"Americanisms" that Brits hate

Which one of these is a Torch?

1.

2.

 

anything here to get excited about. Amused? Yes. Excited? No.

By the way, in reports I wrote while in the Army, I would sometimes spell it "armour" just for the fun of seeing my boss fuse out.

 

well this is the humor/satire section.

 

Properly, I suppose.

 

The difficulty about so much American speech is that it is not only filled with jargon but uttered in a monotone whine. While the mini-Murdoch was doing his thing before the Parliamentary committee I fell asleep twice. How can you bear it?

 

It is more efficient for one thing. I am less likely to fall asleep if the speech takes 1/5th the time to say.

 

Yes - Americans are almost unbelievably wordy. Compare British and American postings anywhere on the web.

 

As an American, I've wondered about "taking" vs. "having" a bath. I believe across the pond they "have" a bath while we tend to "take" a bath. Though I'm not sure to where (or from whom) we are taking the bath.

 

LOL@Irony

On a sentence-to-sentence basis, American sentences contain more actual information. A lot of Brit speak is unnecessary affectation.

"Moving Forward" is a great example of American efficiency...it contains several sentences of information in two words. A lot of the items in the list are like that...the British equivalents are ALWAYS longer and fruitier.

 

Americans never use one word where ninety-nine will do, and all f-l-a-t. The Americans they let out are very nice people, but you need to have lots of time when you listen to them. It's lovely that you all believe you are so terse and efficient, so who am I to destroy your simple faith? It is better than fundamentalism and tea-baggery, fair play.

 

You dont need to take my word for it...look at the list in the OP. How many Brit equivalents are shorter than the word or phrase in the list?

Go ahead and count. I'll wait.

(There is a real good reason the Borg dont speak with British accents...just sayin)

 

Simply saying, "Americans use too many words to convey their thoughts" would have sufficed.

British verbosity is annoying.

 

LOL

(Hows that for efficient?)

 

Another word for that is "egress," though I'm not sure if Brits disapprove of that also.

 

I would probably say I was on to calculus. Mathematics is a plural is it not??? Maths is a short version of the word. Math is just odd.

 

There is no "pitcher" in cricket. The word is bowler.

 

lol Okay, nice dodge. If you were to refer to it either as a "math class" or a "maths class" which one would you go with?

I dunno. If it is plural then what is the singular form?

 

I would say I am onto maths. There is no singular to mathematics. When you study maths, you are studying multiple properties.

 

Why? Calculus is singular. You don't go to calculi class. Didn't you make the distinction earlier that it was one type of "math" and along with all of the others constitutes mathematics?

Certainly...and when I study English I'm studying multiple properties as well, yet it is still ONE subject. I would never say "English are fun".

Honestly, I can see the rationale for both usages but the way you are using along with your previous explanation is inconsistent.

 

Calculus, as well as other maths, require the use of more than one form of "math", so maths is an appropriate term since we would be using multiple forms of mathematics.

 

lol

So what exactly would a "math" be then?

 

My first impression was that these people haven't actually run across many Americans.

 

You can't have a plural of something unless there is a singular of it because plural MEANS more than one.

The only exceptions are vague traditional words that don't really describe anything, such as smithereens.

 

No. Like so many Americans you are not good at understanding human communication: it comes of talking like robots, and about nothing but 'asses' and how normal speech - and almost everything else - leads you to think about them.

 

I thought you were referring to the use of batters in baseball. Cricket is not a popular sport in America.