Researchers have catalogued the British words and phrases most used in US conversation, sparking delight and frustrationThe Americani(s)zation of British English is often described as a linguistic disaster – frustrations over imported words or usages, from “awesome” to “ATM”, are well docu mented.But in recent years, there’s been growing interest in the opposite phenomenon: Britishisms that have made their way into American English. These days, it’s not uncommon to hear Americans describing a single event as a “one-off” or noting that a perfect assessment is “spot-on”.Amongst (rather than “among”), whose use has nearly quadrupled in the US over the past four decadesQueue, whose frequent use on tech platforms such as Netflix has given its British meaning – what Americans would generally call a “line” – new life in the USWonky, meaning a bit offCheeky, meaning a bit naughty or indulgent, as frequently used by Mike Myers (a Canadian with English parents) on Saturday Night Live in the 1990sSnarky, often used to describe early internet discourse and sites such as GawkerCheers, which has long been used while clinking glasses in the US but has started to mean “thanks” in some contextsKeen, meaning enthusiasticMaths, rather than just math, which has become more familiar in the US due to international academic work and social mediaNil, meaning zero, which is turning up in online gaming Continue reading... ...read more read less