Rescuing British English

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Steve Bowles said:
320 million speakers of American English vs 60 million speakers of British English.

You lose. :p
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I suppose trying to stop the wave of Americanisms is a bit like King Canute trying to control the tide, but I will try and refrain.
And before I get pulled up on it, I know Canute was actually proving his fallibility and not really trying to control the tide.
 
Digimonkey said:
It's the misuse of plurals that get on my thrupenny bits the most - it's fora not forums - equally stadia not stadiums. Don't start me on split infinitives. Colour not color, honour not honor. Yours pedantically - I. Oh - @Boru62 - I think you have opened a can of worms here K?
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Colour, honour. What? After several attempts I struggled to type these two words. Apparently Spell Check's thinks my spelling is better. Period.
 
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Digimonkey said:
It's the misuse of plurals that get on my thrupenny bits the most - it's fora not forums - equally stadia not stadiums. Don't start me on split infinitives. Colour not color, honour not honor. Yours pedantically - I. Oh - @Boru62 - I think you have opened a can of worms here K?
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I disagree. Both "forums" and "fora" are acceptable plurals (same as with "stadia"). It comes down to whether we stick with the Latin form or the modern English form for plurals. I don't see a problem using English plurals (instead of Latin). In fact, using "fora" sounds to me pretentious and dated; but each to his own. Certainly the -ums are much more commonly used than -a. I equally cringe when I hear "hippopotami". Conversely the plural "data" is always used instead of "datums" - so it's not always the case that the Latin plural sounds out of place.

What does annoy me (and this is becoming common these days) is using the singular when the plural should be used. e.g. "There's so many razors in my bathroom" instead of "There are...".

And I've not even started on British/American English! In fact, I prefer some of the American versions - a puck of soap sounds better to me than a cake of soap, cake sounds too edible for soap, and I like my cake soft.
 
One would think a bigger concern would be Arabic becoming the language of the U.K. and Germany.

;)
Steve Bowles said:
At least we can shoot.
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There will be another Lend Lease within 10 yrs. and I reckon a "rootin' tootin' " Yank like me will be in demand to teach effete Europeans how to shoot (again) as well as arm & save them. They just can't seem to learn how to "understand" victory. :D ;)
 
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preidy said:
OK I admit we've bastardized the English language, and back in the day you Brit's made a better Gillette ( I have 12) but you have to admit we got ya on deep dish pizza, fried chicken, and grits.
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Definitely not. I must admit that I was spoiled in Northern Italy when it comes to pizza, but what the Americans made of it is a monstrosity in my eyes (and mouth).

I am not a fan of fried chicken, and I have no clue what 'grit' is in terms of food. But what the USA did to pizza can be considered a crime against "culinarity".
 
Boru62 said:
This is a petition to enforce all speakers of British English to refrain from using Americanisms.
It is a cake of soap, not a puck and a pack(et) of blades not a tuck, cars have rear lights not tail lights etc.
Please sign the petition and if you like, list a word you feel is being replaced. Just like the red squirrels are being usurped by their American alternative.
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Wait, what is 'British English' anyway? Scots, Welsh, Northern Irish... hell, even separate cities within England proper (or within the city of London itself!) can't seem to agree on the same terms or verbiage in daily speech.

Furthermore, in some instances "American English" is more traditionally proper than modern 'British English'. For example, the use of the 'ize' vs 'ise' suffix in words such as agonize/agonise, criticize/criticise, civilize/civilise, etc. The latter versions of these words are British degenerations confused and invented in the 20th century. In centuries prior (going back to Shakespeare even) within Britain, and in current day America, the correct and proper 'ize' suffix is utilized, and even linguistic authorities at Oxford have acknowledged this fact.

http://metadyne.co.uk/ize.html

So the next time an Englishman may ponder over the proper use of their own language, they might consider consulting an American or Scotsman first... ;)
 
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Digimonkey said:
What would you do with rhinoceros? As a plural - octopus is another problem. Mongoose? I'm with you on puck versus cake. Sorry for being pretentious hitherto. Yours - I.
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Using -es for these plurals sounds ok to me; not the most pleasant sounding words but functional. I wasn't having a go at anyone's use of English just explaining how it sounds to me when I use it.

It would be a very boring world if everyone spoke the same. Vive la différence.

The inclusion of some Americanisms can add value to the language. Obviously, the overuse of "awesome", OMG and "epic" doesn't.
 
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