# What Britishisms most baffle Americans? What Americanisms most baffle Brits? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 18, 2024, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941 "2024-10-18T08:53:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 43
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/841 "2024-11-05T23:35:57Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > The phrase “Youse guys” is a popular, gender-neutral alternative to “you guys” in cities like Philadelphia and New York. Interestingly, apparently it’s also widely used in urban areas of Ireland, including Dublin (correct me if I’m wrong). I will correct you. (But only slightly, and only since you asked!) Plural you in Dublin can be “youse” (pronounced “you-iss”) or “yis” but not “youse guys” which sounds American to this Dub. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/842 "2024-11-05T23:41:18Z")
> [@Oswald\_Bastable](#): > > This talk of electricity got me thinking about the nicknames we use for some trades in the UK. A carpenter might colloquially be referred to as a chippie, and an electrician, a spark or sparkie. Does American English use the same? Australian English certainly does. And bricklayers are brickies, garbage collectors garbos, paramedics ambos, firefighters firies. Cops are just cops everywhere I guess. I’m trying to get plumbers called drippies, but with limited success so far. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2024, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/843 "2024-11-06T00:01:28Z")
I suppose “bouncer” counts, assuming the official job title is something like “guard” or “doorman.” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2024, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/844 "2024-11-06T00:03:37Z")
> [@Oswald\_Bastable](#): > > This talk of electricity got me thinking about the nicknames we use for some trades in the UK. A carpenter might colloquially be referred to as a chippie, and an electrician, a spark or sparkie. Does American English use the same? If any such nicknames exist here, they aren’t widely used (or are purely regional). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2024, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/845 "2024-11-06T00:07:45Z")
There are times when _gotten_ could be useful - in cases where the order of things matters and it needs to be clear that you had already obtained a thing before some other thing happened, and where ‘got’ might imply that you acquired it at the point mentioned, rather than already at that point. There are other ways to work around it such as saying ‘I had already acquired’ or something, but gotten just seems like a convenient thing we decided we didn’t need. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2024, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/846 "2024-11-08T23:44:42Z")
Today I learned that the hairstyle called “bangs” in the U.S. are called “fringe” in the U.K. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2024, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/847 "2024-11-09T06:59:20Z")
“Fringe” isn’t a hair style, so much as whatever hair that hangs/falls over the forehead. “Bangs”, to us, were styled curls on the forehead, such as were all the go in the 1890s, and which Queen Mary went on wearing for most of her life. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2024, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/848 "2024-11-09T17:26:56Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > “Fringe” isn’t a hair style, so much as whatever hair that hangs/falls over the forehead. Same with “bangs” here in the US – not a hairstyle, so much, as the term for hair that’s over the forehead. Particularly for women’s hairstyles, some styles (like bobs and pixie cuts) feature bangs, and some don’t. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2024, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/849 "2024-11-09T23:36:27Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Ships need to be especially careful if they hear voices in the night yell “Schooner, ahoy!” or encounter people in rowboats covered in green fungus. That story seriously creeped me out. > [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Another one you don’t hear so much nowadays is “doolally” meaning “confused” or “deranged”, from the British military hospital at Deolali in India, where “heatstruck” soldiers might end up. Thanks! Didn’t know that derivation. But I just heard that word – twice! – last night watching a Geraldine McEwen Miss Marple – _The 4:50 from Paddington._ ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2024, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/850 "2024-11-10T00:18:58Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > “‘Backshift’ is a term coined by the linguist John McWhorter to describe a process whereby the stress in a new word or phrase falls on the last syllable at first and with time moves backwards, e.g. ‘hot DOG’ gave way to ‘HOT dog’, ‘BroadWAY’ to ‘BROADway’, and ‘x-RAY’ to ‘X-ray’.” I was watching an old William Powell/Myrna Loy movie made in the very early 30s (I thinkit might not have been a Thin Man movie) where they called the suspects the susPECTS. It sounded really odd. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2024, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/851 "2024-11-10T15:48:24Z")
> [@kferr](#): > > > [@SCAdian](#): > > > > In my experience it rhymes with “cot”, not “caught”. > > To me those are pronounced the same. Armour [hot dogs](https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1556865607680060) – do you use the vowel the singer uses for “hot” or the vowel in “dogs”? ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2024, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/852 "2024-11-10T15:50:50Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > > [@kferr](#): > > > > > [@SCAdian](#): > > > > > > In my experience it rhymes with “cot”, not “caught”. > > > > To me those are pronounced the same. > > Armour [hot dogs](https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1556865607680060) – do you use the vowel the singer uses for “hot” or the vowel in “dogs”? This confuses me because I hear no difference in any of them. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2024, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/853 "2024-11-10T16:04:53Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > There are times when _gotten_ could be useful I had the flu, but I have gotten over it. (UK). ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2024, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/854 "2024-11-10T16:54:08Z")
I feel more than hear the difference. With “cot/hot” the vowel is in the front of the mouth. With “caught/dog” the vowel is in the back of the mouth, nearly in the throat. Vowels are tricksy. If you didn’t grow up with the sounds, it’s hard to hear the differences ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2024, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/855 "2024-11-10T20:34:32Z")
My mouth/tongue/larynx feel exactly the same on all four words. Even if I _did_ hear the difference, I doubt I could actually pronounce it. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2024, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/856 "2024-11-10T20:46:57Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > I was watching an old William Powell/Myrna Loy movie made in the very early 30s (I thinkit might not have been a Thin Man movie) where they called the suspects the susPECTS. It sounded really odd. In a few episodes of _Leave It to Beaver_, they mention the “boy SCOUTS.” And in _The Man Who Wasn’t There_ (set in 1949), a character sings the praises of a new technology called “dry CLEANING.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2024, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/857 "2024-11-10T23:14:21Z")
Big deal back East. Most Westerners like you and I are simply baffled. See > **[Cot–caught merger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cot%E2%80%93caught_merger)** > > The cot–caught merger, also known as the .mw-parser-output span.smallcaps{font-variant:small-caps}.mw-parser-output span.smallcaps-smaller{font-size:85%}LOT–THOUGHT merger or low back merger, is a sound change present in some dialects of English where speakers do not distinguish the vowel phonemes in words like cot versus caught. Cot and caught (along with bot and bought, pond and pawned, etc.) is an example of a minimal pair that is lost as a result of this sound change. The phonemes involved ... ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/858 "2024-11-11T09:55:31Z")
This seems similar to the Great Vowel Shift talked about in the Youtube video that I posted then neglected to summarize before. > **[Great Vowel Shift](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift)** > > The Great Vowel Shift was a series of pronunciation changes in the vowels of the English language that took place primarily between the 1400s and 1600s (the transition period from Middle English to Early Modern English), beginning in southern England and today having influenced effectively all dialects of English. Through this massive vowel shift, the pronunciation of all Middle English long vowels altered. Some consonant sounds also changed, specifically becoming silent; the term Great Vowel About halfway through the shift the printing press gets invented which causes the spelling of words to become standardized at the same time the pronunciation of them is changing. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/859 "2024-11-11T11:57:33Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The cot–caught merger, also known as the .mw-parser-output span.smallcaps{font-variant:small-caps}.mw-parser-output span.smallcaps-smaller{font-size:85%}LOT–THOUGHT merger I think I’ll call it the cot-caught merger. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2024, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941/860 "2024-11-11T11:59:09Z")
But the other name just rolls off the tongue. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941.md?page=42) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-britishisms-most-baffle-americans-what-americanisms-most-baffle-brits/1008941.md?page=44)