british expressions that have infiltrated the american language

“fair enough”

“fuck off”

apologies for the use of the word “british” first of all obviously

Australianisms that have infiltrated everyday US language: “No worries”

sometimes i say "lads" (not often) and no one makes eye contact. weird!

i love "no worries"

mind your P's & Q's

hate “no worries”

i wasn’t worried, why are you implying i was worried

That's not what it means though.

Or rather it can mean that but that's not all it means.

It's basically semantically empty isn't it? The equivalent of no problem, nae bother, de rien.

Fuck off sounds great from Americans, is it really mostly Brit?

what is the etymology of "oh, fuck me"

It's basically semantically empty isn't it? The equivalent of no problem, nae bother, de rien.

Yes.

“Jab” instead of “shot” has become a lot more common in the US since Covid started

Delighted to say that 'jag' appears to be still the preferred term in Scotland.

"Fuck off" does sound a bit strange in an American accent sometimes but is it really not something you say very often? How do you tell people to fuck off?

Cheers

Wanker

Gutted

I am waiting for "whilst" to catch on.

"tool"

“gutted” totally noticed the other day from like john stamos or something i was like what

We have a no worries thread. Horrible expression

Waiting for “geezer”

Americans have been saying gutted for years but only about random celebrities dying, it hasn’t got the stage where they apply it to like losing at fifa as is proper

I used to hear "geezer" a lot back in the 70s. Hardly ever now.

I used gutted in November 2016

i love "no worries"

US usage of geezer is a different thing I think

It was almost always "old geezer." Even without saying it, "old" was implied.

I've never quite been able to figure out "punter." Even my British friends have been reticent to explain.

It just means customer ime?

Also in my city it means ppl on these little rowboats or whatever

one that triggers me much more than "no worries" is "trust me" although I haven't a clue about the etymology of it. But I always completely discount whatever has been said after that one.

Never trust anyone who begins a sentence "To be honest" or "To tell you the truth"

I guess it also means someone who pays for sex, which may explain my friends' reticence

I wonder if "I swear down" has any transatlantic potential!

I think punter can also mean fan, right? like the crowd at a show

Feel like I came across the phrase "mug punter" a lot in my youth - a particularly credulous example of the type - but no more.

"No worries" means "I am not worried", not "don't worry yourself".

I thought punter referred to people who place bets?

I swear I posted this recently on another thread, but I started saying "no worries" and "no problem" a lot here in Montreal because locals say them a lot in both languages (pas de soucis; pas de problème). I don't think Australian usage is a factor.

One who bets (punts) against the bank.
One who oars or poles a punt (pontoon).
One who punts a football.
(Australia, UK, New Zealand, slang) One who gambles. See speculator.
(Britain, Australia, slang) A customer of a commercial establishment, frequently of a pub or (alternatively) of a prostitute.
(climbing) A beginner or unskilled climber.
The person who keeps score in basset or ombre.
(Scotland) A person who trades with a gang but is not a gang member. quotations ▼
(Internet slang) A program used to forcibly disconnect another user from a chat room. quotations ▼

for some reason i always assumed punter had a connotation of "loser" or "sucker", but maybe that is just a cruel american way of interpreting its usage as "customer"

I heard "mug punter" a lot when I worked in the bookies in the 90's, usually by mugs who thought they were a cut above because they paid for a Henry Rix phone tipping service lol

I use lots of these thanks to my parents (I don't know if I picked up "fuck off" from them though; I do say "fair enough"), but there is nothing more 'orrible than hearing an american say cuppa or loo

Those people should be punted forthwith.

I hate "loo" it's just too middle-class !

I read Peter Hook’s book about The Hacienda a little while back and I just assumed “punter” meant something like “your standard motherfucker”. I think it being Hook colored my interpretation.

It does mean that, among other things.

it isn't strictly a pejorative

Hooky can always be counted on for color.

Ha I was just gonna say that it more often than not had a pejorative whiff to it in the book that just “customer” doesn’t really cover.

Yeah, as someone else said, my general impression is closer to "suckers."

No, that would be 'mug'.

there was a sense of mystery and legend about top World/European players that you'd get the chance to see at Euros or World Cup games.

*only*

“Arse”
Both as in “ass” as well as “I can’t be arsed right now”

“Tosser”

I remember an old Australian boss of mine insisting that American football was called "Grid Iron" and I assured him we never call it that

Well, they've got their own version where 30-odd men in tiny shorts run around kicking the shit out of each other in an enormous oval shaped pitch about the size of Wales.

― Someone left a space telescope out in the rain (Tom D.), Saturday, 22 January 2022 9:46 AM (fifty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

There’s at least four different sports that get called football or footy down here, so adding any more is not really practical.

And given the steady trickle of GAA women being hired by AFLW teams a fifth code is more likely to be Gaelic rather than gridiron.

I spent most of my adult life believing my fellow Americans knew what a "tearaway" was, but was set straight at a holiday party last year when I called some sugared-up kids throwing cake at each other "a couple of tearaways" and nobody had any idea what I meant. So that one is safe.

I’m thoroughly enjoying all of this. And tearaway isn’t a word I didn’t understand, it’s a word I’ve never heard. I like it.

Ran into some right wankers down at the chippy shop I did

when americans do this it's confusing to me. in british columbia, i think most us are used to using some of the same words common in british english, but every so often i'll talk to someone or overhear someone and i get the feeling they're canadian. but then they'll say something completely british like arse and i can't tell if they're american or an anglophile. american anglophiles seem to be attracted to canada for some reason

think punter can also mean fan, right? like the crowd at a show

mostly covered already but this here does just mean customer, as in they bought a ticket to the show

I think only in the past year I realized I rely on that one a lot. Particularly at work. It’s good! And useful. What are the alternative responses to someone offering an apology for an inconvenience of some sort? “It’s OK”? “Don’t worry about it”? Both of those can sound insincere or be interpreted as passive aggressive. “No worries” is light and sunny and does the job perfectly.

― circa1916, Friday, January 21, 2022 12:41 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

i've always used "no worries," but another one that i use is "all good!" and to a far lesser extent, "you're good!" i actually thought these last two were americanisms

53 yo and I've never heard an American say "arse."

No American says "tearaway" either.

Also, this:

Punter will just mean “kicker” here until the end of time.

― circa1916, Friday, January 21, 2022 5:18 PM (four hours ago)

American here

I picked up no worries when I lived in Australia for a while as a kid

Many people we met there thought my family were Canadians based on our speech, and I thought that was weird

No American says "tearaway" either.

Well, I do, but I'm half British. Just had no idea it wasn't a word in both American and British English until recently.

Ginger as a word for redhead

“Ginger” we got from JK Rowling. “Cheeky” we got from Austin Powers.

And "shag"

american anglophiles seem to be attracted to canada for some reason

Maybe because this old lady is still our head of state for some reason

https://www.bankofcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/20_front.jpg

ewww! need karl malone to animate that with a darting lizard tongue

In recent years I’ve noticed Americans saying “good on you” (and even “good on ya”!) instead of the standard “good for you”.

Lots of these (“tosser”, “wanker”) I’ll really only hear at US bars full of American Arsenal fans during matches. Extremely cringe-worthy.

good grief, that sounds hellish.

for some reason i always assumed punter had a connotation of "loser" or "sucker", but maybe that is just a cruel american way of interpreting its usage as "customer"

― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Friday, January 21, 2022 9:11 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I thought there was some connotation of mark as in confidence trick target or a person who can be made to buy almost anything.
Which ties in with that take on customer i think.
Not sure who uses the term mainly. I think it has some connections to market trading which will always give you an image of Del Trotter though not sure if he used it or not.

I thought Ginger Rogers was so called because she was a redhead so when did that become part of the American language.

Also the "Gingers don't have souls" episode of South Park was in 2005(!) and the angry ginger kid rebuttal video was five years later, I assumed it was a term in circulation there based on that

(xp) See the Things you were shockingly old when you learned thread.

Do Americans use the idiom 'to take a punt on x'?

no

Some do say "punted," to mean avoid or delay a decision. Like, we were going to make (NOT "TAKE" ffs) a decision on this, but instead we punted.

I think in American football you punt as a last resort when nothing else has worked?

yes, that’s a different expression. “take a punt on” means to try something out with no firm expectation of success, i.e. place a bet on. all tied into the idea of a punter as someone who pays money.

Punt also means to (hopefully) kick a ball a long way - I don't know if it has the same meaning in American football.

that's true, i hadn't thought of that connection! "suck it and see"

there is less hope attached in american football because the opposing team collects it 99% of the time now

xposts

yes, but thereby relinquishing possession. A delaying tactic with equal parts risk and desperation.

I remember an old Australian boss of mine insisting that American football was called "Grid Iron" and I assured him we never call it that

Dude at the Sydney Trains station caught my accent and after some small talk, stated from out of nowhere "You're a gridiron fan."

He had to repeat it a few times (we weren't talking about sports?) before I understood what he was talking about wasn't how we Americans make waffles.

ME: So which team do you like, the Miami Dolphins?

AUSSIEMAN: When I've watched, I've always cheered for the http://i.imgur.com/QbYzHTH.jpg.

ME: Well of course you do.

what does hatcat think of the "washington football team"

tbh ive never really thought about it before but "gridiron" is a pretty intense cool-sounding term, if there were some equivalent term for soccer that was equally badass and intense, like "firefight" or something, i'd probably jump at any excuse to use it, regardless of how common it actually was

ewww! need karl malone to animate that with a darting lizard tongue

i recently updated a couple of the wallogina detail shots, those will have to represent the queen for now

you can find them either on the wallogina thread or on the NFT thread

never opened the wallogina thread, no idea it was just photos of elizabeth regina

Mulling over "Ginger" now, it's true that, as the other thread Tom linked to says, Ginger Rogers was a blonde and therefore not called Ginger for hair reasons. However, the character of "Ginger" on the 1960s TV show "Gilligan's Island" was most definitely a redhead, so it is possible "ginger=redhead" was in US vernacular back then, but it must have been a low frequency kind of term. I don't remember hearing that usage much until around 2000, or maybe slightly earlier when the Harry Potter books started appearing.

wallogina is a classic thread, i think, despite many of the images going dead. trying to think of the british slang alternative....something...something...cunts, haha

never opened the wallogina thread

Ditto.

there are no doors into the wallogina thread, only many, many singing windows

can’t believe no-one has mentioned when joe biden opened his inauguration speech with ‘oi mates, did you see that big-bottomed bird on the newsie-wewsies? nearly choked on me blood sausage, i did’

― balsamic vaccinegar of moderna (bizarro gazzara), Friday, January 21, 2022 5:08 PM bookmarkflaglink

irl lols

“anoraks”

I think we need to start using "tannoy."

"spot on"

guvnuh