Americanisms!

My OH is American and is still undergoing retraining although we've been together many years. As far as I know language is a tool to communicate so as long as we understand each other it's fine. More and more Americanisms will infiltrate as communication is more global. Personally, I love it. I do have to sit OH on the naughty step for bag/purse and sweater/jumper though and when he tells me to 'get my ass in gear' I just laugh.

Hi Cheelu lovely to see you

Deborah is the only one left. Apparently even when she was very young, her sisters' nickname for her was "duchess"

At least I think she is still around. She keeps a lower profile now that she is the Dowager Duchess and is over 90.

(I've only just come back to GN after asking the question about the Mitford sisters and then b*******g off to bed)

Phoenix sounds like him. DS3 has just got into reading him!

Moved I think it might have been Mark Twain.

anno I do believe you're right! It does ring a bell.

I think we've been over this ground before - probably on pedants' corner.

There is a saying "Two nations divided by a single language" I think that's it but someone may correct me.

Some Americanisms really grate. For example the stretching of words, like "burglarise" instead of "burgle". And the way laboratory is always mispronounced!

There are many American sayings now used in the UK. I hear people in cafes saying "Can I get a coffee please" and half expect the staff to say "No you can't that's my job, but you may have a coffee"

absent, thanks for clarifying what "Homecoming" is. I guess toilet is a euphemism, I do remember a teacher at school asking a classmate not to do her toilet in class when she was caught plucking her eyebrows in a small mirror, the rest of us of course fell about in hysterical laughter! However, whilst the old fashioned definition was I believe attending to one's appearance I think most now associate it with bodily functions which a restroom does not imply. I do remember reading a Billy Bryson book, I think it was called "Made in America" in which he explained a lot of American terminology is surprisingly derived from old English. As you say, America is an incredible melting pot of different nations so different languages would have had an influence as well. Personally some of my favourite place names in America are the ones that belonged to the Native Americans such as Chicago, Potamac and many more.

ana it made me laugh in the recent series on the Claridges Hotel - when the concierge said "Nowadays Google makes us all clever!" (in response to the gazillion requests from guests for info).

Homecoming is when graduates return for an annual celebration at their former college or school.

Bananas Toilet itself is a euphemism.

Btw Lots of so-called American expressions (and pronunciation) are simply an older form of English taken over by early settlers and surviving in America but dying out in the Mother Country. Gotten is a good example. Many others, of course, derive from the influence of immigrants from non-English speaking countries. Cookies, for example, comes from Dutch and is just as good a word as biscuits (which comes from French).

Pamela.

Diana. Jessica. Unity. Deborah and Nancy are the only ones I know. They had a bro called thomas

You could google it...

Jeni Can you name the six Mitford sisters? Nancy wrote about U and non-U but there were 5 more. Only one left now.

I reada book of their letters to one another. Typical sisters - veered between love and frightful rows.

U/non u

Ana I do that, ask for the bathroom, I am always embarrased to ask for the toilet--I dont know why!

Ana

Bananas thank you for the insight! you are so lucky to have been to so many places.

Ariadne that cabin sounds lovely, I have seen the type on TV..

Yip would agree on the gun laws. There is a worse problem in South Africa where not only does everyone have a gun, many of them are illegal (or unlicensed). We never owned one when we lived in SA but we were the odd ones out.

My first visit to the US in 1983 was to Oregon.
I had read something about it and just wanted to see it. We were living in Hongkong at the time and I was sick of the city.
Oregon was wild and had everything - mountains, rivers, forests and the most breathtaking coastline.
The children were aged 6, 3 and six months and we set ourselves easy targets of travelling about only about 100 miles a day.
We stopped in little towns along the way and everyone was so friendly. They were not used to foreign visitors and everywhere we were met with 'you mean you're on vaycaytion? Well how about that!'
Wonderful country and wonderful hospitable people.

Don't they also ask for the 'bathroom' when they actually want the toilet? Must be very confusing when they're directed to a room with just a bath and washbasin in it!

A life jacket is apparently a condom
I would have said it was a life preventer?

Here's another euphemism used by Americans, Restroom. It's a toilet or lavatory, for heavens sake, why can't they just say it! Everyone knows what they are going in there for and it's not a rest!

We travel a lot in America; we have friends in Nebraska, who have a cabin on a lake in Minnesota. So wherever we are visiting, we always try to end up there, and it is magical. But I do remember Joan and I standing in my kitchen during her first visit here, and saying "Could you just put some cling film over that dish, please?" and Joan looking at me in sheer bewilderment. Of course, it is Saran Wrap to her! Not really an Americanism as such..

I love America. We have been to the big places, starting with Florida years ago then again two years ago, and New Orleans and the Grand Canyon, Colorado, San Diego, San Francisco. (A lot of conferences!) But some of the best times have been just pottering along on the way somewhere, and stopping in a small town and meeting people, all so friendly. Places like North and South Dakota, off the beaten track for tourists, were especially welcoming.

BAnanas we were in New Hampshire and Vermont a couple of years ago and it was so lovely, and so different.

Yes, "homely" isn't a compliment! And P****d has tw separate meanings.

'Awesome' has travelled across the Atlantic, BAnanas. I have noticed my 10-year-old GD using it - maybe over-using it. Perhaps I will challenge her to find some synonyms for it. She does possess - and use - a thesaurus.