Americanisation of our language

[Fan of Big Tone]

Over the years I've noticed our language is getting more and more Americanised.

We now say Hi or Hey instead of Hello. Bums are now butts, nappies are diapers, films are movies. I'm sure there are more examples, are you bothered by this or is it just part of globalisation and we should accept it?

What do you think?

[Chris]

I speak regularly with many people from America, people will notice when I type and when I speak.

I prefer "Hey" over "Hello" and "Hi". It's more me, though I do say Hello to people but mainly those I do not know. I prefer flicks when describing movies or films, for me some words are fine but there are one's which even I wouldn't use. Some will, some won't and others will naturally hate it but at the end of the day it's how we personalize ourselves.

Other regions will think the same about the Nottingham slang, as we do about Londoners and Gordie's.

[super_ram]

As one who mangles the Queen's English with every sentence I shouldn't complain but I think there's a difference between local/regional speech and Americanisation.I hate seeing Americanised spelling-theater,center,aluminum(highlighted in a tv ad)We British shouldn't really complain as we have Anglicised a lot of languages due to our colonisation.I don't like it but I can't stop it.

[DangerousSausage]

Language does develop over time, it's a mongrel mix of different influences. That's how our language came into being in the first place. That said, I can't stand some Americanisations - when did a summer ball become a prom? Yuck!

 

It's not just happening in Britain though. Lots of mainly American English words are creeping into German too - a mobile phone is a "Handy" (pronounced hendy - all Germans seem to think that "a" should be pronounced as "e", they even teach it in school!), "center" is slowly replacing the German "Zentrum", and when a German is happy, instead of being glücklich he might say he's "happy" (pronounced heppy)! It's driving me barmy. Compared to this ridiculous onslaught the Americanisation of English is relatively harmless.

[BromPie]

Why not throw how youths speak into the mix?

Init, bloodz, bro, get me etc.

There's only a few american words I dislike, one is "Yo". Otherwise, no problem.

[Northants Pie]

It irritates me immensely, why aren't people taught how to converse properly anymore? I understand that as time progresses so does every part of life but through the abbreviated gang slang that we have now as mentioned above it is becoming harder & harder to understand people.

 

I do find most txt speak a good example of how our written language should progress in the future as this is not only easy to decipher but also a far quicker way of recording a conversation

 

I have saved my biggest bugbear until last, american spell checker, wtf is that all about, come on we invented the bloody internet surely we can check our own spelling in our own version of our language.

[liampie]

it does not bother me, i know people who talk differently and it does not annoy me.

i dont give it any thoughts to be honest.