Americanisms

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Originally posted by dreamkillers
Most of the time I would agree but when serving a customer who has an angry irate attitude there is nothing better than looking at them with a smile and saying 'Have a Nice Day' and knowing that it just ****es them off even more or makes them realise what an idiot they've been with the attitude they had.......;)
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You see, you proved my point. It's said without meaning. :

BTW I am never rude or angry with shop assistants. I appreciate what a thankless and tiring job they have. But what is wrong with saying "thank you" "See you next time".
 
The objection I have to, "have a nice day.", is that it is used on instruction from management of fast food outlets. The people in these establishments use this phrase, because they HAVE to. This has reduced the phrase to a state of meaninglessness and insult. Insult, because they are so dismissive of you as a customer, that they reduce you to an unwilling role in their play.

No Australian company would dare suggest their staff greet clients with "G'day" or "how are ya". They probably wouldn't object if they did, but they certainly wouldn't insist.

This all comes from my most hated Americanism - the fiction that there is only one way to deal with clients - their way. Follow the script or else. This has been proven to work and no correspondence will be entered into.

I'm the only person Dale Carnegie has ever punched in the nose.

For those who don't know, Dale Carnegie wrote a book in the early 50s called 'How to Win Friends and Influence People'. He has a lot to answer for.

If I ever get asked, "Would you like a drink with that?", again, I'll bop someone. I refuse to be the butt of transparent marketing strategies. The insult here is that they assume you're too dumb to realise they are trying to 'onsell' you. While I'm about it, 'onselling', there's another great contribution to the language. All a product of the determinism which decides that all human contact can be made scientific, and have all unpredictability removed.
 
Good post skilts!

My wife sometimes has to call the Bank of America, and when she gets through, the operator says (obviously because they are required to) :

"Hello, welcome to the Bank of America. How can I provide you with excellent customer service today?"

That, to me, is simply frightening.
 

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I hate all Americanisms - I really do, but do you know what really gives me the ****s?

When you get these little buggers not only using these terms but whacking on an American accent as well! For crying out loud, you are Australian's living in Australia - is there something so terribly wrong with us that you have to use another country's slang AND tone!!???

BTW the situation in my area is that bad that apparently the fact that I use the terms cobber, g'day, frog and toad, fair go, ease up etc can be seen as offensive and confrontational. What a load of bulldust. WHy can't we have and keep and use something of our own for a change without it being railroaded by PCs and for want of a better term 'foreign' cultures.

(sorry about the subtle hiijacking to suit my anti PC views but topics like this really anger me and inspire the bigot that lies beneath)
 
Nothing bigotry about it. I agree completely. If these people want to talk like Yanks, send them over there.

I don't mind the US, it's a good country. But I hate the Americanisation of our culture. Sadly, our culture was never strong enough to withstand this. But if some of us still go around saying 'G'day cobber', at least it's not all lost.
 
I suggest that to remedy this travesty that all Australian children be required to sit down and watch the movies 'Smiley' and 'Smiley Get Your Gun' instead of Butt (argh!) Ugly Martians/ Dragon Ball Z or whatever tripe it is that they get shoved down their throats.

If you haven't seen these films - do so, you'll be flabbergasted! It will appeal to the cobber in all of us.
 
Originally posted by SonOfScray
I suggest that to remedy this travesty that all Australian children be required to sit down and watch the movies 'Smiley' and 'Smiley Get Your Gun' instead of Butt (argh!) Ugly Martians/ Dragon Ball Z or whatever tripe it is that they get shoved down their throats.

If you haven't seen these films - do so, you'll be flabbergasted! It will appeal to the cobber in all of us.
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lol i love bogan movies where he aussies sit around sucking down tinnies in front of the tv haha, like two hands, the bogan guys in that were quite funny!
 
I dream of the day when the youth of Australia walk around with blue singlets, hard yakka workshorts and bloodstones or the like, with nicely manicured mullets, a ciggie hanging out of their mouth and a Veeb in their hand. Bring back the bogan I say.
 
The bogan never left mate, its just that he has taken a back seat to all these FOOBOO wearing, yank slang talking little smart alecs and there isn't much we can do about it.

Area 7's song sums it all up for me:

Well he's the king of fashion in his neighbourhood,
With his ripped blue jeans and a flannelette shirt.
A well kept mullet and a packet of smokes,
His mates will tell ya he's a real top bloke.
His real name is Barry, but his mates call him Bazza.
And his girlfriend's name is Sharon, but you just call her Shazza.
Real top Sheila, real top sort,
She'll even change your stubby while your watching sport.

But don't victimise him for his way of life,
He's sick and tired of hearing people say...

Nobody likes, nobody likes, nobody likes a bogan.
Nobody likes, nobody likes, nobody likes a bogan.

He drives a VK Commodore with alloy wheels,
With a home made spoiler made of crappy steel.
Pair of fluffy dice and all the other toys,
But his No Fear sticker is his pride and joy.
Saturday night the boys hit town.
Yeah they're cruising the streets with their windows down.
Put on some Barnsey and they're on their way,
You'll hear the car com'n from a mile away.

But don't victimize him for his way of life,
He's sick and tired of hearing people say...

Nobody likes, nobody likes, nobody likes a bogan.
Nobody likes, nobody likes, nobody likes a bogan.

Nobody likes, nobody likes, nobody likes a bogan.
Nobody likes, nobody likes, nobody likes a bogan.

Nobody likes, nobody likes, nobody likes a bogan.
Nobody likes, nobody likes, nobody likes a bogan
END

We'll I am bloody sick and tired of it to! Less Americanisms, more aussie rhyming slang
 

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Re: you wana come with?

Originally posted by 15_hours_behind
This may be either an Americanism or a Chicago-area-ism:
"I'm going to the Dominicks, you wanna come with?"
A bit of translation:
Chicago has two major supermarket chains: Jewel & Dominicks.
The natives never refer to going to Jewel without adding the article "the" before the noun. It's also typical to drop the pronoun after "with".
[Sorry folks, I'm forever haunted by the Lingusitics 101 course I took in Grad School]
Here's another example of the pronoun dropping. I was at a trade show, and a sales representative said to me "Here's our products list, take this with."
Interesting thing: the guy was selling English as a Second Language Textbooks! Hmmmmm....
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Actually, that's a Midwesternism. Here in Detoit, we say things like "Where's my coat at?" or "Where are we going to?", the "at" and "to" being superfluous. It seems to drive my two friends from New England insane (which is why I continue to do it, especially when she's around).
 

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Americanisms

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