Americanisms in British English

When I returned to  Britain, I kept a list of Americanisms that had crept into everyday use in British English since I'd left. It's a bit old now, and you probably won't believe me on some of them - they're so embedded in our language that you'll find it hard to remember that they didn't used to be. But here it is, a snapshot of how the language changed between 2006 and 2012.

"I’m good", for "I'm fine" (or "Fine, thanks")  in response to the question "How are you?"

Store, for shop

Excited, used to be a word for children but adults can be that too now

Cute, for sweet

Smart, for clever (ubiquitous now)

Heads-up (as in "here's a heads-up" which I know for a fact I'd never heard before I went to America, because I asked someone what it meant)

FYI (similarly)

Call, (as in "call me" - we used to say "phone me" or "give me a ring", or even - remember this one? - "give me a tinkle")

Camps, eg short activity courses for children - what on earth did we call them before?

Fixed, for mended

Done, for finished

Mad, for angry

Pharmacy, for chemist

Medication, for medicine (or we used to call them "drugs" a long while ago)

Sick, for ill  (has "poorly" completely died out?)

"Sides" on a menu (did we call them "side orders" or "extras"? I can't remember)

Check out, for find out

Anxious, for worried

Butt, for bottom (and of course ass, for arse)

News anchor, for newsreader or newscaster ("newscaster" is rather a nice word, as if giving news is like being a magician, or a fisherman perhaps)

Regular, for normal (and, of course, for medium-sized)

"Could I get?", for "Please may I have?" (I'm normally easy-going about language change, but I do hate this one)

On your team, for in your team

On your street, for in your street

Fill out a form, for fill in a form

Cookies, for biscuits

Power outage, for power cut

Hiring, for recruiting

Round-up, for summary 

Not-for-profit, instead of charity, or charitable

Movie, for film (of course we all knew what a movie was, pre-2006, but we didn't use the word)

  

Shipping & handling, for postage & packaging

Ziploc bag, for freezer bag (yes, I've heard this one used)

File cabinet, for filing cabinet

Klutzy, for clumsy

Raising kids, instead of bringing them up

And as I mentioned recently...   Mac 'n' Cheese, for Macaroni Cheese

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