What's an Americanism you used for ages before learning it was one?

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Bank-Angle747@reddit

Genuinely curious, what else would it be if not sea food? Ocean grub perhaps?

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Bank-Angle747@reddit

Apparently I've been pronouncing 'schedule' the American way my entire life, I never realised until someone else brought it up

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MoonlitEarthWanderer@reddit

Apparently "horny" is an Americanism, and the British English is "randy" 🤷‍♀️

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straight_syrup_@reddit

When did we stop saying randy, I wonder. Horny has driven randy out.

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floccinaucinili@reddit

And Randy is also a popular American name

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Erewash@reddit

Randall Keith Orton used to make my old mum Randy when she saw him on the TV. Dirty old woman she was.

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dwhite21787@reddit

classic American name Richard Peter Johnson

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eggmayonnaise@reddit (OP)

I definitely remember the latter being used a lot more in the 90s.

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MoonlitEarthWanderer@reddit

Yeah, I was born in 97 and I don't think I've ever actually heard someone say it.

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Divingblues@reddit

https://preview.redd.it/9e6z3a1n9dsf1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7029698960d8811c396a4fb6572666738f95cc0c

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Apparently paul mccartney's dad thought she loves you was terribly American because it included "yeah yeah yeah" rather than "yes yes yes" and I think of this when people whine about trivial Americanisms. Soccer is a British term, but people love ranting at americans about it, how about that.

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Princes_Slayer@reddit

Growing up in the 80’s, my mum would practically hiss ‘yessssssss’ if ever said ‘yeah’

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thebrowncanary@reddit

The objection to Soccer is not just objecting to an Americanism it's also about class. Soccer might be a British term but it's only the middle and upper classes who may have used it. Using an upper class term for the working man's game is particularly egregious.

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steeplebush@reddit

Historically, not the working man’s game though. Not originally

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pezholio@reddit

I’m guilty of saying “can I get” quite a lot

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jdsuperman@reddit

People love to performatively hate on that phrase, but apart from the fact that "can" should be "may", there's nothing wrong or inherently American about it.

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breaded_skateboard@reddit

Pants, i always called trousers pants, as underpants are your underwear so trousers must be pants

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MokausiLietuviu@reddit

This isn't an Americanism, it originated here and is still used that way in some Northern areas. Americans imported it from those Northern areas.

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Markies_Myth@reddit

Trousers as pants is a NW England thing we say too.

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LipGlossBoost79@reddit

Bussy

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Dense_Appearance_298@reddit

Train station

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eggmayonnaise@reddit (OP)

The British was railway station, right?

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Dense_Appearance_298@reddit

Yes

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Kapika96@reddit

Beta. Always said it the American way. Just seemed the natural way to pronounce it based on the spelling. Still say it the American way and think beater sounds dumb.

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eggmayonnaise@reddit (OP)

American way = "bee-tuh" as opposed to "bay-tuh"?

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Kapika96@reddit

The other way around. [https://dictionary.cambridge.org/pronunciation/english/beta](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/pronunciation/english/beta)

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Jazzlike-Ad3166@reddit

We say “bay-duh” so probably the other way

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No-Two5487@reddit

“Laundry”

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Scattered97@reddit

In before someone calls "Mom" an Americanism, which it isn't.

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eggmayonnaise@reddit (OP)

OK but what is?

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jimbobedidlyob@reddit

Brummyism pretty standard in the heart of the midlands.

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TheToolman04@reddit

I've seen it used by the North Easterners as well.

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Erewash@reddit

I sometimes catch myself saying words like 'privacy' and 'schedule' the American way. I don't feel all that strongly about it.

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jdsuperman@reddit

> 'schedule' the American way That's the only way anyone should ever say it. We don't say shool or sholarship or shitzophrenia.

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PomegranateV2@reddit

Yeah, that would be a real schlep.

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jdsuperman@reddit

I don't think Yiddish has been a significant influence on the development of the English language, to be fair.

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PomegranateV2@reddit

You're nobody's shmuck!

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CHICKINGNUGGER@reddit

TIL I've always said it SKEDule and thought that was the English way. I'm born and raised in England almost 40 years.

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Elongulation420@reddit

Shitzophrenia should really be a word. It perfectly encapsulates today’s society and politics.

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imokaytho@reddit

How do you say 'schedule' the American way?

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Erewash@reddit

Sked- instead of the supposedly British shed- My brain just reads it as the sch in school. Deport me now. I can't unsee it.

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imokaytho@reddit

I've never heard anyone pronounce it as shed instead of sked. Even growing up, teachers would say it as sked.... Maybe we are becoming Americanised

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Erewash@reddit

I haven't heard it for a long time now either. They're gonna have you update the dictionary if they haven't already. Old folks used to try and pick me up on it as a kid though. There's another American comeback that's useful though: "Yeah? What shool taught you that?"

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IllustriousLimit8473@reddit

In Scotland we use the same version as the American one.

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Living_the_Limit@reddit

Spelling Gaol Jail which is the American spelling.

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jdsuperman@reddit

Anyone who still uses "gaol" is just being wilfully different. It's considered archaic now. Jail is definitely the way forward.

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infinitedadness@reddit

On the Melbourne subreddit (I live in Melbourne) and if the topic occurs, most of the users spell it *gaol*. It feels irritatingly twee and special, just the type of thing fit for a Reddit user who is intellectually superior and classy.

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jdsuperman@reddit

Yep, that's exactly the kind of thing I meant!

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Erewash@reddit

I go full Chaucer and spell it gayhole. Enough with these modern spellings of perfectly respectable words.

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sheepandlambs@reddit

"Gotten" is a vastly superior past participle and we should all be using it.

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Hopeful_Food5299@reddit

Piffle.

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RecentTwo544@reddit

Said it before - a surprising amount of "Americanisms" actually originated here. Many go back hundreds of years, before the US even existed.

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MrMrsPotts@reddit

Surprising number of ...

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eggmayonnaise@reddit (OP)

OK but what's one you used for ages before realising it was one?

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RecentTwo544@reddit

Every time I've assumed something was an Americanism, I've discovered that it was British (or sometimes German or Dutch) in origin. Garbage, soccer, gotten are prime examples off the top of my head.

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Terrible-Mine-5542@reddit

Mostly sports terms like step up to the plate

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Sustainable_Twat@reddit

Calling people, “folks”

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Erewash@reddit

Nah then, up 'ere it's folk. No S. As in "them folk down south can't mash for shit."

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DazzleBMoney@reddit

“My bad” - as opposed to constantly being overly British and saying sorry for everything and nothing

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GeggingIn@reddit

OK

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SomeHSomeE@reddit

Tbh I don't really care. Language evolves especially in the globalised media landscape.

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