The Americanization of TEF

[Ironside]

Yanks. They bastardise everything they come into contact with and then present it as their own. Science, technology, engineering, it doesn't matter. Fucking colonials...

[Stevens]

Yanks. They bastardise everything they come into contact with and then present it as their own. Science, technology, engineering, it doesn't matter. Fucking colonials...

I love America, especially the southern states.
The people in Florida in particular are thick but extremely friendly - and they love the British.

[stfc1975]

I blame Friends. Not my friends but the TV program (sp).  Loads of people copied their lifestyle and sayings and that's also the reason there are so many coffee houses around now.

It reminds me of Neighbours. Not my neighbours but the TV program (sp) . That's where i first heard the term "Item" for a couple  now every fucker says it.

Anyway enough already of this shit , I've got to update my stat us on Facebook. Laterz

[adje]

yeah it was me who used "gotten" but I WAS quoting from "Scooby Doo".Sorry

[Ardiles]

It reminds me of Neighbours. Not my neighbours but the TV program (sp) . That's where i first heard the term "Item" for a couple  now every fucker says it.

It's Neighbours that is also directly responsible for kids going to 'uni'.  Remember hearing the phrase on there 20 odd years ago and wondering what the #### they were talking about.

[Honkytonk]

Americans actually think the British are cool now, the cultural flow is starting to swing the other way. Used to be they made fun of us for having shit teeth and being overly polite, now lots of yanks are starting to model themselves after what they've seen on Downton et al.

If you go anywhere in America (other than perhaps New York or the major tourist traps like Disneyworld/Universal Studios) it is honestly hard to go a day without someone going 'Hey, are you British?! Cool!' or similar and striking up a conversation.

[Simon Pieman]

It's Neighbours that is also directly responsible for kids going to 'uni'.  Remember hearing the phrase on there 20 odd years ago and wondering what the #### they were talking about.

*Neighbors

[ChalkyWhiteIsGod]

 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.

That's a far stronger example of a transatlantic culture swap than any of the americanisation examples in this thread.

[suttonred]

Dunno why I clicked this link, but def a frontrunner for muppet thread of the year, fuck me there is some grade a drivel in here.

[Hammer]

Possibly so Sutton, yet I felt I should do my best to maintain the 80% Bollocks quota.

Yes FH, the "z" in Americanization was quite deliberate.

Also, it has been correctly pointed out that the words "train station" aren't exactly an Americanism but probably more to do with a general dumbing-down of our language. Recently, I sent a package for which I wanted to pay for 'Recorded Delivery', only to be told it is now called 'Signed For'. Yeah ok.

Literacy and numeracy levels amongst our kids aren't particularly brilliant, yet are generally regarded as being better than those of their peers. Thinking of some of my friends and colleagues, it wouldn't surprise me.

And one thing really grates. (Knowing full well that it is grammatically incorrect to start a sentence with the word "And" ).

My grand-daughter doesn't receive Texts from her friends.....She receives Texes. No...you fucking don't. The plural of "Text" is "Texts", still one syllable, not two. It isn't a silent "T".

She also claims that she "has just 'Text' a friend". No, no you fucking didn't. You just "Texted" a friend. Past participle, two syllables and, yet again, not a silent "T".

So, to be fair, the decline in the quality of the Anglo-English language (both written and spoken) is probably little really to do with any American "invasion", yet, more likely to do with an attitude of ignorance and laziness, coupled with an inability and unwillingness of older generations to correct any relevant failings.

Fuck Yeah.

[Flashheart]

So, to be fair, the decline in the quality of the Anglo-English language (both written and spoken)

Is it in decline though? I know plenty of older people that can hardly string a sentence together and plenty of the younger generation that are perfectly fluent and articulate.

I think it's really a case that the internet makes it appear as though the use of the language is in decline because it is now easier for the illiterate masses, that have always been there, to put their illiteracy on display.

[pauld]

Successive generations always think that language is in decline. It's just evolving, because it's a living usage that isn't tied to the written standards and never has been. Going back to the original premise of the thread, the OP talked about the TEF as a bastion of "tradition", implying that the British version of the English language was somehow more "traditional" than the American variant. Well, no, they're both offshoots of English as it was spoken in the 17th century. In fact, American English is in many ways closer to "standard" 17th Century English than British English is. Because British English has evolved more. The same is true of Australian English vs British English vs 18th/19th Century English. Unless you're looking to have us all talking like Beowulf or Chaucer then the language will continue to evolve and develop. That would be quite amusing though, I'd quite like to see a Beowulfian TEF.

Rather than harking back to a "tradition" that was itself a fluid evolution of what had come before, surely we'd be far better sneering at the Americans for their under-developed and unevolved English compared to our far superior version?

[Flashheart]

As long as it still involves sneering at yanks, it works for me.

[pauld]

Basically, "they talk like a bunch of 17th Century peasants, the backwards slack-jaw fuckwits" is the essential premise. I think that's something we can all rally round.

[jayohaitchenn]

Basically, "they talk like a bunch of 17th Century peasants, the backwards slack-jaw fuckwits" is the essential premise. I think that's something we can all rally round.

In civility thou seem'st so empty.