Hi Olivia and Helen,
Great work! (as my iTunes review says)...
I am a bit of a stick in the mud about the invasion of American idiom into the rest of the Anglosphere! So I wondered if you'd find out for me what the derivation of one of my most hated Americanisms "from the get go" is. I even heard a BBC presenter say it the other day in a very RP accent, and had to wonder how it would make it even into the hallowed halls of the Queen's English.
There are a bunch of Americanisms that have become all pervasive: "Step up to the plate" was one I heard in reference to a Rugby League player not doing his job properly the other day.... ridiculous IMO to use a baseball idiom for another sport. I'm sure you can use your extensive knowledge of American idiom, and trace when it started being adopted by Aussies and other English speakers, as the source for an episode.
Oh - and my other least favourite morphing of an idiom over the last decade or two is the perversion of "The proof of the pudding is in the eating" meaning that you have to "taste" the result at the end of a process to work out if it was worthwhile, versus the newer, almost pervasive version: "The proof is in the pudding" - meaning almost nothing, as far as I can determine.
Best regards,
Keith Duddy
