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 ...
I endeavored to partake of the 'Fish and Chips' in the center of London.
Nope...nope, nopity-nope. I would rather have a greasy gag inducing six dollar plate of Long John Silver's..thank you ever so much.
When I eat breakfast anywhere in the UK, I get funny looks because I reflexively stick my tongue out. I'm sorry, someone needs to tell the person who puts the mushy tomato next to my undercooked eggs and bacon that they are committing heresy.
My last time in the area, the spouse and I lived off store bought bananas and instant coffee and jumped for joy when we found a Dunkin' Donuts.
Limeys talk funny..
Oh bosh, I have used some of those Britishisms for years but then my parents lived in England for a number of years and I have an English auntie, my mother’s best friend who, came to visit, married my uncle and stayed.
I grew up reading Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and other great British writers. Not only were the books fantastic but they did wonders at expanding my vocabulary. I still spell words in the British way, such as theatre, grey, etc. I’m no snob, it’s just a preferred spelling
I vaguely remember native-born Americans talking about “going to university,” or something like that. It was odd. I had always thought Americans went to college...
Rush Limbaugh and I will put this on our shedule to read later.
For “bloody hell” to work to full effectiveness, it has to be “bloody ‘ell.” No aitches allowed. The same for one of my favorite Britishisms: “ ‘ow’s yer father?”
Nor will I forget the little old Brittish lady at the hair dresser one requesting a blow job.
(Blow drying her hair)
Nothing, if you boil them long enough...
Ryght.
And where did they end up?
China and India.
Q.E.D.
He does that to irritate pretentious liberals.
It works.
LOL! I hear ya!
I grew up in Illinois, and people always said “wanna come with?” As an adult I moved to California, where people never say it. I thought it was just an Illinois thing.
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