I read with great interest feedback to your article about Americanisms, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14201796 and I'd like to join in the discussion.
I don't know why our colloquialisms are worming their way into your language. Perhaps it's because you have yankeephiles just as we - much to my never ending chagrin - have anglophiles.
What I'd like to know, however, is why Brits feel compelled to ridicule Americans at every turn? (A Brit would answer, "Because you're rich with opportunities to do so," I'm sure.) Is it a national past time for you, like baseball is to us? Do you get a tax break for it or something?
While I freely admit that some of those phrases and words listed - and others still - make my blood run backwards, isn't this just another opportunity for pompous people with a collective chip on their shoulder to try to rub our noses in British crap?
But while we're on the subject of language, let's look at just a few of your quaint turns of phrase that spring immediately to mind, shall we?
Mate. Are you on a ship? Have you not outgrown your...let's call them Etonian explorations? Are you reproducing with your friend?
Lift. In America, it's what you put in your shoes to make yourself appear taller. Or, you can give someone a lift to the post office. Or you can lift an object. In America, you don't enter a lift to take you from one level to the next. That would be an elevator.
Loo. I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason for this word being synonymous with toilet, but I haven't bothered to figure it out.
On the subject of toilets, water closet? Is it really a closet? You pee in a closet? No wonder you're so cranky all the time.
Speaking of urine, when you're pissed, you're apparently drunk. We're just angry or ticked off. Maybe that's why you've peed in a closet. Don't worry, I've had friends do that when they were drunk, too.
Cheerio. Are you randomly demanding a bowl of cereal?
Que. Why would you call a rank of people a que? C'mon, admit it. Doesn't line work better here?
"I'd eat a scabby horse": Wow. You really must be hungry, but I've suddenly lost my appetite. Oh wait. Maybe you do eat scabby horses.
"I'm feeling peely-wally." Isn't easier to say you're hungover?
I'd also like to know whether you snicker behind your porcelain teacups when an Aussie throws another shrimp on the barbie. Or, closer to home, have you ever listened to your fine neighbors to the north? Your Scottish brethren seem to have a language all their own, but it's supposedly the Queen's English.
I like the Scots, really. They're pretty cool, down-to-earth people despite their grudging membership in the U.K. But I defy anyone who hasn't lived in Scotland to read Trainspotting without referencing the little dictionary Irvine Welsh so thoughtfully included in the back of the book.
Greet = cry. As in, "When I found out that a News of the World 'journalist' hacked into my murdered daughter's voice mail account, I sat down and had a wee greet."
Ken = Know. As in, "I ken those Yanks can be silly wee gits, but why don't I just get a life and worry about something important, like beating the crap out of that football hooligan?"
Cheerio Scottish variation: Cheerio the noo. Given that cheerio is actually a greeting, then cheerio the noo means good-bye for now. I think. Maybe the Scots were demanding a new bowl of cereal RIGHT NOW!
Anyway, thanks so much for the lesson in English. It really was enlightening, and you're always so great about correcting us. Here's a friendly bit of advice from a Yankee: They're called colloquialisms. Use your own and leave ours alone if they somehow insult your sensitivities. Oh, and here's one that you left out: Suck it!
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