BBC杂志发表了一篇关于美式英语入侵英国的文章，引起了很多英国人的共鸣。读者纷纷发来电子邮件，说出最困扰自己、最让自己恼火的美式英语表达。BBC精选了50条，我们先看看前25条吧。
1. When people ask for something, I often hear: "Can I get a..." It infuriates me. It's not New York. It's not the 90s. You're not in Central Perk with the rest of the Friends. Really."
1. 当某些人想要什么东西时，我经常听到他们说：“Can I get a...（我能要一个……）”这让我大为恼火。这里又不是纽约，又不是90年代，你以为你是在Central Perk里演《老友记》啊，真是的！
2. The next time someone tells you something is the "least worst option", tell them that their most best option is learning grammar.
2. 下次要是有人跟你讲XXX是the “least worst option”（最好选择），你就告诉他们对于他们来说最最最好的选择是滚回去学语法。
3. The phrase I've watched seep into the language (especially with broadcasters) is "two-time" and "three-time". Have the words double, triple etc, been totally lost? Grammatically it makes no sense, and is even worse when spoken. My pulse rises every time I hear or see it. Which is not healthy as it's almost every day now. Argh!
3. 我经历过的渐渐渗入到英语里的短语（特别是播音员使用的）是“two-time（两次）”和“three -time（三次）"。难道double啊triple啊什么的都彻底消失了么？从语法上来说，这根本构不成短语，而且用在口语中更糟糕。每次听到或者看到它我就心跳加速。这对我的健康造成了威胁，因为基本每天都要经历这些。我去！
4. Using 24/7 rather than "24 hours, 7 days a week" or even just plain "all day, every day".
4. 使用24/7来表达“全天候”，而不是“24 hours, 7 days a week”，或者就朴实地说“all day, every day”。
5. The one I can't stand is "deplane", meaning to disembark an aircraft, used in the phrase "you will be able to deplane momentarily".
5. 我不能忍受的就是“deplane”这个词，意思就是下飞机，用法是这样的：“You will be able to deplane momentarily（您很快就能下飞机了）”。
6. To "wait on" instead of "wait for" when you're not a waiter - once read a friend's comment about being in a station waiting on a train. For him, the train had yet to arrive - I would have thought rather that it had got stuck at the station with the friend on board.
6. 用“wait on”而不是“wait for”，而且你还不是服务员。有次我读了一段朋友就在车站等车（waiting on a train）发表的评论。他所表达的意思是，火车一直没到站。而我却以为朋友在车上，但是车却困在了车站里。
7. "It is what it is". Pity us.
7. “It is what it is.（这就是事实。）” 同情同情我们吧！
8. Dare I even mention the fanny pack?
8. 敢不敢提fanny pack（腰包）啊？
9. "Touch base" - it makes me cringe no end.
9. “Touch base（联系）”——这让我不停地哆嗦。
10. Is "physicality" a real word?
10. “Physicality（物质性）”真的是一个词吗？
11. Transportation. What's wrong with transport?
11. Transportation（交通工具）。就不能用transport吗？
12. The word I hate to hear is "leverage". Pronounced lev-er-ig rather than lee-ver-ig. It seems to pop up in all aspects of work. And its meaning seems to have changed to "value added".
12. 我讨厌听到的词是“leverage”。把它读成lev-er-ig（美），而不是lee-ver-ig（英）。好像各行各业突然都这么读了，意思貌似也变成“附加值”了。（leverage在美式英语中有“举债经营”的意思，英式英语用gearing表达此意）
13. Does nobody celebrate a birthday anymore, must we all "turn" 12 or 21 or 40? Even the Duke of Edinburgh was universally described as "turning" 90 last month. When did this begin? I quite like the phrase in itself, but it seems to have obliterated all other ways of speaking about birthdays.
13. 难道没人庆祝生日（celebrate a birthday）了吗？我们一定都要“turn”12岁或者21岁或者40岁吗？连爱丁堡公爵过生日也统统说成上个月他“turning”90岁。这是什么时候开始的？我喜欢这个表达本身，但它似乎取代掉其他所有谈论生日的说法了。
14. I caught myself saying "shopping cart" instead of shopping trolley today and was thoroughly disgusted with myself. I've never lived nor been to the US either.
14. 我发现现在自己会说："shopping cart（购物手推车）”而不是shopping trolley ，我非常讨厌这一点。我从没去过美国，也没在美国生活过。
15. What kind of word is "gotten"? It makes me shudder.
15."Gotten（get的过去分词，美式用法）"到底是个什么词？它总是让我不寒而栗。
16. "I'm good" for "I'm well". That'll do for a start.
16. 用“I'm good（我很好）”替代“I'm well”。刚开始感觉都可以。
17. "Bangs" for a fringe of the hair.
17. 用"bangs"表示刘海。
18. Take-out rather than takeaway!
18. 说take-out（外卖）而不是takeaway!
19. I enjoy Americanisms. I suspect even some Americans use them in a tongue-in-cheek manner? "That statement was the height of ridiculosity".
19. 我喜欢美式英语。不过我怀疑甚至一些美国人也是虚情假意地在用它们。“这份声明简直是荒谬（ridiculosity）。”
20. "A half hour" instead of "half an hour".
20. 说“a half hour（半小时）”而不是“half an hour”。
21. A "heads up". For example, as in a business meeting. Lets do a "heads up" on this issue. I have never been sure of the meaning.
22. A “heads up（提醒）”。比如，在商业会议上说，Lets do a "heads up" on this issue. 我至今还不知道是什么意思。
22. Train station. My teeth are on edge every time I hear it. Who started it? Have they been punished?
22. Train station（火车站）。每次听到它，我就很恼火。谁开始用这个词的？他们没有被罚吗？
23. To put a list into alphabetical order is to "alphabetize it" - horrid!
23. 把一张表按照字母顺序排列就是去“alphabetize it”——非常不爽！
24. People that say "my bad" after a mistake. I don't know how anything could be as annoying or lazy as that.
24. 那些在犯错后说“my bad（我的错）”的人，我真不知道事情怎么可以变得如此让人恼火、将惰性体现得淋漓尽致的。
25. "Normalcy" instead of "normality" really irritates me.
25. 用“normalcy（正常状态）”而不是“normality”真的会激怒我。
Some are useful, while some seem truly unnecessary, argued Matthew Engel in the article. Here are 50 of the most e-mailed.
1. When people ask for something, I often hear: "Can I get a..." It infuriates me. It's not New York. It's not the 90s. You're not in Central Perk with the rest of the Friends. Really." Steve, Rossendale, Lancashire
2. The next time someone tells you something is the "least worst option", tell them that their most best option is learning grammar. Mike Ayres, Bodmin, Cornwall
3. The phrase I've watched seep into the language (especially with broadcasters) is "two-time" and "three-time". Have the words double, triple etc, been totally lost? Grammatically it makes no sense, and is even worse when spoken. My pulse rises every time I hear or see it. Which is not healthy as it's almost every day now. Argh! D Rochelle, Bath
4. Using 24/7 rather than "24 hours, 7 days a week" or even just plain "all day, every day". Simon Ball, Worcester
5. The one I can't stand is "deplane", meaning to disembark an aircraft, used in the phrase "you will be able to deplane momentarily". TykeIntheHague, Den Haag, Holland
6. To "wait on" instead of "wait for" when you're not a waiter - once read a friend's comment about being in a station waiting on a train. For him, the train had yet to arrive - I would have thought rather that it had got stuck at the station with the friend on board.T Balinski, Raglan, New Zealand
A US reader writes...
JP Spore believes there is nothing wrong with English evolving
Languages are, by their very nature, shifting, malleable things that morph according to the needs and desires of those who speak them.
Mr Engel suggests that British English should be preserved, but it seems to me this both lacks a historical perspective of the language, as well as an ignorance of why it is happening.
English itself is a rather complicated, interesting blend of Germanic, French and Latin (among other things). It has arrived at this point through the long and torturous process of assimilation and modification. The story of the English language is the story of an unstoppable train of consecutive changes - and for someone to put their hand up and say "wait - the train stops here and should go no further" is not only futile, but ludicrously arbitrary.
Why here? Why not stop it 20 years ago? Or 20 years hence? If we're going to just set an arbitrary limit on language change, why not choose the year 1066 AD? The Saxons had some cool words, right?
Mr Engel - and all language Luddites on both sides of the Atlantic, including more than a few here in the States - really need to get over it when their countrymen find more value in non-native words than in their native lexicon.
I understand the argument about loss of cultural identity, but if so many people are so willing to give up traditional forms and phrases maybe we should consider that they didn't have as much value as we previously imagined.
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
11. Transportation. What's wrong with transport?Greg Porter, Hercules, CA, US
12. The word I hate to hear is "leverage". Pronounced lev-er-ig rather than lee-ver -ig. It seems to pop up in all aspects of work. And its meaning seems to have changed to "value added". Gareth Wilkins, Leicester
13. Does nobody celebrate a birthday anymore, must we all "turn" 12 or 21 or 40? Even the Duke of Edinburgh was universally described as "turning" 90 last month. When did this begin? I quite like the phrase in itself, but it seems to have obliterated all other ways of speaking about birthdays. Michael McAndrew, Swindon
14. I caught myself saying "shopping cart" instead of shopping trolley today and was thoroughly disgusted with myself. I've never lived nor been to the US either.Graham Nicholson, Glasgow
15. What kind of word is "gotten"? It makes me shudder. Julie Marrs, Warrington
16. "I'm good" for "I'm well". That'll do for a start. Mike, Bridgend, Wales
17. "Bangs" for a fringe of the hair. Philip Hall, Nottingham
18. Take-out rather than takeaway! Simon Ball, Worcester
19. I enjoy Americanisms. I suspect even some Americans use them in a tongue-in-cheek manner? "That statement was the height of ridiculosity". Bob, Edinburgh
20. "A half hour" instead of "half an hour". EJB, Devon
21. A "heads up". For example, as in a business meeting. Lets do a "heads up" on this issue. I have never been sure of the meaning. R Haworth, Marlborough
22. Train station. My teeth are on edge every time I hear it. Who started it? Have they been punished?Chris Capewell, Queens Park, London
23. To put a list into alphabetical order is to "alphabetize it" - horrid! Chris Fackrell, York
24. People that say "my bad" after a mistake. I don't know how anything could be as annoying or lazy as that. Simon Williamson, Lymington, Hampshire
25. "Normalcy" instead of "normality" really irritates me. Tom Gabbutt, Huddersfield
26. As an expat living in New Orleans, it is a very long list but "burglarize" is currently the word that I most dislike. Simon, New Orleans
27. "Oftentimes" just makes me shiver with annoyance. Fortunately I've not noticed it over here yet.John, London
28. Eaterie. To use a prevalent phrase, oh my gaad!Alastair, Maidstone (now in Athens, Ohio)
29. I'm a Brit living in New York. The one that always gets me is the American need to use the word bi-weekly when fortnightly would suffice just fine. Ami Grewal, New York
30. I hate "alternate" for "alternative". I don't like this as they are two distinct words, both have distinct meanings and it's useful to have both. Using alternate for alternative deprives us of a word. Catherine, London
31. "Hike" a price. Does that mean people who do that are hikers? No, hikers are ramblers! M Holloway, Accrington
32. Going forward? If I do I shall collide with my keyboard. Ric Allen, Matlock
33. I hate the word "deliverable". Used by management consultants for something that they will "deliver" instead of a report. Joseph Wall, Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire
34. The most annoying Americanism is "a million and a half" when it is clearly one and a half million! A million and a half is 1,000,000.5 where one and a half million is 1,500,000. Gordon Brown, Coventry
35. "Reach out to" when the correct word is "ask". For example: "I will reach out to Kevin and let you know if that timing is convenient". Reach out? Is Kevin stuck in quicksand? Is he teetering on the edge of a cliff? Can't we just ask him? Nerina, London
36. Surely the most irritating is: "You do the Math." Math? It's MATHS. Michael Zealey, London
37. I hate the fact I now have to order a "regularAmericano". What ever happened to a medium sized coffee? Marcus Edwards, Hurst Green
38. My worst horror is expiration, as in "expiration date". Whatever happened to expiry? Christina Vakomies, London
39. My favourite one was where Americans claimed their family were "Scotch-Irish". This of course it totally inaccurate, as even if it were possible, it would be "Scots" not "Scotch", which as I pointed out is a drink. James, Somerset
40.I am increasingly hearing the phrase "that'll learn you" - when the English (and more correct) version was always "that'll teach you". What a ridiculous phrase!Tabitha, London
41. I really hate the phrase: "Where's it at?" This is not more efficient or informative than "where is it?" It just sounds grotesque and is immensely irritating. Adam, London
42. Period instead of full stop. Stuart Oliver, Sunderland
43. My pet hate is "winningest", used in the context "Michael Schumacher is the winningest driver of all time". I can feel the rage rising even using it here. Gayle, Nottingham
44. My brother now uses the term "season" for a TV series. Hideous. D Henderson, Edinburgh
45. Having an "issue" instead of a "problem". John, Leicester
46. I hear more and more people pronouncing the letter Z as "zee". Not happy about it! Ross, London
47. To "medal" instead of to win a medal. Sets my teeth on edge with a vengeance.Helen, Martock, Somerset
48. "I got it for free" is a pet hate. You got it "free" not "for free". You don't get something cheap and say you got it "for cheap" do you? Mark Jones, Plymouth
49. "Turn that off already". Oh dear. Darren, Munich
50. "I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less" has to be the worst. Opposite meaning of what they're trying to say. Jonathan, Birmingham
A US reader writes...
Melanie Johnson - MA student in Applied Linguistics, now in the UK
The idea that there once existed a "pure" form of English is simply untrue. The English spoken in the UK today has been influenced by a number of languages, including Dutch, French and German. Speakers from the time of William the Conqueror would not recognise what we speak in Britain as English. This is because language variation shifts are constantly changing.
Five years ago you might have found it odd if someone asked you to "friend" them, but today many of us know this means to add them on Facebook. The increased use of technology, in combination with the rise of a globalised society, means language changes are happening faster than ever, especially in places with highly diverse populations like London. Young people are usually at the vanguard of this, so it's no surprise to find London teenagers increasingly speaking what's been termed "multicultural ethnic English".
Changes in word use are normal and not unique to any language. But English does enjoy a privileged status as the world's lingua franca. That began with the British, but has been maintained by the Americans. It's difficult to predict how English will next evolve, but the one certainty is it will.
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