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I'm actually a fan of a lot of American English (apart from the MM/DD/YYYY way of writing the date which just looks back-to-front) as I think it's more expressive and concise, not to mention inventive, but I don't sound American at all, nor would it ever occur to me to use Americanisms if we've got our own way of saying things. I don't watch much American TV or films so usually don't hear an American accent for days on end to be honest. If you heard me say 'whoop-ass' in my accent, fantastic phrase though it is, you probably would burst out laughing at how ridiculous it sounds. And so would I.
Good to see someone else say films and not movies!
There is a huge American influence on everyday speech these days and I always found it absurd when I used to hear young children scrawling graffiti on park benches or smoking a bit of marijuana scurrying away from a police officer referring to the person chasing them as "Five-O" or "the Feds" when their petty vandalism or token affronts to the rule of law used to arouse the attentions of the local patrol car or even park-keeper. Very difficult to imagine a wiretap somewhere with four burly FBI officers chewing donuts and spitting coffee as they wait for the break-through in the big 'school fight down the park' case.
But it's not just a young urban thing it has also become a very middle-class phenomena too. Especially expressions like "closure" which aren't exactly widespread but do creep in from time to time, especially in radio interviews with star spangled celebs who usually come with a sugar coating gloss of saccahrine expressions culled straight from the Hollywood tourism guide monologues.
I think in literature and film you do tend to see an overspill of references to American culture and an influx of Americanisms especially in films and books looking to reach a wider audience. It goes back quite a while too. I remember a reference to 'Senfeld' in 'Sliding Doors' in the 90's which really jumped out as at the time 'Seinfeld' wasn't a show that had managed to find an audience in the UK. I loved the show and it is popular now through DVD sales but back then it just seemed a rather contrived reference point for a British film.
I've heard 'Fifty Shades Of Grey' is also written in some kind of contorted, mangled American inspired British mish mash of a prose that forces a very distorted inflection that has baffled some American readers who found it very difficult to tolerate as a result. But yet it sold massively so it certainly didn't harm sales. British drama for a while too appeared to be making desperate attempts to match the kind of emotional resonance and syrupy interludes seen in American drama but always failed pitifully in my opinion.
Now there appears to be a re-emergence of the quirky, eccentric British dramas that if not spectacular are more interesting such as 'Utopia' and 'Black Mirror' and period dramas have kind of solidified a place in British culture where everyone will always speak the same so I can't see Britain being totally overwhelmed.
I remember grunge having a big influence too on british culture in the 90's but was surpassed by the rise of Britpop and the mockney gangster flicks which saw a sudden a re-emergence of the "having it geezer" mentality so these things come and go in fads though the mockney thing kind of petered out after the genre quickly deterioated into farcical parody.
But yes essentially American influence is everywhere on the English language and perhaps even more so with Google spell-checks correcting English words correctly spelled 'colour' in order to instruct the writer that the spelling should be the correct American spelling 'color'. That's another debate of course but the influence is immense for certain.
There is a huge American influence on everyday speech these days and I always found it absurd when I used to hear young children scrawling graffiti on park benches or smoking a bit of marijuana scurrying away from a police officer referring to the person chasing them as "Five-O" or "the Feds" when their petty vandalism or token affronts to the rule of law used to arouse the attentions of the local patrol car or even park-keeper. Very difficult to imagine a wiretap somewhere with four burly FBI officers chewing donuts and spitting coffee as they wait for the break-through in the big 'school fight down the park' case.
But it's not just a young urban thing it has also become a very middle-class phenomena too. Especially expressions like "closure" which aren't exactly widespread but do creep in from time to time, especially in radio interviews with star spangled celebs who usually come with a sugar coating gloss of saccahrine expressions culled straight from the Hollywood tourism guide monologues.
I think in literature and film you do tend to see an overspill of references to American culture and an influx of Americanisms especially in films and books looking to reach a wider audience. It goes back quite a while too. I remember a reference to 'Senfeld' in 'Sliding Doors' in the 90's which really jumped out as at the time 'Seinfeld' wasn't a show that had managed to find an audience in the UK. I loved the show and it is popular now through DVD sales but back then it just seemed a rather contrived reference point for a British film.
I've heard 'Fifty Shades Of Grey' is also written in some kind of contorted, mangled American inspired British mish mash of a prose that forces a very distorted inflection that has baffled some American readers who found it very difficult to tolerate as a result. But yet it sold massively so it certainly didn't harm sales. British drama for a while too appeared to be making desperate attempts to match the kind of emotional resonance and syrupy interludes seen in American drama but always failed pitifully in my opinion.
Now there appears to be a re-emergence of the quirky, eccentric British dramas that if not spectacular are more interesting such as 'Utopia' and 'Black Mirror' and period dramas have kind of solidified a place in British culture where everyone will always speak the same so I can't see Britain being totally overwhelmed.
I remember grunge having a big influence too on british culture in the 90's but was surpassed by the rise of Britpop and the mockney gangster flicks which saw a sudden a re-emergence of the "having it geezer" mentality so these things come and go in fads though the mockney thing kind of petered out after the genre quickly deterioated into farcical parody.
But yes essentially American influence is everywhere on the English language and perhaps even more so with Google spell-checks correcting English words correctly spelled 'colour' in order to instruct the writer that the spelling should be the correct American spelling 'color'. That's another debate of course but the influence is immense for certain.
Anybody that has to spell check the word colour probably doesn't care how it should be spelled anyway! lol
As a woman who has both American and British nationality,and having lived in both cultures,Brits will never talk like Americans. My mother was British and i moved to America with an English accent(my father was air force),so we were around her family more than we were Americans. I have an half sister who has never lived here and a slough of nieces and nephews who practically thinks Americans are dumb.We might speak the same language but english spell words different and several words have totally different meanings,for instance here we say the operating room or the surgery,but in British an operating room is called a theater,and a surgery means the doctor's office=solicitor means lawyer,,,,,,,some younger Brits who talk like that are the ones who will leave England for America and other parts of the world,most Brits are content living there speaking the same old English,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,just giving my perspective from someone who has lived and still lives in both worlds,,,,,heck my children go there using English worlds not American words
Anybody that has to spell check the word colour probably doesn't care how it should be spelled anyway! lol
Yes "tee-hee" and all but you're missing the point. That's only one simple example. Google Chrome does automatic spell checks on many other words and underlines in red ink many words that are the correct spelling in English on this side of the pond. It may seem trivial to someone who has become accustomed to the English language and the spellings used on this side of the Atlantic but as technology plays an ever more pivotal role in education then it won't be long before a whole generation of children will grow up to find they're becoming more accustomed to the American spelling of the word.
Gradually it's inevitable. Besides neither are the wrong spelling they both mean the same thing and are both spelled correctly whether 'colour' or 'color' in the USA. And a child being born today will be far more likely to encounter a Google search engine on a more regular basis than a teacher. It isn't just Google it happens on Microsoft Word too which is where students studying today will be presenting the majority of their work. So of course it will be bound to have a lasting impression on defining the vocabulary of British students.
Every time you hear a young British girl use "like" as conversational filler or to introduce quoted speech Moon Unit Zappa smiles.
This use of "like" drives me insane! And I know I'm an offender, although I think I've eliminated it from my vocabulary about 99%. But now my 5 year old twins have picked it up at school
In my household, we watch a lot of British TV, so we half jokingly say "shedule for skedule", "take-away for carry out" and some others. I hear "no worries" a lot, especially at work, and then "gone missing", I believe, is a British term (correct me if I'm wrong) that I was taught in journalism school was improper English, but is now used frequently in news reports.
As Brits and Americans are exposed to each other's (or would that be one another's?) movies/television more and more, it's logical that we'll pick up slang. American's seem to be experts at destroying the English language
This use of "like" drives me insane! And I know I'm an offender, although I think I've eliminated it from my vocabulary about 99%. But now my 5 year old twins have picked it up at school
In my household, we watch a lot of British TV, so we half jokingly say "shedule for skedule", "take-away for carry out" and some others. I hear "no worries" a lot, especially at work, and then "gone missing", I believe, is a British term (correct me if I'm wrong) that I was taught in journalism school was improper English, but is now used frequently in news reports.
As Brits and Americans are exposed to each other's (or would that be one another's?) movies/television more and more, it's logical that we'll pick up slang. American's seem to be experts at destroying the English language
Hahahaha thas funny been to those small caribbea islands they know how to destroy the engish language!!!
Also anyone heard the phrase 'bob's your uncle'
I've never heard a Brit, young or old, say the word movie or the movies, or theater; only films or cinema
Movie is forever being used, theatre (yes theatre spellchecker ), in place of cinema, isn't.
By the way, I thought that irritating expression 'no worries' came from Australia.
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IM an British American
. That's only one simple example. Google Chrome does automatic spell checks on many other words and underlines in red ink many words that are the correct spelling in English on this side of the pond. It may seem trivial to someone who has become accustomed to the English language and the spellings used on this side of the Atlantic but as technology plays an ever more pivotal role in education then it won't be long before a whole generation of children will grow up to find they're becoming more accustomed to the American spelling of the word.
), in place of cinema, isn't.
