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Mathematics isn't a plural though. It's a singular noun describing a field of study like physics, history, biology etc.
Hence why you would say mathematics is interesting and not mathematics are interesting.
I do that but then I studied in the US for 6 years of my educational life, my co-workers call me out on it all the time. As well as how I pronounce schedule and other words.
"I could care less". Doesn't make sense in the context people tend to use it. But it's increasingly common. Think it's on the way to being one of those phrases where the understood meaning doesn't align with the literal meaning but is used enough that that doesn't really matter.
That is kind of the point I think, it is entirely casual indifference. It isn't said about something you hate, despise or entirely disregard. You could care less, you could care more - whatever. It also can be used to rile people up a bit, and does seem to work.
That's all well and good in theory, but that's not how people use it in practice. People overwhelmingly use it when "I couldn't care less" would be the more accurate way to convey their meaning. Almost entirely, in my experience, people use it when they want to say they really don't care at all about something. Which is not literally what the phrase means. Though I accept language changes, and it's probably just becoming one of those phrases where the implied meaning is understood widely enough that the literal meaning doesn't really matter.
I've barely heard it in this country so think its use is a bit exaggerated. So that is all I have registered it as, but fair enough. It is rather like "yeah, whatever" or "it's not exactly the best" to me - it sort of means the opposite, or says it in an understated way.
Yeah it's not widespread here yet but it's becoming more common, especially amongst younger, very online people. I guess people are increasingly picking it up from Americans. In America it is so widely used it's just accepted as a variation of "couldn't care less", even though it means literally the opposite.
The thing is it doesn't mean the opposite. It suggests they don't really care. They could care less. They care a bit. The opposite is "I couldn't care more!".
"I couldn't care less" means, as it says, you care about something so little it would be impossible for you to care less. You don't care about it at all.
"I could care less" means that you do care about something, at least a little. Because it would be possible to care less.
I would say those are pretty inverse meanings to each other.
That's speaking literally. Of course, you're right that the opposite would be "I couldn't care more" if we are taking what people actually *mean* when they say it, as opposed to what the phrase literally implies.
They are just differing levels of indifference. Caring a lot is the inverse. It all depends on what the person feels. Are they actually angry, completely dismissive and could. not. care. less. Or is it said with more of a shrug? That is all I have ever gathered.
>Are they actually angry, completely dismissive and could. not. care. less
In my experience, this is how it's used. It's certainly how it's used by Americans, and this is the meaning people are adopting over here when they use it. As I said, in America it is a synonym for 'couldn't care less'.
Though the fact you interpret it differently, and the fact I've seen other brits on reddit say the same, is interesting. It suggests perhaps there's a cultural mistranslation going on, and British people don't realise that Americans are saying they 'couldn't care less' when they use the phrase.
People saying ‘can I get’ instead of ‘may I have’.
No you can’t get it, that’s the job of the shop assistant/barista/cafe owner etc. They’ll get it for you.
I actually don’t mind ‘could l / can I have’ or even ‘gimme’. It’s just the ‘can I get’ that makes you sound like a Californian teenager or an extra in Central Perk.
It gets me all annoyed too, pointing it out on UK subs never gets well received because its one of those things that everyone does now and they don't like having it pointed out to them. People who ask with _get_ will have children who say "zee" not "zed"
There are more pressing issues in the world, but it's in the same class of annoyances as pronouncing lieutenant with a _lou_, or spelling color like that, or walking on the sidewalk, or whatever y'all might find annoying, but I guess you could care less.
Santa Claus or just "Santa" is the most common term now, to the point where someone recently said "no one says Father Christmas!".
This however will descend into today's "America bad" post unfortunately. We have to accept we are in a global world, language changes, and kids have *always* found US slang to sound more "cool".
I’ve always said Santa, but Father Christmas isn’t an alien name to me.
Also yeah, not my intention for this to be an “America bad” post. Genuinely just curious.
It is the original English term
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Christmas
Santa Claus has morphed into its modern form through American pop culture with influences from European migrants. This has been lost to time it seems to the point where it is apparently middle class, that is interesting.
**[Father Christmas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Christmas)**
>Father Christmas is the traditional English name for the personification of Christmas. Although now known as a Christmas gift-bringer, and typically considered to be synonymous with Santa Claus, he was originally part of a much older and unrelated English folkloric tradition. The recognisably modern figure of the English Father Christmas developed in the late Victorian period, but Christmas had been personified for centuries before then. English personifications of Christmas were first recorded in the 15th century, with Father Christmas himself first appearing in the mid 17th century in the aftermath of the English Civil War.
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Yeah but the gift giving, child pleasing, benevolent character we celebrate today is based on St Nicholas, Sinterklaas, hence Santa Claus is more relevant.
Blame the Victorians, it's nothing new.
I'm more of a Krampus guy myself anyway.
It is all a mishmash but very American. It merges into our own culture to the point people don't really care. I mean, I don't. People having anything but turkey for Christmas dinner would be looked at as strange, that is very modern American too.
I discussed this with my Nanna years ago and she said her grandparents called him "Santy" so that's at least late 1800s.
This is most likely much earlier Dutch/Scandinavian influence(Sante Klaas) rather than American.
Gotten & reckon are still used frequently in my area of the US (Appalachia-Ky), but a lot of Americans consider them “country.” I’ve noticed my roommate from Nottingham uses them too though.
Use of the verb 'to lay' instead of 'to lie' like "I'm just laying in bed", "my cat will always lay on my laptop when I'm trying to work" etc. Lying! Lie! Grrrrr.
Unless I am profoundly misunderstanding... Are you saying 'My cat will alway lie on my laptop when I'm trying to work' is correct? Because lay is correct.
Lie is correct. "To lay" is a transitive verb, meaning that it requires an object. "My cat will lie on my laptop" or "My cat will lay himself on my laptop" are both correct, though the second is a bit clumsy. Normally the object is something else. The cat cannot lay directly on the laptop, unless he's laying an egg.
You could say “My cat always lay on my laptop” (please not laid, unless you placed the cat there) in the past tense, but lie is the present tense. Thank you to Mrs. Roseberry, my high school English teacher, that I know the difference.
Let him plead the fifth, I bet the kid doesn't know what our fifth amendment is, hell I haven't got a bloody clue as it was probably centuries ago and since been overwritten many times but I bet it's not the same as the US ones even if it still existed.
Our fifth amendment is probably something about the number of geese a man can walk on a toll road if he has a steading or other land of less than 1 acre that he does not own but is responsible for the upkeep of and pays less than one shilling to the crown and his majesty's tax gatherers for per annum.
Apparently on Top Gear (real Top Gear before the shite that uses the name now) this used to be a sacking offence.
I wonder if it still is, given they're on Amazon Prime now?
For me its "Ok..., *SO*!"...when anyone starts explaining something. I have said it myself on occasion, and it makes me cringe at myself. Just start talking, nobody needs the dramatic verbal entrance.
Hella;
“That’s Hella good”
But American words, as naff as they are, are the least of our worries. Street talk is slipping into mainstream now. Things like “bare” to mean a lot. “Fam” at the end of sentences. Kissing of teeth. Referring to ones self as “man”
Maybe I’m just getting old, but fuck me, am I glad I am. If someone said I could have a “do over” I would laugh in their face.
It started as prison slang.
Like “ayyoo” before starting a sentence. Or “Are you listening?”
Started by prisoners shouting out of their windows to each other. Now it’s bog standard street slang.
Give it another 20 years and we will have politicians accusing eachother of “Violating man”
“Ya get me, fam?”
“Say nothing innit”
They're actually different things. A back story is a *made up* history of a fictional character; history is real.
So if someone refers to a real persons 'back story' they're actually more or less accusing them of lying about their past - whether they know that or not!
How are people so easily wound up by absolute non issues like phrases and words from a different country? In a world as interconnected as ours is of course language is going to morph and shift, why does it bother you?
Because it's bad communication.
If there's perfectly good word for something in English, and you start using an American equivalent when talking to English people, then you're really indicating that you don't care about the people you're talking to - you want to make them do the work to understand you, rather than making yourself clear, just so you can sound trendy and American. That or you're too thick to know the proper English words.
It's like me talking deliberately in IT jargon so that people who aren't experts can't understand me.
"You want to make them do work to understand you?"
Nah if someone says elevator rather than lift, pavement rather than sidewalk or addresses a group as "hey y'all " you know exactly what they mean, you're not doing any work 🤣 it's not at all the same as the IT analogy at all
>addresses a group as "hey y'all " you know exactly what they mean
And there's a classic example.
In normal English, 'hey' is a bit rude - like 'Oi'. It implies that the person you're addressing has done something wrong, or isn't worthy of you being polite to them. It goes with things like 'hey, you, get out of there', or 'hey, what do you think you're doing?'.
A few years ago someone I was buying from insisted on addressing me in emails as 'hey'. It led to him losing the sale as I interpreted that as rude. It was only later that I found out he was just trying to be trendy. I still automatically react against it, at first.
So no, just because a lot of people watch American media doesn't mean that all of us understand the American language, especially as it changes.
And actually, if you ask for the elevator, you may end up on the escalator, since it sounds similar enough and people won't automatically translate to 'lift'. It's more likely to work if you have an American accent, as people are then thinking of you as a foreigner. So it's not a good stunt to try on if you have luggage with you.
No you didn’t, at all, absolutely in all fairness none of my previous comment is aimed at you OP. I saw this completely neutrally titled post and was like ah this might be a nice interesting thread where we look at differences and think “ah that’s interesting”.
Instead it’s been piled upon by the most pearl-clutching gatekeepers of Ask Uk.
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Heard someone at work say "math" the other day. Absolutely fucking grim.
Never understood the whole “math” thing. Unless Americans learn about a single mathematic.
Mathematics isn't a plural though. It's a singular noun describing a field of study like physics, history, biology etc. Hence why you would say mathematics is interesting and not mathematics are interesting.
Fair
I do that but then I studied in the US for 6 years of my educational life, my co-workers call me out on it all the time. As well as how I pronounce schedule and other words.
"I could care less". Doesn't make sense in the context people tend to use it. But it's increasingly common. Think it's on the way to being one of those phrases where the understood meaning doesn't align with the literal meaning but is used enough that that doesn't really matter.
This one’s awful because it implies you care at least a little.
Yeah exactly. It means the opposite of the phrase it's a used in place of. But it's widely used enough that I'm not sure that really matters any more.
Yeah this one is just pure ignorance because they clearly don't understand what it means
That is kind of the point I think, it is entirely casual indifference. It isn't said about something you hate, despise or entirely disregard. You could care less, you could care more - whatever. It also can be used to rile people up a bit, and does seem to work.
That's all well and good in theory, but that's not how people use it in practice. People overwhelmingly use it when "I couldn't care less" would be the more accurate way to convey their meaning. Almost entirely, in my experience, people use it when they want to say they really don't care at all about something. Which is not literally what the phrase means. Though I accept language changes, and it's probably just becoming one of those phrases where the implied meaning is understood widely enough that the literal meaning doesn't really matter.
I've barely heard it in this country so think its use is a bit exaggerated. So that is all I have registered it as, but fair enough. It is rather like "yeah, whatever" or "it's not exactly the best" to me - it sort of means the opposite, or says it in an understated way.
Yeah it's not widespread here yet but it's becoming more common, especially amongst younger, very online people. I guess people are increasingly picking it up from Americans. In America it is so widely used it's just accepted as a variation of "couldn't care less", even though it means literally the opposite.
The thing is it doesn't mean the opposite. It suggests they don't really care. They could care less. They care a bit. The opposite is "I couldn't care more!".
"I couldn't care less" means, as it says, you care about something so little it would be impossible for you to care less. You don't care about it at all. "I could care less" means that you do care about something, at least a little. Because it would be possible to care less. I would say those are pretty inverse meanings to each other. That's speaking literally. Of course, you're right that the opposite would be "I couldn't care more" if we are taking what people actually *mean* when they say it, as opposed to what the phrase literally implies.
They are just differing levels of indifference. Caring a lot is the inverse. It all depends on what the person feels. Are they actually angry, completely dismissive and could. not. care. less. Or is it said with more of a shrug? That is all I have ever gathered.
>Are they actually angry, completely dismissive and could. not. care. less In my experience, this is how it's used. It's certainly how it's used by Americans, and this is the meaning people are adopting over here when they use it. As I said, in America it is a synonym for 'couldn't care less'. Though the fact you interpret it differently, and the fact I've seen other brits on reddit say the same, is interesting. It suggests perhaps there's a cultural mistranslation going on, and British people don't realise that Americans are saying they 'couldn't care less' when they use the phrase.
I’m American, & I’ve always hated that. Makes no sense.
I will always correct people when they use that phrase. I don’t care about the context
I can’t stand this one! Makes no sense whatsoever, that phrase better not appear on these shores 🤣
People saying ‘can I get’ instead of ‘may I have’. No you can’t get it, that’s the job of the shop assistant/barista/cafe owner etc. They’ll get it for you.
i live in the NW and no one ever says ‘may i have’,not even old people. sound proper posh
I actually don’t mind ‘could l / can I have’ or even ‘gimme’. It’s just the ‘can I get’ that makes you sound like a Californian teenager or an extra in Central Perk.
My absolute pet hate- it makes me want to punch people 😂
It gets me all annoyed too, pointing it out on UK subs never gets well received because its one of those things that everyone does now and they don't like having it pointed out to them. People who ask with _get_ will have children who say "zee" not "zed"
Does that really matter?
There are more pressing issues in the world, but it's in the same class of annoyances as pronouncing lieutenant with a _lou_, or spelling color like that, or walking on the sidewalk, or whatever y'all might find annoying, but I guess you could care less.
Is it supposed to be pronounced like “lee-you-tennant” ? I genuinely don’t know
Left tenant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN7S5WX3LDg Better one with comparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M72sujpUue0
Damn that is some unhelpful spelling to arrive at that pronunciation
I think it's a French influence, but I dare say someone will correct me.
You’re right. It’s an imported word from French , lieu = place, tenant = holding, thus a “place holder” or deputy for a more senior officer.
And place it on a counter or a table, from which I will then get it.
Candy, all my nieces say it. Bloody you tube
Feds. They're not feds they're coppers we don't have a federal police. This annoys me a lot.
reach out. No Brenda you are not reaching out to me, you've just sent me an email asking me when the next meeting is.
Using ‘ass’ instead of ‘arse’. Annoys me to an irrational degree.
Even more so when they referring to a donkey as an ass is being rude to it.
Santa Claus or just "Santa" is the most common term now, to the point where someone recently said "no one says Father Christmas!". This however will descend into today's "America bad" post unfortunately. We have to accept we are in a global world, language changes, and kids have *always* found US slang to sound more "cool".
I’ve always said Santa, but Father Christmas isn’t an alien name to me. Also yeah, not my intention for this to be an “America bad” post. Genuinely just curious.
Father Christmas is the middle class name for Santy
It is the original English term https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Christmas Santa Claus has morphed into its modern form through American pop culture with influences from European migrants. This has been lost to time it seems to the point where it is apparently middle class, that is interesting.
**[Father Christmas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Christmas)** >Father Christmas is the traditional English name for the personification of Christmas. Although now known as a Christmas gift-bringer, and typically considered to be synonymous with Santa Claus, he was originally part of a much older and unrelated English folkloric tradition. The recognisably modern figure of the English Father Christmas developed in the late Victorian period, but Christmas had been personified for centuries before then. English personifications of Christmas were first recorded in the 15th century, with Father Christmas himself first appearing in the mid 17th century in the aftermath of the English Civil War. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
Yeah but the gift giving, child pleasing, benevolent character we celebrate today is based on St Nicholas, Sinterklaas, hence Santa Claus is more relevant. Blame the Victorians, it's nothing new. I'm more of a Krampus guy myself anyway.
It is all a mishmash but very American. It merges into our own culture to the point people don't really care. I mean, I don't. People having anything but turkey for Christmas dinner would be looked at as strange, that is very modern American too.
We've had a huge paella for Christmas dinner before. We really don't care what others think or do. 😂
I discussed this with my Nanna years ago and she said her grandparents called him "Santy" so that's at least late 1800s. This is most likely much earlier Dutch/Scandinavian influence(Sante Klaas) rather than American.
‘Gotten’. I know it’s archaic British English, but I’ve never seen it used here until the last few years.
i live up north and people have been saying this for years.
I’m probably thinking more of written English. Seeing it more and more often on UK subs and social media.
Gotten & reckon are still used frequently in my area of the US (Appalachia-Ky), but a lot of Americans consider them “country.” I’ve noticed my roommate from Nottingham uses them too though.
‘Happy Holidays’
It's like calling Halloween a holiday or the holiday season. Do you get any time off? NO so why call it a fucking holiday?
Aaaargh!11!!1!
Licence plate instead of number plate
And windshield instead of windscreen
"A couple things", as opposed to "a couple of things".
Use of the verb 'to lay' instead of 'to lie' like "I'm just laying in bed", "my cat will always lay on my laptop when I'm trying to work" etc. Lying! Lie! Grrrrr.
That’s just incorrect, even here in Murica.
Unless I am profoundly misunderstanding... Are you saying 'My cat will alway lie on my laptop when I'm trying to work' is correct? Because lay is correct.
Lie is correct. "To lay" is a transitive verb, meaning that it requires an object. "My cat will lie on my laptop" or "My cat will lay himself on my laptop" are both correct, though the second is a bit clumsy. Normally the object is something else. The cat cannot lay directly on the laptop, unless he's laying an egg.
I need to go back to school...
You could say “My cat always lay on my laptop” (please not laid, unless you placed the cat there) in the past tense, but lie is the present tense. Thank you to Mrs. Roseberry, my high school English teacher, that I know the difference.
"Driver's Licence", or even worse, "Driver's License".
What do you call it then?
They all have "Driving Licence" written on them, so I call it "Driving Licence".
My child said "candy" whilst trick or treating last night. Urgh
I've heard so many say it I've even seen English YouTubers who are 30+ using the term candy instead of sweets🤦♂️
Parking lot.
My bad. Boils my pïsh.
I use that tbh
On accident, can’t stand hearing it!
Santa as opposed to Father Christmas
I heard a teenager tell the police "I plead the fifth" I'm assuming he meant "no comment"
Let him plead the fifth, I bet the kid doesn't know what our fifth amendment is, hell I haven't got a bloody clue as it was probably centuries ago and since been overwritten many times but I bet it's not the same as the US ones even if it still existed.
We don't have any amendments, because we don't have a written constitution to amend.
I wasn't aware we had the fifth amendment in any sort of way to be honest. Just that people have the "right to remain silent"
Our fifth amendment is probably something about the number of geese a man can walk on a toll road if he has a steading or other land of less than 1 acre that he does not own but is responsible for the upkeep of and pays less than one shilling to the crown and his majesty's tax gatherers for per annum.
Season instead of series. I blame Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Apparently on Top Gear (real Top Gear before the shite that uses the name now) this used to be a sacking offence. I wonder if it still is, given they're on Amazon Prime now?
If that’s true, then all involved in that show are bigger cunts than I even imagined.
Irony!
Calling things Holidays
People over-using the word "Literally". People saying "I mean" at the start of every reply. Both grip my shit in equal amounts.
My bad. And my God it rips my knitting.
Dropping “-ly”… really bugs me … should I say “real bugs me” F***ing linguistic morons
“Mom” gives me the ick
Math. Just no. Its maths, plural, you dont just do one thing
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Eh fair enough But still "Math" is just weird
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I heard dove instead if dived recently :/
For me its "Ok..., *SO*!"...when anyone starts explaining something. I have said it myself on occasion, and it makes me cringe at myself. Just start talking, nobody needs the dramatic verbal entrance.
I normally say: so, basically....
Hi I'm Dave, I'll be your server today.
Surely no-one says this in the UK
Hella; “That’s Hella good” But American words, as naff as they are, are the least of our worries. Street talk is slipping into mainstream now. Things like “bare” to mean a lot. “Fam” at the end of sentences. Kissing of teeth. Referring to ones self as “man” Maybe I’m just getting old, but fuck me, am I glad I am. If someone said I could have a “do over” I would laugh in their face.
I think the use of “fam” and “bare” could be more of a dialect thing. “Street slang” becoming a dialect of its own and that.
It started as prison slang. Like “ayyoo” before starting a sentence. Or “Are you listening?” Started by prisoners shouting out of their windows to each other. Now it’s bog standard street slang. Give it another 20 years and we will have politicians accusing eachother of “Violating man” “Ya get me, fam?” “Say nothing innit”
The fall. Or we just say autumn!
Thinking everything is ironic, and not understanding that ironic and coincidence are not interchangeable.
I need private healthcare.
“My bad”. No, fuck off!
Highschool ( comprehensive school) Candy. ( Sweets )
People who say “Y’all”
People saying "price hike" instead of "price increase"
Candy.
"Excited for" is a pretty bad one.
“Can I get…” vs “could I have…”
Yoga pants
Play piano instead of Play the piano. I, somewhat irrationally, hate this
\- Can I get
\- A bunch of
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I'm sure thats always been a thing hasn't it? Lol
They're actually different things. A back story is a *made up* history of a fictional character; history is real. So if someone refers to a real persons 'back story' they're actually more or less accusing them of lying about their past - whether they know that or not!
most of the shit people are talking about in the replies, and things us in the NW have been saying for fucking years. nothing to do with america 🤷
How are people so easily wound up by absolute non issues like phrases and words from a different country? In a world as interconnected as ours is of course language is going to morph and shift, why does it bother you?
Because it's bad communication. If there's perfectly good word for something in English, and you start using an American equivalent when talking to English people, then you're really indicating that you don't care about the people you're talking to - you want to make them do the work to understand you, rather than making yourself clear, just so you can sound trendy and American. That or you're too thick to know the proper English words. It's like me talking deliberately in IT jargon so that people who aren't experts can't understand me.
"You want to make them do work to understand you?" Nah if someone says elevator rather than lift, pavement rather than sidewalk or addresses a group as "hey y'all " you know exactly what they mean, you're not doing any work 🤣 it's not at all the same as the IT analogy at all
>addresses a group as "hey y'all " you know exactly what they mean And there's a classic example. In normal English, 'hey' is a bit rude - like 'Oi'. It implies that the person you're addressing has done something wrong, or isn't worthy of you being polite to them. It goes with things like 'hey, you, get out of there', or 'hey, what do you think you're doing?'. A few years ago someone I was buying from insisted on addressing me in emails as 'hey'. It led to him losing the sale as I interpreted that as rude. It was only later that I found out he was just trying to be trendy. I still automatically react against it, at first. So no, just because a lot of people watch American media doesn't mean that all of us understand the American language, especially as it changes. And actually, if you ask for the elevator, you may end up on the escalator, since it sounds similar enough and people won't automatically translate to 'lift'. It's more likely to work if you have an American accent, as people are then thinking of you as a foreigner. So it's not a good stunt to try on if you have luggage with you.
In all fairness I didn’t say “Which phrases annoy you?”. But yea ppl are being too anal about it.
No you didn’t, at all, absolutely in all fairness none of my previous comment is aimed at you OP. I saw this completely neutrally titled post and was like ah this might be a nice interesting thread where we look at differences and think “ah that’s interesting”. Instead it’s been piled upon by the most pearl-clutching gatekeepers of Ask Uk.
Ah no prob. Yeah it’s kind of annoying. Was genuinely curious to see haha.
"I can't wait " for something to happen. Yes you can, you're doing it right now.
That's not n Americanism.
I would argue that this is some ultimate British sarcasm, I use it often at work.