People using "Americanisms"

[Taunton Blue Genie]

I used to despair of people beginning their answer to a question with the word "so", but it's established itself now and won't be disappearing - I'd say it originated more in Australia than America though.

The "get go" has been mentioned and it's a phrase I refuse to use, because "start" works well enough for me and is the word I was taught to use to describe the beginning of something.

I'm sure that "back in the day" has been talked about on here before and it's a relatively recent term (80s I think) - I can't ever remember using it and, again, don't see why a simple "in the past" isn't sufficient.

I'm not sure these are Americanisms, but I've only heard them in the last decade or so and, although this probably says more about me than who says them, I find myself turning against the speaker whenever I hear it.

1. "North of" - what's wrong with "more than" and I don't get why the people who use that expression never seem to say "south of" instead of "less than"".
2. When and why did people start saying "speaks to" rather than "(is) about"?
3. "Moving forward", why did "in the future" lose popularity?

Don't we sometimes use the decorative word 'Well' when starting a sentence when others say 'So'?
By the way, I am not a fan of the "I'm good" retort but it will probably be doing the rounds long after I expire.
The word 'nice' used to mean ignorant so it's a waste of time being too Canute-like regarding language.
Early this week I was reading about metathesis i.e. where consonant change places in a word e.g. bird was formally brid, foliage was previously foilage, wasp was previously wæps etc.
Metathesis exists both across and within languages.

[xsnaggle]

Don't we sometimes use the decorative word 'Well' when starting a sentence when others say 'So'?
By the way, I am not a fan of the "I'm good" retort but it will probably be doing the rounds long after I expire.
The word 'nice' used to mean ignorant so it's a waste of time being too Canute-like regarding language.
Early this week I was reading about metathesis i.e. where consonant change places in a word e.g. bird was formally brid, foliage was previously foilage, wasp was previously wæps etc.
Metathesis exists both across and within languages.

But so means because, whereas Well indicates an answer to what was asked. As for 'nice' my understanding has always been that nice originally meant fine as in very slim, for example 'a nice distinction' between two points of view. But I believe that the word had several differing meanings.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

But so means because, whereas Well indicates an answer to what was asked. As for 'nice' my understanding has always been that nice originally meant fine as in very slim, for example 'a nice distinction' between two points of view. But I believe that the word had several differing meanings.

'So' is also used as a discourse marker when summarising or changing the topic in a conversation or introducing a new one.
'Well' can be used similarly. You meet someone you haven't seen for a while and say "Hi John, Well how how you, old fruit?" just to convey emphasis. Or even "Well I'll be jiggered".
The fact that such constructions exist in many languages makes their usage of interest and maybe it's best to understand that usage rather than reverse-engineering it into strict grammatical categories that may have been foisted upon us in more prescriptive times.
There are so many so-called grammatical rules that we learned at school that have been subsequently debunked by linguistic experts and those who have studied language over the course of history.
This is an interesting read: http://www.dean.sbc.edu/tamburr.html

[Taunton Blue Genie]

But so means because, whereas Well indicates an answer to what was asked. As for 'nice' my understanding has always been that nice originally meant fine as in very slim, for example 'a nice distinction' between two points of view. But I believe that the word had several differing meanings.

The word 'nice' came to us via the Latin word 'nascire' and meaning 'not knowing' (or 'no science', as it were).
In due course it came to mean, in turn: ignorant, foolish, timid, fastidious, dainty, careful and, eventually, pleasant.

[the other bob wilson]

Don't we sometimes use the decorative word 'Well' when starting a sentence when others say 'So'?
By the way, I am not a fan of the "I'm good" retort but it will probably be doing the rounds long after I expire.
The word 'nice' used to mean ignorant so it's a waste of time being too Canute-like regarding language.
Early this week I was reading about metathesis i.e. where consonant change places in a word e.g. bird was formally brid, foliage was previously foilage, wasp was previously wæps etc.
Metathesis exists both across and within languages.

Out of the ones I mentioned, back in the day and get go have been around long enough for children to hear them and think that they have always been around, therefore they're perfectly legitimate for them to use and they'd be right - I daresay, answering questions with so falls into the same category as well.

However, the three at the bottom of my message (north of, speaks to and moving forward) fascinate me because they're almost exclusively used by adults in my experience - if I had to guess where they originated, I think it may well be in a kind of media speak, because I barely hear them in face to face conversation,

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Out of the ones I mentioned, back in the day and get go have been around long enough for children to hear them and think that they have always been around, therefore they're perfectly legitimate for them to use and they'd be right - I daresay, answering questions with so falls into the same category as well.

However, the three at the bottom of my message (north of, speaks to and moving forward) fascinate me because they're almost exclusively used by adults in my experience - if I had to guess where they originated, I think it may well be in a kind of media speak, because I barely hear them in face to face conversation,

'North of' and 'South of' have a certain logic whereby those directions are related to up and down - just as we say 'up in Scotland' or 'down in Cornwall'.
However, wearing my cartographer's hat I would say that we have only considered 'North' as 'up' since maps were presented that way.
Historically, many maps used to have East at the top, hence the terms 'to orient', 'orient(at)ed', 'disorient(at)ed' etc.
In those days we would have perhaps said 'up in Norfolk' and 'down in Wales'.