The British are Coming

As the founder of Transatlantic dating site I Love Your Accent www.iloveyouraccent.com the differences between our languages have always fascinated me. So I was thrilled to read that Americans are now adopting parts of the Brit language and I am not alone in enjoying this phenomenon, mostly because as a Brit I am used to the reverse trend. (American phrases and words, creeping into Britain)
My Bad, 24.7, Touch Base are just three Americanisms we Brits parlay on a daily basis. But who would have thought that the Americans would allow our Vocabulary into theirs?
In the past, ‘Americans who used British phrases did so to sound pretentious’ but now journalists, bloggers and writers are incorporating Britishisms as just ‘another way of distinguishing themselves.

Take a look at three Companies who have embraced us Brits.

Boulder have called their chips CRISPS as we do in GB

Jessica Simpsons new perfume is called I fancy you!

Even Nike are asking you to give the gift of Sport and not Sports!

Apparently there are some Americanisms that don’t go down too well with the Brits and 10 are listed below. I have included my pet peeve at number 1. Whats yours? let me know at rochelle@iloveyouraccent.com

1. Turned up missing…… did she turn up or is she missing?
2. Is Physicality really a word?
3. Winningest is surely made up, right?
4. Least worst option, next time someone says that, tell them their best option is learning grammar.
5. Gotten, what kind of word is that?
6. Normalcy, shouldn’t we say Normality?
7. You do the Math……… its Maths.
8. Period…. no, its full stop, period is something else entirely.
9. I got it for free….. no, you got it free
10. Where you at? Its where are you surely!

www.iloveyouraccent.com

I recently did an interview on BBC radio talking about people who are scammed on dating sites. As the founder of transatlantic dating site ILoveyouraccent.com this subject is of interest to me.

I was reprimanded slightly on the show as I commented that to wire money to someone you have never met was beyond stupid. So I apologies if I came across as harsh but I still believe you must have taken leave of your senses to give money to a stranger. If you are asked to lend, send or donate money to someone you have never met, alarm bells should be going off in your head. No one should be expected to hand over their hard earned cash to someone they have only spoken to online.
If they try to make you feel bad or mean mention what’s going on to a friend or family member they will surely put you right and bring you down to earth!
Experienced Scammers know just how to seek out vulnerable people and play them like a fiddle.

Never give out too much information about yourself or finances until you know them a lot better. If they don’t want to talk after you refused them the money then what have you lost? Pride maybe but you will still have your cash. 99% of the people you come across will be genuine, looking for love and friendship just like you. The dodgy 1% is out to scam you by telling you how much they love you, feel so close to you and how they have never felt this way before. Then they will ask for money. Usually there emails will be full of badly written English and they will have a hundred excuses for not wanting to Skype with you. These are just two warning signs.

If you feel anything is not on the level, report them to the site admin so they are aware and can monitor them. Free sites have no way of tracing the scammers as they use a free email account, a false name and will delete all traces of themselves with a click of a mouse. If you used a fee paying site you have much more chance of finding the scammer, as there will be a paper trail starting with the credit card they used to join. Ask the sites admin and report them to the police.

But if you follow your head and listen to those warning bells, you wont be the one that gets fleeced by a scammer.

Rochelle