Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic For Fun

I found this article We\'re Gobsmacked by Another British Invasion and thought it amusing because it shows that the invasion of UK English seems to be happening in the US. Perhaps a defense of the overabundance of US English that seems to be taking over the world?

Lynn

LOL, Lynn. This made me laugh because I have a habit of reading a teletext letters page on TV at some point each day and there are always correspondents on there whining about how US language is sneaking in and degrading our 'pure' English strain.

Funny to see it from the other side of the pond.

LabRat

LOL, Lynn! Very interesting to read from over here on the other side of the Atlantic.

Personally, I think 'went missing' is probably used over here - and over there, now - because it's a little more accurate. To say a person has disappeared, if you take it literally, implies that they're no longer visible. If a person has gone missing, it merely means that they can't be found.

But that's really splitting hairs, isn't it? In colloquial English, both are used and we all know exactly what's meant.

If your media people have started using 'at the end of the day,' then I feel for you! The phrase is already grossly over-used here, so the thought that we may have now exported it to the US makes me cringe. Sorry, America!

Yvonne

I haven't heard much of "at the end of the day", just plain "in the end" is what I've always heard, so I don't think it's completely taken over. Media is one thing--average American usage is another.
I don't say "sacked"--neither does anyone else I know, really, though I've heard it a few times, enough to know what it means.
"Send up" is totally unfamiliar to me, "full stop" is a rare occurrence. And I can't say I've heard much of "spot on", though more than some of the others above. (Not that people use "dead on" much either--I guess I just haven't heard people saying that type of thing much!)
I think I see "went missing" as kind of a very recent expression, in the sense that one would use it to talk about someone they just temporarily can't find, who could have wandered off or been misplaced somehow--the classic kid wanders away from mom while shopping and they find him playing happily with toys or something. As in, you'd use it for a recent disappearance. But as months go by, it would be "disappeared". Maybe I'm over-analyzing (I do that enough), but it's how it feels to me.
And queueing is an odd word to me, lol. I almost always hear "lining up".
Either I'm atypical, or this movement isn't that strong. Take your pick.