Thread: Americanisms are ****ing me off

So should we be using English slang instead of American? Or should we just use Australianisms?

I'm all for a bit of the old pip-pip and ticketyboo what what?

Australianisms are pretty poxy really. If you say Austalianisms like strewth etc you may as well sell your Landy and buy a commodore with f'off were full and southern cross stickers.

Originally Posted by workingonit

There are a billion arguments like this...but the number will vary depending on whether it's the American billion (1,000 x 1,000,000) or British billion (1,000,000 x 1,000,000). Which do you use? Next time you sell something to a Yank, and it's a 'billion dollar' contract, make sure the fine print says British billion.
.

It gets worse the higher you go, up to the highest recognised number, a Centil lion, 1 US Centillion is 10^303 whereas the 'older' British Centillion is 10^600.

Interesting in the numbers field, Britain falls back to the US and Canada 'short scale', aptly named 'Modern British'.

So you are right and wrong, a Continental Europe 'older English' Billion is 10^12, but a US, Canada & 'Modern British' Billion are all 10^9 so specify 'Long Scale Continental Europe' if you want to get one up on them.

I say bathroom instead of toilet all the time. I also say counter instead of bench.

Possibly due to being born in Canada but my mates all say "you've lived here for yonks!" but some things just stick, eh? Funnily enough I don't have an accent anymore.

Is "****ing me off" an American term?

Originally Posted by Tombie

Working with rows and rows of data day in- day out, this one is actually quite logical...

Try sorting dates... Using the MMDDYY format gives Chronological order easily.

Sorting DDMMYY (even in file names) gives all 12 months of the 1st day, then all of the 2nd day etc. etc...

My recollection is that the easiest way to sort dates was YYMMDD. At least that was how my Microbee computer liked the dates expressed.

Year, month, day is logical for sorting as year is the primary key. I can't quite grasp how month, day, year would sort correctly. Can you give me a couple of examples?

Things we can all do to preserve Australian vernacular:
1. Use words such as cobber, dunny and sheila when you speak, especially when speaking to young people.
2. Use them when speaking to tourists as well; they will enjoy hearing it and the explanation, if needed.
3. Ask the idiots that use ridiculous Americanisms what they mean, and following the explanation, ask them why they didn't use an Australian word. E.g. Why the hell would I need a rubber? I want a franger!
4. Ridicule the users of stupid words and phrases politely, at every opportunity, especially if it is written in official letters and magazines - it is surprising how many editors get their act together, when you write to them and point out how stupid and boring their article is. e.g. a Land Rover magazine once wrote about the Range Rover being a "packaging envelope"; they agreed with me that they didn't know what it meant either!

I tolerate americanisms, but what is far worse are weasel-words, usually used to impress, or mislead. E.g "continuous improvement"; impossible if we consider that continuous means unbroken; unceasing; never ending; infinite, etc. Or, "airs down" used on this forum by people who parrot others, instead of using deflate. Or, my favourite, "tipping point"; it can be "full of people" according to one weasel site I visited but not even the author could tell me what it means!

Cheers Chazza

Originally Posted by workingonit

...as an Oz chem student you will be marked wrong if you call Sulfur Sulphur -

I doubt it. It certainly was not the case when I did chemistry (after 1992 when the RSC switched to sulfur).

I have also published in leading international chemistry journals with the spelling sulphur.

Originally Posted by chazza

Things we can all do to preserve Australian vernacular:
1. Use words such as cobber, dunny and sheila when you speak, especially when speaking to young people.
2. Use them when speaking to tourists as well; they will enjoy hearing it and the explanation, if needed.
3. Ask the idiots that use ridiculous Americanisms what they mean, and following the explanation, ask them why they didn't use an Australian word. E.g. Why the hell would I need a rubber? I want a franger!
4. Ridicule the users of stupid words and phrases politely, at every opportunity, especially if it is written in official letters and magazines - it is surprising how many editors get their act together, when you write to them and point out how stupid and boring their article is. e.g. a Land Rover magazine once wrote about the Range Rover being a "packaging envelope"; they agreed with me that they didn't know what it meant either!

I tolerate americanisms, but what is far worse are weasel-words, usually used to impress, or mislead. E.g "continuous improvement"; impossible if we consider that continuous means unbroken; unceasing; never ending; infinite, etc. Or, "airs down" used on this forum by people who parrot others, instead of using deflate. Or, my favourite, "tipping point"; it can be "full of people" according to one weasel site I visited but not even the author could tell me what it means!

Cheers Chazza

I hate Australian vernacular

We are an evolving country and using 1980's Australian vernacular and trying to replicate crocodile Dundee when we talk doesn't make you more Australian. It makes you sound like someone who is stuck in the past IMHO (I was going to write ****** but thought that might be too American )

But it's ok, the users of 1980's Aussie vernacular will be dead and gone before long and it'll be resigned to the history books.

I suppose the best place to find a thread hating on the USA is on a British car forum. I can't fault that!

Are we angry that they speak that way or are we angry that we venerate their culture that much that its starting to shape ours?