Posted on 03/27/2005 11:50:10 AM PST by Willie Green
Oh those posh Brits.
Those accents.
That wit.
"We've always had a cultural inferiority complex with regard to the Brits," Stanford University linguist Geoffrey Nunberg says, "that they speak correctly and we don't. We even say we 'use the queen's English.' And why should that matter to us?"
Just such intellectual Anglophilia may be what's behind a virus that's infecting American media these days: Britspeak.
We have become a nation of journalistic copycats, betraying perfectly good American idioms along the way.
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
The word "queue" came from software, not imitation of Britspeak.
I had not noticed the idiom, but I have noticed how many people are affecting a clipped British accent. Just another affectation to turn off those in fly-over country imho.
Give me a red blooded American accent any day!
The compulsary cliched phrase that is used by all British and Irish footballers in interviews. Listen to David Beckham or Roy Keane sometime! "At the end of the day, if the players on the pitch don't perform..." or "At the end of the day, if we've given it our best, there isn't much more we can do..." or "At the end of the day, we just weren't good enough.." or "At the end of the day, the manager's in charge..."
Having moved to the US in the past few months, I've already had a couple of blank responses when I've used the word "queue". I never knew that it is a word that Americans don't use.
If chips and crisps change meaning over here, then we'll know for sure.
Just checked out your home page. It is one of the best in this forum. Of course I may be biased, since I love cats and roses.
FRegards,
Math. (short for mathematics) English equivalent - maths.
I could care less - English = I couldn't care less.
Height ( pronounced heigth) - English = heitt
Labor, harbor, neighbor all minus the 'u' we use in England.
Parking lot = car park
Gas = petrol
sidewalk = pavement
First floor = ground floor
Then of course we have rubber and fanny, but we won't go there.
Been here 23 years and now consider myself bilingual. LOL!.
My English-born wife informs me that many average Brits are disdainful of the types who speak with what they call the "posh" accent. She turns it on and off to amuse me when she wants to make fun of a particularly obnoxious Brit "elite"...usually a member of the royal family.
bonnet/hood
lift/elevator
lef*ten*ant / lieu*ten*ant
prise/pry
fag/cigarette
poofter/fag
Love the Brits but the only American I see trying to act British is Madonna
Let us not forget to scrutinise!
Brits are cool, but not Chelsea fans! :-)
"The word "queue" came from software, not imitation of Britspeak."
You're kidding right?
Thanks for sharing/fascinating.
scary/frightening
Have a nice day/(no equivalent for this)
In America, it's perfectly all right for men to wear suspenders. In England, only their judges can.
"queue".
A master villian on Star Trek....The Next Generation
Thanks--last count was somewhere around 65 roses.
....Math....
In the current American idiom, short for Arithmetic
Don't forget colour.
Be sure to wear your windcheater. There is a bit of a blow.:)
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