A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
1–10 of 88 posts
Re: A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
#2Misleading title, author equates "English" to "British English".
Re: A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
#3Misleading title, author equates "English" to "British English".
Anyways, irregardless, that was understood. We are “killing it”.
Re: A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
#4Misleading title, author equates "English" to "British English".
Not a misleading title - necessary for the last sentence in the first paragraph.
And should the non-clarified form of the language not automatically be assumed to be the original form of it? Compare Spanish Spanish vs Mexican Spanish, it feels an unnecessary clarification
Re: A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
#5No one has done as much damage to English as the English. Maybe its time to let someone else carry the torch for a while. We can't do any worse.
Re: A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
#6Just another special case of erosion of all kinds of diversity as we become globally connected. Biological, linguistic, cultural etc.
If you want to do something about it, and you aren't an American, then preserve what's unique to your place and people. Don't get swept up mindlessly in the global consumerist culture. Merely lamenting is not going to save vanishing diversity.
Re: A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
#7How can you "kill" something that constantly evolves?
A hundred years ago modern-day "britishisms" would be viewed as "killing the English language".
Also, what's "British English"? These two are British English:
- received pronunciation with it's "proper English": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIemPxHSb6Q
- Glasgoans (??) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le_uNGdpa4c with "bubblin' and greetin'" and other weird stuff
Re: A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
#8Misleading title, author equates "English" to "British English".
International English.
Supposably, Americans could care less that other English-speaking countries are closer to en-GB than en-US, despite the relentless onslaught of inconsiderate software defaults.
Re: A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
#9I think I just hurt my eyes from rolling them so far back in my head. Cultures in contact with each other share words. It goes both ways. A quarter or more of the words in English are outright copied from French... oh, but that happened a long time ago.
As an American, I've noticed certain words I associate with British English creeping into our vocabulary as well. In my mind I associate it with Harry Potter and Doctor Who, but I realize Anglophilia is no new thing--these are just the bits of British pop culture that hit me in my early adulthood.
The fact is that British and American English will each remain distinctive, even as they continue to share and evolve together as well. The Internet is definitely making this evolution happen more quickly. But it still goes both ways, and will continue to do so. Some of the changes you'll like and adopt without thinking about, some you will find annoying or crude, some you will hate with a completely irrational passion. It's part of life. Enjoy it!
Re: A book claims that Americanisms will have absorbed the English language by 2120
#10> Engel says. “A nation that outsources the development of its own language – that language it developed over hundreds of years – is a nation that has lost the will to live”.
I believe something similar applies now to Australian English. Many of the words and phrases, developed over 200 years of unique shared experience, and also incorporated from a diverse range of linguistic immigration, are no longer commonly in use. Or at least not commonly in use amongst the younger urban population, which seems to drive much of the national cultural norms today.
I think the language is poorer for this loss, but also understand it is perhaps an inevitable consequence of constant exposure to the dominant Western global cultural force.