People using "Americanisms"

[StraightOuttaCanton]

But what you are talking about is all part of the same continuum. Linguistic influences arrive via a myriad of conduits and particular via modern media such as TV, radio and the Internet - phrases, inflections, mannerisms, pronunciations included. As a young man, I remember the word 'harass' being pronounced differently and I think that the change was probably due to the influence of American English. 'Ongoing' was a word that sounded awful to the British ear but I, like many others, have succumbed to using it. On the other hand, the American phrase 'talking with' as opposed to 'speaking to' seems wonderfully democratic.
We may wish to try and circle the linguistic wagons ourselves but our language (and it's no longer 'ours') will move on whether we like it or not. Similarly, Spanish-speakers in Spain are outnumbered by their counterparts in South America, as are the Portuguese-speakers in Portugal.

Where did the use of ‘sick’ as being used to describe something as being great come from? Did it hail from some Germanic/French word? My American and Canadian colleagues use it every day... and now my kids do too ... Bloody Germans!!!

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Where did the use of ‘sick’ as being used to describe something as being great come from? Did it hail from some Germanic/French word? My American and Canadian colleagues use it every day... and now my kids do too ... Bloody Germans!!!

The work 'sick' does come to us from the Germanic root. In fact, the Dutch name for a hospital is 'Ziekenhuis', a house for the sick, as it were.
As for the usage of the word 'sick' in a positive sense I would imagine that it's a 'street thing' and incorporates the same playful irony as when some people use the word 'bad' as meaning good. It's more to do with slang than Schleswig-Holstein methinks.

[xsnaggle]

Where did the use of ‘sick’ as being used to describe something as being great come from? Did it hail from some Germanic/French word? My American and Canadian colleagues use it every day... and now my kids do too ... Bloody Germans!!!

Some of the words younger people use that mean the opposite what they appear began I read, because of predictive text. A texter would start to type the word he wanted but the predictor put up something else which was not corrected. There was one word in particular that was commented on. I believe from then on it became the in thing , a bit like 'bad' and 'wicked'.