knickers
Sod off. take some grass away from here? ok, no problem, whatever....
a quote from a brit
In rural Yorkshire I always liked, when addressed to people who jumped the gun, "Ye're a bit previous, love". Delicious. It speaks exactly to the Yorkshire ear. It is thus perfect. Do not be previous, dear readers.
and the following amerisms to likewise present a problem:
Happy Holidays - perhaps it is an inevitable result of America being the reciever of lost souls the world over, VS Britain which has the luxury of an "indigenous" culture. If we truly wanted to "Go American" we would be obliged to say ------insert native American phrase here--------. another point to be considered is that it arose first as a way of wishing someone BOTH a Merry Christmas and also a Happy New Year and was only later transferred for usage as a generic religious sentiment meant not to offend.
"Knowest thou not that tongues change with the passage of years?" What Englishman would have understaood the "Queens, or rather Kings, English" of the Middle Period? If there is a language that cannot complain about adoption of "foriegn" usages and words it is the english language, the mutt of the world. Comprised of Celtic, Norse, French and Latin words even before Shakesphere arrived on the scene, can anyone claim to speak the "original" English of England? And then we have all of the words we have inherited from our various colonial excercises - Barbeque, Voodo, ...........
American english has also picked up words from the BBC programs. Absolutely Fabulous and Little Britain among them. Not to mention Monty Python and friends... It's usually the "dregs" who pick up these words first - the gays and the druggies. They use them often enough that they eventually transfer over to "American."
Many Americanisms are simply hold-overs from the immigrants who brought Scottish and Irish style English to America, as are many of our "American" pronunciations. The Scottish very open "A" and "E"...
Americans have developed the art of cordial introduction to strangers because we are a nation of immigrants. and immigrants that, once settled, do not stay settled long, but often continue westward. When you have moved from a foriegn country, then to Northeast America (NY, Philly, Boston etc) and then later move to the South or Midwest or West Coast. You needed to develop politeness and common everyday courtesy even if it was insincere, just to survive in your new locale. it's still very common for American to move from one coast to the other "without thinking twice" about it. This move would be the geographical equivalent of moving from London to Moscow, so a friendly and informal means of communication is necessary unless one wants to languish in social exile for 20 years before the neighbors accept you as one of them.
a very common Americanism is to transfer a noun into a verb - such as "Meeting," "Gift," "Lunch," "Let's have a to-do" (party,) but is it so different from "Let's go for a run?" or "Let's have an outing?" i do agree that simply adding the suffix "-ize" to a noun does not make it an accepted usage.
Restroom. "Powder my nose"
"In 1898, when Otto von Bismarck was an old man, a journalist asked him what he took to be the decisive factor in modern history. He answered, "The fact that the North Americans speak English."
Pretty prescient for 1898.
English isn't the 'world language' because the Brits speak it. Its the world language because the Americans speak it. (Segue ... 'American' really means anyone from the Americas, but this plays to a point that I'm about to make. Language is what works in the ears of the listener, the eyes of the reader).
So if Americanisms (or Geordieisms or my native Yorkshireisms) transmit precisely to the listener the sentiment in the mind of the broadcaster the job is well done.
But lower, lowest, on the totem pole are the picky who think English is static, has much to do with England anymore. Who affect an unwarranted superiority by virtue of accident of birth. The English language is simply a tool most of the time - less importantly a study and even a delight for relatively few. Kinda like stamps. Or cow creamers.
Here's an economical example of perfect communication I enjoyed between married professionals in upstate New York some years ago. Each had returned to their home wherein I was a guest, exhausted from trying days in the world of psychology, their profession.
"Jeet?"
"Jew""
"Seat""
"Americans themselves ...generally admit that a British accent sounds smarter and more sophisticated)"
Some Americanisms are actually more faithfully "old-school" "British" than the modern current Britisms. For example:
More southern English - pronunciations etc.
As for the whole bathroom problem: May I partake of your chamber of Excremeditation?
Bushisms - there is no excuse.
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