Irritating American names for things

larchielads

One that got me, not annoying but, the jacks and the John.

Now my interpretation of that is that Jack is another name for John, as my uncle used to refer to my dad as Jack but his name was John. My father's side of the family would be country folk. Now I don't know why jack is another name for John so to speak

Kaybaykwah

boardise wrote: »

Americans never took to the good old Anglo-Saxon 'arse' ...instead giving us the less rumbustious 'ass' not to mention 'hiney' - presumably derived from 'hind' (quarters).

Canadians used to say arse for a long time and now, I suppose more of us have erased the anglo influence over time.

My dad used to say arse, I still do.

Kaybaykwah

larchielads wrote: »

One that got me, not annoying but, the jacks and the John.

Now my interpretation of that is that Jack is another name for John, as my uncle used to refer to my dad as Jack but his name was John. My father's side of the family would be country folk. Now I don't know why jack is another name for John so to speak

They used to call John Kennedy "Jack" in fact

Hangdogroad

BailMeOut wrote: »

They do not pronounce the H in Herb for some reason.

I first discovered that watching an old episode of the Twilight Zone, storyline involved something about a herb antidote so "erb" was mentioned continuously.

larchielads

Kaybaykwah wrote: »

They used to call John Kennedy "Jack" in fact

But why? And is it why they called the jacks the John?

Kaybaykwah

Sgt Hartman wrote: »

A coffee "to go" instead of a takeaway coffee. It always irritates me.

...and drive-in restaurants or counters are take-outs in U.S. or Canada.

Hangdogroad

Kaybaykwah wrote: »

Canadians used to say arse for a long time and now, I suppose more of us have erased the anglo influence over time.

My dad used to say arse, I still do.

Do or did Canadians call cigarettes fags? I've a vague memory of it being called that in an episode of Kids From Degrassi St, think it was that show anyway or one of the spinoffs.

Kaybaykwah

larchielads wrote: »

But why? And is it why they called the jacks the John?

Lol. I have no idea.

Years ago, in Montreal, there used to be a company for chemical toilets that was called Johnny-on-the-spot.

There are a lot of now English words in the American vernacular that are of Dutch, German, French and Spanish origin.

Cookies comes from the Dutch colonists.

Ash.J.Williams

larchielads wrote: »

One that got me, not annoying but, the jacks and the John.

Now my interpretation of that is that Jack is another name for John, as my uncle used to refer to my dad as Jack but his name was John. My father's side of the family would be country folk. Now I don't know why jack is another name for John so to speak

Jack charlton gave us the name jack it was mainly John’s here before then

Badly Drunk Boy

The Great Gatsby wrote: »

Why would words used by Americans, living in America, presumably speaking to other Americans, annoy someone living in 3000 miles away in another country?

Because thereare so many American programmes on our telly. It's and invasion be...ahem...'culture'.

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

American english is superior english anyway so i'm glad it's getting more common in Ireland

Is it time for a frog in a blender? :pac:

Kaybaykwah wrote: »

Canadians used to say arse for a long time and now, I suppose more of us have erased the anglo influence over time.

My dad used to say arse, I still do.

I always like that in Stargate, when the characters referred to a Zero Point
Module (technobabble), the Americans would call it a Zee Pee Emm while the Canadians called it a Zed Pee Emm.

The things that annoy me are their Pronunciations of Iraq (EYE-raq), Iran (EYE-ran), and Moscow (Mos-COW like a bovine animal).

Another thing is when somebody accidently does something, they say they did it "on accident" instead of "by accident". I haven't heard it very regularly, but enough to annoy me.

sbsquarepants

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

Calling someone's fringe 'bangs' just annoys me.

Is that what that means?


I've often heard americans say it and i never had a clue what they meant!

Kaybaykwah

Niner leprauchan wrote: »

Presumable also rugby hand egg as well

Def more eggshaped than American or Canadian football, lol.

Ash.J.Williams

larchielads wrote: »

But why? And is it why they called the jacks the John?

John harrington

US2

Sem-eye final or a sem-eye truck.

Kaybaykwah

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

Because thereare so many American programmes on our telly. It's and invasion be...ahem...'culture'.

Is it time for a frog in a blender? :pac:

I always like that in Stargate, when the characters referred to a Zero Point
Module (technobabble), the Americans would call it a Zee Pee Emm while the Canadians called it a Zed Pee Emm.

The things that annoy me are their Pronunciations of Iraq (EYE-raq), Iran (EYE-ran), and Moscow (Mos-COW like a bovine animal).

Another thing is when somebody accidently does something, they say they did it "on accident" instead of "by accident". I haven't heard it very regularly, but enough to annoy me.

Yep, Eye-talian always cracks me up.

The Tetrarch

Resisting arrest = we shot him

sbsquarepants

They have this shítty cheap pressed meat called balogna - somehow it's pronounced baloney.

breezy1985

Niner leprauchan wrote: »

A desert is something you see in eye-rack, not eye-ur-land

Damn it I hate getting things wrong in a thread about how dumb other people are

Kaybaykwah

Hangdogroad wrote: »

Do or did Canadians call cigarettes fags? I've a vague memory of it being called that in an episode of Kids From Degrassi St, think it was that show anyway or one of the spinoffs.

Maybe some do, but I've never encountered anyone that did.

breezy1985

scotchy wrote: »

Using the word freaking instead of fu@king.

:rolleyes:

.

Golly that does annoy me

A.Partridge

Yes, the way americans speak can be so, like, "fruss-trating".

US2

"I could care less" is a really annoying phrase they use, it's supposed to be "I couldn't care less"

A.Partridge

"Are you done with this?".

Yes, I reply. I am finished.

A.Partridge

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Bathroom... when someone just wants to sit on the pot. They are so ridiculous about that.

But that's their way.

"Excuse me, but where's your restroom?"

Gregor Samsa

The call the band Blink 182 "Blink One Eighty Two", and not "Blink One Eight Two".

breezy1985

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

The call the band Blink 182 "Blink One Eighty Two", and not "Blink One Eight Two".

The accents on that band are actually a pretty good example of what I can't stand about American voices

Kaybaykwah

A.Partridge wrote: »

"Excuse me, but where's your restroom?"

Lol. I can imagine a Peggy Sue in a bouffant hairdo in nineteen sixties Houston. She just downed a lot of pink ladies and is now frantically scoping out the "powder room".

Kaybaykwah

breezy1985 wrote: »

The accents on that band are actually a pretty good example of what I can't stand about American voices

The one thing about bands in general, wherever they are from is the need to give a Southern twang to their delivery.

I always got a kick from Mick Jagger putting on his fake Cockney in reg'lar speech and go for that Texas drawl in his lyrical delivery.

Rothko

Takeout instead of takeaway.

ShatterAlan

Kaybaykwah wrote: »

They used to call John Kennedy "Jack" in fact

"I'll have a John Daniels."


"Don't you mean Jack?"


"When you know him as well as I do you can call him John."