Americanisms, and the evolution of language

[apple_pathways]

The planets have aligned once again to provide me with a topic for blogging: faery_fall posted a video of Stephen Fry discussing language as part of her 15 Day Meme, and fail_fandomanon had a discussion thread wherein a poster was complaining about the comments to an article on the BBC website about Americanisms creeping into British language. Surely these two occurrences are more than worthy of a mash-up here on this journal?

First, full confession: I used to be a total grammar pedant. I love language, and I love grammar! Mine is a brain easily seduced by the idea that there's a 'correct way' and an 'incorrect way' to do things. I love the idea that things can be done with "perfection", and I love to torture myself with the idea that perfection is obtainable. Unfortunately, I have a sneaking suspicion that it's not obtainable: or even desirable! And yet, despite a couple years of linguistics courses, my grammar pedantry persisted for years.

I can remember the exact day I gave it up.

I went to visit a close friend of mine: we were going swimming at the pool in her parent's condo complex. Before heading off, we chose reading material from her collection to read poolside. I was excited to discover she owned a copy of Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, by Lynne Truss, a book I'd been eying up in stores for months. I delight in learning grammar and punctuation rules the way sports enthusiasts obsess over the minutiae of the game.

I could barely make my way more than a few pages in before I was absolutely disgusted with the tone of the book: the way the author describes the shrieking paroxyisms of pain she experiences at the sight of a misplaced apostrophe! The agony of inadequate commas! Incorrect capitalization! Oh, the horror! THE HORROR!

*eyeroll* Please! It didn't take me long to realize I didn't want to give people the same vibe I was getting from this author.

After that experience, I quit cold turkey: no more complaining about the "10 Items or Less" line at Trader Joe's. No more "it's 'whom', not 'who'!" No more "better than 'they', not better than 'them'"!

(I still do have my Do Not Cross lines: it's "should have" or "should've", not "should of"!!! I am taking that one to the grave...)

All of this is to say: I know where these angry commenters are coming from. Really, I do! But...well, just look:

(These are responses readers sent in in response to the article about Americanisms creeping into British culture. I cherry-picked the most hyperbolic responses. You can read all of them in the article listed at the end of this post.) (Bolding is mine.)

14. I caught myself saying "shopping cart" instead of shopping trolley today and was thoroughly disgusted with myself. I've never lived nor been to the US either. Graham Nicholson, Glasgow

22. Train station. My teeth are on edge every time I hear it. Who started it? Have they been punished? Chris Capewell, Queens Park, London

27. "Oftentimes" just makes me shiver with annoyance. Fortunately I've not noticed it over here yet. John, London (Then why are you mentioning it?)

29. I'm a Brit living in New York. The one that always gets me is the American need to use the word bi-weekly when fortnightly would suffice just fine. Ami Grewal, New York

50. "I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less" has to be the worst. Opposite meaning of what they're trying to say. Jonathan, Birmingham


(I had to mention that last one, as I've heard it before. It's actually a misunderstanding of the American phrase: "I could care less" is meant sarcastically.)

I have to confess that whenever the discussion of Americanisms comes up, I tend to find myself confused: America is a big country, and some vocabularly is not as wide-spread as one might imagine.

I remember listening to one of my favorite BBC radio programs, when one of the hosts started talking about a program on language that they'd recently listened to. He started talking about the phrase "tit-bits". "Did you know it's actually supposed to be 'tid-bits'?" he said. "'Tit-bits' is an Americanism!"

This was news to me! I've always said "tid-bits", and I'd never heard "tit bits" before I started listening to that program! It might be a genuine Americanism (as I said: it's a big country, and I'm not familiar with all its vocabulary) but I can't imagine that it is: mostly because the word 'tit' is much more common in the UK. I think it's considered a much ruder term in the US.

Which is to say: it's often confusing what terms and phrases are attributed to one country or another. Some 'Americanisms' actually originated in the UK, but fell out of use there before being re-imported via American media. Some Americanisms, reviled at their introduction, have simply merged with the language and become common use everywhere English is spoken: 'lengthy', 'reliable', 'talented', 'influential', and 'tremendous' all originated in the Colonies. (The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge was particularly disgusted with the word 'talented'. Read the article listed at the end of this entry for more!)

(Lest anyone think all the Brits are hyperbolically annoyed, here's my favorite reader quote from the article:

19. I enjoy Americanisms. I suspect even some Americans use them in a tongue-in-cheek manner? "That statement was the height of ridiculosity". Bob, Edinburgh

*touches nose* Bingo! Somebody get Bob a prize... And yes. I made up the word 'hyperbolically' to illustrate Bob's point!)

There are many Americanisms I wouldn't bother to defend. No, I take that back: I wouldn't bother to defend any of them! Because that's not how language works. Societies don't choose their vocabulary by committee: language evolves, with little influence from most individuals. (Oh, that I had the influence of Shakespeare and all of the many words he coined!)

The concluding point of the original article is that the author mourns the erosion of British culture as distinct from American culture. I can see why that would be worrying: the increasing globalization of the world means that a lot of change is happening very quickly, and I'm sure all sorts of culture and customs get lost in the shuffle. I just wonder if policing language is the tact to take? (I don't think so. Language evolves, and there's not much use in trying to stop it.)

I do think I might have lost the point in this long ramble of an article: I think mostly I want to spark discussion, as I love talking about language! So, here's a list of discussion questions, followed by a list of resources:

• Do you have an unfavorite Americanism?
  
• What about your grammar and/or punctuation pet peeves?
  
• Pro or anti-pedant?
  
• How do you feel about the natural evolution of language? Should we try to prevent it from happening in certain instances, or stand out of its way?
  
• Any favorite language anecdotes or facts to share?

Resources:

Stephen Fry! (The video faery_fall posted.)

The BBC articles:
Viewpoint: Why do some Americanisms irritate people?
Americanisms: 50 of your most noted examples

Separated By a Common Language: I should have guessed that she would be discussing these articles! :P I was merely going to suggest this as an excellent blog dealing with the differences between American and British English. It's written by an American linguist living in the UK.

Comments

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

When your brain and our dear, cranky LJ are feeling refreshed, I'd love to hear your thoughts! :D

[kel-reiley.livejournal.com]

I still think it will take me too long come up with anything coherent. It would be rather involved and go off in all sorts of tangents.

Though, to start with, I didn't run across this Americanism vs. Britishism until I found fandom (just after high school) though I do remember getting marked down on spelling tests in grade school for spelling certain things the "Canadian" way!

But anyway, ALL of my previous fandoms have been British TV shows. It's where I started, was introduced to all things fandom-y, my first fics (read and written) were all British and "Brit-picking" was a big deal. I was fine with that, too, if someone found and Americanism in one of my stories and pointed out to me that "that phrase has a slightly different meaning/connotation in the UK" or "this phrase is confusing/I've never heard that before/not sure a Brit would say it like that" and the like. I was happy to learn the "proper" way to write the characters, you know?

But I never really got the extreme annoyance I'd see from some Brits when they ran into Americanisms in their fandoms. Like "I had to stop reading b/c this ONE WORD/PHRASE threw me completely out of the story" seemed a bit over the top.

Never got it until I started reading in my very first American fandom and find all these crazy British words/phrases/idioms littered throughout, and I think 'OK, yeah, that's super annoying. Have you even WATCHED the show? Britishism aside even, Character X would never say that!'

Um... anyway. I mostly run into in fic. I will not correct the grammar of someone speaking with me. Incorrect or not, that's how they talk and who you speak and express yourself is part of your personality. Language, I believe, is very fluid. I mean think of how "text speak" has become it's own language. Words have phrases have filtered into everyday speech and aren't just on the internet anymore. People speak in LOLCAT! LOLCAT is its own language!

I do not see this as a bad thing. Do I think language should be preserved? Yes. But it's also going to change, and there's no denying that or stopping it.

Hmm... that was more than I was planning just now ;)

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Spelling is a particularly tyrannical component of language: not surprisingly, as it's the easiest to control! (I've always had impeccable spelling, but then: the more time I spend conversing with native speakers of other English dialects, the more I find myself getting confused about which spelling is standard for the US!)

I'm in almost entirely British fandoms as well! It's a rather interesting culture, the whole idea of Brit-picking and America-picking. (Which...is such a boring term! I think we need to re-name the practice.) I have yet to see, though, any widespread call for Canada-picking or Australia-picking...New Zealand-picking? Do those practices go on in secret, or are they merely standing off to the side and rolling their eyes at the Yanks and the Brits, and wishing we'd get over ourselves?

For what it's worth, I try my best to use British vernacular when writing fic in British fandoms, but I do think I could stand to be more diligent about having my work Brit-picked before it's published.

I've never gotten used to text or chat speak! I'm a bit stodgy when it comes to my own personal dialect, and slang does not easily roll off my tongue. (I do occasionally bust it out for humorous purposes, though! I once had a student giggling for a solid 45 minutes by opening with the phrase, "What up, do?") But even though I don't use it, I don't pretend I don't understand it, and I've stopped giving a damn about whether or not people choose to use capitalization in their written communication online. As long as a person is putting thought into what they say, I won't fault them for how they say it.

[kel-reiley.livejournal.com]

lol good thing for me then as i am a lazy lazy typist ;)

tho i think i am the only person in the world who kinda refuses to use the word "nom"

i am actually very good at spelling (with a few tricky exceptions that ALWAYS trip me up) being dyslexic and all

i'd say my biggest pet peeve in written work (mostly fic) is MISUSED COMMAS! OMG THE COMMA DRAMA! love your commas, ppl

[zolac-no-miko.livejournal.com]

I tend to write at different levels of formality/informality depending on what I'm doing. I feel like email and LiveJournal call for capitalization, punctuation, and complete sentences... with the exception of flaily outbursts of joy or rage or whatever, which may involve caps-lock and strange punctuation/a complete lack of punctuation... but that's because when I get emotional I want my writing to come off how I would sound if I were speaking, which is to say... loud and fast and flaily. Instant messaging is extremely informal... when I first started I thought the lack of capitalization and inconsistent punctuation was very strange, but I picked up the habit. It's meant to replace an actual verbal conversation, so stuff gets dropped in favor of faster typing speed. I probably wouldn't capitalize in text messages either, except my phone does it automatically; I do frequently use abbreviations in texting, again because of speed and limits placed on the number of symbols per text.