Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[french frank]

Very many (fall, normalcy, diaper, etc) are British-isms that fell out of use on our side of the Atlantic.

I think that makes those particular ones 'Americanisms', doesn't it? Many common 'British-isms' that have fallen out of use over here are of purely historical usage now since they've never been revived. If some are resurrected because they never fell out of use in the USA and remained the common term over there, it would, in my view, be a little absurd to claim that those, like 'fall' = autumn, when used here, are not American usage.

You could, of course, consider them as two distinct categories:

1. Words that fell out of use here, but continued in use in English-speaking America, now reintroduced.

2. Those which were never in common use here but have been introduced through exposure to American culture, eg television and film.

Whether either or both grate is, I suppose, dependent upon the individual.

[ahinton]

Body language.

Quoi? Je ne comprends pas!

[ahinton]

I think that makes those particular ones 'Americanisms', doesn't it? Many common 'British-isms' that have fallen out of use over here are of purely historical usage now since they've never been revived. If some are resurrected because they never fell out of use in the USA and remained the common term over there, it would, in my view, be a little absurd to claim that those, like 'fall' = autumn, when used here, are not American usage.

You could, of course, consider them as two distinct categories:

1. Words that fell out of use here, but continued in use in English-speaking America, now reintroduced.

2. Those which were never in common use here but have been introduced through exposure to American culture, eg television and film.

Whether either or both grate is, I suppose, dependent upon the individual.

I think that this is fair comment but it also brings to the fore the old cliché about two nations divided by a common language when in fact English usage is so much more widespread in so many other countries today than once it was - and it changes with the second in all of them in any case - that pejorative singling out of alleged "Amercianisms" seems as out of order as it is parochial.

[P. G. Tipps]

Two quite separate figures until they got confused around 1870: http://www.arthuriana.co.uk/xmas/pages/english.htm

Of this ragbag, some are probably American in origin, some certainly aren't. They don'rt seem to have a great deal in common.

'Newbuild' has been in use here in technical contexts since the 1980s; it's shorter and neater than any alternative I can think of. What would you prefer?

'New building' quite obviously ... is that really too much of a mouthful and really that much longer than the awful-sounding and lazy Yankee alternative?

[P. G. Tipps]

Another non-answer, I see...

One instinctively knows when any sort of answer will be immediately rejected by a forum member whether acceptable or not, ahinton ...

In such a circumstance I much prefer to give any such a member one great big mighty hug instead.

Just enjoy the rare and precious moment, ahinton!

[gurnemanz]

I see ...

So you are saying that you fail to be convinced that, albeit originally English words, 'build' for 'building', 'spend' for 'spending', 'thinking out of the box', 'blue-sky thinking', 'every which way', 'no way' 'awesome', 'robust', 'like' (used by youngsters after every second or third word), 'Black Friday', 'Rock 'n' Roll', 'Blues' etc, etc etc, did not come from those 'guys' from across the 'Pond'?

Did you say you don't actually live here in the UK, Pab ... ?

I'm with you on jargon and unnecessary Americanisms but surely "build" and "spend" are different from the others. It is a perfectly normal linguistic development to make a noun out of a verb - and not specifically American. "Build" has come about to distinguish it from "building" which can either be a gerund, as in: "The government encourages building on brownfield sites" - or as a noun to denote a specific structure already built: "There is an ugly new building on that site." I can accept "build" as a noun when used to refer to one specific ongoing project, as in the TV programme Grand Designs. A new building is different from a new build.

Likewise with "spend" as a noun which denotes the spending on one specific item. "HS2 is a big spend" may be unattractive to some but you can see how it has come about. "Spending" is more general. I would have thought there are plenty of examples of already long-accepted such developments like "new build" and "big spend" such as - a short walk, a deep sleep, a loud sneeze, a long wait etc etc

[ahinton]

One instinctively knows when any sort of answer will be immediately rejected by a forum member whether acceptable or not, ahinton ...

In such a circumstance I much prefer to give any such a member one great big mighty hug instead.

Just enjoy the rare and precious moment, ahinton!

While so doing, might I counsel you not to rely unduly on your instinct in a situation in which you cannot know how anyone might respond to your answer until and unless you have provided it? In any case, whether or not such an answer be accepted, rejected or anything in between is of less importance than the provision of the answer itself, which is still awaited; it was, after all, a reasonable question...

[ahinton]

I'm with you on jargon and unnecessary Americanisms but surely "build" and "spend" are different from the others. It is a perfectly normal linguistic development to make a noun out of a verb - and not specifically American. "Build" has come about to distinguish it from "building" which can either be a gerund, as in: "The government encourages building on brownfield sites" - or as a noun to denote a specific structure already built: "There is an ugly new building on that site." I can accept "build" as a noun when used to refer to one specific ongoing project, as in the TV programme Grand Designs. A new building is different from a new build.

Of course it is; the former is complete whereas the latter is a project that becomes the former upon completion (although can be and sometimes is still so described thereafter).

[Ferretfancy]

Remember the young lady in the Thurber cartoon ?

"So I said to him, whom do you think you are, anyways ? "

[P. G. Tipps]

Of course it is; the former is complete whereas the latter is a project that becomes the former upon completion (although can and sometimes is still so described thereafter).

The sort of charmingly individualistic English to which I referred earlier, ahinton!

The Yanks, God bless 'em, have always used the former so we think it's really 'cool' to copy them. Nothing new there, at least in my lifetime.

Still, I suppose there is a certain rough justice in the UK becoming a virtual colony ... now we know what they and a third of the world must have felt 'like' a century or so ago!

[ahinton]

The sort of charmingly individualistic English to which I referred earlier, ahinton!

The Yanks, God bless 'em, have always used the former so we think it's really 'cool' to copy them. Nothing new there, at least in my lifetime.

Still, I suppose there is a certain rough justice in the UK becoming a virtual colony ... now we know what they and a third of the world must have felt 'like' a century or so ago!

The question (remember that?) was "what in particular do you see as being wrong - or at least dentally challenging - with those [i.e. "the total spend" and "new build"], in a climate in which nouns are increasingly getting verbed anyway?" and my comment following it was "language is always just that little bit different on a Thursday to what it was the previous Saturday, after all"...

You still haven't answered it; what's objectionable about either, in your book? And do you not accept that language in general (and the English language in particular, not only bceause of the present context but also because of its comparative large vocabulary) is constantly on the move everywhere, not only in UK?

[ahinton]

I particularly hate 'parenting skills' as if bringing up children is like woodwork or car maintenance.

But it is, isn't it? And wouldn't you say in any case that a lack of such skills is worse than full possession thereof?

(OK, I'll probably get myself thrown off the forum for that, but...)

[jean]

...surely "build" and "spend" are different from the others. It is a perfectly normal linguistic development to make a noun out of a verb - and not specifically American. "Build" has come about to distinguish it from "building" which can either be a gerund, as in: "The government encourages building on brownfield sites" - or as a noun to denote a specific structure already built: "There is an ugly new building on that site."...

'Newbuid' (often one word) is now a well-established technical term, which can also be adjective. The OED gives a few examples:

1983 W. B. Pascall & B. U. Phelps in Energy Conservation (Dialog Abstract) 1 This paper..presents four newbuild case studies...

1983 Financial Times (Nexis) 18 Mar. i. 13 The feasibility of refurbishment as opposed to demolition and new build.

1989 Containerisation Internat. Feb. 5/1 Including these newbuilds, six of Norasia's vessels are modern West German built ships on longterm charters.

[P. G. Tipps]

'Newbuid' (often one word) is now a well-established technical term, which can also be adjective. The OED gives a few examples:

1983 W. B. Pascall & B. U. Phelps in Energy Conservation (Dialog Abstract) 1 This paper..presents four newbuild case studies...

1983 Financial Times (Nexis) 18 Mar. i. 13 The feasibility of refurbishment as opposed to demolition and new build.

1989 Containerisation Internat. Feb. 5/1 Including these newbuilds, six of Norasia's vessels are modern West German built ships on longterm charters.

1983! ... excuse me for being so impertinent to a formidable forum lady but what age are you, jean?

Even the BBC ... currently riddled with staff using Americanisms ... seems to have noticed!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14201796

[ahinton]

1983! ... excuse me for being so impertinent to a formidable forum lady but what age are you, jean?

Joke though it may be and as such you might have intended it, but I would really have thought that you of all people might be the kind of person who would refrain from asking a lady her age, especially 9on a public forum!

Even the BBC ... currently riddled with staff using Americanisms ... seems to have noticed!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14201796

What, pray, is your definition of "Americanisms" and on what grounds do you perceive all of them somehow to be flawed, or inferior (to something or other) or whatever else? - and what makes you think (if indeed you do) that Amercian English is in some sense more stable and inflexible than British English in its usage?