[Ads-l] US slang with British origins?

[Geoffrey Nathan]

Lynne has a large number of examples of recent borrowings from the left side of the Atlantic to the right in her recent book. Here's a random set from page 278:


gobsmacked

knock-on effect

run-up

kerfuffle

puckish

one-off

liaise

bespoke

getting sacked

baby bump


I know there's lots more, but since I grew up in in Canada in a British-speaking household I'm not a reliable judge.


Geoff


Geoffrey S. Nathan
WSU Information Privacy Officer (Retired)
Emeritus Professor, Linguistics Program
http://blogs.wayne.edu/proftech/

geoffnathan at wayne.edu

Nobody at Wayne State will EVER ask you for your password. Never send it to anyone in an email, no matter how authentic the email looks.


________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, May 12, 2018 10:25 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: US slang with British origins?

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Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
Subject:      Re: US slang with British origins?
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I=E2=80=99ve increasingly heard =E2=80=9Cone-off=E2=80=9D, which I =
assume was born British, in cispondian usage.  Lynne Murphy probably has =
a passel of examples at her disposal, but she=E2=80=99s no longer on the =
list.

LH

> On May 12, 2018, at 12:13 AM, GEOFFREY NUNBERG <nunbergg at GMAIL.COM> =
wrote:
>=20
> Mencken wrote, "It is most unusual for an English neologism to be =
taken up in this country, and when it is, it is only by a small class, =
mainly made up of conscious Anglomaniacs. To the common people =
everything English, whether an article of dress, a social custom or a =
word or phrase has what James M. Cain has called 'a somewhat pansy =
cast.' That is to say, it is regarded as affected, effeminate and =
ridiculous.=E2=80=9D=20
>=20
> That was then, of course, but I have to say I=E2=80=99m hard put to =
come up with examples of current American slang that began their lives =
as Britishisms, in the way that Americanisms like =E2=80=9Cawesome=E2=80=9D=
 and =E2=80=9Cyou guys=E2=80=9D have naturalized as slang in the UK.
>=20
> Geoff
>=20
> Geoffrey Nunberg
> School of Information,
> University of California, Berkeley
> Berkeley, CA 94720-4600
>=20
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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