The verb has several distinct meanings, one of which (1)–to misbehave–is American in origin. Distinctly British (2), on the other hand, is the sense it was used in the 1939 propaganda poster “Keep Calm and Carry On”–that is, to persist in the face of obstacles. The Oxford English Dictionary tells us this originated as a nautical variation on “stay the course.” The OED quotes a 1909 newspaper (which was partial to quotation marks): “‘Carry on!’ is a word they have in the Navy. It is the ‘great word’ of the Service.‥ To-morrow the workaday life of the Fleet begins again, and the word will be, ‘Carry on!’” Familiar on both sides of the Atlantic, I reckon, is the notion (3) of carrying on, or maintaining, a legacy or tradition.

The NOOB is a fourth carry on meaning, more or less, to continue: either as an auxiliary verb (Please carry on working) or by itself (Carry on with your work). The American vernacular equivalent is keep on; Bob Dylan sings of a time when “All I knew how to do was to keep on keepin’ on.” British movie comedy Carry On Sergeant (1958) and its twenty-eight sequels cleverly packed meanings 1, 2 and 4 into the title.

In recent years, Americans have grown mighty partial to carry on 4. I’m spoiled for choice for examples and will just cite today’s (Columbia) Missourian, where a columnist writes, “these people have such a high opinion of themselves that I wasn’t certain we would be allowed to carry on with the rest of our lives without their permission.”

I am also picking up intriguing signals that meaning 3, the stiff upper lip deal, is getting some traction on these shores. Yesterday’s Washington Post had the headline: “Occupy DC Protesters Vow to Carry On Despite Camping Regulations.” And in a profile of runner Michael Pistorius in the 18 January 2012 New York Times, Michael Sokolove writes, “Some of the equipment is clamped to an exterior wall of the garage, opposite an uncovered patio; when it rains, athletes just carry on and get soaked.”

Now carry on.

‎

The Huffington Post notes: “Brad Pitt was on hand at Saturday night’s Producer’s Guild Awards, in part to support his partner Angelina Jolie…” That partner caught my eye–specifically as a way to denote someone’s opposite-sex, longterm and, all things being equal, permanent love interest. My observation is that this has long been common in the UK–among both unmarried and married couples.  The former makes sense because of the lack of suitably dignified terms. (Girlfriend? Lover? Main squeeze?) The latter case is more interesting. I hear it as an implicit disapproval of the traditional husband, wife and spouse, which presumably bring with them whiffs of an oppressive heteronormative (thanks, Elizabeth Yagoda) patriarchy.

The Oxford English Dictionary’s note about partner supports this political interpretation:

Now increasingly used in legal and contractual contexts to refer to a member of a couple in a long-standing relationship of any kind, so as to give equal recognition to marriage, cohabitation, same-sex relationships, etc.

Anyway, opposite-sex amorous partner is on the rise in the U.S. Just in the last few days, there has been:

Denver Post, January 24: “[Jim Jesperson] is preceded in death by his partner, Erin O’Niell…”

Sort out has legs. It is beyond the tipping point. It is everywhere.

That hit home to me last night while watching “30 Rock,” when Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan), in trouble for uttering a gay slur in his comedy act, says:

“Remember when I offended stubborn people? That took forever to sort out!”

My homegirl Ellen Magenheim (who besides being a NOOBs informant is a distinguished Professor of Economics at Swarthmore College) writes: “another one: easy peasy. I just saw it on the Facebook page for Green Aisles Grocery [a South Philadelphia market]; i.e., ‘Easy Peasy Dinner courtesy of Green Aisle and Severino Pastas!'”

Ellen is spot on. The OED’s first citation for the phrase–whose non-rhyming American equivalent is easy as pie–is from 1976, but it originated some years before that in the expression easy peasy lemon squeezy, which may or may not have originated in an advertising slogan for the “washing-up liquid” (aka dish detergent) Lemon Sqezy [sic].

Whatever, easy peasy is now officially all over the U.S.: a blog, a song from the (Baltimore) band Ponytail, a netbook operating system, and the press, including this three days ago from the Huntsville (Alabama) Times: “You would think the area would be thick with restaurants and operating one successfully would be easy-peasy.”

Previously, Ellen had suggested dead easy, noting this quote from a Nicolas Kristof article in the New York Times:

Along with a no-fly zone, another important step would be to use American military aircraft to jam Libyan state television and radio propaganda and Libyan military communications. General McPeak said such jamming would be “dead easy.”

But that will have to wait for another day.

In his recent book The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry, the English Welsh journalist Jon Ronson has a set piece in which he encounters the disgraced American corporate executive Al “Chainsaw Al” Dunlop. The book is about psychopaths–whether they exist, what they are–and the issue in this scene is if Dunlop qualifies. Ronson quotes him as saying:

“Listen. The psychopath thing is rubbish. You cannot be successful unless you have certain”–he pointed to his head–“controls.”

Well, no. As everybody knows, American say garbage while the British say rubbish (and whilst). Well, not everybody. Jon Ronson was clearly unaware and put a bogus rubbish in Al Dunlop’s mouth. Good thing NOOBs is on the case!

Where else? Meanwhile, the mind boggles as to what the store will eventually sell.

A couple of days ago, I invited readers to vote on what they thought were the search terms (after the decisive winner, ginger) that most often led readers to Not One-Off-Britishisms in 2011.

Hoo boy, were you wrong. Here’s what you said:

1. One-off
2. Whinge
3. Bespoke
4. Sit for an exam
5. Laddish
6. Suss out
7. From boot to bonnet
8. Chattering classes
9. Charlotte Church having a wee
10. Thank you very much indeed

And here are the actual most commonly searched terms:

1. From boot to bonnet
2. Thank you very much indeed
3. Sit for an exam
4. Laddish
5. Suss out
6. Chattering classes
7. Bespoke
8. One-off
9. Charlotte Church having a wee
10. Whinge

I had pledged to send a signed copy of my book The Sound on the Page to anyone who correctly chose the three most commonly searched terms (From boot to bonnet, Thank you very much indeed and Sit for an exam). The offer holds–though how such a claim could be substantiated, short of a screen shot of your ballot, is beyond me.

… another Hollywood movie based on a European source, a movie in which characters speak in Britishisms. Yesterday it was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, where reference is apparently made to a coffee. Today it’s Steven Spielberg’s animated Tintin, in which (again according to Steven Rea of the Philadelphia Inquirer), Haddock says:

I’ll not be doubted by some pip-squeak tuft of ginger and his irritating dog.

And speaking of which, WordPress provides a running list of the most common search terms that led people to this blog, and I have just been taking a look at it. By my informal count, the winner was various combinations of ginger, including ginger person, ginger prejudice and ginger commits suicide.

Now for some end-of-the-year fun. In the poll below, the other top ten searches are listed in random order. Your task is to choose the top three. I will report the correct order in a couple of days. If anyone attests to me that you got all three right, I will mail you, as my special holiday present, a copy of my book The Sound on the Page: Style and Voice in Writing. 

In Steven Rea’s Philadelphia Inquirer review today of some film based on an obscure novel by Stieg Larrson, he writes:

One of the most important questions to be asked in the late Swedish author’s mega-selling mystery The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo– the line “Do you want a coffee?” – makes it into David Fincher’s movie.

My questions are, 1, why is this so important? and, 2, accepting the convention that these Swedish characters are speaking English, why, since this is an American movie with an American director and American screenwriter, do they express themselves in Britishisms?

Cast your eyes upon something, figuratively or literally. Synonymous with take a look. Both forms are found in both British and U.S. English throughout the twentieth century but the charts below, from Google Ngram, showing frequency of use of have (blue line) and take (red) between 1940 and 2008, suggest some of the nuances. In Britain, below, have started the period way in front, then steadily declined until it was overtaken by take in the mid-90s.

In the U.S., the two were roughly equal until about 1960, when take took off and have went into a tailspin, only to revive recently as a NOOB:

Are these clothes worth it? Go have a look. If ever there was a season to explore the mind of high fashion, this is it. (William Norwich, New York Times, January 18, 2004)/Mitt Romney has turned black, at least according to a graphic that appeared on a Fox News program today. Have a look — this is strange even by the standards of this Republican race. (Erik Wemple, Washingtonpost.com, December 14, 2011)