I was given a book "about words" because the person knew that I am a logophile. Now, it really isn't a good book because the words are so mundane, and there isn't much depth about the etymology of the words. It is entitled "Americanisms", and they include some very curious words. For example, I can see where "hula hoop" and "A-Bomb" are Americanisms. But, is "boss" an Americanism? Or "babysitter"? I am really amazed by "aloha" and "chutzpah". In the introduction they admit to not being scholars or etymologists, and they define Americanisms as having "been coined or adopted in the United States and are now part of the English language." Good grief, isn't that true of all words?

Anyway, what are your Americanisms?

Aloha is Hawaiian, isn't it? I suppose technically that would make it an Americanism!

Chutzpah isn't used much over here either, although boss and babysitter are both fully naturalised in British English...

Ros

Butt and ass are becoming quite common variants to bum and arse.
The whole concept of Trick or Treat is an Americanism.
Don't go there, and I was like have been discussed on other threads.

Some English people take offence at these. I am ambivalent*, because producing decent novels is something uniquely American at the moment.


*Except for trick or treat. If any little brats in witches hats ring my doorbell at the end of October, they get smartly twatted around the head with a damp union jack, and told to go back to America.

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Mr. Niceguy wrote: ...they get smartly twatted around the head with a damp union jack,

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This is the first time I have seen twat used as a verb.

I always understood that this was Jewish and meant "cheek".

Richard English

Chutzpah is Yiddish and does mean "cheek", not the face cheek, but to have a lot of guts.

Now another supposed Americanism in this book is "grapefruit". Get real! (Perhaps "get real" is an Americanism, though!)

Apologies. I knew it was Yiddish. I do know the difference between the languages - blame it on a temporary aberration caused by the heat (95 degrees in London yesterday!)

Richard English

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Originally posted by Graham Nice:
Butt and ass are becoming quite common variants to bum and arse.

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Learn something new every day. I'd alway thought that "arse" was a prissy euphemism for "ass"; that is, that "arse" derived from "ass" rather than the other way around. I was wrong: "arse - O.E. ærs "tail, rump," common Gmc. word. Amer.Eng. euphemism ass is apparently no older than 1930s." Seems I had it arsy-versy (= ass-backwards).

Bum, butt and buns seem to have separate histories, and all are quite long in the tooth:

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bum "buttocks," 1387 [source then quotes O.E.D.:] probably onomatopoeic, to be compared with other words of similar sound and with the general sense of 'protuberance, swelling.'

butt - "thick end," O.E. In sense of "human posterior" it is recorded from 1450.

buns The first record of buns in the sense of "male buttocks" is from 1960s; but the singular form meant "tail of a hare" (c.1538) in Scot. and northern England dialect and was transferred to human beings (and conveniently rhymed with nun in ribald ballads). [note: from this we also get "bunny."]

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By the way, since when does "buns" mean exclusively the male posterior?

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Originally posted by shufitz:
Amer.Eng. euphemism ass is apparently no older than 1930s."

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Gee, I never thought of "ass" as a euphemism.

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buns The first record of buns in the sense of "male buttocks" is from 1960s; but the singular form meant "tail of a hare" (c.1538) in Scot. and northern England dialect and was transferred to human beings (and conveniently rhymed with nun in ribald ballads). [note: from this we also get "bunny."]

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So that's where the Playboy bunny came from!

Tinman

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By the way, since when does "buns" mean exclusively the male posterior?

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It certainly is used to mean a female "posterior", too. From dictionary.com: "buns n : the fleshy part of the human body that you sit on"

By the way, dictionary.com also said that "bun" can mean a "drunken spree." I have never heard of that. While I am aware of all the definitions of "set" because of Richard, still, it seems that "bun" has a lot more meanings than I ever realized. An Australian slang dictionary reminded me that "bun" can also mean "pregnant", i.e. "a bun in the oven." There are many more, such as a "bun" in the hair.

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Originally posted by jerry thomas:
This is the first time I have seen http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=twat used as a verb.

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It is onomatopoeic (sp?)