One has to go to former British colonies like New Zealand to get worse food. It is, no doubt, why we fought two wars in 1776 and 1812 and I can think of no more righteous casus belli.
Posted on 02/07/2011 5:08:46 AM PST by NCjim
After mangling our language for years, Americans are complaining about the invasion of traditional British lingo, says Kath Hinton.
New Yorkers always fall for a nice English accent: whenever my well-spoken sister-in-law visits, they trill at her flowing diction and faultless vowels. Coming from Liverpool, I have a trickier time. In fact, I stopped ordering butter after three waiters in one smart restaurant failed to grasp my pronunciation. "Bootta! Bootta!" I pleaded, while my American friends wept with joy at my embarrassment.
Now, however, it is the words we Anglo-Saxons use, not how we say them, that is causing a stir. After mangling our language for years, Americans are complaining about their own dialect being polluted by "Britishisms".
New Yorker Ben Yagoda, a professor at Delaware University, is studying the invasion of traditional British lingo. He has set up a website to keep track of the wicked, uniquely British words such as "kerfuffle" or "amidst" that are creeping into everyday American usage.
Yagoda's biggest objection, he tells me, is to words for which there are "perfectly good American equivalents, like 'bits' for 'parts' and 'on holiday' instead of 'on vacation' ". They are, he says, "purely pretentious".
Of course, British English has been under assault from this side of the Atlantic for centuries. America's most notorious linguistic anarchist, Noah Webster, decided more than 200 years ago that the English couldn't spell, decreeing that theatre should become theater; favour, favor; jewellery, jewelry; and so on.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
“boot” for trunk (of the car).........
Yobs. I hate that word.
And calling a cigarette a “fag” may just be a hate crime!
My pet peeve is Americans using the Brit’s spelling. They are just trying to be cute.
Two peoples, separated by a common language.
I give the Brits a thumbs up for “bloody hell.”
As in “What the bloody hell did you do?”
Not every American thinks British accents are charming, not those who know American or Irish history, for instance. And that accent can get old very fast if you’ve ever found out what’s behind some of the false smiles and deceptive politeness. Australians don’t swoon much to them either.
Someone invented a subject so they can justify their paycheck.
One has to go to former British colonies like New Zealand to get worse food. It is, no doubt, why we fought two wars in 1776 and 1812 and I can think of no more righteous casus belli.
"perhaps Kath can provide a translator for the cockney accent. here's one for ya Kath....bullocks"
Re-inventing the wheel? Linguists have been documenting this ‘evolution’ for centuries.
http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/langevol.html
Ricky Gervais is, however, responsible for this most recent travesty!!!!!
I believe Brit bias may have coloured your judgment.
There is less of a seperation between British/ American english than ebonic/American english.
I was way near the back of the crowded store when I heard my wife's Australian-accented voice calling from the front cash registers ...
"Honey, the cashier says that the rubbers are in the pharmacy section."
It was only later that I found out that the Aussies (and the Brits, I guess) call "erasers" "rubbers" because, as my wife put it, "They rub out your mistakes."
It was awhile before I went back into that PX again.
Ha!
Well, I read the thing, and all I have to say is:
Bob’s your uncle.
At theatres and shoppes everywhere you look.
It's enough to send one to hospital.
My favorite British-ism is “sod off.”
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