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What are some common Americanisms that have crept into Australian English?

Americanisms such as “ass”, “mom”, and “math” have infiltrated Australian English, largely due to American media’s influence. Examples include “leash” for “lead”, “cookies” for “biscuits”, and “y’all” replacing “youse”. These terms reflect the global dominance of American culture and language.

Some words you may not realise your misspelling if you live in Australia
Some words you may not realise your misspelling if you live in Australia

Some common Americanisms that have crept into Australian English include:

  1. Ass instead of ‘Arse’ in writing[2].
  2. Dating as opposed to the Australian ‘Seeing someone’ or ‘Going out with someone'[2].
  3. Using ‘pet’ a dog, rather than ‘pat'[2].
  4. ‘Leash’ instead of ‘lead’ for what you use to walk a dog[2].
  5. Math instead of ‘maths'[2][7].
  6. Momโ€ฆโ€ฆ’Mum'[2].
  7. Y’allโ€ฆโ€ฆ..’Youse'[2].
  8. Wildfireโ€ฆโ€ฆ’Bushfire'[2].
  9. Cookies and trash instead of ‘biscuits’ and ‘rubbish'[2].
  10. ‘On accident’ instead of ‘by accident'[2].
  11. Parking lot instead of ‘car park'[2].
  12. Drugstore, Tic tac toe, Trash can[2].
  13. Truck instead of ‘lorry’ (British English)[3].
  14. Restroom and bathroom used interchangeably with ‘toilet’ (British English)[3].
  15. Program instead of ‘programme'[3].
  16. Fetus instead of ‘foetus'[3].
  17. Great, cool, groovy, filth, bad (meaning extremely good), way out, and neat as words for approval[4].
  18. Diarrhea instead of ‘diarrhoea’ (British English).

These Americanisms reflect the influence of American culture and language on Australian English, often through media exposure and the global dominance of American English[1][3][4].

Citations:


[1] https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/let-every-new-word-bloom-20110812-1iqtx.html
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAnAustralian/comments/12q8t3t/what_are_some_americanisms_younger_people_in/
[3] https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/australians-love-american-words
[4] https://www.abc.net.au/education/interesting-words-and-americanisms-in-our-language/13953302
[5] https://www.smh.com.au/national/australian-english-isn-t-being-taken-over-by-americanisms-but-it-is-changing-20210729-p58e2f.html
[6] https://www.eliteediting.com.au/avoiding-americanisms-when-using-australianbritish-english/
[7] https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/8274467/clear-as-math-what-counts-as-proper-australian-english/
[8] https://www.thinkswap.com/au/vce/english-language/year-12/americanisms-and-their-effect-australian-english

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