American terms considered to be outdated by rest of English-speaking world

The problem is, due to how pervasive American English is, the rest of the English speaking world hears these terms and just thinks it sounds “American” rather than sounding antiquated

"Gotten" as the past participle of "to get." Most of the differences between UK and US dialects fall into a few categories: - Variants that were in circulation around 1700 +/- 50. Sometimes a different one was preferred. - Non-rhoticity gradually spread from SE England. Many American settlers came from areas that were still rhotic at the time. (I knew a South African who was convinced that Americans were taught to speak by the Irish, because Hiberno-English dialects are also rhotic. As to myself, I wondered why the policemen in the Pirates of Penzance sounded American.) - So many things that didn't exist around 1700 picked up different names after political separation.

It's a bit difficult because American cultural exports are so prominent everywhere else. People are more likely to think of the words as American than outdated. Attorney is a good example. It survives with UK/Commonwealth Attorneys-General, but otherwise is never used for lawyers (not since the 1870s, apparently). But it doesn't sound *old-fashioned* to me, since I've heard it a million times in movies and TV shows.

Fortnight is still commonly used in British English.

Silverware I won't argue that cutlery couldn't also be considered old-fashioned sounding, but to someone used to the latter, silverware definitely sounds somewhat archaic

"Oftentimes" sounds very antiquated to me. I'd just say "often".

they say "Fall" 95% of the time in Ontario

There are definitely some from Appalachia, and various other dialects that at some point were pretty isolated. Poke, meaning a bag Candy instead of sweets Diaper instead of nappy Skillet, meaning frying pan

The word is still about in the UK but I find beverage sounds very dated and I see it a lot in the US and not much here. 

I think most or at least a lot of English speaking people know what fortnight means just from reading old literature in school.

Tailpipe, teeter-totter, telecast, teleprompter, track and field, undershirt, washcloth, zinger.

Came to the comments expecting to see people saying OP is wrong. Do Americans really not use "fortnight"?

Handicapped. I occasionally hear it in the UK but disabled (or people with disabilities) is much more common now.

I’ve read that “fall” was considered an archaic word for “autumn” in the UK, but that massive exposure to US media had sort of reintroduced “fall” to its place of origin.

Spelling words with '-ize' instead of '-ise'. '-ize' used to be standard in British English but we've gone in a more French direction since. It took quite a while for the Oxford English Dictionary to accept the '-ise' spellings which are now standard.

Whenever I hear imperial units (inches, feet, furlongs etc) I think of some 1800s dude with a monocle. Besides that, "Sheriff" and "Jail". I think "jail" has started becoming more common so it's starting to sound less old-fashioned. "Physician" sounds extremely dated - kind of like back to the days when medicine was relatively new and still very witchy and potiony.

Fall as a synonym for Autumn. Soccer Writing dates in month, day, year format. There are actually a number of these, but those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head.

'Faucet' is one, I believe.

"One fourth". The rest of the world says "one quarter".

Biggest one is probably "medical insurance", if I had to guess.

Comparing everything by to the size of a football field. I don't know if it is antiqued, but it's annoying. I'm American, and I've never been to a football game, nor am I going to go just so I know how big things are supposed to be. Can't they use a different size comparison?

I have internal examples. The older (much older) generation in Canada uses the word "chesterfield" for couch/sofa, but the vast majority of the younger generation would never say that unless deliberately trying to sound old fashioned. Same goes for words like "trousers" or "slacks". It's something my grandparents would say.

Bachelor party / bachelorette party, barrette, bellhop, bleachers, boardwalk, bobby pin, boondoggle, broil. Catercorner, catsup, co-ed, condominium, cookout, cooties, counterclockwise, critters. Deputy (and sheriff), drapes, drugstore, flashlight, freshman, grifter, howdy, jaywalking, laundromat, learner's permit, lumber. Mortician, nightstand, pantyhose, penitentiary, rain check, railroad, soda, sophomore, spyglass, station wagon, streetcar. I'll do T onwards later.

You could argue Z pronounced Zee is outdated in the rest of the world, since the Zee and Zed pronunciations both originated in England. Zee just made it across the pond before Zed became standard

I notice as I watch Britsh shows such as Call the Midwife, British English drops "the" in many places where we use it in American English. Americans say, "I am going to THE hospital." British seem to say, "I am going to hospital. Another example: It is good for THE baby. It is good for baby. I think I hear it on Canadian news feeds as well. I just find it interesting that Americans use that extra "the."

Soccer

No one uses fortnight you’re right, but 90% of people that I talk to, if not all of them, know what it means

'Diapers' fell out of use in the UK centuries ago. 'Fall' is antiquated or poetic in English. There are many more like this, but a lot of people don't even recognise the origins and think they're American neologisms.

Where would you get the idea that most Americans would now know what fortnight means? It's common knowledge even if most people do not use it.

Counter-clockwise. Ounces, fluid ounces etc.

I wouldn't say outdated, but the word "refrigerator" seems like a bit of a mouthful when everyone else just calls it a fridge. Not that Americans don't also use the latter, but they're basically the only ones I hear using the former.

"Soccer" was in vogue for the anglophone world in the 19th and early 20th century. Everyone else just went back to "football", but Americans kept it because "football" had been reassigned to gridiron.

Fortnight is used all the time by English people and is seen as modern as the words day or week. It’s only in America that it’s archaic.

Why would American terms be out-dated compared to other English speaking people when the American terms are younger?

Larceny sounds archaic to me. I don't ever recall hearing it in England.

I find the original post somewhat surprising as I thought pretty much all English speaking countries except America use fortnight. It's as commonly used as any other standard measurement of time in the UK that it's really odd to us that Americans don't use it, especially as so much international business goes on and it would likely be used often.

"Whom", more or less. The rest of the Anglosphere has almost abandoned it - far commoner in US English, and particularly in written US English. If Hemingway had been (a) British and (b) not wanting to allude to Donne writing 300 years before, his book would have been *Who The Bell Tolls For*.

The US preserves pronunciations for words like 'missile' and 'agile' that were once standard on both sides of the Atlantic but have been lost in Britain under the influence of 'speak as you spell'.

Saying “yes sir”. No one else says that unironically anymore unless they’re in the military. “oftentimes”

Oftentimes. It dates back to Middle English but today is rare outside North America.

Obviously with the caveat that these sound ‘American’, but the sense to a non-American that it seems kind of weird that America still uses these words since they just don’t sound ‘modern’: Condominium  Gasoline Canola Pantyhose Chief as a rank - Fire Chief, Police Chief

“imperial measurement” (feet, miles, etc) as opposed to the metric system. Imperial is from the British, and they’ve moved on! We haven’t

Well, along with lengths of time you also have "score" which is a period of twenty years. No one says score anymore.

Im pretty sure i read recently that other countries don't use the word Caucasian anymore

“Thank you for you patronage” - utterly strange to my British ears, it’s like an aristocrat has sponsored me to create a work of art rather than me having just gone into a shop

Haulin' ass down the road.

I don’t think the word fortnight is old fashioned but ok

Americans use the word "tardy" meaning late which sounds really odd to Australian ears

I believe "faucet" is one example of a word that was widely used in England but now is only used in North America.

I don't really know for sure on this one where it originated, but when a TV/radio show starts in the US/Canada, they say it starts "at" X time. In the rest of the Commonwealth, they say it starts "from" X time.

Gets even worse when you measure distance by time. Furlongs per fortnight anyone?

Someone used the word "shoe bed" for "inner sole" today.

In America they say burgalrized the rest of us just say burgled

Pressurised vs pressured

We say 'highway" but I'm told this sounds very quaint to British people. I believe that they say Motorway or road.

Gotten I think is like fingernails on the chalkboard for the rest of the world. For me, Brits and Aussies tossing around reckon when for me, that's a word that no one with more than a 4th grade education would use.

'Head cold' Always makes me think of a sickly Victorian.

Powder room

It was in his hands, and he dropped the ball again !!!

He doesn't know the difference between his a**hole and a hole in the ground !!!

Wait a minute !!! ... Let me get my two cents in here.

I understand. This will all come out in the wash.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

Let's check under the hood before we pursue this any farther.

I wouldn't touch this with a ten foot pole !!!

I know, but John may come up to bat for him.

“Soccer” is an out-of-date British word… the rest of the planet has moved on to “football”, but since American Football is so big in the US, “Soccer” is here to stay. It was slang for “association football”.

Dove as past tense of dive always soundd old to me.

In the US, it is normal for people to refer to white people as Caucasian and many refer to them selves as such, but my understanding is outside the US it's considered an old unused term from the days of racial pseudoscience

African American sounds absolutely mental to me. Every time I hear it I wonder why that is considered appropriate

“Hard cider” I don’t think it _is_ antiquated but it sounds like it should be.

Eyeglasses. As opposed to the glasses you put on all those other parts of the body. Pocket Book.

Y’all