Quoting Trent W. Buck (trentbuck@gmail.com):
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
It is indeed most certainly a barbarism (and I didn't even manage to type it correctly, at that). It just struck me as hilarious for some reason at that moment.
Anyone that enjoys a good linguistic snark should keep a copy of Fowler 1e handy. (Avoid later editions; fortunately 1e gets reprinted regularly.)
Yes, I heard that his successors stuffed it up. Pity, that. -- Cheers, "We reject: kings, presidents and voting. Rick Moen We believe in: rough consensus and running code." rick@linuxmafia.com -- Dave Clark, IETF (unofficial motto) McQ! (4x80)