Language trends you dislike?

[Deleted member 18243]

"fall" instead of "autumn".



Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Apparently we used to say "fall" before it got changed to autumn.

I enjoy listening to speakers of English from the colonies; they often speak it better, and speak a better and older version than the Americanised version that we speak here. South Africans are particularly well spoken (if you can get over the accent that is).

I visit Scotland often and marvel at the, sometimes, ancient words the Scots come out with. For cupboard they say "press", which, if you look it up in an English dictionary, was common in England before cupboard took over.

 

[Dork Lard]

I'm not being funny, always said just before someone tries to be funny

Where I come from, someone saying "I'm not being funny" is almost always a precursor to the spark that lights the fires & then it all kicks off.

"I'm not being funny yowth, but your 'ead really is a funny shape". BOOM.

 

[securespark]

Apparently we used to say "fall" before it got changed to autumn.

I enjoy listening to speakers of English from the colonies; they often speak it better, and speak a better and older version than the Americanised version that we speak here. South Africans are particularly well spoken (if you can get over the accent that is).

I visit Scotland often and marvel at the, sometimes, ancient words the Scots come out with. For cupboard they say "press", which, if you look it up in an English dictionary, was common in England before cupboard took over.

Yes, TBF to the Americans, they took the English we were speaking at the time when their ancestors made the journey across the pond. It's us who changed the language.

 

[Nige F]

While not being anti-American - far from it - some Americanisms can sound ridiculous. Like the way they change the past tenses of some English words. eg. dive and drag.

I remember hearing an American on tv telling how he rescued a drowning man. "I dove in and drug him out."

Drug.... heard that years ago from an old Sussex geezer. Must be one we used to say and the Yanks took it with them. ( He was an old kiddy but that makes less sense to outsiders)

 

[JohnD]

english is basically a Germanic language and our irregular verbs tend to be the same as the German ones.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Drug.... heard that years ago from an old Sussex geezer. Must be one we used to say and the Yanks took it with them. ( He was an old kiddy but that makes less sense to outsiders)

'Kiddy' also gets used a lot in these 'ere Bristol parts. Never heard drug as a past tense of drag in UK before though, Nige.