Learn English – Is to “tell off” a particularly British expression

american-englishbritish-englishphrasal-verbs

I'm translating a short story from Spanish into English. A small child says (literally):

Why don’t we knock?” I asked. “They’re gonna tell us off.”

(The Spanish is: Nos van a regañar.) I've already translated the story into a mostly American English and would like to keep that register, but can't think of another expression to use.

Is "to tell off" a normal, acceptable American expression, or is it specifically British?

Best Answer

Tell us off is an American idiom. However it is much less frequently used in American literature than in British literature.

As noted by StoneyB, young children in the US would be very unlikely to use the phrase. In addition to his yell at us, young children might say

We'll get in trouble
or
We're gonna get it

Related Topic