# Have the British corrupted any Americanisms in recent times? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 16, 2014, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813 "2014-03-16T02:54:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/21 "2014-03-16T19:52:16Z")
Something right up the OPs line… [Netflix Introduced A Generation Of Americans To The Word ‘Queue’](http://www.uproxx.com/filmdrunk/2014/03/americans-didnt-know-pronounce-queue-netflix/) An article about the way that America has begun adopting the word ‘queue’ for lines and lining up for things. Cultural cross pollination and all that. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2014, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/22 "2014-03-16T23:18:43Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > In both American and British English, “cinema” is the posh word for the thing. “Movies” is a vernacular, somewhat slangy term. The British equivalent (although many British people these days might prefer to use “movies”) is “flicks”. In Scotland, we go to the “pictures”. ---
**Author:** ![Snupzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@Snupzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snupzilla)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/23 "2014-03-17T01:41:24Z")
‘Fall’ was a perfectly good native English word for the season between summer and winter until the British decided to borrow ‘Autumn’ from Latin recently for some reason. "Diaper’ is another great English word that the English decided to replace with ‘Nappy’. This fact alone alone should silence the whole "Americans are ruining our language’ argument as ‘Nappy’ is objectively a silly word 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/24 "2014-03-17T02:10:49Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Offhand I can’t think of any others, while there are dozens of USA to GB imports. That said, we nicked most of our words from other languages, so you might be misunderestimizating the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/25 "2014-03-17T02:19:23Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Elevators. American Elisha Otis invented what he called the “safety elevator” and founded the United Elevator Company, later the Otis Elevator Company. In Britain the Otis safety elevator is called a lift. Our local mall has elevators installed by the Schindler Company. I drive my hubby nuts by calling it “Schindler’s Lift.” ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/26 "2014-03-17T02:27:55Z")
> [@Reeses\_Monkey](#): > > Our local mall has elevators installed by the Schindler Company. I drive my hubby nuts by calling it “Schindler’s Lift.” Clever. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/27 "2014-03-17T03:07:12Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Something right up the OPs line… > > [Netflix Introduced A Generation Of Americans To The Word ‘Queue’](http://www.uproxx.com/filmdrunk/2014/03/americans-didnt-know-pronounce-queue-netflix/) > > An article about the way that America has begun adopting the word ‘queue’ for lines and lining up for things. Cultural cross pollination and all that. In American journalism, we’ve been using “queue” or “Q” ever since computerization began in the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/28 "2014-03-17T03:34:20Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > In American journalism, we’ve been using “queue” or “Q” ever since computerization began in the 1970s. The rise of computers has introduced a lot of jargon, some of it borrowed from other vaguely similar uses. The English word “fetch” meaning to carry something hither, was a dying word up until the 1960’s or so, seen as a rather archaic word (the remaining common usage being, to command a dog to bring something). In the computer industry, the word was reanimated, referring to the act of recalling a datum from a computer’s memory. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/29 "2014-03-17T03:47:30Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Something right up the OPs line… > > [Netflix Introduced A Generation Of Americans To The Word ‘Queue’](http://www.uproxx.com/filmdrunk/2014/03/americans-didnt-know-pronounce-queue-netflix/) > > An article about the way that America has begun adopting the word ‘queue’ for lines and lining up for things. Cultural cross pollination and all that. So before Netflix, what would an American call a line-up to wait for something? ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/30 "2014-03-17T03:52:35Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Biscuits became cookies. Actually, the American word came from the Dutch “koekie” was a sweet biscuit to the English. New Amsterdam language did influence us before the town was renamed New York. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/31 "2014-03-17T04:03:38Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > So before Netflix, what would an American call a line-up to wait for something? A group of people waiting in order is a line. In most of the country, a person in a line is “in line,” but in a few places (maybe just New York) they’re “on line.” ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/32 "2014-03-17T04:13:56Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > A group of people waiting in order is a line. In most of the country, a person in a line is “in line,” but in a few places (maybe just New York) they’re “on line.” The word has been in use in America long, long before Netflix. In fact, a cursory search reveals that it came from French (not terribly shocking), and that it quite possibly it entered American usage separately from, or even before, British usage. It was being used in the sense of a ‘line’ as far back as 1800 in French Louisiana, and did not appear in British usage for at least several more decades. WHile referring to lining-up is more common, I’ve never encountered anyone who didn’t know what a queue was in context. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/33 "2014-03-17T05:00:45Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > … > Maybe with automobiles? (trucks –\> lorries? hoods to bonnets?) > [@njtt](#): > > Well, there is [… > Also, not quite the same thing, but related, many British people believe (wrongly) that the American term for a car’s bumper is “fender”. (Actually it is “bumper” on both sides of the Atlantic, and the American “fender” refers to a part of the car that has no name in British ENglish.) > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Hmm? A fender is a “wing” in Britishese. Perfect timing. I was going to start a new thread, but since you’re here: [URL=“[British Car Terminology](http://www.lotus-europa.com/manuals/misc/newbie/terminology.htm)”]British/American Automotive Terminology Translation Dictionary.]([Mohawk or Mohican? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=71864)) Not all of these are really true, right? (I don’t even know what some of these are in American.) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/34 "2014-03-17T05:10:56Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > The word has been in use in America long, long before Netflix. > > In fact, a cursory search reveals that it came from French (not terribly shocking), and that it quite possibly it entered American usage separately from, or even before, British usage. It was being used in the sense of a ‘line’ as far back as 1800 in French Louisiana, and did not appear in British usage for at least several more decades. > > WHile referring to lining-up is more common, I’ve never encountered anyone who didn’t know what a queue was in context. I have encountered a (educated, adult) American who failed to understand me when I talked about being in a queue for the checkout at a grocery store. I had to clarify by saying “line”. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/35 "2014-03-17T05:23:44Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Perfect timing. I was going to start a new thread, but since you’re here: > > [British/American Automotive Terminology Translation Dictionary.](http://www.lotus-europa.com/manuals/misc/newbie/terminology.htm) > > Not all of these are really true, right? (I don’t even know what some of these are in American.) Some are true but many are rubbish. For instance: A battery is a battery, not an accumulator. A glove compartment is a glove compartment, not a cubby box. A hubcap is a hubcap, not a nave plate.😕 etc. etc. In other cases, people may sometimes use the term given there as British, but are just as likely, or more so, to use the one designated as American. On the other hand, truck is certainly lorry (although “truck” will be readily understood), hood is bonnet, trunk is boot, kerosene is paraffin, gasoline is petrol, oil pan is sump, etc. etc. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/36 "2014-03-17T09:36:40Z")
All I could come up with is “candy”, which is rarely used here in its American-English meaning, but is sometimes used in the phrase “eye-candy”, meaning someone who is visually appealing. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/37 "2014-03-17T09:37:26Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Elevators. American Elisha Otis invented what he called the “safety elevator” and founded the United Elevator Company, later the Otis Elevator Company. In Britain the Otis safety elevator is called a lift. Not really. In Britain, all man lifts are called lifts. The term predates the Otis lift by about 800 years. Otis didn’t invent the man lift, or even change it much. The same basic design had been used in [mines and castles for almost a thousand years](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0d/Agricola1.jpg/220px-Agricola1.jpg) and had been consistently called a lift or man lift for 800 years. All Otis did is fix the brakes. The point being that “lift” is the older term, and perfectly correct. It’s not British neologism to call it a lift. The Otis “elevator” is a type of lift. It is actually more correct to say that “elevator” is the neologism, though not much more since the term was used for things like grain elevators for centuries before Otis, and probably used for man lifts as well. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/38 "2014-03-17T13:05:24Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > So before Netflix, what would an American call a line-up to wait for something? Noun: Line Verbs: Line up, get in line, stand in line, wait in line (In New York City, if you are currently queued, then you are “on line,” a very peculiar phrase for the rest of the country) > [@Acsenray](#): > > In American journalism, we’ve been using “queue” or “Q” ever since computerization began in the 1970s. I should specify that we use it to mean a directory/list/folder of files rather than a list that is in some particular order. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/39 "2014-03-17T14:27:20Z")
As for a British “diaper”, I thought “nappy” was a shortened form of “napkin”. I think most Americans were introduced to “queue” when Jack Bruce sang about waiting in one in “White Room”. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813/40 "2014-03-17T14:49:57Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I think most Americans were introduced to “queue” when Jack Bruce sang about waiting in one in “White Room”. He was singing _about_ something? Not just randomly stringing unrelated phrases together? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-the-british-corrupted-any-americanisms-in-recent-times/683813.md?page=3)