Posted on 03/13/2006 9:12:57 AM PST by dead
LITERACY levels are declining. Literacy involves not just the ability to read and write but to comprehend. Teaching methods developed in America result in people being able to read but not comprehend words.
This is a major cause of the breakdown in communication in our society as individuals become more alienated. Thus, Australia continues down the road to becoming the 51st state of America.
Changes in language reflect changes in society. Seemingly subtle or inconsequential changes become of qualitative significance when viewed in their sum total. The Americanisation of our language reflects the Americanisation of our society. The introduction of sterile euphemisms and the demise of our vernacular reflect an increasingly conformist, bland and sterile Australia. These changes are unconsciously accepted by people and thereby are subtly introduced to the public domain.
Word by word, phrase by phrase, American cultural imperialism robs us of any remaining sovereignty. American English is an illiterate, bastardised dialect. Verbs are used for nouns. Phrases and words are rendered incomprehensible for the sake of so-called political correctness. Australia's sovereignty is further compromised through the loss of quintessentially Australian language.
Computer jargon creeps into everyday usage. "Access" becomes a verb, while "programme" is contracted.
Sport - the latter-day opiate of the masses - plays a crucial role in mangling English. To comment on becomes "commentate". Swimming lessons/squads/teams become "swim" lessons/squads/teams, etc. Carnivals or meetings become "meets". Attack and defence become "offence" and "dee-fence". Batsmen and fieldsmen in cricket become "batters" and "fielders" in defiance of the official wording of the rules.
Logic is lost when American usages are accepted. An apartment is literally a single room. A billion is a million to the power of two (bi-), just as a trillion is a million to the power of three (tri-).
Business groans under the weight of Americanisation. Barmaids and barmen become "bartenders". Bills become "checks". Biscuits become "cookies". Chips become "fries". Cupcakes become "muffins". Lifts become "elevators". Pubs become "bars". Takeaway becomes "takeout". Toilets become places of rest. Trainees become "interns". Until becomes "thru". "Message", "network" and "text" become verbs. Research becomes "ree-search". One "grows" one's business rather than building it.
In the public sector, railway stations become "train stations". A lieutenant becomes one who resides in a toilet. Social security becomes "welfare". Footpaths become "sidewalks".
Changes in language reflect broader social problems. Economic pressures on individuals are exacerbated by an inability to express oneself. One result of this is the increasing incidence of various forms of rage as society implodes.
It is not OK.
American English is an illiterate, bastardised dialect. Verbs are used for nouns.
Is this a dis?
Changes in language reflect broader social problems. Economic pressures on individuals are exacerbated by an inability to express oneself. One result of this is the increasing incidence of various forms of rage as society implodes.
I think he’s blaming our bastardized language for Aussie racial riots!
It is not OK.
This weak bastard has been pulverized by US language cluster bombs, and is unable to withstand their awesome power. I remember when they planted Yahoo Serious in theaters all over the United States, and not a single American picked up even one catch phrase from him. We’re made of tougher stuff, mate.
I wonder if it's possible that Australia's falling literacy rate is due to the fact that about 20% of the residents were born in Vietnam and Cambodia.
Methinks Charles Henry has way too much time on his hands. Get a grip, Charles; language is a living entity. If it were not, you and I might be speaking Old English.
Thank heavens most Aussies are better than this twerp.
Anyone know anything about this Charlie Henry guy? Other than the fact that he could use some prunes, I mean.
Could this article be "Australian for queer".
"I remember when they planted Yahoo Serious in theaters all over the United States, and not a single American picked up even one catch phrase from him."
I almost never forgave them for that. Luckily, Hoodoo Gurus offset the damage.
Bush's fault
I am always amused when some groups wants to keep the purity of their version of English from being contaminated by foreignisms. English is by definition one of the most bastardized and contaminated languages in history. One reason it is so flexible and powerful.
And Midnight Oil. Yeah, I know they were a bunch of ultra-lefty greens, and that bald 6'6" Lurch-lookalike lead singer turned into some kind of whackjob political activist, but man, could they make some good music. They more than made up for Men at Work.
}:-)4
Maybe the author is confusing pop culture with academia. Australian English is still very much admired by American English professors.
That's one way to put it. Better to say a language must change and grow in order to survive and maintain its relevance. That's the difference between a dead language like Latin, and a modern, vibrant language like English (And I'm not so sure that the Australian dialect qualifies as proper English, anyway.)
This is why we have dictionaries, and scholars to provide a framework for what is, and is not, correct and acceptable.
This jerk surfaces every once in a while. He's a looney-left bomb-thrower, kinda the Maureen Dowd of Australia. His rant really just lays bare the natioanl xenophobia and bigotry which most Australians disguise with a smile and "G'day mate."
"They more than made up for Men at Work."
LOL! That guy's lazy eye drove me nuts.
The use of "access" as a verb is acknowledged by the Oxford English Dictionary and it was used as such in England in the early 60s before PCs became common anywhere in the Anglosphere.
"Program" is just as correct as "programme" and this is the way such stylists of English as Carlyle spelled it. "Programme" is a frenchified affectation popularized after WWII, never the sole spelling of the word in King's English.
"Commentate" has been used in England since the 1700s and Sir Walter Scott used it. The OED specifically mentions it as a way of distinguishing oral commentary from written commentary.
"Offense" as a synonym for "attack" has been atested in British English since the 1400s, "meet" as a synonym for "meeting" since the 1600s, and "swim" as a adjective since the 19th century - i.e. swimsuit instead of "swimming suit".
"Batter" and "fielder" have been used to describe cricketers since the 1700s. And cricket bowlers have always been "bowlers" not "bowlsmen" - was that an evil American influence before the game even began?
An apartment is not a "single room" - the OED itself defines apartment as a "suite or set of rooms."
And what is the "logic" of British billion and trillion terminology? The etymology of the word "million" has nothing to do with raising anything to a power.
"Bartender" is as old and attested an English word as "barman" - it's not an exclusive American coinage.
The use of the word "biscuit" for cookies is another 19th century Frenchified affectation. It was called a "bisket" in England and a "cooky" in Scotland before the Victorian era.
The rest of these complaints are equally ridiculous.
I'd like to see the author explain how "social security" is more authentic a term than the American "welfare" or the English "dole" or the Scottish "on the parish."
Gee, funny talk from descendents of ex-convicts and transportees....
Well, no. In American English the words are spelled - sorry, "spelt" "offense" and "defense." Thanks for playing.
Someone appears to have his panties - sorry, "knickers" - in a knot over usages that most elementary school children are quite capable of mastering. I'm not certain if there is an approved Australian translation to De gustibus non est disputandum but I bet there is to "Lighten up, Francis."
There are, of course, some exquisite phrases to be constructed by a combination of Strine and Yank - the phrase "pissflaps like Gene Autry's saddlebags," for example...
Crikey, Mite! Don't blame US!! Blame the lazy Aussies who are USING the Americanese! At least, we don't call the trunk of the car a "boot," the hood a "bonnet," or a diaper a "napkin." Sigh... Some people are never happy.
Don't let such statements pass as if they are true statements. That language evolves and that society evolves may be unrelated except by happening at the same time.
Unlikely.. Vietnam has a 95% literacy rate. And I doubt if its the 5% of illiterates migrating.
I might add, that Australia has only a 7% Asian population.
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