Here are eight invasive Americanisms to continue annoying us in 2017.
Running for office. Liz Kendall was ‘running for the party leadership last year’, the Times said. In Britain she should have been standing.
Standing in line. A mother was ‘standing in line at the Post Office to collect her benefits’, said the Daily Mail. British people queue.
Commit to. Plenty has been committed to the flames, to memory or to prison. Giving an undertaking was to commit yourself. The OED found the first example of committing to a relationship in 1987.
Advocate for: the return of an old construction. ‘I am not advocating for the Dissenters,’ wrote Daniel Defoe. It has been revived in the past generation by people like social workers ‘in a key position to advocate for pupils’ needs’. Such people hold that advocacy is a good in itself.
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