The Americanization of TEF

[Leggett]

chill out bro!

[Batch]

my bad

[4D]

Get in the hole
Limey
Aloooominnumm 
Vacation
Reserme (sp)
Woohoo
Wassup

[Simon Pieman]

I'm wondering if the 'z' in the thread title is ironic deliberately.

Oxford standard form I  think. Which is more than enough reason not to use it.

[Honkytonk]

It's Railway Station. My grandfather worked on the railways all his life in some form or another and if he ever heard one of us using 'Train Station' we'd be in the shit.

I am in two minds with Americanisations - on the one hand language is a constantly evolving thing, on the other I expect British culture and language to retain its sense of identity and not be overwhelmed by American culture. I think when new words are added to the language, then that is fine (this happens on a yearly basis after all, even without outside influence), but altering spellings to fit in with America, no.

May I posit the cause of the problem being the spellcheck on people's browsers being set to American?

For firefox users, a British dictionary can be downloaded here

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

It pisses me off but then it seems most computers are set to American English by default, so even I end up using it on occasion.

Oddly, Canada uses The Queen's as opposed to the yanks. Dedication to the commonwealth there.

[Ardiles]

I do agree that a lot of the examples above are annoying, but I'm also fairly sure that - in general - the pace of Americanisation has slowed.  As recently as the 1980s, pop acts would sing with American accents more often than not, for example.  There was a piece on the radio yesterday about the Radio 1 Chart Show over the years and the jingles from the 1980s (Bruno Brookes era!) were 100% mock American cheese.  It stood out a mile.  You'd never get that now.  People would ask 'Why is that being sing with a stupid/fake American accent?'

It has to be to do with how people think of the US these days.  From the end of WWII to the end of the Cold War, America - to most - was always something to look up to.  Folk were more often than not to swallow American culture whole.  I think that's really changed now.  George Bush Jnr and the neo-cons have a lot of that to answer for.  We're still friends, but a lot more critical.  America no longer automatically equals cool.  The cultural hegemony is on the wane.

[Costanza]

The Americanisation of the Europe must have started with the myths of Wild West, talkies and records.

I'm always surprised that it irks people so much.

[Amir]

America no longer automatically equals cool.

Precisely. It's all about what's in fashion, the same way French words were in fashion so we adopted their spelling. American bands sing in British accents too.

You can no more stop it than you can stop the tide coming in.

[Tails]

lame.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

Precisely. It's all about what's in fashion, the same way French words were in fashion so we adopted their spelling. American bands sing in British accents too.

You can no more stop it than you can stop the tide coming in.

Correct. But you can get really annoyed by it.

'Getting annoyed' has to be my favourite/favorite pastime these days. It dovetails rather nicely with my other favourite/favorite pastime of following STFC...

[Reg Smeeton]

I do agree that a lot of the examples above are annoying, but I'm also fairly sure that - in general - the pace of Americanisation has slowed.  As recently as the 1980s, pop acts would sing with American accents more often than not, for example.  There was a piece on the radio yesterday about the Radio 1 Chart Show over the years and the jingles from the 1980s (Bruno Brookes era!) were 100% mock American cheese.  It stood out a mile.  You'd never get that now.  People would ask 'Why is that being sing with a stupid/fake American accent?'

It has to be to do with how people think of the US these days.  From the end of WWII to the end of the Cold War, America - to most - was always something to look up to.  Folk were more often than not to swallow American culture whole.  I think that's really changed now.  George Bush Jnr and the neo-cons have a lot of that to answer for.  We're still friends, but a lot more critical.  America no longer automatically equals cool.  The cultural hegemony is on the wane.

I'm not sure your generalisations stand up to close scrutiny.....certainly, for many in the working class and Trade Union movement they looked to the USSR for inspiration.....I suppose this "many" never climbed much above maybe 25% of voters, and it would be fair to say it's a passing generation, since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Swindon used to have a thriving Communist Party, whose social club was the Star Club....(not to be confused with the Star Bar, which tends not to be full of politicos) The CP always put a candidate up for a General Election. The Star Club was always a good midweek venue for a late night pint, as the pubs closed at 10:30....sort of place you could meet Chilean refugees from Thatcher's mate General Pinochet  

[inept and tiresome]

The planet Uranus should have the same pronunciation as ones arse hole and not "yourranus"
Fucking yanks and being a proud Wiltshire bumkin, it's wench not women. If we have to say women, then drop the W

[Ardiles]

I'm not sure your generalisations stand up to close scrutiny.....certainly, for many in the working class and Trade Union movement they looked to the USSR for inspiration.....I suppose this "many" never climbed much above maybe 25% of voters, and it would be fair to say it's a passing generation, since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Swindon used to have a thriving Communist Party, whose social club was the Star Club....(not to be confused with the Star Bar, which tends not to be full of politicos) The CP always put a candidate up for a General Election. The Star Club was always a good midweek venue for a late night pint, as the pubs closed at 10:30....sort of place you could meet Chilean refugees from Thatcher's mate General Pinochet 

Critical difference between the US and Russia/USSR, though, is soft power.  During that period, it was never cool to copy Russian music, or fashion.  How many household Russian names were there that people looked up to as cultural icons?  Approximately none.

The reason so many of our icons were American was that during the post-War years of austerity, America was an escape.  Russia, by comparison, was shit and bland...and scary.  At least in the minds of most people.  There was no contest.  Eric Hobsbawm termed the 20th Century as 'the American Century', and he was spot on.

[Reg Smeeton]

 Sky is now showing something known as the MLS....which apparently is pro association football in the the US.  Out of curiosity I watched a bit....a big fuss was being made out of New York having a franchise now, after a long wait.....they could have had the Dongs a while back....not many would care over here.

 Hugely annoying was the oppo fans, were singing "can you hear the New York sing....no...no...can you hear the New York sing?  I can't hear a fucking thing.... etc with American accents.

Just wrong.

Plus an ad board for Tires. 

I'd always been grateful that the Americans didn't get football.....hopefully this will go the same way as New York Cosmos etc