I’m quite a fan of the USA. Most of my TV watching is West Wing, The Wire, ER and even Friends when extremely hungover. And New York is my first choice for the next MCG PR office and one of my favourite places on Earth.

However, while I’m perfectly ok for Gossip Girl’s Blair to talk animatedly about the forthcoming Fall fashion, I’m becoming increasingly irritated by British people using Fall in place of Autumn. At first I overlooked it as being a few fashionistas suffering from jet leg and forgetting where they were…..but it’s spreading.

Autumn conjures up the colour of autumn leaves so magnificent they make you want to cry on a smokey, chilly October morning. Fall does not.

It’s the same with food. Biscuits are now more often than not referred to as cookies and cup cakes are really just fairy cakes aren’t they?

I’m all for the growth and development of language, but am I wrong to be concerned about this creeping Americanisation of our language?

And don’t get me started on the amount of z’ds that are appearing everywhere from authorize to organization. Wrong, wrong, wrong.