The most annoying expressions...

I thought it was spelt "aught"? As a noun it means "zero" and a pronoun it means "anything"

Don't think they spell it in Yorks. -- just say it 
No, seriously, I've never seen it spelled other than "owt"

I thinks links are encouraged...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/14130942

I think short quotes are OK too...

Ugly and pointless new usages appear in the media and drift into everyday conversation:

    Faze, as in "it doesn't faze me"
    Hospitalize, which really is a vile word
    Wrench for spanner
    Elevator for lift
    Rookies for newcomers, who seem to have flown here via the sports pages.
    Guy, less and less the centrepiece of the ancient British festival of 5 November - or, as it will soon be known, 11/5. Now someone of either gender.
    And, starting to creep in, such horrors as ouster, the process of firing someone, and outage, meaning a power cut. I always read that as outrage. And it is just that.

Wrench, as I've pointed out here before, was coined here when the tool was invented.I wouldn't be surprised if "elevator" was used here before "lift" came into favour.  The English spoken in the UK isn't the "original" English.  I've yet to hear someone speak Beowulf Old English on the streets of London, and some "Americanisms" (like "Fall" for "Autumn") are actually original English usages that fell out of favour in the UK.

Somehow I remember someone supporting the notion that English speakers shouldn't be telling other English speakers how to use the language.  I'd imagine that extends to British people not telling other British people what words to used based on what they are assuming is the "original" language.

^^^ ding! ding! ding!!

I think the classic example is that 'soccer' is actually a British word.

Sorry, I should have said the most commonly used word for mail is post in every day conversation.  

I thought it was spelt "aught"? As a noun it means "zero" and a pronoun it means "anything"

Owt and aught are different. Owt is Yorkshire dialect and is pronounced like out in North Yorkshire but like oat in most of the rest of Yorkshire.. Aught is old fashioned standard English and is pronounced like the "aught" part of daughter.

I think the classic example is that 'soccer' is actually a British word.

I heart you b for posting this!! 

Don't think they spell it in Yorks. -- just say it 
No, seriously, I've never seen it spelled other than "owt"

In Yorkshire it is "owt" and means "anything".

As in
Did you get owt at the shop?
No, they had nowt.

An old lady at a church fête told me the other day, "you'll have to learn to say toMAHto now." Ha!

Reminds me. The other day DW say a poster advertising a fete and asked , "whats a fete", pronouncing it like pate.
She also gets tied up with the pronunciation for mange tout, pronouncing tout like a ticket tout, and maunge as man-ghee

In Yorkshire it is "owt" and means "anything".

As in
Did you get owt at the shop?
No, they had nowt.

My husband uses those words all the time (he's from Hull).   

The most annoying expression to me is:

CHEERS!

Problem is - I use it all the time!!!!!!!  

Actually an expression I can't stand is one that is gaining popularity in the US which is:

Totes instead of totally.

Not that I like totally all the much either, but totes, really?

Reminds me. The other day DW say a poster advertising a fete and asked , "whats a fete", pronouncing it like pate.
She also gets tied up with the pronunciation for mange tout, pronouncing tout like a ticket tout, and maunge as man-ghee

In the US, there is (or used to be?) a large car called a "Grand Marquis."  Now, these could be either English or French words.. and yet I think the standard US pronunciation of the name of the car uses English pronunciation for the first word and French pronunciation for the second!!

She also gets tied up with the pronunciation for mange tout, pronouncing tout like a ticket tout, and maunge as man-ghee

Those are man-get-outs in our family. 

Those are man-get-outs in our family. 

 

One that doesn't annoy me, but never ceases to confuse me, is 'after'. I am never sure after what excatly.. lunch?, Tuesday? Christmas?.. It makes me feel like a dork to keep asking, but I'm never sure what it is all about. An example is yesterday I was watching my nephews and MIL said 'They can each have a Kinder Egg after.' I wasn't feeding them a meal so I knew it wasn't after a meal, and they weren't going anywhere or doing a specific activity to give the egg to them after.

Is it just another word for later, or does it really mean after something?