Dueling phrases

[dhermann1]

I just read a post from a UK member which mentioned her "flatmate". This made me wonder if the term "flat" and "apartment" are some day going to have a showdown over general usage, with one being consigned to history. My favorite example of this is the way the word "soda" has slowly eradicated "pop" in most of the US. "Flat" is still universally used in Britain (and Australia and NZ???), whereas "apartment" is universal here in the US.
Anyone else have any favorite pairs of words that are heading for a similar showdown?
Here in the US several good British phrases have come into general use in the last couple of decades, for example "gone missing". Anybody else watch the evolution of our common tongue this closely?

 

[zaika]

i've noticed these sorts of things too. even in spelling, it seems to be fashionable in the US to spell "color" as "colour" and "theater" as "theatre." and so on.

i read somewhere (might have been here for all i remember) that here in the US there used to be a stigma attached to the term "flat." it was reserved and used to describe poor and cramped living spaces in urban areas? and an apartment was more cushy and like a home. so, it's amusing to me that the term "flat" is becoming fashionable. lol

as far as other terms i've heard: "take away" instead of "take out". i've even heard someone who wasn't british say "boot" when referring to the trunk of his car.

maybe those aren't very good examples.

but...yeah. hehe

 

[Warbaby]

Don't know if they're headed for a showdown, but the first ones that come to mind are:

Biscuits - Cookies
Lorry - Truck
Boot - Trunk
Bonnet - Hood

 

[Paisley]

I don't think these are showdowns (except for soda v. pop), but rather British v. American English.

 

[Midnight Palace]

I always thought "theatre" referred to the stage, while "theater" referred to a room showing a film. I could be waaaayyy off though.

 

[reetpleat]

I do love the colour of the british language and Love the difference in word usage. But I am not so sure they will catch on for this reason. the people using those words never, to me, are just using them due just picking it up. It is always kind of deliberate, from euro wanabees or coeds who spent a summer in London. It seems a littl too contrived to ever really catch on.

People are so aware that they will always identify it as a British usage.

But who knows.

I do think that the term flat does have some currency in San Francisco where many houses have been converted into three apartments, one on each level, so the term kind of makes sense. Plus, there are a lot of Europeans there.

 

[miserabelle]

In America you say 'pants' more often when we would say 'trousers', and where you would say 'panties' we would say 'pants' or 'knickers' I suppose.

I like that we say 'little finger' instead of 'pinkie' xx

 

[MrNewportCustom]

I think the Internet is a major force behind this, because of the international reach it has. And because of the Internet, there is, in my opinion, a showdown for spelling. For instance, I see "alot" replacing "a lot" a lot.

And then, of course, there are the accronyms that are slowly replacing entire phrases. It didn't take me long to decipher, "IRL", "IMHO" and "FWIW", but I'm still having a hell of a time with "IIRC." lol


Lee
______________________________

FWIW, IRL "IIRC" still has me saying, "WTF??"

 

[warbird]

There is no soda v pop debate in the south. It isn't now nor ever was either of those. Down here it's Coke, that's it. If all they have in the restaurant is Pepsi, God forbid or RC (good stuff too), that's what they'll bring you but you still order Coke. And down here almost every restaurant carries Coke.

If you want 7-up or Mountain Dew or anything else you would refer to it by its name. But primarily it's Coke or sweet tea or coffee. Anything else is some dandified concoction that one must be very cautious of.

 

[Folly]

Not many people in the UK use the word film anymore, movie seems to have taken over. Personally I will always refer to a film as a film. We have the film4 channel over here and even though it's called film4, they still say "Movies this April on film4." [huh]

I will always refer to art deco flarts as apartments as somehow saying art deco block of flats doesn't sound right whereas art deco apartment block sounds right lol

I've heard a few Brits refer to rubbish as trash, but then I think they are just trying to be more American for whatever reason. On the internet I am sure it's more about fitting in and not standing out and that it just rubs off on you. A message board I used to go to, some of the US members admitted to adopting the word telly because of hearing the UK members say it alot.

 

[Flivver]

When I was a kid (and until very recently) we waited *in* line, not on line. I'll never get used to that one!

And, at least here in central New England, it's "tonic", not soda and certainly not pop. I first heard the term "pop" from my mid-western cousins who thought there was nothing more ridiculous than calling pop "tonic". Every time I asked for a glass of tonic they would remind me that tonic was used in barber shops to dress hair.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Tonic is tonic only from Southern New Hampshire onward -- I think Rockingham County is the dividing line. Around here it's mostly soda, although my grandfather always called it "pop."

"Flat" tends to be used around here to refer to a rundown tenement-type apartment. I used to live in a flat, but my upscale acquaintances all lived in apartments.

"Theatre" has always been "Theatre" here -- at least for those in the theatre business. It looks much classier on a sign.

The Britishism I'm hearing most lately is "innit?" used as an all-purpose punctuation/intensifier/interrogative at the end of any random statement, the way a Canadian might say "Eh?" or Edward G. Robinson might say "Mmmmyeah!" For some reason this has caught on with kids around here, maybe due to some TV show or rock star I've never heard of?

 

[dhermann1]

I'm waiting for an invasion of "brilliant". The word has been really done to death in the UK (with the letter R evolving into "bwilliant" a lot, it seems). On the other hand, I'll be very bummed out if I started hearing a lot of Brits saying "awesome" all the time.

 

[Smithy]

Just cases of British versus American English which are highlighted now with the internet where on forums such as this users of the types come into contact.

Being a New Zealander we use British English (with some home grown phrases and terms) and spellings. I think it's important to use what you were born with, as I find it sounds contrived when you get someone using English they have no reason to use.

Saying that I have an American mate back home in NZ who has lived there for a few years now and has picked up words like "mate", "bloody" and "bugger". That's understandable, but I find it really stupid and pretentious when you meet (online or in person) someone who has never lived in a country that uses British English using words and phrases like "cheers mate", "bugger all", etc. Same goes if you get someone using American English when they have no reason to, makes them look like complete idiots.

 

[Fletch]

Brill. Just brill. Or moving up the class structure a tick: Triffic. Absolutely triffic.

I am happy that some Americans are learning to use the old Anglo-Saxonisms in more typically British ways, such as f*¢!!wit (meaning "person of inadequate cranial capacity") or f*¢!!-all (meaning "diddly squat").

What are some Briticisms not used anymore? Does anyone still say bally this and bally that? Or tiggerty-boo? Did they ever?

 

[Josephine]

On the other hand, I'll be very bummed out if I started hearing a lot of Brits saying "awesome" all the time.

what, like a hot dog?

lol

 

[Smithy]

My Mum used to use bally a bit. Tickety-boo is pretty rare now but I've heard it back home occasionally.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

I don't think these are showdowns (except for soda v. pop), but rather British v. American English.

Give the fine lady from CO a prize! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[TheKitschGoth]

The Britishism I'm hearing most lately is "innit?" used as an all-purpose punctuation/intensifier/interrogative at the end of any random statement, the way a Canadian might say "Eh?" or Edward G. Robinson might say "Mmmmyeah!" For some reason this has caught on with kids around here, maybe due to some TV show or rock star I've never heard of?

Haha! That one seems to have died down a little over here (unfortunately I find it creeeping into my speech every now and then), good to see someone else is suffering with it now. I think we can proably blame the whole Ali G rage: ) thing for it being so well known.

 

[The Dame]

How about sack vs. bag? As in sack lunch or bag lunch? The use of one or the other seems to have been predominantly a regional difference, kind of like soda and pop vs. Coke - and in some parts of the South, when you order a Coke, they'll ask you what you want and you can say 7Up or Sprite or Dr. Pepper or whatever - it isn't assumed you actually mean Coke or another dark cola. I actually think 'soft drink' is going to win out over soda and pop. Coke's usage as a generic representing 'soft drink' in the South will die hard, if it ever dies, but that's because it's based in Atlanta.

As for American English vs. British English, whenever I taught English abroad, I enjoyed telling my students (who had predominantly learned BE) that they needed to be careful when asking an American if they could borrow a rubber. A rubber in Britain is an eraser in the States.