Americanisms/Britishisms

[BillF]

A British news item today has been words appearing for the first time in a new edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/aug/28/omnishambles-new-words-oxford-dictionaries

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/10270160/Take-a-selfie-while-twerking-If-you-dont-know-what-this-means-youre-a-linguistic-luddite.html

I'm wondering how many of these are shared with/already current in the US.

My daughter, who works for an American company in London, uses "expense" as a verb, as in "I can expense this", meaning "I can claim this on expenses". Is this usage current in the US? I've never heard it before.

[ejp626]

My daughter, who works for an American company in London, uses "expense" as a verb, as in "I can expense this", meaning "I can claim this on expenses". Is this usage current in the US? I've never heard it before.

Yes, common in business circles. There are several more eggregious nouns-to-verbs, but I'm blanking on them now.

[Larry Kart]

My favorite (or "favourite"), which I actually encountered in London, is "face flannel" for washcloth.

[Blue Train]

My daughter, who works for an American company in London, uses "expense" as a verb, as in "I can expense this", meaning "I can claim this on expenses". Is this usage current in the US? I've never heard it before.

Yes, common in business circles. There are several more eggregious nouns-to-verbs, but I'm blanking on them now.

I have heard "I can expense this" used as a comment, or question.

There is a whole list of them and a long history of it happening. Even verbs-to-nouns.

http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/ideas/anthony-gardner/youve-been-verbed

[danasgoodstuff]

When we lived in Australian, many years ago, my mom was looking for toothpicks but nobody knew what the heck she was talkin' 'bout...she finally found them and when she brought them up to the counter the clerk said "If you wanted sandwich flags why didn't you say so?"!

[Brownian Motion]

It was noted today in the NYT that the online Oxford Dictionary has just added a passel of new words--words like "twerk"

twerk Pronunciation: /twəːk/ verb [no object] informal

Dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance:just wait till they catch their daughters twerking to this song.

Usage: twerk it girl, work it girl

Origin: (1990s) probably an alteration of work

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/28/oxford-dictionaries-online-adds-selfie-emoji-and-other-tech-oriented-terms/?hp

The culture is leaving me back at the station.

[Tim McG]

I still can't get past a "rubber" meaning an eraser.

And water closet? I prefer to flush my daily duty down the drain, myself. I have no interest in keeping it in a closet.

[Uncle Skid]

I find that taking the "wheelie bin" out on Thursday evenings is so much more fun and glamorous than just taking out the trash.

[Jazzmoose]

The article doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. How is "chandelier earrings" a new word? That's two words, if I'm counting correctly, neither of which is new.

[sidewinder]

No mentions of 'fanny packs' yet in this thread?

Or 'knocking someone up in the morning'? I've seen North Americans reduced to jibbering wrecks with the mention of that phrase.

And as for someone being a 'hose head'. Still conjours up images for me of a guy with a water hose for a head.

Edited August 29, 2013 by sidewinder

[A Lark Ascending]

Has the OED redefined awesome as meaning quite nice?

[Head Man]

I think we could all use:

"TL:DR (too long, didn't read: used as a dismissive response to a lengthy online post, or to introduce a summary of a lengthy post)"

a lot more.

[BillF]

No mentions of 'fanny packs' yet in this thread?

Or 'knocking someone up in the morning'? I've seen North Americans reduced to jibbering wrecks with the mention of that phrase.

We won't mention "keep your pecker up".

[BruceH]

A British news item today has been words appearing for the first time in a new edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/aug/28/omnishambles-new-words-oxford-dictionaries

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/10270160/Take-a-selfie-while-twerking-If-you-dont-know-what-this-means-youre-a-linguistic-luddite.html

I'm wondering how many of these are shared with/already current in the US.

My daughter, who works for an American company in London, uses "expense" as a verb, as in "I can expense this", meaning "I can claim this on expenses". Is this usage current in the US? I've never heard it before.

I've never heard it before either, but then I don't move in business circles and I still think using "impact" as a verb is a sin.

[Tim McG]

Google it.

[yet another noun which has become a verb]

[mjb]

Has the OED redefined awesome as meaning quite nice?

I had almost given up railing against this one. You give an old man hope.

(and Hope is none too pleased)

[Swinging Swede]

"Transition" as a verb.

[Ted O'Reilly]

^{Have adverbs become extinct? It's been years since I've heard one...}

[A Lark Ascending]

Has the OED redefined awesome as meaning quite nice?

I had almost given up railing against this one. You give an old man hope.

(and Hope is none too pleased)

The kids in the school I work in have been using it for some time. In the last year I noticed its use by younger members of staff! I do my fogeyish bit with them.

I blame American High School movies (interesting the way that British kids have picked up on a lot of that argot but use it in a highly ironic American accent).

Edited August 31, 2013 by A Lark Ascending

[ejp626]

Has the OED redefined awesome as meaning quite nice?

I had almost given up railing against this one. You give an old man hope.

(and Hope is none too pleased)

The kids in the school I work in have been using it for some time. In the last year I noticed its use by younger members of staff! I do my fogeyish bit with them.

I blame American High School movies (interesting the way that British kids have picked up on a lot of that argot but use it in a highly ironic American accent).

On the topic of awesome, the Book of Mormon is awesome! I guess it just made it over to London's West End. I would recommend seeing it, though perhaps not at those prices...

Anyway, the reason I bring it up is that many of the songs include the word "awesome" used much as an American teenager would use it. Indeed, the first two use it this way.

Here are the first few lines of "Hello" (the opening number):

Hello! My name is Elder Price

And I would like to share with you the most amazing book

Hello! My name is Elder Grant

It's a book about America a long, long time ago

It has so many awesome parts

You simply won't believe how much this book can change your life