Would you use the British or American term?

There are a few terms that I often use the American version for, despite being born to British parents and having lived in Britain all my life. So which version of these would you say:

1: Had I got very far into it OR Had I gotten very far into it
2: I've proved my age twice with this card OR I've proven my age twice with this card
3: By the window was a shrunk head OR By the window was a shrunken head
4: We're having jacket potatoes for dinner OR We're having baked potatoes for dinner
5: Let's go into the lounge/sitting room OR Let's go into the living room
6: Turn on the telly OR Turn on the TV/television
7: The field is full of maize OR The field is full of corn
8: Turn the patty with your fish slice OR Turn the patty with your spatula
9: Get out your jotter OR Get out your notebook
10: Use your serviette OR Use your napkin
11: Look it up in the encyclopaedia OR Look it up in the encyclopedia

In many ways, I feel American English is a more up to date language than British English - their definition of "Public School" is a school that all kids are freely entitled to go to, while the British definition harks back to Victorian times, and should really be "Private School" instead. Their spellings are more obvious, too.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 1

kakerlake

Some of this is just bad grammar or has nothing to with dialects

Serviette

I'm quite sure the first three aren't debatable on grammatical terms, the ones on the right are correct and the ones on the left aren't.

Anyway, on with it.

1. Right.
2. Right.
3. Right.
4. Both.
5. Right.
6. Left.
7. Left.
8. Left.
9. Right.
10. Right.
11. Left.

Reply 4

TurboCretin

Original post by JCal

I'm quite sure the first three aren't debatable on grammatical terms, the ones on the right are correct and the ones on the left aren't.

I never bothered to look in to it, but my mother used to told me off for using 'gotten' on the grounds that it's American.

Reply 5

English-Student

I'm not sure where you got the idea that these are explicitly English and American versions of expressions and not just variations. English can vary in a number of ways and although Americanisation is one way that language varies, it is certainly not the only one. For example, English can vary because of the part of the country you live in, your education, your background or how old you are amongst other things.

If you are interested as to why you may be using some expressions more than others, it would be worth researching why those variations have come about. Number 11 is indeed a spelling variation between US and UK English, though I feel as though in 6 'telly' is the result of a dialect variation derived from the standard word 'television'. I'd also speculate that number 4 is a regional variation varying throughout the country. (And is number 3 supposed to be 'shrunken' head?)

I could have a guess at some of the others too but really to be sure it would be worth looking them up.

As for American English being more up to date, I suppose this assumption comes from Americanisation of UK English being more predominant than UK English changing US English. Perhaps arguably US English is having more of an impact globally and is therefore more widely understood than some UK varieties, which makes it seem more up to date. But it's difficult to say for sure whether it can be considered more up to date or not, as UK English is also constantly changing itself to suit a more modern world.And I can understand your thoughts about spelling, English spelling can seem rather strange (though it's not surprising if you ever learn anything about its history).

Anyway, you might not be this interested but just thought I'd comment in case you might be. :smile:

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 6

Charles III

Lots of this has nothing to do with americanisms. :s-smilie:

Reply 7

PJNolen

Le'me fix dis fer ya. As a cajun from south louisiana, I can translatanate this to american!

Original post by RJDG14

1: Had I got very far into it OR Had I gotten very far into it

I ain't done nuttin yet.

2: I've proved my age twice with this card OR I've proven my age twice with this card

I done showed you twice!

3: By the window was a shrunk head OR By the window was a shrunk head

You been vodoo'in the neighbors again?

4: We're having jacket potatoes for dinner OR We're having baked potatoes for dinner

Dat taters I smell bakin?!

5: Let's go into the lounge/sitting room OR Let's go into the living room

Shutup, get out da kitchen, and GO WATCH TV!

6: Turn on the telly OR Turn on the TV/television

Why you ain't watchin tv?

7: The field is full of maize OR The field is full of corn

Corn on the cob is mmm mmm good!

8: Turn the patty with your fish slice OR Turn the patty with your spatula

Better flip dem burgers!

9: Get out your jotter OR Get out your notebook

You needta write dis down!

10: Use your serviette OR Use your napkin

Don't eat like a retard!

11: Look it up in the encyclopaedia OR Look it up in the encyclopedia

Google dat!

Reply 8

RJDG14

Original post by TurboCretin

I never bothered to look in to it, but my mother used to told me off for using 'gotten' on the grounds that it's American.

Gotten is also valid in traditional British English - it was only during Victorian times that it was shortened to "got". It would be interesting to know if using the word gotten in past tense would get me marked down in a GCSE paper? Is it incorrect or just not commonly used?

Reply 9

English-Student

Original post by RJDG14

I think it just isn't used very commonly anymore and you should be fine to use it since it still appears in the Oxford English Dictionary (which is pretty much the go-to for finding out if words are in use/ actually considered 'words' in UK English).

Here's the entry for it: http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/80242?redirectedFrom=gotten#eid

As long as you used it correctly as a past participle then you shouldn't have a problem.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 10

TheTechN1304

A lot of these aren't Americanisms though. Also you could've made this easier by just writing a few words instead of 10 full length sentences lol

Reply 11

Abstract_Prism

For most of these I can't tell which is the American and which is the British.

Reply 12

RJDG14

Another thing got me thinking - if you were to infer a question at the end of a sentence, would you use "huh?", "eh?", "yeah?", "right?" or something else? I'd normally use either eh or huh, depending on which I felt fit the sentence best. If I were to get somebody's attention because I hadn't heard something they said, I'd use eh.