All my life, I’ve been under the assumption that the term “sacked”, meaning fired or terminated, was an informal saying. Then on the BBC World Service last night, which provided live coverage of the Fiji coup, I heard the term repeatedly, as in “sacked the prime minister”. This seemed to me, an American, a highly unprofessional phrasing not often heard from BBC Anchors.
Is “sacked” a formal word in British English?
Not that I’m aware. It’s a pretty tabloid word, as far as I am aware. Maybe the Beeb don’t have their best people covering the Fiji situation, or perhaps it’s all part of the general decline of standards since the golden days of my youth.
And get off my lawn!
It’s gotta be less informal in the UK than we think in the States.
I have wondered the same thing for years. I don’t recall ever hearing an American news anchor say that a government official was “canned” or “sacked” though they are equivalent terms in my mind. In contrast, the Brits seem to say “sacked” with regularity about government firings.
It’s definitely not as slangy as “canned” (although we don’t really use that term). It’s at about the same level of formality as “fired”, and I wouldn’t be shocked to hear it coming out of a newsreader’s mouth. The most proper way of saying it would be “dismissed” (not “terminated” - that always sounds to me like the employee has been taken outside and shot).
It is talking about a Coup in the OP. 