The Magazine’s recent piece on Americanisms entering the language in the UK prompted thousands of you to e-mail examples.

Some are useful, while some seem truly unnecessary, argued Matthew Engel in the article. Here are 50 of the most e-mailed.

some examples from the article:

7. “It is what it is”. Pity us. Michael Knapp, Chicago, US

8. Dare I even mention the fanny pack? Lisa, Red Deer, Canada

9. “Touch base” – it makes me cringe no end. Chris, UK

10. Is “physicality” a real word? Curtis, US




  1. bobbo, the pragmatic libertarian Existential Anti-Theist says:

    http://webmath.com/saynum.html

    Thomas your rule is what I follow. The webmath website does as well.

    Animby–irritating when simply copy and paste functions don’t work. I c&p’d again and it looks different.

  2. fred says:

    #61 bobbo

    Yes, but your link is to an American site and thus proves nothing if we are discussing the English language. 🙂

  3. interglacial says:

    # 60 Thomas, ‘242.10 “two hundred forty-two and ten”’

    I’d say “two hundred and forty two point ten”, or “two hundred and forty-two and one tenth”

    To my ears, the grammar and semantics of the way you have written it implies ‘242 + 10’ => 252!

  4. bobbo, the pragmatic libertarian Existential Anti-Theist says:

    fred–good one. We are on a tangent though. From how we irk the English to how we pronounce numbers? That context is from the Header. The article is from the English point of view–but I’m an American and I quite righteously view everything from that context. Must come from the German in me?


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