View Full Version : Americanisms
We've had threads on Britishism and others before, but I didn't actually realize that some of the words I take for granted and use quite a lot are considered "Americanisms" in that they originated here and usually are less than 200 years old. In that category are :
Rambunctious
Skedaddle
Discombobulated
bangs
pavement
Caboose
Bathroom
alphabetize
vacation
I know there are other "Americanisms" that more turns of speech or slangish types, like "druther" "y'all" " and of course, "Fanny".
Language differences always fascinate me.
IshbelRobertson
3-20-12, 12:07pm
Pavement? I thought that was one of 'ours' - and yours was 'sidewalk' :D
Mighty Frugal
3-20-12, 12:22pm
That's neat! Discombobulated is my all time favourite word!
I thought Americans called their 'bathroom' a 'restroom'.
I'll bet 'restroom' is an Americanism-we don't use that word here
Mighty Frugal
3-20-12, 12:23pm
What do Americans call the furniture they sit on in their living room?
Chesterfield
Davenport
Sofa
Couch
I call it a couch. I know one woman who calls it a davenport. Chesterfield is an old brand cigarette.
The hand towel you keep in the kitchen is a dish towel or dish rag? I think rag is a Southernism. I had a roomie from the South (african american, would that make a difference in word useage?) and all small cloths to wipe dishes were rags even if they were brand spanking new. I picked up the term and offended my MIL to be because she directly and clearly told me "These are NOT rags" once when we were washing dishes. (oops)
Soda pop is an Americanism.
It's a bathroom if it's in your home, and a restroom in public places like diners, etc...
What about cobbler? Someone once told me it meant something dirty in Briton? Have no idea if that's correct of not. It's just a deep dish pie here.
All men are created equal
Inalienable rights
Liberty
Pursuit of happiness
Consent of the governed
Right of the people
...
All men are created equal
Inalienable rights
Liberty
Pursuit of happiness
Consent of the governed
Right of the people
...
My favs too.
Mighty Frugal
3-20-12, 1:54pm
oohh I remember one. My ex-boyfriend was British and he would double over with laughter when I talked about a 'fanny' or 'fanny pack'. Cdn rarely say 'fanny' I think it's more of an American term. But fanny pack is popular-not now of course-haha
In America (and Canada) a fanny means 'bum' but in England it means the other side of a woman
So fanny pack takes on a whole new meaning :laff:
IshbelRobertson
3-20-12, 6:09pm
A cobbler in the UK is a person who mends/makes shoes. Even Manolo Blahnik is a cobbler, here!
Fanny? That's a blush-making word on this side of the pond!
early morning
3-20-12, 6:40pm
The hand towel you keep in the kitchen is a dish towel or dish rag? I think rag is a Southernism I don't think rag is a Southernism, more of a countryism, lol. We have wash rags and dish rags. The dish rag is the little one you use to wash dishes, and you dry them with a dish towel. Or at our house a tea-towel, which means linen or woven cotton, NOT a terry cloth towel. Terrycloth towels are to dry hands on, not dishes. And using one for the other purpose is cause for a huge kerfluffle (which is not an Americanism ;))
Well, speaking of the disconnect between British and American English, back in the 70s, I lived in London, and my college roommate came and invited me to dinner with her British relatives. That was during the time of the "shag" haircut in the US, and there was my roommate, sitting on the floor with all these aunties and cousins around her, saying, "I just got a great shag last week. Better than any other I've gotten." When she saw the room go dead around her, she asked, "don't you know what a shag is?" and her British cousin said in a confused voice, "I thought I did!"
Well, speaking of the disconnect between British and American English, back in the 70s, I lived in London, and my college roommate came and invited me to dinner with her British relatives. That was during the time of the "shag" haircut in the US, and there was my roommate, sitting on the floor with all these aunties and cousins around her, saying, "I just got a great shag last week. Better than any other I've gotten." When she saw the room go dead around her, she asked, "don't you know what a shag is?" and her British cousin said in a confused voice, "I thought I did!"
This is hilarious! I didn't know the British use of "shag" until that film called The Spy Who Shagged ME or something like that. ha ha. hmmm.
That's neat! Discombobulated is my all time favourite word!
I thought Americans called their 'bathroom' a 'restroom'.
I'll bet 'restroom' is an Americanism-we don't use that word here
Only public restrooms.
I don't think rag is a Southernism, more of a countryism, lol. We have wash rags and dish rags. The dish rag is the little one you use to wash dishes, and you dry them with a dish towel. Or at our house a tea-towel, which means linen or woven cotton, NOT a terry cloth towel. Terrycloth towels are to dry hands on, not dishes. And using one for the other purpose is cause for a huge kerfluffle (which is not an Americanism ;))
No, but I say that. But I don't call a tea towel a towel.I call a terry cloth a rag or a towel.
What do Americans call the furniture they sit on in their living room?
Chesterfield
Davenport
Sofa
Couch
couch, sofa....occasionally Davenport, but never Chesterfield.
Pavement? I thought that was one of 'ours' - and yours was 'sidewalk'
I've heard taps are faucets here, but I use both. I also say grade, elementary or primary school.
That would be the street. The asphalt on the street.
Wow...........the word "Davenport" brings back memories! I hadn't heard that word since I was a child in the 50's.
Wow...........the word "Davenport" brings back memories! I hadn't heard that word since I was a child in the 50's.
My mother called it a Davenport.
I call them sofas. A Chesterfield is a particular kind of sofa.
Isn't that funny. I remember a woman, when I was young, a friend of my grandmothers, who called the little glassed in porch off the garage the Davenport.
Mighty Frugal
3-21-12, 2:52pm
Isn't that funny. I remember a woman, when I was young, a friend of my grandmothers, who called the little glassed in porch off the garage the Davenport.
that reminds me. My ex-boyfriend's dad-when we used to visit him in England would call the 'sunroom' out back the 'conservatory' that's what he called that room. In Canada we call it a 'mudroom' or 'sunroom'.
A conservatory is a music room where Miss Scarlet offed someone with a candlestick
A conservatory is a music room where Miss Scarlet offed someone with a candlestick
He He!! I was thinking the same thing when Isobel Robertson posted that she has a "Drawing Room". I though "Colonel Mustard, in the Drawingroom, with the candlestick" :-)! A drawing room in the US is probably what we call a living room. On the east coast many people call living rooms "great rooms". In the south "parlors" or sometimes "sittingrooms". Never heard anyone use drawing room though.
In Calif sunrooms are called "California rooms" and on the west coast no one has a mudroom like they do back east, just a back entryway - sometimes where the laundry room is.
Sliding glass doors are called sliders back east but not in the west. OK, I'm getting to west vs. east and not enough Americanisms. lets see... Boot vs. trunk. Chips vs. fries. Bisquits vs. cookies. Pop, soda and "coke" for soft drinks - as in "get me a "coke" would ya Bob?" "What kind of coke?" "um.. a 7-up."
At my house dish "rags" were to wash the dishes and dish "cloths" were to dry the dishes.
boondocks
Nobody here ever knows what I'm talking about if I say something is out in the boonies/boondocks :D
IshbelRobertson
3-21-12, 6:34pm
Spartana
I'm IsHbel, not Isobel - but the drawing room in my home IS a drawing room. ie it is the large room, near the dining room, where women would 'withdraw' from the gentlemen, who were to be left to their cigars and port!
What can I say? Are we in the UK pretentious, or is it just that we still use old-fashioned terms for certain things?
BTW - I, too, have a conservatory!!!! :D
boondocks
Nobody here ever knows what I'm talking about if I say something is out in the boonies/boondocks :D
"People put me down cause that's the side of town I was born in."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVPJvk4t6SQ
...the drawing room in my home IS a drawing room. ie it is the large room, near the dining room, where women would 'withdraw' from the gentlemen, who were to be left to their cigars and port!
Not that I don't enjoy feminine company with nearly every opportunity, but cigars and port sounds oh so civilized. In our Americanized version we have a lovely covered porch to which I added a very effective heater for the fourth season. That is where the gentlemen retire for Bourbon and cigars. I fear the ladies of this home would retire the gentlemen if a cigar were to ignite indoors.
Mighty Frugal. I love the name 'conservatory'. Must stem from my love of all things mystery/murder. There's something so formal sounding about it. Emanates splendor and grandeur.
Blackdog Lin
3-21-12, 8:44pm
Mighty Frugal: Discombulated is also a favorite of mine. I try to use it at least twice a week. And since I'm 50+, it fits, as I tend to be discombobulated at least once a day.
I also enjoy rambunctious. It takes me back to my childhood, it implies freedom and non-conformity. I was able to be rambunctious in my childhood back in the 60's.....but I wonder if children today would have the freedom to be rambunctious - would they rather seem to be out-of-control? We were just free and easy and rambunctious.....
Ishbel: my Granny's middle name was Fanny. We grandchildren laughed and laughed at the name, and it didn't even have any connotations like you seem to say. It was just a silly-type of name.....
crunchycon
3-22-12, 4:38am
Well, speaking of the disconnect between British and American English, back in the 70s, I lived in London, and my college roommate came and invited me to dinner with her British relatives. That was during the time of the "shag" haircut in the US, and there was my roommate, sitting on the floor with all these aunties and cousins around her, saying, "I just got a great shag last week. Better than any other I've gotten." When she saw the room go dead around her, she asked, "don't you know what a shag is?" and her British cousin said in a confused voice, "I thought I did!"
Here's another - we have a British subsidiary in our company, and one of our British counterparts, in closing a phone call said something along the lines of "well, then, I'll knock you up next Tuesday." Dead silence on the other end of the line, as you might guess.
IshbelRobertson
3-22-12, 5:58am
Gregg
I should have clarified: the drawing room is in a house that predates feminism! It still retains the name, but woe betide any man who thinks that women should 'withdraw' after a meal... That's all I'm saying!
I still have a pantry in my kitchen!
It's a bathroom if it's in your home, and a restroom in public places like diners, etc...
What about cobbler? Someone once told me it meant something dirty in Briton? Have no idea if that's correct of not. It's just a deep dish pie here.
One thing I've noticed is that cobbler in the south and cobbler in the north are very different. In the south it's a pie with a buiscut type crust. In the north it is fruit with nore of a crumble topping.
We also still refer to the local shoe repairman as a cobbler as well.
Here we drive on the Parkway and park in the driveway.
[QUOTE=I call them sofas. A Chesterfield is a particular kind of sofa.[/QUOTE]
In Australia, we call it a lounge. Sometimes a sofa (especially for a foldout sofa bed) but mostly a lounge is what you find in the lounge room.
We also find toilet paper (not American toilet tissue!) in the toilet (not the American term bathroom).
Not an "Americanism" so much as a cultural difference between USA and Europe. Many American's have never left the country, which seems to rankle with some Europeans. It seems to be a badge of provincialism. But, the difference between traveling between France and Germany is not the same as traveling from Oregon to Japan. Or Europe for that matter.
IshbelRobertson
3-23-12, 5:53am
Well, I think we know that the miles involved in visiting two distant states in the USA is quite different that visiting 2 different countries in Europe, Tiam. I don't think it 'rankles' with many Europeans that many Americans don't travel outwith their own borders!
However, it does strike me as odd that the size of the USA is often cited as the reason why many Americans do not choose to travel outside their own country. The same does not hold good for Aussies, for instance. They seem to embrace travel with a wholeheartedness and cuiosity to see other cultures, other climes. It is also often claimed that America has its own mini-Italy, mini-China etc. Well, so does Australia and still those Aussies get on planes to see the 'real' cultures!
I don't know if it was a regional thing (Colorado) but growing up we always called our living room the front room. A secondary living room, aka the family room, was called the den. A glassed in porch was sometimes called an arizona room. There are also Texanisms where I live now that many would not know - bubba, gully-washer, fixin to... come to mind. They are quickly disappearing though as outsiders move in.
I studied in the UK for two years at the end of high school, and some of the Americanisms I remember getting laughs/strange looks/comments were:
Put your suitcase in the trunk. (US trunk = UK boot -- to my friends I think it sounded like I was suggesting they put a suitcase inside another suitcase...)
Should I wear pants or a skirt? (US pants = UK underwear, or preferably "knickers" as in "don't get your knickers in a twist (still one of my all time favorite phrases!)
I'm not fond of pudding (US pudding = UK dessert, of any kind. So when I stated this while reaching for a piece of chocolate cake rather than a mousse, they were rather confused)
Of course, there were Britishisms that always got a snicker out of us Yanks, too -- the most common one being when someone would shout out in math class "Does anyone have a rubber I can borrow?" (UK rubber = US eraser)
lhamo
When I was young my mom called the couch the davenport. Now I tend to use "sofa" probably influenced by the Chinese word shafa, which is a transliteration of sofa.
We would drink pop, not soda.
In the first house I lived in, the main public room was the front room, I supposed because the front door opened directly onto it. Later we had a living room (more formal) and a family room (less formal).
I always loved words like doohickey and thingamajig. Or thingy. Good all-purpose substitutes when you don't know the precise name for things. Like "can you hand me that metal thingamajig over there" or "are you finished with that doohickey yet?" Are those Americanisms? Seem like they might be.
lhamo
Oh, thought of another regional one -- in the west we stand IN line. In NYC, they stand ON line. That threw me for a loop when I first moved to NYC.
lhamo
When my husband and I went to the USSR to meet my pen pal, who spoke reasonably good English, one of the words we had trouble explaining was "stuff". We didn't realize how often we use the word "stuff" until my Russian friend asked what it means. It can mean your belongings or the things you happen to be carrying at the moment, but you can also have lots of stuff to do or need to go shopping for some stuff, or somebody can tell you some stuff, or you can get some stuff on the bottom of your shoe, or do some fun stuff on vacation...it's very hard to define or come up with a synonym for "stuff".
Well, I think we know that the miles involved in visiting two distant states in the USA is quite different that visiting 2 different countries in Europe, Tiam. I don't think it 'rankles' with many Europeans that many Americans don't travel outwith their own borders!
However, it does strike me as odd that the size of the USA is often cited as the reason why many Americans do not choose to travel outside their own country. The same does not hold good for Aussies, for instance. They seem to embrace travel with a wholeheartedness and cuiosity to see other cultures, other climes. It is also often claimed that America has its own mini-Italy, mini-China etc. Well, so does Australia and still those Aussies get on planes to see the 'real' cultures!
That's because those Aussies (like many Europeans) get many weeks off work a year unlike most Americans.Who may get 2 weeks at most - which is often spent visiting distant family. And those Aussies also get to take long unpaid breaks from work - sometimes a year or more - to travel, knowing they can return to the same job. American's often only travel overseas between job breaks or if they have the funds to fly the family overseas for their two-weeks annual vacation. Not cheap!
Oh, thought of another regional one -- in the west we stand IN line. In NYC, they stand ON line. That threw me for a loop when I first moved to NYC.
lhamo
Queue and line. In Britain I stand in a queue, in the US I stand in a line. Lets all queue -up now folks!
Petrol - gas
Holiday - vacation (holiday in the US is for a special event like Christmas, etc... not to describe the time (2 weeks or so) we get off work.
bedsit - room rental
flat - apartment
soooo many more. I like persnickity but don't know if that's an americanism or not.
Mighty Frugal
3-23-12, 9:50pm
Petrol - gas
Holiday - vacation (holiday in the US is for a special event like Christmas, etc... not to describe the time (2 weeks or so) we get off work.
bedsit - room rental
flat - apartment
soooo many more. I like persnickity but don't know if that's an americanism or not.
Now it makes sense! I'm Canadian so we use a lot of the British-isms. I frequently email my pal in Tennessee and talk about my holiday and she once remarked and said how odd that I call a trip to the beach for a long weekend a holiday-didn't make sense so thanks for clearing that up!
Hey, what about Madonna's 1980s song 'Holiday' oh hang on..it's dawning on me..it was about a 'celebration' like Xmas, etc..not a trip....man all these years I thought it was about going away somewhere! d'oh!
I've always heard that calling a sofa a Chesterfield is Canadian.
IshbelRobertson
3-24-12, 6:24pm
Just to add a little frisson in the ranks: a sofa is often called a settee in the UK!
That's because those Aussies (like many Europeans) get many weeks off work a year unlike most Americans.Who may get 2 weeks at most - which is often spent visiting distant family. And those Aussies also get to take long unpaid breaks from work - sometimes a year or more - to travel, knowing they can return to the same job. American's often only travel overseas between job breaks or if they have the funds to fly the family overseas for their two-weeks annual vacation. Not cheap!
There are several more reasons why people in the U.S. don't travel overseas.
1. It's expensive. Prices in London or Munich are double those in Chicago or Washington, DC and three times what they would be in Albuquerque or Houston. Reality is that the U.S. dollar is pretty lame relative to the Euro and other first-world currencies.
2. We don't speak the language, and few Americans have the experience to know that it usually :0!doesn't matter.
3. Fewer than 20% of Americans have passports, and getting a first passport has become difficult with all the post-9/11 bureaucracy.
4. The number of ports of entry is rather limited, especially in the middle of the country. There are lots of situations where it takes two flights to get to the point where one leaves the country.
5. Except for the upper middle class, immigrants, and career military, foreign travel outside of specific situations like missionary work or education of young people is rare, and not always looked at positively.
6. Even if you get more than two weeks vacation, being gone too long from work is looked at badly. If your employer can do without you for six weeks, most people figure they can do without you permanently.
:0! Just ask the guy we dragged to a railroad ticket booth in rural Hungary because he was reading a computer book in English.
I don't necessarily buy most of the reasons posted for Americans not travelling outside the U.S. We've been many times and greatly enjoyed each trip. After visiting most of the areas that interested us, some several times, we did begin to feel guilty that there were so many parts of our own country that we hadn't explored, so, in 2006 we purchased a motorhome and began exploring the various states.
I believe we could spend the rest of our lives travelling hither and yon domestically and still have plenty of missed adventures in wonderful locations.
We'll certainly travel internationally again, but right now there are too many great places we've yet to see at home.
I don't necessarily buy most of the reasons posted for Americans not travelling outside the U.S. We've been many times and greatly enjoyed each trip. After visiting most of the areas that interested us, some several times, we did begin to feel guilty that there were so many parts of our own country that we hadn't explored, so, in 2006 we purchased a motorhome and began exploring the various states.
Kind of at the opposite point with regard to travel. Have traveled extensively in the U.S. and Canada (40 states, sixth province this summer), and been to few other countries.
Will emphasize foreign travel the next few years, until we can retire and switch to car or RV travel.
I agree with you both Alan and Bronxboy. I do think many people aren't intimidated by overseas travel and all the issues involved but I do think that the cost is usually much more to travel overseas rather than domesticly - especially if you are travelling as a family. While travelling overseas for me is fairly inexpensive because I do it in a very low budget way (stay at hostels, walk, bike, train or bus rather than rental car, homemade meals rather than restaurants, etc...) and many people do it that way, it still is expensive. Just the added cost of plane tickets for what may be a short trip (2 weeks) is very costly. Also the hassle-factor of overseas travel can be a pain sometimes. So I do find it's less expensive to travel domesticly - even with high gas prices. I can drive my own vehicle and share costs if going with others, camp out or stay in budget motels, carry my "toys" with me so no need to rent them, etc.. And the hassle-factor is extremely low too. You don't need to bother with money exchanges, no need to have advanced reservations/planning, addditional transportation costs, etc... just hop in the car and go! And as Alan pointed out, there are tons of places in the USA to visit that you'll never tire of it. Of course all that long history, culture and architecture of overseas travel is just something you can't get in the USA. Nothing like being in places so rich with ancient history, castles, cathredrals, and ruins to take your breath way.
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