# "Americanisms", do they annoy other non-Americans? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 3, 2004, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046 "2004-04-03T11:41:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/61 "2004-04-04T10:42:06Z")
> [@jehovah68](#): > > I use this phrase all the time. > When I bartend, every time I serve a drink, I say “cheers”. > Oh, and when my car is running on empty, I sometimes remark that I need petrol. We are speaking the same language. I just hope none of us lose the ability to confuse a tourist 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/62 "2004-04-04T12:59:11Z")
> [@jastu](#): > > One which really floored me was fortnight. I have since discovered it is not used in the US. Well, at least not by anyone under 40. It has sort of died out. I love to use it just to see the quizzical stares it generates. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/63 "2004-04-04T13:55:38Z")
> [@TVeblen](#): > > Pop, pop, pop. > > You non-'Merkins can take some comfort in that your ways still infiltrate our parochial brains. Ah but I am a 'Merkin! Just linguistically liberal. Genus: _Eastus Coastum_, Species: _Newvus Yorkum_ ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/64 "2004-04-04T14:30:28Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by Sisyphus’ Stone_ > Footpath, not sidewalk. > > Bonnet, not hood. > > Bum, not butt. > > Bull dust, not crap. > > Nappy, not diaper. > > Just a few examples of hegemonic language creep. > > And, as to the OP question, it annoys me too but not as much as the deliberate import of MacDonalds, KFC and other fast-food commercial rip-offs. I like beetroot on my bacon and egg sanger. Now, I agree about nappy and footpath, but “bull dust” rather than “crap”? I doubt crap’s even an Americanism for a start, and really, cobber, I’m sick of Aussies acting like you got to speak like a true blue shearer from the back o’ Bourke or you’ll start turning into some bloody Yank. I mean, bugger me, just cause I don’t want to sound like some stubby wearing drongo from the 1940s doesn’t mean I’m losing my own culture! Not accusing any poster of doing this specifically, but so often complaints about “Americanisms” are from people who are seem to think being Australian is speaking in archaic slang and copying as many Britishisms as possible. I mean, I think it’s pretty stupid for an Australian to be putting a diaper on their kid, but what’s the point in getting uptight about youth slang? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/65 "2004-04-04T15:46:04Z")
> [@c\_carol](#): > > I’m from the American South, and nobody I know says that. It’s usually “soda” around here. Maybe it’s a regional difference within the South? All over the South, actually. I’ve lived in AL, GA, TX, TN, and now in the OKC of OK (borderline South/MidWest) and heard it from the natives. Maybe not in the big cities, though. Transplants and Urbanization tends to kill regionalisms. And the kids growing up with MTV and Ed, Edd, & Eddie are slowly but surely losing all of our precious idioms. One funny thing…in East Texas, the older folks called it “sodee water.” (Spent some time in Rusk County.) ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/66 "2004-04-04T16:16:32Z")
“Bull dust” and “bullshit” are not quite the same thing. Bull dust is superfine soil that looks solid enough, but if you drive into it you can sink straight through to the bottom of the pothole. In an argument, if you are “baffled by bulldust” you are deceived by appearances; whereas if you are bullshitted you are deceived by apparent authority. I don’t care what you Kiwis call a battered sav on a stick - just warn me in large letters, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Phedre\_no\_Delaunay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/839c29/32.png) [@Phedre\_no\_Delaunay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phedre_no_Delaunay)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/67 "2004-04-04T16:45:42Z")
Another native Southerner who says and hears “soda” not coke. Unless I’m specifically talking about Coca Cola. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/68 "2004-04-04T17:58:43Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > The soft drink thing is particularly interesting. > > American south: Coke (all brands). > American east coast: Soda. > American midwest: Pop. > Most of Canada: Pop. > English speakers in Quebec: Soft drink. > > This is probably glossing over a lot, and I know it’s incomplete (U.S. west coast?) but this is what I remember from my dialectology course. Actually it’s pretty common to hear “soft drink” in Saskatchewan, and has been within my memory. And featherlou, I don’t know about you but I don’t hear “Vico” much anymore. It’s seems to be fading away. But we \*\*are \*\* holding on to bunnyhugs. ---
**Author:** ![flamingbananas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@flamingbananas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flamingbananas)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/69 "2004-04-04T18:45:42Z")
What is a “bunnyhug”? ---
**Author:** ![Treviathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/838e76/32.png) [@Treviathan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treviathan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/70 "2004-04-04T19:04:54Z")
> [@flamingbananas](#): > > What is a “bunnyhug”? A big comfy sweatshirt-type thing with a hood. See synonyms at jumper, hoodie, hooded sweatshirt, etc. Does anyone know _why_ us SK’ers started calling them bunnyhugs? And is there anywhere else that this usage is common, or are we as usual completely isolated from the rest of the world? ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/71 "2004-04-04T19:44:17Z")
I hate the word ‘Mom.’ But luckily I only hear it only American t.v programmes. (I also hate the word ‘mam,’ which is what my dad calls his mum. But that’s not American so it’s not really relevant.) ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/72 "2004-04-04T19:48:49Z")
> [@Vetch](#): > > I think this is an “Americanism” because I’ve only ever seen it here on this board. > > Anyway, “Go Figure” is an expression which really annoys me. I don’t even know why it does, because if it means what I think it means, like" work that one out" it says the same thing but more succinctly. Usually I’m in favour of brevity, but in this case it makes my few hairs curl up. Go figure. Yuccch. 🙂 Actually to me it means “Wow, who would have thought that would happen?” or something along those line. Only a small number of regionalisms actually bother me. It’s all down to freedom. If the kid down the street wants to start saying “good on ya” it’s his choice. Of course I live in a family that’s moved to a new state about once every 10 years over the last 200 years. I do hate the word flip-flops for rubber slippers. It justs sounds so old fogeyish. We call them slippers and pronounce it slippahs. But that’s Hawaii. I also tend not to like ones that sound like baby talk. I’m bored with the soda/pop/coke debate. I find the pizza/pie debate very amusing though. ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/73 "2004-04-04T20:26:04Z")
it’s arse, not ass shite, not shit soother, not pacifier/dummy ferr feck’s sakes 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/74 "2004-04-04T20:41:07Z")
‘Pop’ is a northern English-ism, as well as it’s American associations. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/75 "2004-04-04T21:08:01Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > ‘Pop’ is a northern English-ism, as well as it’s American associations. I agree. I live in the North, and as a child, my child-minder would offer me ‘pop,’ while my mum (originally from Northern Ireland) would say coke/lemonade/whatever the drink was called. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/76 "2004-04-04T22:08:18Z")
> [@jastu](#): > > As to almond, we say are-mond which is different again and ape-re-cot for apricot. > > Some words I use which seem to amuse my Americans friends are - > > rubbish > Just a tick > cuppa > arvo > chook > wanker > tightarse > bugger me > > I’m sure there are many others, just can’t think of them right now. A bunch of New Zealand words and phrases can be found on [this page](http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~fiski/nzglossy.html). Incidentally, _arvo_ means “afternoon”, as I just learned. Here is a glossary of [Australian slang](http://www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html). Although I don’t see the woed “dodgy” there, I’ve adopted that term since I learned it a couple of years ago. It carries a meaning of “shady” or “unsanitary” – if you generally avoid franchise restaurants but find yourself hungry in a small town with only two dining options, you may opt for McDonald’s because the “mom ‘n’ pop” steakhouse looks “kind of dodgy”. I guess the American “greasy spoon” comes close to the concept “dodgy” intends to convey, but as with all pairs of synonyms, subtle differences in meaning exist. Oh – when I say _apricot_ as APE-ri-cot, I’m sometimes “corrected” by jokers who ask: “So you also eat APE-les?” Well, apples and apricots are both fruits, but it makes sense to say ape-ri-cot unless you pronounce _April_ and _apron_ as APP-ril and APP-ron, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/77 "2004-04-04T22:33:19Z")
I’m an American, who has lived in several different states, and thus been exposed to a few regionalisms. (including the whole pop/soda thing). However, the reason I’m responding to this thread is to quote the following paragraph from today’s paper. > [@](#): > > In a survey conducted in 2001 in Britain, 20 percent of the office workers polled said they used trendy American Business expressions to impress colleagues even when they weren’t sure what the expressions meant. That’s silly! note: I got this quote from the Column “Word Court” by Barbara Walraff on the web at [http://www.wordcourt.com](http://www.wordcourt.com). She does not provide any citation for the quoted statistic. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/78 "2004-04-04T23:10:47Z")
> [@calm kiwi](#): > > 5 mins later I realised I was a wee bit irrational but it matters to me that he uses Kiwisms (or in that case Britishisms). There seem to be teenagers all over the place doing the “Yo, yo” and the “don’t you dis me” thing. Half of them even adopt a very bad American accent while doing it. I agree with your OP; I’m American, but I don’t want us all to end up sounding the same either. As for the part I singled out, there are many, if not most of us outside the age range 12 to 25 who are so with you on that. This is from the perpetual effort by some people to appear as if they’re _down_ on “da streetz” however ridiculous that may be. I’m noticing that even blonde pop diva singers like Britney Spears are appearing in big “funky” caps that look like what a pimp would wear in a 1970s Ralph Bakshi movie. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/79 "2004-04-04T23:11:50Z")
Who are the “Poms”? ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2004, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046/80 "2004-04-04T23:35:37Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > Who are the “Poms”? Poms are the English. Usually called Bloody Poms. I’m not sure if they like it or not but most Kiwis and Aussies do not intend it to be offensive. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americanisms-do-they-annoy-other-non-americans/238046.md?page=5)