Rescuing British English

Status
Not open for further replies.
Steve Bowles said:
320 million speakers of American English vs 60 million speakers of British English.

You lose.
Click to expand...
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.
 
Colour, honour. What? After several attempts I struggled to type these two words. Apparently Spell Check's thinks my spelling is better. Period.
 

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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Reactions: Len
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.
Click to expand...

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".
 

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...
 
Last edited:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Menu
Log in
Register