Noun. Part, as of a text or film, usually used in the plural. “He [Kenneth Starr] wants America to believe he’d only included the good bits to help the legislature reach an informed decision.” (Time Magazine, August 9, 1999)/”I can tell you some of my very favorite bits. Every single bit of the fight with Matthew Patel is brilliant.” (LubbockOnline.com, January 12, 2011)
Advertisement
As a Canadian who spent years living in Britain and was married to an Englishman, this is … interesting. Where I live many of these terms are the normal way of speaking. I had no idea that saying “what is your dog called” was British, for instance. Most of these are daily use here, though the term “in future” still grates as it tends to be said with a degree of pomposity not often achievable by “colonials”.
Anna, the “called” thing is specifically referring to humans, as in “I have a friend called Charles.” Americans would not say that.
As a middle-aged Canadian with literary (I typed ‘loiterary’ which is, sadly, far more accurate) interests & dead brit parents, I find all these terms in my passive lexicon*, and about three quarters in active. I might not have the fabled ‘mid-atlantic’ accent, but without a doubt I have a mid-atlantic vocabulary.
But as far as I’m concerned, linguistic flexibility is an ability I’m proud of, not one I find annoying. I roll my eyes at speakers who use words wrongly, or who don’t entirely understand the word they’re using, but respect people who can shift registers at will, varying them for the audience or for (most nobly comic) effect. Vastness of vocabulary is the english language’s greatest strength and most salient characteristic. Why not rejoice in it?
*Passive is what you understand, active is what you use.