Rescuing British English

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I'm guilty of using the word 'puck' instead of cake, and tuck as well but I am pleased to be correct.

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I'd like to add a few more words that need to be reclaimed/used instead.

"Fag" a colloquial term for a cigarette, not an insult for a homosexual.

Many people seem to use the word "Season" to describe a duration of a television programme, the correct term is "Series".

Also "Apartment" instead of "Flat".

"Biscuit" is not some kind of staple in Southern Cuisine but a flat disc of goodness often found in a cylindrical tube with the word 'McVities' on the side (other brands are available); not all Biscuits are Cookies - the only biscuits that are cookies are ones with chocolate chips (or raisins), calling a Hob Nob or a Digestive 'A Cookie' is an abomination to the English language, it's a biscuit ffs.
Doesn't the word Fag come from Faggot which is a type of meatball made from offal anyway?
 
There's no problem with Americans using American English.

For example iff your name is Chuck or Randy and you live in an apartment in Texas then it's fine to use the word 'Cookie' etc.

On the other hand if your name is Nigel or Keith and you live in a flat in Stourbridge then if you use the word apartment to describe your residence or cookie to describe a Fig Roll then one will be ridiculed, and rightly so.
There is absolutely nothing worse than an American affecting an English idiom. It is neither use nor ornament. :rolleyes:
 
Doesn't the word Fag come from Faggot which is a type of meatball made from offal anyway?
As far as I know, both meanings of fag (ciggie and gay) share the same root, faggot being a bundle of sticks for kindling.
A cigarette looks like a lit stick, hence fag.
One of the duties of a fag in public schools was to light the fire, and boarding schools were/are notorious dens of homosexuality.
 
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As far as I know, both meanings of fag (ciggie and gay) share the same root, faggot being a bundle of sticks for kindling.
A cigarette looks like a lit stick, hence fag.
One of the duties of a fag in public schools was to light the fire, and boarding schools were/are notorious dens of homosexuality.
How very dare you? I will have you know I went to a fine public school and I never saw any Homosexuality ducky. :p
 
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To be honest I take less exception to the adoption of Americanisms than I do to the widespread failure to correctly use an apostrophe, using “less” when you mean “fewer”, and worst of all “I should of”. I could list many more.

The standard of written English in this country is deplorable and I think we should all be ashamed of the fact that most people who have English as a second language are better at it than the natives.
 
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