Vidor
Member
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2010
- Member Type
- Interested in Language
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- United States
- Current Location
- United States
Interesting article written from precisely the opposite direction that articles like these are written from. I agree with the conclusion to the article, which is that this is most irritating when American English has perfectly good native alternatives. Once a coworker complained that the "queue" to the restroom was long, and I wished I could slap him.
Another thing the writer misses is that sometimes these words have shades of meaning that is gained or lost. I for one would resist any use of "holiday" to mean "vacation" (although I've never actually seen this usage here), because in American English "holiday" is the calendar date and "vacation" is the leisure trip and to use one word for both loses the distinction. On the other hand, "redhead" is simply a descriptive word for people with red hair while "ginger" carries a pejorative connotation, if you like that kind of thing.
Another thing the writer misses is that sometimes these words have shades of meaning that is gained or lost. I for one would resist any use of "holiday" to mean "vacation" (although I've never actually seen this usage here), because in American English "holiday" is the calendar date and "vacation" is the leisure trip and to use one word for both loses the distinction. On the other hand, "redhead" is simply a descriptive word for people with red hair while "ginger" carries a pejorative connotation, if you like that kind of thing.