Rick Moen via luv-talk wrote:
(Actually, I've had to purge any number of Britticisms from my stock of idioms. You should have seen the look of puzzlement the first few times I mentioned to Americans that my father flew out of the aerodrome in Kowloon.)
Seeing as it's already open in front of me, I'm gonna nitpick: <b>Briticism</>, the name for an idiom used in Great Britain & not in America, is a <sc>Barbarism</>, & should be either <i>Britannicism</> or <i>Britishism</>, just as <i>Hibernicism</> or <i>Irishism</> will do, but not <i>Iricism</>. <i>Gallicism</> & <i>Scot(t)icism</> cannot be pleaded, since <i>Gaulish</> & <i>Scotch</> are in Latin <i>Gallicus</> & <i>Scot(t)icus</>, but <i>British</> is <i>Brittanicus</>. The verbal critic, who alone uses such words, should at least see to it they are above criticism. —Fowler 1e, p. 57 Anyone that enjoys a good linguistic snark should keep a copy of Fowler 1e handy. (Avoid later editions; fortunately 1e gets reprinted regularly.) PS: apologies for the shitty SGMLish markup.