

Porn flick.
View on Reddit #51768037

blloomfield@reddit

Porn film, always, it’s art after all
View on Reddit #51723993

SnoopyLupus@reddit

Assuming it’s Oscar worthy.
View on Reddit #51717958

catmadwoman@reddit

Both, these days. I don't like using Americanisms but don't mind movie at all. I now feel inadequate.
View on Reddit #51737055

neilm1000@reddit

I have been known to refer to talkies.
View on Reddit #51714862

Curious-Ranger9605@reddit

photoplays are still better with just a piano
View on Reddit #51737030

chiefgareth@reddit

Sky Movies launched in 1989. Not like it’s a new thing.
View on Reddit #51734923

oitekno23@reddit

Phielm
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Big-Environment-4583@reddit

I call shows on the radio talkies
View on Reddit #51729844

sausagemouse@reddit

Not sure if this was a Newcastle thing or a my mam being old thing. But we always called going to the cinema "going to the pictures"
View on Reddit #51724948

BenHDR@reddit

Nope, grew up in Barking & Dagenham where all of my family referred to it as the same. They still do, lol
View on Reddit #51725977

AndreasDasos@reddit

I use film as the general word. Movie is American but has the connotation of very commercialised Hollywood ones. So I’d probably refer to a Marvel movie without thinking about it, but an Eisenstein film
View on Reddit #51724575

Mr0011010@reddit

Film, always
View on Reddit #51723290

focalac@reddit

I watch films at the pictures.
View on Reddit #51722049

Party_Mobile_7124@reddit

I say film but all my mates say movie. I only ever say movie if referring to a movie premier
View on Reddit #51721971

Scared-Room-9962@reddit

It's very American sounding and I try not to use it.
View on Reddit #51720853

Scarred_fish@reddit

I've never heard it used in real life. Nobody talks about a movie they watched, or organises a feed before a movie etc. You go out (or stay in if you want) to watch a film, end of.
View on Reddit #51714047

neilm1000@reddit

>or organises a feed before a movie etc. What the hell does 'organises a feed' mean?! Do you mean 'go for a meal?' Organises a feed sounds like the aliens are coming to suck people's brains out.
View on Reddit #51714824

Scarred_fish@reddit

Movie was bad enough, but a feed is now a "meal"? Jesus!
View on Reddit #51715031

Jenkes_of_Wolverton@reddit

That's not new or foreign. Our family used to enjoy a good feed-up back in the '60s. I suspect it was passed down through an agricultural heritage.
View on Reddit #51716222

Scarred_fish@reddit

Obviously a cultural thing. I've never been asked to a "meal", its always a feed. Imagine being invited to a "meal" at a wedding! :-D
View on Reddit #51716847

neilm1000@reddit

>Obviously a cultural thing. I've never been asked to a "meal", its always a feed. As in 'do you want to come around to mine for a feed'?
View on Reddit #51717046

Scarred_fish@reddit

Yeah, that's what anyone I know would say, I can't recall anyone saying "fancy going out for a meal?". It's not wrong of course, just not common.
View on Reddit #51717326

neilm1000@reddit

Where do you live? I wonder if this is regional.
View on Reddit #51719804

Perfect_Technology73@reddit (OP)

To me it sounds like feeding your cattle.
View on Reddit #51716792

ArtistEngineer@reddit

it sounds like something from [https://www.reddit.com/r/totallynotrobots/](https://www.reddit.com/r/totallynotrobots/) "I must organise a feed for my internal organs to maintain their proper functioning"
View on Reddit #51715616

KingGeedo91@reddit

You’re saying you’ve never heard the word ‘movie’ used in real life?
View on Reddit #51716013

yesbutnobutokay@reddit

I thought it was the pictures. Or the flicks.
View on Reddit #51719171

sparky-99@reddit

No. They can't *make* me speak English (Simplified).
View on Reddit #51718849

DoNotGoGentle14@reddit

I use both. More so on the word 'Movie' (70/30) I listen to so many movie/tv podcasts (most are American) so overtime, their words have been sneaking it's way into my own vocabulary. Plus I don't spend much time around people so I get a mini "culture shock" whenever I'm around people speaking heavy on the "British Slang" Maybe people have similar experiences if exposed to so many American TV/Movies etc.
View on Reddit #51717712

terryjuicelawson@reddit

Both have always been standard I thought, film also has a wider meaning to mean any short piece of footage, say if a TV show cuts away to a pre-recorded section. They never say movie for that, movie is a full length motion picture so it clears that up I guess. "Cinema" has totally replaced "going to the pictures" but I have never heard people say "movie theatre"
View on Reddit #51716991

SumeLaMarciana@reddit

I've heard the younger people in my family use 'movie' more than 'film' now. I still use 'film'.
View on Reddit #51716717

Zealousideal_Day5001@reddit

I call it the pictures
View on Reddit #51714526

SilyLavage@reddit

You're referring to films, not the cinema?
View on Reddit #51715438

Zealousideal_Day5001@reddit

transmitted over the radiogram and broadcast on the Televista?
View on Reddit #51716482

QueenSashimi@reddit

Or even the talkies.
View on Reddit #51714905

Oli99uk@reddit

No.  Movie is an American term.    The correct word in the UK is film but just like multiple counties adopted "weekend" from England, so too do we get language creep from other nations. 
View on Reddit #51714177

Adats_@reddit

Not really though we called them films because they were on litral films now they arent so in a way movei makes more sense because its a moveing image but i still say film none the less lol
View on Reddit #51716115

Kid_Kimura@reddit

Honestly surprised by some of the responses on here, I've used them interchangeably for my whole life.
View on Reddit #51715954

Anybody_Mindless@reddit

C'mon, we go to the pictures to watch a film!
View on Reddit #51715824

Mr_Miyagis_Chamois@reddit

Da flicks for me
View on Reddit #51715499

fragimagi@reddit

Seeing as how they are rarely shot or screened using actual film anymore, I'd consider movie more correct.
View on Reddit #51715493

Ok-Opportunity-979@reddit

Both words are used rather interchangeably now I think in everyday speech. I think the small difference is that film can carry an elegant flair to it (e.g. Cannes Film Festival) but other than that, there’s not too much different between the two words. While a few me people might be sad about the loss of one word, language does change throughout time so I don’t think it’s something to fear necessarily.
View on Reddit #51715409

SilyLavage@reddit

[Google Ngrams](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=movie%2Cfilm&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en-GB&smoothing=3&case_insensitive=false) would suggest not, although 'film' has more meanings than the one synonymous with 'movie' so it's hard to tell.
View on Reddit #51714320

Perfect_Technology73@reddit (OP)

Ngrams stops in 2022 I think.
View on Reddit #51715003

SilyLavage@reddit

It's close enough to the present, unless you think there's been a sudden shift since 2022.
View on Reddit #51715373

ridgestride@reddit

Fil-um
View on Reddit #51715343

Kcufasu@reddit

Will always be film to me
View on Reddit #51715000

Wednesdayspirit@reddit

I always use Film. Movie sounds so American it just sits wrong with how I talk. Also - BAFTA: Film and TV awards
View on Reddit #51714994

Orange-Squashie@reddit

Often film, sometimes movie
View on Reddit #51714827

Albert_Herring@reddit

It's been a familiar word for my whole life, and I'm getting close to my bus pass. Don't think it's the default, it and "film" will continue to coexist.
View on Reddit #51714806

Strangest-Smell@reddit

It’s a perfectly cromulent word.
View on Reddit #51714053

neilm1000@reddit

Its usage embiggens the language.
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another_online_idiot@reddit

I prefer film, it just feels right. Unless I am going to the cinema - then I will be going to watch a movie.
View on Reddit #51714600

mrhippoj@reddit

I use them fairly interchangeably, but usually depending on the context. If I'm talking about a film as a product intended to make money and just to be a fun time and not much more, I'll say movie. If I'm talking about a film as a work of art that shoots for something bigger, I'll say film. So like I can say "Mickey 17 is a really fun movie!" or I can say "Mickey 17 is a really interesting film"
View on Reddit #51714470

Esoteric_Prurience@reddit

If it’s an American made I usually call it a movie, but if it’s homegrown I tend to use film. I don’t do it consciously though, it just falls that way.
View on Reddit #51713968

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