[mattyb]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19670686

[Shaddim]

It's because of Top Gear and Harry Potter. After I turn someone on to TG their language changes within weeks, it's uncanny.

[andi*pandi]

Agreed... PBS and doctor who for me also. But some of the examples don't seem like Britishisms. Maybe because I'm in New England?

"sell-by date" for instance, is just so much shorter to say than expiration. It's on US packaging. Has been for a long time, way before Potter.

"To book" a hotel room also doesn't seem limited to the British. Hotel websites say that.

Tap vs faucet: it's tap water, but you turn on the faucet to get it. Hmm.

Gone missing... maybe? I say this but have no idea where I picked it up. Where are my keys? They've gone missing.

Harvard University might be a little bit surprised to find out they are trying to sound British by using "university" instead of college. Isn't there a technical distinction between College and University? Size? Goals? Oh, look here:

These words have become more popular since Potter, but still sound very British: ginger, snog, posh, keen, bit, washing up.

[subego]

I've never heard an American say they "go to university" the way it's used in Europe.

Undergraduate programs are usually considered college, even if they're at a university. A lot of universities have, say, a "college of liberal arts", which is where the undergrads go.

I guess you could say it once you're a grad student, but everyone I know just says "I'm a grad student".


Also,

[Waragainstsleep]

I've always thought the whole university/college thing a bit odd. In the UK, college is generally between secondary/high school and university, but Oxford & Cambridge Universities are made up of colleges and many of the newer universities were classified as technical colleges in the past. It seems to be mostly a matter of the size of the institution these days. It seems largely interchangeable in the US though of course college is the more common term by many orders of magnitude.

[mattyb]

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep 

I've always thought the whole university/college thing a bit odd. In the UK, college is generally between secondary/high school and university, but Oxford & Cambridge Universities are made up of colleges and many of the newer universities were classified as technical colleges in the past. It seems to be mostly a matter of the size of the institution these days. It seems largely interchangeable in the US though of course college is the more common term by many orders of magnitude.

AFAIK, the newer Universities in the UK were classified as Polytechnics. They couldn't issue their own degrees, it had to come from a centralised body. UK Technical colleges were/are(?) higher education but not degrees. HND, BTEC, City and Guilds stuff like that. I have a good mate who has spent his whole working life in a higher education place. Started as apart-time teacher and now he's head of Quality. They are run like medium-sized businesses now with marketing departments, finance departments etc.

In the US, I always liked the idea that you could get the equivalent of 2 years study in a local community college (even if it took you four years of night-time classes for example), and then goto a 'proper' college to finish it off. Dunno if this was still the case.

[lpkmckenna]

Lots of those Britishisms are very common in Canada.

Here, if you "go to college," that means community college. If you're working towards a degree, you're "going to university."

Spot on, will do, and gone missing are familiar expressions in Canada.

I'd never heard "chat up" used to mean "hit on" until on saw it on Corner Gas, a Canadian sitcom.

No one says "sell-by date." Instead, we say "best before date," though "expiration date" is equally common.

[subego]

In the states, if you're going to community college that's "community college" when first mentioned, and then afterwards it can be "college".

If you don't make it clear up-front, when someone finds out they'll think you we're trying to pull a fast one.

[Waragainstsleep]

I always thought that polytechnic was derived from technical college.

We have sell-by, use-by and best before dates.

Best before is for stuff where it probably won't cause a problem if you eat it a day or two late. Use-by is for stuff that is more likely to make you ill like milk or eggs. Sell-by is usually a day or two before the use-by.