Most annoying Americanisms that Aussies simply must follow

SUV is a new American word for a ute or 4 wheel drive. I don't remember SUV being used here before about 15 years ago?

Icing on a cake has been icing here for 200 years, but now it seems to be frosting.


See ya's.
 
Mr. Fabulous said:
MTR, it's not 'mam', it's 'ma'am' as in madam. It's a polite reference for addressing a female. Age has nothing to do with it.

According to the dictionary; ma'am - a woman of refinement. You don't wish to be seen as a woman of refinement?

Would you prefer 'Oi, woman!', lol.
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I thought Madams ran Brothels?

BayView said:
That's what I'm saying. It is bad manners to us, but I can promise you that in some places - L.A for one eg - it is common to never use the manners we are used to.

Having said that; I found the Americans to be a very kind and generous group generally.

Just the funny things they've developed in their society which I find strange at times.

Another couple; "I'm done" (I'm finished) and; "I'm good" (I'm fine, thanks.)
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My Son say's "I'm Good", I ak him at what, or did he just do something like help an old lady across the street :D
 
BayView said:
That's what I'm saying. It is bad manners to us, but I can promise you that in some places - L.A for one eg - it is common to never use the manners we are used to.

Having said that; I found the Americans to be a very kind and generous group generally.

Just the funny things they've developed in their society which I find strange at times.

Another couple; "I'm done" (I'm finished) and; "I'm good" (I'm fine, thanks.)
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+1

'have a nice day'
 
Mr. Fabulous said:
Marc, by 'we' do you mean you and I? Because I can tell you, as someone that grew up in a very strict household where manners were taken very seriously, the lack of manners of most people of all ages is right there, front and centre for me.

I get complimented (not often) on my 'lovely manners', usually by old(er) women and my mum used to tell me that people would constantly remark about how I had excellent manners when they were talking about us.

Which is why I asked if you were referring to the two of us, because in my experience, manners are rare, no matter where one is! It costs nothing to look someone in the eye and say 'please' and 'thank you' but the impression it leaves is priceless.
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I wasn't referring to just you and I - Aussies in general; as compared to Americans in general - but not all of them of course.

I tend to agree; I think that here in Aus the level of good manners has slipped somewhat.

As a parent myself, I can see how much effort there is required to train your kids to get to the automatic stage of saying please and thankyou...we have a 12 year old boy, and he is pretty good at manners now, and we also have a 4 year old boy who requires a lot of continual work reminding him to say please and thankyou.

Even our 18 month old daughter - who is already a massive chatterbox - we say thankyou to her when we hand her anything, and she is already saying thankyou as she takes the item. She doesn't understand the word of course, but she already has a bit of a habit formed.

For us; this is not a hard task; it's part of the fun of raising kids...seeing them "get" things you are trying to train them to do.

Because of the wider age difference, it is easy to compare and see how much work is required to get them to the stage where they say it automatically..."Can I have an apple please, Dad?" and so on.

You can also add teaching them to read and do math to that list - I can't believe in this day and age how many kids supposedly are borderline illiterate; every parent has a duty/responsibility to read to their kids and spend time with them in that area.

It's not hard; it just takes a bit of time, and yet it seems apparent that this is not happening in many cases.

Sometimes you feel tired and so on, but even 5 mins a day is something; many parents simply leave it to the school to do that job, and it is often not enough, I reckon.

Maybe lots of Aus parents are simply lazy, or find it too hard/too busy to do the yards required in this area these days?
 
Shopping cart or shopping trolley?
Sneakers,trainers,runners?
Take-out or takeaway?
Peak hour traffic or rush hour traffic?
Blackboard or chalkboard?
Footpath or sidewalk?
Torch or flashlight?

From the SMH

Let every new word bloom

Trying to keep Americanisms out of Australian speech ignores the way language works.
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topcropper said:
Icing on a cake has been icing here for 200 years, but now it seems to be frosting.
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Icing and Frosting are actually two different products.

Icing is made from icing sugar, water, colouring and flavouring (if required).

Frosting is made from icing sugar, butter, colouring and flavouring (if required).

Up until around 15 years ago we never really made frosting - it was always icing - but after discovering frosting there is no turning back ... nom nom nom
 
Whatever happened with "jail" and "gaol" as in a prison?

I seem to remember in primary school being told the aussie word was "gaol". And "jail" was the American way to spell it? Yet I rarely see it spelt gaol anymore. I reckon the new spelling of "jail" is better anyway?


See ya's.
 
I disagree Lizzie :)
When I was taught to decorate cakes some 35 years ago :eek: The four main types of icing were Glace icing (water, icing sugar, colour, flavour); Royal Icing (egg white, icing sugar, lemon juice); Plastic Icing (now called fondant, glucose syrup, icing sugar and some other stuff) and Butter Icing (butter, milk, icing sugar, flavour, colour).
You used a different one depending on the type of cake it was going on and what type of decorating you were doing. But it was all icing ( I hate the term frosting!)
And I hate that this thing wants me to spell flavour as flavor and colour as color:mad:
 
topcropper said:
Whatever happened with "jail" and "gaol" as in a prison?

I seem to remember in primary school being told the aussie word was "gaol". And "jail" was the American way to spell it? Yet I rarely see it spelt gaol anymore. I reckon the new spelling of "jail" is better anyway?

See ya's.
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Language constantly evolves, and I think at an ever expanding rate. If you read English from several hundred years ago you would barely understand it.

The all mighty Google tells me jail and gaol are equally correct in Australia, but in slightly different contexts.

For example 'while' is considered more correct than 'whilst' these days.

Soon we'll be complning about journos commonly using such words as txt in articles.
 
joanmc said:
And I hate that this thing wants me to spell flavour as flavor and colour as color:mad:
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If you're talking about the spell checker on your browser you can probably change the version of English.

There might not be AU English but you can get rid of a lot of the yank spellings by choosing UK English.
 
joanmc said:
I disagree Lizzie :)
When I was taught to decorate cakes some 35 years ago :eek: The four main types of icing were Glace icing (water, icing sugar, colour, flavour); Royal Icing (egg white, icing sugar, lemon juice); Plastic Icing (now called fondant, glucose syrup, icing sugar and some other stuff) and Butter Icing (butter, milk, icing sugar, flavour, colour).
You used a different one depending on the type of cake it was going on and what type of decorating you were doing. But it was all icing ( I hate the term frosting!)
And I hate that this thing wants me to spell flavour as flavor and colour as color:mad:
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I still make icing. I have never made frosting. Never have, never will.
 
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