American English
Discussion
Every now and then I stumble across the "What are you wearing this Fall" thread and find myself getting irrationally angry.
I am annoyed and frustrated at the growing use of American phrases in our language.
We do not use the phrase "Fall" and personally I would use 3 bags of stones and a packet of gravel to shut up anyone who used this phrase, who was not American.
( Equally annoying is the use of the " For Sure.." phrase in front of a sentence, like some weirdly autistic Formula 1 driver from some strange Eurotrash country, so I suppose that it is not just Americanisms which irritate the holy hell out of me )
Anyway, back to why American English is causing me so much grief...
I have had to work with an office in San Francisco lately, with frequent conference calls. One trait which has emerged is the American fondness for creating a verb out of anything they come across.
So if you are on Pistonheads you are "Pistonheading" , or if you are listening to an ipod, you are "ipoding" ....
Why do they do this?
Thanks for your indulgence, I shall be calmer from here onwards...
I am annoyed and frustrated at the growing use of American phrases in our language.
We do not use the phrase "Fall" and personally I would use 3 bags of stones and a packet of gravel to shut up anyone who used this phrase, who was not American.
( Equally annoying is the use of the " For Sure.." phrase in front of a sentence, like some weirdly autistic Formula 1 driver from some strange Eurotrash country, so I suppose that it is not just Americanisms which irritate the holy hell out of me )
Anyway, back to why American English is causing me so much grief...
I have had to work with an office in San Francisco lately, with frequent conference calls. One trait which has emerged is the American fondness for creating a verb out of anything they come across.
So if you are on Pistonheads you are "Pistonheading" , or if you are listening to an ipod, you are "ipoding" ....
Why do they do this?
Thanks for your indulgence, I shall be calmer from here onwards...
gmk666 said:
Where do you think you are, some sort of therapy session?
If you've got 'issues' with the actions of other people, don't come around here, sharing your 'feelings' with the group.
Either bottle up your emotions or kick the s
t out of someone like a proper Englishman.
You have a point ! I blame those Californians !If you've got 'issues' with the actions of other people, don't come around here, sharing your 'feelings' with the group.
Either bottle up your emotions or kick the s
t out of someone like a proper Englishman.
Jetl3on said:
Im all for the idea, isnt that how language has evolved over the years, from grunts to what it is today and the size of the Collins dictionary?
Thats the beauty of language, anybody can take part, why single out Americanisms.
Thats the beauty of language, anybody can take part, why single out Americanisms.
That's the beauty of the ENGLISH language. In France and Spain they have academies that determine whether a word is acceptable or not and if so, how it is to be written, pronounced, etc. That is why ENGLISH is the world's language. And there is an argument that some Americanisms are more 'original' than the Queen's English (e.g. aluminum).
While i agree in sentiment and personally hate the way americanisms are used so widely (i hate the word hospitalised!) you must try and get a copy of Bill Brysons book The Mother Tongue. Very interesting. You may find that some of the americanisms were actually British but went out of favour here and stayed popular over there.
Also hate the swapping of s's for z's.
Also hate the swapping of s's for z's.
The Queen's English is quite likely - that would be Elizabeth I not Elizabeth II.
English has always absorbed elements of other languages, that is how it generates it's strength and diversity. However, I'm not sure Verb<>Noun crossover thing that Dubyah has popularised is one of the better additions. Quite how "To shop" became "To make a shop" I don't know.
English has always absorbed elements of other languages, that is how it generates it's strength and diversity. However, I'm not sure Verb<>Noun crossover thing that Dubyah has popularised is one of the better additions. Quite how "To shop" became "To make a shop" I don't know.
Why are people here starting to do that irritating thing of adding the country after a town or city? For example, I know where Madrid is thank you so I don't need to be told it's 'Madrid, Spain'.
While we're on the subject 'now' serves the same purpose as 'at this point' or 'at this time'. Adding such phrases and injecting words like actually, absolutely and basically is just verbiage. Stop it and stop it now.
ETA. It's recommend something to me and not 'Recommend me something'.
While we're on the subject 'now' serves the same purpose as 'at this point' or 'at this time'. Adding such phrases and injecting words like actually, absolutely and basically is just verbiage. Stop it and stop it now.
ETA. It's recommend something to me and not 'Recommend me something'.
Edited by Flintstone on Tuesday 14th October 21:37
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