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Merging of AmE and BrE | ||
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| Sebed Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4730 days ago 12 posts - 29 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Korean, Esperanto | Message 33 of 35 30 May 2012 at 3:56pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I actually did read an article the other day which was talking about the increased use of Americanisms in British writing. They had analysed writing by 9-13 year olds, and had counted the number of Americanisms compared to their corresponding British counterparts. It was clear from the data that words such as dinner jacket had been superceded by tuxedo, but for differences such as trainers/sneakers, the British usage was still used 20-25 times as often.
I've always felt just a little bit disappointed that I spoke the world language natively. It feels like a small bit of my identity is taken away. I feel genuinely sad when I hear an Icelander (or whoever) say something like 'We're really proud of our language.' because I know I don't really have anything like that, as loads of people speak English. This feeling has seeped into my language usage. I try to use Britishisms as much as I can because it's 'my' language. It gives me an identity. My brother also does this, but to a greater degree (we are both liberal, by the way. This is not some kind of BNP nationalism). I remember when he found out that the British term for Blackjack was 21 (we'd previously assumed them interchangeable), he immediately stopped using the word Blackjack. That was years ago, and I've only ever heard it referred to as 21 from his mouth since. I think this is an attitude which will be found in many parts of the country. British people (at least in England, I can't speak for Wales/N.Ireland/Scotland) are generally reasonably proud of their nationality and I find it hard to believe that people will allow our small amount of linguistic identity to be dismissed. Source to prove my point: Americanisms: 50 of your most noted examples Edited by Sebed on 30 May 2012 at 4:10pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4656 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 34 of 35 30 May 2012 at 4:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
The Economist has a nice page on Americanisms.
Ha, true: its long-abandoned sister term is "talkie." I guess I had never thought about it that way. :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6940 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 35 of 35 04 June 2012 at 4:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I've been following this very well-researched and entertaining blog, written by an
American expat linguist living in England about the differences between British English and American English: http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/ I was reminded of the blog by the article that Sebed posted. The author of the blog often responds to these kind of complaints about "Americanisms" that are apparently common in the UK (and I think she might have actually responded to this very article before). As it turns out, many of the words/phrases/usages commonly thought to be "Americanisms" are actually the more conservative varieties that were used in England for much of her history, sometimes until very recently. It's a fascinating blog, and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in English etymology.
Edited by Lucky Charms on 04 June 2012 at 4:28pm 5 persons have voted this message useful |
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