The British may think our American English is boorish and low-class.  And it is, which is a GOOD THING.  We don't want to be pretentious, right?  Well, unfortunately some British English words HAVE been sneaking into everyday American English over the past decade.  Here are five British words and phrases that we now use without realizing it.

Ginger.  The term for red-headed people was featured in "Harry Potter" and a famous episode of "South Park", which cemented its usage here in the U.S.

Sell-by date.  The American version used to be "expiration date" ONLY, now we use both.

Gastropub.  It means a bar that serves fancy food, and it started in England, where bar food used to be terrible by definition.  But now gastropubs are everywhere over there AND here.

Chat up.  We still use "hit on," but you hear people saying "chat up" too, without sounding British at all.

A bit.  We think this one comes from SIMON COWELL using it for a decade on "American Idol" and saying things like "That was a bit cabaret" or "Bit of a strange song choice."

(BBC)