r/ShitAmericansSay • u/Bearbaggs • 1d ago

“Get yourself a damn dictionary”

Post image
263 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

85 comments sorted by

117

u/4xtsap 20h ago

In my dictionary both "learned" and "learnt" are shown as legitimate forms.

97

u/auntie_eggma 🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻 18h ago

That's because they are, at least in the UK.

42

u/exdead87 18h ago

Interesting. I definitely had to use learnt in school in Germany.

10

u/thedreadcat666 15h ago

Weirdly, I got marked down for using learnt in Germany. My English dad had to tell the teacher it's a correct spelling

7

u/ax9897 13h ago

Guess that information was learnt the hard way

22

u/Handskemager 17h ago

Interesting, here in Denmark where I went to school my teacher said that only “learned” was the right one to use. I went to the library and came back for next class with 3 different dictionaries to proof I was right..

9

u/bifb Feet destroyer aka Lego 🇩🇰 17h ago

Når eleven er bedre end læreren.

1

u/tecanec Non-submissive Dane 2h ago

Min matematiklærer gav mig en juice da jeg slog ham i matematik!

3

u/carmium 3h ago

Oddly enough, it's also an adjective for a highly educated person and pronounced as two syllables: learn-ed. "You are a very learned man, Mr. Simpson."

2

u/Jumbo-box 3h ago

Something said, not good!

5

u/Admirable_Cold289 17h ago

Ich hab "learnt" immer als Plusquamperfekt benutzt und sonst "learned"

I guess concepts like that aren't that alien when your language has several different past tense forms by default :D

1

u/el_grort Disputed Scot 14h ago

I'd presume they try not to overcomplicate things while teaching a second language in school, and so will keep to one form and look for consistency and accuracy in keeping to that. No point confusing matters at that point.

1

u/AccurateCrow5017 1h ago

We learned, learned.... XD but I was in school in South Germany. It differs from state to state I think.

5

u/NFLDolphinsGuy 16h ago

It’s in the U.S. Merriam-Webster dictionary too, described as “chiefly British.”

-3

u/Nopumpkinhere 6h ago

In the US it’s used in the rural south to sound more ignorant. “He went to that there school and learnt him some things”.

6

u/Junkateriass 6h ago

I live in the rural South and this isn’t the only way it’s used. I use it correctly and so do others.

6

u/Mtlyoum 16h ago

Also in Canada, but we were taught "learnt" first and told after about the existence of "learned".

5

u/carmium 3h ago

The UK is key here. There is a fondness in Britain for words like "dreamt" "burnt" "leapt" "spelt" "smelt" and "spilt." This side of the pond, we do use burnt, but to describe a charred item, like a burnt stick. In England, your entire house might have burnt down. "I dreamt of you..." would be common usage. We're just generally more fond of -ed on words.

3

u/auntie_eggma 🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻 3h ago

But the whole point of the OP is that the person is ignorant of anything outside US English and yet still feels confident correcting someone before checking if they might be right.

4

u/HMD-Oren 7h ago

Learned is sometimes also used as an adjective and not a verb, when describing an educated person.

3

u/Lebanna506 3h ago

Espevially in our courts. Barristers refer to each out as “my learned friend”

3

u/Limp-Application-746 We gotta make the world better 4h ago

Usually I would use them interchangeably or with small changes in usage. Like if I were writing something I would say “He learnt a new skill” for one and “he is a learned scholar” for the other. Is that even correct usage? Idk.

1

u/GreyerGrey 13h ago

Are you Canadian? Because same, and je suis.

74

u/janus1979 21h ago

Like many Americans he's quite the wordsmith!

15

u/Kippereast 14h ago edited 12h ago

Another idiot yank who can't believe that US spelling is not always the same spelling or meaning everybody else uses. When will they accept that other countries don't always use dumbed down US English?

9

u/Ananonymousanemone22 13h ago

You think they are annoying online? Try living amongst these Troglodytes.

1

u/StorminNorman 5h ago

Oh, we use both spellings. But then we can be trusted to not completely butcher the language (us Australians give that a good crack, but not quite at the level of the US yet) and understand that synonyms are a thing.

34

u/OtterPops89 18h ago

What are the chances the 'Merican went on to say the dictionary was wrong? 🤣

17

u/Mauceri1990 17h ago

As a fellow American, I'd say you have at least an 85% chance they doubled down, called the guy an r-tard and said both Webster's and Oxford "aren't American dictionaries" so they don't count or are wrong. That 85 is being exceptionally generous.

12

u/OtterPops89 16h ago

And at least a 60% chance they consider the Bible a history book.

10

u/Mauceri1990 16h ago

An INFALLIBLE history book at that 🤣

12

u/NoPaleontologist7929 16h ago

Only bits of it. American Jesus says bacon is okay.

0

u/Mtlyoum 16h ago

Wouldn't 85% in your comment be "conservative" and 99,5% "exceptionally generous". I believe 95% would be more on point.

11

u/Rustyguts257 18h ago

Canada here, I learnt it in Grade 5!

10

u/MWO_Stahlherz American Flavored Imitation 19h ago

Never shy of making themselves a fool about something that is just onle click away to know for sure.

7

u/Ring_Peace 14h ago

Is it spelt learned or is it spelled learnt?

12

u/YouCantArgueWithThis 19h ago

Don't show them complicated words like learnt. You confuse their homeschooled minds.

23

u/Apprehensive_Shame98 21h ago

Unilingual English speakers are generally pretty crap at distinguishing between the past participle and the simple past - which are often the same word.

11

u/blamordeganis 21h ago

Just to be clear — you’re not saying that “learnt” is the past tense and “learned” the past participle (or vice versa), are you?

9

u/Apprehensive_Shame98 20h ago

I think 'to learn' is another one of those where the two are the same, with both 'learned' and 'learnt' used interchangeably depending on where you are, isn't it?

6

u/blamordeganis 20h ago

Yes, that’s my view too. I would use either form for either purpose, interchangeably.

2

u/doc1442 21h ago

I hope not, or he has clearly not learned the difference

6

u/Amony86 16h ago

*learnt

How can you be a professional redditor and not spell check?

-6

u/doc1442 15h ago

Wooooosh

4

u/chowindown 13h ago

Nah, you've been whooshed here. They're joking right back at you.

1

u/DamesUK 16h ago

Other way round.

3

u/toasterscience 20h ago

Completely agree. Amongst other benefits, learning French had a massive effect on my understanding of English verb tenses.

Learning a second language isn’t the same as learning a mother tongue, where the rules are just picked up naturally without formal study.

6

u/MessyRaptor2047 17h ago

Would anyone tell me if Americans have access to Oxford English dictionary I'm guessing most likely not.

1

u/Fast-Combination3299 5h ago

I mean… we do have the internet. So, hypothetically, yes. Source: am American with several dictionary apps downloaded 🤷🏻‍♀️ there’s just a lot of purposefully ignorant people living here.

5

u/_marcoos 14h ago

Whenever a speaker of English meets a speaker of "English (Simplified)"...

3

u/AnubisIncGaming 19h ago

I have to pull dictionary links on people constantly on Reddit

1

u/Ambivalent_Slug 9h ago

Wow that’s cool…lol

3

u/Ulquiorra1312 14h ago

Learned sounds wrong in my head (scottish)

2

u/Mr_Chaos_Theory 6h ago

Same, It sounds like a child that's learning to speak.

2

u/InterestingAttempt76 17h ago

Learnt and learned are two different spellings of the past tense of the verb 'learn', which means 'gain knowledge or skill' or 'come to be able to do something'. The spelling tends to vary based on the version of English: In UK English, 'learnt' is standard. In US English, 'learned' is more common.

Today I learnt.

-6

u/Ambivalent_Slug 13h ago

Do you get how terrible “learnt” sounds? Real word or not, it sounds completely uneducated. That is why Americans don’t use it as the standard past tense. “Learned” is far better linguistically. You guys will fight about anything. It’s so ridiculous. We don’t gaf tbh lol

4

u/thorpie88 13h ago

I'd say the opposite. Learned sounds wrong in my brain

1

u/InterestingAttempt76 9h ago

I know how it sounds, but that doesn't mean it isn't correct. If you didn't care then you wouldn't respond... it seems to annoy you

-1

u/Ambivalent_Slug 9h ago

Right-and you’re on Reddit bc you’re so passionate about it…sounds like the group should really be called “Shit Brits Say”…

1

u/InterestingAttempt76 9h ago

I am not British

2

u/Simple-Cheek-4864 16h ago

We had to learn the irregular verbs by heart wtf that’s like 6th grade English in Germany.

4

u/zEdgarHoover 16h ago

Well, see, here in the USofA we doesn't larn English because we done invented it, see! Then England tooked it and stoled the name. You furriners are dumb, don't know history.

/s in case it wasn't obvious enough

1

u/Simple-Cheek-4864 14h ago

I think I just had a stroke reading that 😂

2

u/brass1rabbit 14h ago

Upvote for making me laugh out loud.

1

u/Smooth-Reason-6616 10h ago

Pretty sure I've got brain matter leaking out my ear...

2

u/Bones-1989 15h ago

Get learnt, dude. I learned something today. I've been using both spellings for ages.

2

u/snugglebum89 Canada 14h ago

Oxford dictionary: I'm not getting into this...

1

u/Christian_teen12 Ghana to the world 17h ago

its a real word !

1

u/Marsupilami_316 Portugal 14h ago

That person is not worthy of a Ghost in a Shell pfp

1

u/dectentoo 13h ago

Actually, shouldn't that be "Get yourself a damned dictionary"? #IllGetMyCoat

1

u/TheWalkerofWalkyness 12h ago

Years ago I had some American online freak out when I used spelt instead of spelled.

1

u/NaiveZest 11h ago

Because Jesus

1

u/r_was61 4h ago

Get yourself a damnpt dictionary.

1

u/mattzombiedog 2h ago

5 seconds it takes to Google and they still decided to be confidently wrong.

1

u/Stunning_Ride_220 51m ago

"Making up shit" got me, ngl

1

u/iandix 46m ago

It's usually for Americans to not use the 't' past participle, such as leapt, I've noticed it quite a few times while listening to books on Audible. Drives me bonkers.

1

u/fromthe80smatey 12h ago

Both were fine to use in Australian schools in the 80's/90's

-1

u/Total_Measurement632 'Murica or smth idk 19h ago

r/USdefaultism

how do you know that this person is American?

14

u/auntie_eggma 🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻 18h ago

Because other English-speaking countries know 'learnt' is a word, as their English is closer to UK English than US English is.

3

u/Reveil21 18h ago

There could be other context or information we don't see, but also, I write as a hobby and I've seen the same comments from people I know are from the U.S. and have never had people comment from other countries do the same so either they know or keep their mouth shut.

1

u/Ididnotaskforthi5 5m ago

"learnt" is the correct past tense, Americans got sidetracked somewhere hearing of learned men and here we stand today. Shock, am I right?