When I was a child, New Zealand had more British influence than it does today, at least as far as popular culture goes. We watched American TV, but relatively few people visited the USA, and it seemed very different. Britain was much more familiar.

I have recently noticed a large increase in Americanisms here. I had an argument at a petrol station with an attendant who insisted on calling it “gas” (this is one of the sillier uses the US has given us – it is a liquid). Yesterday I talked to a call centre operator who told me she was “waiting on the computer” (I wanted to ask whether this was comfortable, but decided this would just confuse the poor benighted and easily influenced soul). At a lower level, I have seen the word “ass” in common use here, but it was always “arse” when I was growing up.

I have nothing against change in language for logical reasons.  The head of my department doesn’t know the difference between “criterion” and “criteria”, but such things could be changed (“criterions?”) and have been changed in the past to make it easier to remember. What I find annoying is slavish adherence to foreign influence for no other reason than that we hear it on TV. “Waiting on” makes much less sense than “waiting for” in the context of a delay, since it already has a meaning: “I was waiting on Godot, and he was waiting on the pier”, seems a bit confusing. So why adopt it?