Borrowed Americanisms

Betsy Og said:
A real culchisim is to use the word "haggard" to refer to a backyard - which I agree is not an Americanism.
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Haggard is where you put the hay, backyard is where the dog sleeps and yes, as another poster said, it was concreted over and it also usually had a proper 5 bar gate.
 
What's wrong with 'back garden'. To me a yard is a concrete space but anything with trees and grass is a garden, unless you're American in which case it always seems to be the 'back yard'.
 
orka said:
I don't mind playdate - we don't have a short alternative ourselves - just the long-winded versions you mention. Much easier ('tis the season for new kids at school to make new friends) to say 'we'll arrange a playdate' than 'we'll arrange for your son to come to our house or my son to go to your house' or 'we'll arrange for them to play together in one of their houses next week'. Playdate is succinct - it is a bit of a weird word but there isn't really an alternative.
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Its not really more succinct. You still have to say 'let's arrange a playdate where your daughter comes to my daughter's house' or whatever.

Sorry but I just think it's a really pretentious expression. What's wrong with 'Can Johnnie come over to play with Mike some day next week?'
 
Not sure if it an Americanism but the tendancy to raise the inflexion of an ordinary sentance to make it sound like a question is something I find very irritating
 
Mpsox said:
Not sure if it an Americanism but the tendancy to raise the inflexion of an ordinary sentance to make it sound like a question is something I find very irritating
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I think this is an Australian-ism, but +1...drives me nuts as well.
 
There was also the "you're so fat..." series of comments which I believe came via or from American TV shows.

These were doing the school rounds last year, one example of which was -

"You're so fat, you need a satellite to take a passport photo..."

There's about...
 
I find the use of "dirt" for "earth" uncomfortable. As in "digging in the dirt". Seems to imply (or at least I infer) lack of respect for the soil somehow......
 
liaconn said:
Its not really more succinct. You still have to say 'let's arrange a playdate where your daughter comes to my daughter's house' or whatever.
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But it's not really used like that is it? Do you have kids and do people use the word like that? It's seems a really awkward way to phrase it. If you don't have kids, you probably haven't become immune to the annoying word yet...
 
Mensa mensa mensam

Americanisms or shorthand terms are fine if they bring clarity but that's not always the case. My favouite is the verb "to table" pretty aweful to make a verb of a noun but even worse if you consider that to table in US means that you are NOT going to discuss it while over here to table something means that you specifically ARE going to discuss it. Go figure WTF like OMG etc ad nausium
 
orka said:
But it's not really used like that is it? Do you have kids and do people use the word like that? It's seems a really awkward way to phrase it. If you don't have kids, you probably haven't become immune to the annoying word yet...
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No I don't have kids but your point was that its more succinct and my point is that its just as simple to say 'can orka come over to play sometime'. One of my friends uses it all the time and if we're trying to arrange to meet up she'll start saying 'well Sarah has a playdate on Thursday' or whatever and it sounds so formal and contrived. Sorry, but the word just grates on me.
 
another one is to say "You know what?" where it isnt required at the beginning of (usually) an answer to a question
 
liaconn said:
if we're trying to arrange to meet up she'll start saying 'well Sarah has a playdate on Thursday' or whatever and it sounds so formal and contrived.
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Unfortunately, in my playdate arranging days, the whole thing *was* contrived. Mainly because the mothers doing the organising were all working and so these things had to be arranged in advance. And then there was also the reciprocal arrangement to work out too. It wasn't a case of wandering over to Mary's house and asking Mary's mother "Can Mary come out to play?" as it was in my own youth.
 
They aren't borrowed. We ain't giving them back.

My personal pet hates are

1) The use of 'so not', as in 'shes so not going to get away with this'.

2) Dee-Fence in terms of sport. What ever happened Di-Fence.
 
I also notice that we're using the word 'college' much more.

No one does a secretarial course anymore, or a cookery course .Everyone's 'at college' studying office management or catering or whatever.
 
liaconn said:
I also notice that we're using the word 'college' much more.

No one does a secretarial course anymore, or a cookery course .Everyone's 'at college' studying office management or catering or whatever.
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That's because everyone is a "Professional" now days.
 
There has been an astonishing move to using American military terms to describe everyday situations :

  • HSE front-line staff - front-line HSE staff battling for pensions and patient health and safety with AK47s?
  • not on my watch - what about on your cuckoo clock? We are not military types and don't stand watches.
  • the various wars that have been declared - crime / drugs / drink-driving / speeding, etc. What are the objectives? Who is the enemy? How many casualties have the wars inflicted?
  • impact (rather than effect) - violent term beloved of PR types (most of whom don't have a grasp of basic English).

I also recently heard a presidential candidate talking about "stepping up to the plate" - does s/he play baseball or even know that the term is a sporting one? Will this candidate formally force the GAA to adopt baseball as our national sport.

Watching the telly or the radio is a bit like being in some war-room deep in the bowels of Teach Leighin. Our country is beginning to sound as if it's populated by a host of Sarah Palin's brainless offspring.
 
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