Britishism = Briticism =?Anglicism? = :)John-Bullism:)

[Tamara]

Some dictionaries insist that the term should be used only for ‘pure’ British features or 'typical British idioms' that are not used in the USA.

1. Wikipedia also give lists of:

· List of American words not widely used in the United Kingdom
· List of words having different meanings in British and American English
· American and British English spelling differences
· American and British English pronunciation differences

I confuse about correct using of the term ‘Britishism’ - regarding words, phrases or idioms (with specific British meanings (or spelling)). That have different meanings (or spelling) in American English.

For example, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Britishism

gives At the end of the day (= finally; taking everything into account; when all is said and done) as Britishism

Could you comment using of the term?
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[Yankee]

Hi Tamara

As far as I can tell, "at the end of the day" has only recently come into widespread use in the US and it seems to have come to life as a buzzword in business. Just as the expression "thinking outside the box" has become popular, for example.

I'd be interested in hearing Jamie's opinion on the usage of "at the end of the day".

Amy
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Jamie (K)]

[Yankee]

Hi Jamie

15 years ago is roughly when I first noticed American business people (here in in Germany) using "at the end of the day". I didn't mean to convey that I thought it was used mainly in business. But I thought it might have gained its foothold and come to life via its use in business since I first noticed it not long after coming to Germany.

By the way, when you talk about East Coast elitists, do you mean mainly Ivy Leaguers?

Amy
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Alan]

Hi Jamie (K),

I am intrigued about your references such as:

[Yankee]

[Jamie (K)]

Alan, expressions can carry that type of baggage, but that can change over time.

In the United States there is a class of people -- especially clustered in the Northeast, it seems -- who consider themselves to have an innate superiority over other people in the country. In fact, they refer to anything between the East Coast and California as "flyover country". In other words, they have to fly across it to get from one coast to the other, but they don't think there could ever be any reason to land there. Many people from government, diplomacy and especially journalism are in this category. John Kerry lost the 2004 election partly because his manner reflected that he was this type of elitist (much as he tried to hide it).

When Kofi Annan's second in command at the UN went on TV recently and proclaimed that the unwashed American masses in the middle of the country were ignorantly persecuting the UN because they got all their information from two conservative media outlets, he was showing that he probably has contact almost exclusively with these Eastern elites and was ignorant of the thought and habits of the rest of the country, their educational level, and why they object to the UN these days.

One mark of this class of Americans is that many of them feel emotionally insecure at not having been born in Europe, and they have a fantasy that everyone is more educated and enlightened in Europe than they are here. I have constant aggravation with one friend who wants to move his family to Europe every time he doesn't like what's going on politically, or when he gets frustrated with idiots he has to deal with in his high-paying job. You can tell him all you want that the UK or France have their own masses of idiots comparable to those in the US -- and that you have to deal with ignoramuses on a daily basis everywhere -- but having no concrete experience of Europe, I just can't get it through to him. He still thinks that if he moves to Europe, everything will be all better, and he'll always be around people as "enlightened" as he is.

Americans who suffer from this sort of Euro-envy have a habit of latching on to some conspicuously British phrase they hear somewhere and using it all the time. They tend to think that saying "at the end of the day", "spot on" or some similar thing gives them associations with Britain, and therefore Europe, and makes them sound smarter and more cosmopolitan. I don't reckon they think this on a completely conscious level, but you can pick it up anyway. This is why when I hear "spot on" coming through the radio from the mouth of some Eastern journalist or commentator, I assume this complex is at work. We have so many more natural, less opaque terms that express the same thing, that it takes a special effort for an American to use one like that. It's clearly the result of a conscious decision and sustained effort to adopt a Britishism, and not just natural language dissemination.

For me, the expression "at the end of the day" isn't loaded that way anymore, because it's seeped into the general populace. I suppose I won't think of "spot on" that way after 10 or 15 years either.

And note that when I say "class of people", I mean it in the American sense, which means it doesn't have to be a group one is born into.

[Tom]

[Yankee]

Hi Tom

When companies talk about "thinking outside the box" they mean that employees should not simply accept and be satisfied with the status quo (that would be "in the box thinking" ). Rather, employes should be open to and looking for new ways of thinking and original ways of doing things. They should explore, experiment and innovate. Theoretically, most great inventions have come from people who were able to "think outside the box".

Amy
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Conchita]

[Yankee]

Hi Conchita

Yes, the vast majority of employees in companies are often light-years away from the "elite" head honchos in the corner offices. Light-years in terms of salary, benefits, perks, influence, etc. Sometimes people call themselves peons because they see their bosses as "slave drivers". Sometimes it's simply because they don't have any decision-making power or influence in the company.

Have you ever read any of the Dilbert comics?

Amy
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Tamara]

Hi!

Thank you all. Very informative & good points to think.

So… trying to sum it up to put it down in my poor head (hmm… viva voce writing ):

There are:
- 'ordinary' natives (Britishers and Americans) who use language functionally and naturally and are not confused about ‘correct’ use (thank you, Jamie) of the terms 'Americanism' and 'Britishism' or word etymology, at all;

- professional people who are involved in business with its international transfer of English language (functional, as well);

- ‘posh people’, elite (and pseudo-elite) - people who form, keep and conserve their own sublanguage, not naturally, but specially - to differ from others, ‘ordinary’ people (British or American).
They tend to use ‘reputed’, prestige words and phrases and have some sore points concerning it;

- linguists (dictionaries), and teachers ('standard natural' English);

- non-natives, learning English (from the surroundings, as well) who are concerned about word choice and ‘right’ English. Like me ;

- children, the least conservative group , thoughtless repeaters, who just absorb language (proper or improper) from the air. Like me, as well (sometimes)

OK.
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[Alan]

Hi Whoever,

Thanks to Jamie and Amy for your explanations on the use of words and phrases and the way in which they are chosen by people in the USA. In a word I am flabbergasted at the apparent undercurrents raging in what effect this expression or that phrase is having on the listener and the apparent and supposedly tortuous thought processes that are going on at the same time in the mind of the speaker. Are people really that affected by the words chosen by some to the extent that they (the listeners) are conjuring up pictures of what they (the speakers) are pretending,claiming, endeavouring to be?

Now I have been listening with an avid ear to speech around me since I was perambulated up and down the streets of North London in a perambulator, through that awful period when I lived among the uneducated elite in the barracks of the Tower of London, through the years I spent among the educated elite in Oxford and Cambridge, through the heady years I worked freelance for the BBC up until now when I mingle with the masses at St Tesco and in all that time when I have been hobnobbing with Tom, Dick and Harry or if you wish Thomas, Richard and Harold and never have I thought to myself (well perhaps I didn't do an awful lot of that in the pram as I was sleeping much of the time): Oh she's saying that because she wants to be Spanish or he's saying that because he really wants to be an American. To me it's always been the way they say something rather than the words. To take an extreme example - the way that the heir to the throne speaks.

Now there are reasons for that manner of speaking and I don't wish to go into them and border on the fringes of lese majeste but one would imagine that this guy had loads of advantages over the average Joe Bloggs (I'm tempted to show off and say peon but you'd say I was pushing it but I've added it to my vocab list for future reference) in terms of education, environment and affluence but if you scrape off the accent, you'll find speech of the utmost banality. And that's my point - it's surely not what you say but the way you say it.

The reason I'm sounding off today is to express my sympathy for our users for whom English is a foreign language and who browse these forums, who must be confused about the vagaries of Britishisms, Americanisms or whatever 'isms' you like when all the poor darlings want to know is how do you say this, why do you say that and why is this wrong?

My advice to them is take your pick. Try every word you've found under the sun. Enjoy the words. Don't worry about who else has used them. Communicate and make yourself understood and Have a nice day! (Now where does that come from, I wonder?)

Alan
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[Tamara]

Hi Alan,

My English skills don’t still allow me to express what I could say in my native language...
Just thanks you for your post. For your posts. For your stories. For your jokes. For your exact answers on English-vocabulary-and-grammar-in-use and for your wise outlook.

By the way…
A bit wider look on learning ‘world languages’.

It was interesting for me to read fragments from H.L. Mencken > The American Language > The Future of the Language > 1. English as a World Language –
estimations and forecast made at the beginning of the twentieth century.

http://www.bartleby.com/185/54.html

And compare them with 2004’ ones.
For example:

[Alan]

Hi Tamara,

Thank you for your response to my latest posting and for the pleasant comments you made. I am also grateful to you for referring me to the articles on the English language. It is of course a luxury, which I appreciate, when youir own language is a world language and naturally there is always a danger of not bothering to learn any other language. I can claim to have made some effort in that direction by studying German at university.

The point I wanted to make in my posting and I believe you agree with me is that although I am delighted that so many people take the trouble to learn English, I would hate them to be put off by arbitrary rules and regulations, fads and fancies created by 'experts' and I would like them as it were to revel in and enjoy the language. Apart from the historical, political and geographical reasons for the rise of English, I am sure that another potent factor is the refusal of the language to be tied down or restricted in its use. As the famous song by Cole Porter says: Anything goes.

Alan
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