Culture » There's nothing wrong with Americanisms: it's management-speak that is the enemy of English Comments Feed There's nothing wrong with Americanisms: it's management-speak that is the enemy of English A study of children"s writing by the Oxford University Press suggests that our language is being Americanised. Of course English as spoken here and as spoken in the USA have always played off each other ' understandably ' and the influence of American films and, in the case of children and adolescents, American comics has been noticed for a long time. Orwell was writing about it in the 1930s. Sometimes of course what is regarded ' with disapproval? ' as American usage turns out to be something once usual in English as spoken or written here. One example is the American habit of saying 'I guess' where we might say 'I think'. To anyone who objects to this, you should quote Chaucer, who used 'I guess' in the American style. The examples of Americanisation culled by the researchers from OUP look pretty thin. Children apparently now write about cupcakes rather than fairy-cakes. Well, apart from the fact that cupcakes (or cup-cakes, as Chambers English Dictionary has it) are nothing new, I don't think they are the same as fairy-cakes, which, as I remember, are little sponge-cakes which have a butter-cream topping with a slice of sponge inserted in it at an angle. Chambers English Dictionary is a good guide, because Chambers has always taken an interest in American English. The 1872 edition included an eight-page appendix of Americanisms, printed in small type, three columns to the page. Nowadays it notes 'U.S.' or 'esp. U.S.', if a word is more commonly found in American rather than English usage. However, quite often you find 'dial.' ' that is, dialect ' 'and U.S.'. This suggests that a word found in some British dialect has been carried across the Atlantic and become standard usage there. This is the case with 'snuck', used as the past tense of 'sneak', and cited by the OUP researchers as an example of American infiltration. It would be equally true to say the word has been repatriated. Be that as it may, there is nothing that should worry us about this sort of American infiltration of the language. Not only is a colloquial Americanism likely to be lively, useful and agreeable; it is often an English word or expression that has fallen out of use here and is now restored to us. Tags: americanisms, chambers english dictionary, English, language News » Is the Internet Americanising (or Americanizing) British English? Comments Feed Is the Internet Americanising (or Americanizing) British English? Here, though, is a question, posed to mark the centenary of the Commonwealth. Is the common online dialogue also leading to a more direct harmonization of the English language? This blog, in a typical week, attracts 80,000 readers from the UK, 30,000 from the US and 10,000 from elsewhere, mainly from other Anglosphere nations: a proportion that is fairly representative of British websites. In consequence, British bloggers and readers are far more familiar with the American Weltanschauung. But are we also starting to write like Americans? Is the combination of the Internet and US-designed spell-check programmes (or programs) hastening the Americanization of British English? There is nothing new in this process. In his 1908 magnum opus, H W Fowler inveighs against such American imports as 'placate', 'transpire', 'honey-coloured', 'antagonize', 'just how much' and 'do you have?' (instead of 'have you got?') Hardly anyone these days thinks of these phrases as Americanisms. Yet 'sidewalk', 'back of' (for behind) and 'excuse me?' (if you haven't heard someone) have failed to penetrate at all. 'Mad' still means insane rather than angry, 'smart' means well turned-out rather than clever, 'pissed' means drunk rather than cross, and 'suspenders' hold up a woman's stockings rather than a man's trousers. Let me finish on a positive note. In my own lifetime, there has been a comprehensive shift in Britain towards 'ise' instead of 'ize' in such words as, well, Americanize. You can see why it has happened: using both forms means having to remember which words can only be written with 'ise'; but using 'ise' is never wrong. None the less, it can be clumsy, and the OED has always preferred to maintain the distinction. The movement towards 'ise' seems now to have reached its limit and, under the influence of American software, we are starting to return to the form that our grandparents regarded as correct. If we can do so with language, why not with politics? Let's bring back elected sheriffs, local control of welfare, proper parliamentary control of the executive and the rest of the Direct Democracy agenda. It's not Americanization; it's repatriation. Tags: Americanisms, Anglosphere, British Library, dialect, English language, internet News >> Top 10 most annoying Americanisms Comments Feed Top 10 most annoying Americanisms But I don't mean simple Americanisms like stroller (pushchair), diaper I regularly read and enjoy your column in the MoS (and mostly agree with your viewpoints!) However I feel that you are unjustly discrediting the English language and the absorbsion of 'Americanisms' into the language. It is not just Americanisms which change our language, but a whole host of words and expressions from other cultures. The Americanism 'Train Station' is more grammatically precise than the English 'Railway Station'. Trains come to a standstill at stations (are stationary) but railways don't!! Unless you live in St. Leonards as I do! As usual you are the hypocrite, complaining about the Americanisation of our language while the paper you write for is adopting the American way of printing the date, June 4th!!!! I understand it must be frustrating to hear the English language changing, but not all changes are negative. Had English not evolved we would still be speaking the language found in Shakespeare's plays. 'Train station' isn't that bad either, what do you catch at this station? A train. What do you catch at a 'Bus Station', a bus, it isn't called a 'road station'. A 'Petrol Station' is where you get petrol, that too, in theory could be called a 'road station' but it would be preposterous. At least 'Train Station' makes sense, even if it is an Americanism. The Americanisation of English English has been going for as long as I can recall. (I am now elderly, or what we now refer to in the American fashion, which often combines euphemism with a multiplication of syllables, as a 'senior cititizen'. This country, far more than most,is dominated by America economically, politically and, especially, culturally. It is likely therefore that the Amaricanisation of the way we speak will continue indefinitely. We do not have to rejoice in this manifestation of our subservience, however. While I agree with Andrew Platt in his complaint about the vaccuous facility with which TV watchers adopt Americanisms, (I also think said Americanisms grate in an English/ wannabee American accent) what irritates me is, it points to these people having never been instilled with an instinct for their national language. 'Death to US': Anti-Americanism examined He argues anti-Americanism is often a cover for hatreds with little Caracas and Washington but it begins where anti-Americanism began - in And if anti-Americanism is alive and well among surprisingly Anti-Americanism was born in France. And here's a fascinating fact: it with him. The source of anti-Americanism is plain they say. As one that anti-Americanism is way more than that, that it's not simply The kind of anti-Americanism fostered by French intellectuals down the anti-Americanism we see in the world today. 'Death to America': Anti-Americanism examined will be broadcast on Anti-Americanism 'feels like racism' Is globalisation Americanisation? Globalisation needs to be de-Americanised - and genuinely globalised Globalisation needs to be de-Americanised - and genuinely globalised! The research also confirms the Americanisation of English continues Anti-Americanism 'feels like racism' She says the level of anti-Americanism she has experienced 'feels like of anti-Americanism that runs through almost every related story that Hollywood Americanisation of World War II. The growing Americanisation of our universities may be inevitable, but Anti-Americanism 'dangerous' Continued anti-Americanism could result in the US disengaging from the anti-Americanism' in the UK, arguing it had 'become fashionable'. much British anti-Americanism there is. Lord Robertson, a former UK defence secretary, said: 'Anti-Americanism 'I'm very worried about anti-Americanism because I think it is deeply 'I am worried about trite anti-Americanism in this country,' he told this kind of anti-Americanism, and it's a convenient parody. RSS 2.0 Politics On Toast » Healthcare: Why we shouldn’t fear the cry 'Americanisation” Comments Feed Healthcare: Why we shouldn’t fear the cry 'Americanisation” More rational and fully-rounded thinking is required on this issue – there is more to becoming 'Americanised” than only being able to shop in Wal-Mart or not being able to afford healthcare. I do think social services should be protected but all we get from the Labour party and popular left (as I call the British political mainstream opposing the coalition) is scaremongering in the place of actual alternative policy. The public deserve more than this, they deserve a higher level of debate about where their country is headed rather than blind assertions that the coalition is going to Americanise us. Healthcare: Why we shouldn’t fear the cry 'Americanisation” « chrissmithwriteshere - July 26, 2011 'Doctor Who movie won't be Americanised', says Moffat Head of Doctor Who, Steven Moffat took to Twitter to dispel worries the planned film adaptation of the hit BBC series, would be an Americanised version unfaithful to the source material. David Yates Steven Moffat dr who Doctor Who movie wont be Americanised, says Moffat This understandably led to a mass panic among devoted ‘Whovians' who are concerned the film which is set to be a big Hollywood production will be Americanised and not do justice to the iconic British series. IFRAME: http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fthefilmreview.com%2Ffilm-news%2Fdoctor-movie-wont-americanised-moffat.html&layout=button_count&show_faces=false&width=450&action=like&colorscheme=light loading Doctor Who movie wont be Americanised, says Moffat Loading ... To pre-empt some of your comments, Kristina Keneally is perhaps a special case because she speaks in the accent of her homeland. To many, it sounds like pure American Pie. But could there also be an anti-Americanism at work in much of the US-focussed commentary? I disagree with you on several counts. I find Americans and their accents commonplace in Australia, I along with millions of my countrymen embrace the arrival of starbucks, Ben & Jerry's, and Krispy Kreme; I believe that despite protestations by antiques to the contrary Australian politics is becoming more Americanised - and a good thing too. I am a democrat, and not a born-to-rule Imperialist like our traitorous Opposition Leader. Why is it that whenever an article is written about possible anti-Americanism, their accent is inevitably one of the first things mentioned? Sometimes I read or watch the BBC and it seems like they want one standard for American citizens and one standard for the entire rest of the world. As for Australia, it's a nation of immigrants and, as far as I can tell, is pretty used to people from all over the world in important positions. The only part I found to criticise was the bit about Starbucks. McDonalds, every bit as much of an American import and much slagged-off on that account, has flourished like cown-of-thorns starfish. For ine, Starbucks has had to draw back a bit because we already had what they offered; ie really good coffee in cute atmospheric surroundings. I loved Starbucks when it arrived in Japan (where the alternative was the sort of coffee you'd serve your mates in a student house, but at six bucks a cup and in a smokey room) but would never darken their doors here - not out of anti-Americanism but because, well, what would be the point? And she IS right wing, so dislike of her is not based on anti-Americanism--it is only *helped* by anti-Americanism--in my center/left bent thinking. Viewpoint: Why do some Americanisms irritate people? British people are used to the stream of Americanisms entering the language. But some are worse than others, argues Matthew Engel. * Listen to Matthew Engel discuss 'Americanisms' on Four Thought on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday 13 July at 2045 BST The first class I call Americanisms, by which I understand an use of phrases or terms, or a construction of sentences, even among persons of rank and education, different from the use of the same terms or phrases, or the construction of similar sentences, in Great Britain. The word Americanism, which I have coined for the purpose, is exactly similar in its formation and signification to the word Scotticism. There's been much debate on these pages in recent days about the spread of Americanisms - outside the US. Here, American lexicographer and broadcaster Grant Barrett offers a riposte. When Matthew Engel wrote here earlier this month about the impact of American English on British English, he restarted a debate about the changing nature of language which ended in dozens of suggestions from readers of their own loathed Americanisms. If people submitting Americanisms had done this, they would have found that in some cases the terms they warned against predated Americans and American influence. In others the history is so muddled that it can only be said that both Englishes conspired. * Why do some Americanisms irritate people? 13 JULY 2011, MAGAZINE * 50 of your noted Americanisms 20 JULY 2011, MAGAZINE Even worse is the growing Americanisation of what used to be a sweet Say no to the get-go! Americanisms swamping English, so wake up and smell It's an ugly Americanism, meaning 'from the start' or 'from the off'. witless Americanism introduced into British discourse. hate Americanisms to englishincrisis@gmail.com. Americanisms, some of which are creeping in over here Taps=faucets, Americanisation of the English language but most of our traditions. littered with Americanisms, exclamation marks and references to Americanisms: Children's work was littered with words such as garbage, Americanisms: Children's work was littered with words such as garbage, Americanise the film adaption had gone ahead. Continuing Americanisation of UK Education This Americanisation is no surprise. Wikileaks has revealed just how much Tories have been looking to cement the special relationship. This poodling was also Thatcher's policy. And just like Thatcher, Tory Boy and Chums have savagely cut education funding, and they're well-known Europhobes. British Library's Map Your Voice scheme records 10,000 English speakers and finds 'Americanisation' of speech may be a myth Shock, horror. Hold the front page. 'European telecoms company wins major deal.' Why all the hullaballoo over something only marginally less dull than ditchwater? Well, the year is 2003, and what sociologists call the Americanisation of the globe has spread to the European telecommunications sector. It is only a scenario, but it is a likely one. The Americanisation of this European market has been happening for years. Last week, when Global Crossing acquired Racal's telecoms business for £1 billion, what had previously been done by stealth was thrown into sharp focus. The US telecoms firms are over-financed and over here. If they are not building their own networks, they are buying those built by others. Or they are buying into other companies. 'US funds made a lot of money backing US startups and they've now decided that Europe is the place to be,' said one analyst. The Americanisation of French politics is now obvious, from live televised debates to the invasion of candidates' private lives. Everything in France points to the Americanisation of French politics; from televised debates between aspiring candidates in the run-up to the presidential elections, to the evolution of the primary election system within the French socialist party, and the staging of candidates' private lives on the front page of celebrity magazines, which didn't even exist a year ago. Over the years, the Americanisation of French politics has taken many shapes. The Americanisation of French politics doesn't, however, come only through the bedroom's keyhole or stolen holiday snapshots. In an attempt to emulate the primary system of American political parties, in which party members choose who is going to run for the supreme job, the French socialist party imposed on its candidates six public debates, three of which were to be broadcast live on public and private national TV channels. Ségolène Royal and her two rivals, the social democrat and former economy minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and socialist hardliner and former prime minister Laurent Fabius, reluctantly accepted the challenge. One thing, though, that hasn't invaded French politics yet, is negative political ads, the kind of libellous attacks currently broadcast on American national networks for the US midterm elections. These are still forbidden in France. And despite the rampant Americanisation of French politics, it is indeed difficult to envisage in France what a Republican group just did in New York, accusing Democrat candidate Michael Arcuri of using taxpayers' money to call a sex line. Surely, in France, people would simply consider it a natural compensation for doing such a difficult job. There are those who argue that their hatred of America is caused by American actions - as a Cairo professor put it: 'It's the policies, stupid!' This way of thinking puts support of Israel at the top of a list of actions that ends with almost everything George Bush has said or done. But Bush, to me, is an enabler of anti-Americanism, not a creator. It is a historical fact that anti-Americanism predates the US. It was not invented in reaction to the Monroe Doctrine or the use of marines to pacify Latin America or McDonald's or Hollywood or Bush. It was invented by European biologists who wrote of the New World, shortly after it had been discovered, that nothing good could come of it. It was ghastly. It stank. One cultured scientist, the Dutchman Cornelius de Pauw, put it thus: 'Everything found there is degenerate or monstrous.' A lot has happened since then, but some people have not noticed, or do not want to. It is, of course, perfectly reasonable to disagree with Bolton. It's perverse to argue - as some US commentators have - that anti-Americanism is always illegitimate. After all, plenty of Americans dislike Bolton with the same passion. It is also possible to exaggerate the extent of anti-Americanism. Living in the US for the past five years, I assumed the rest of the world was seething with passionate resentment at the way it's been treated. · Justin Webb is BBC Radio's chief Washington correspondent; Death to America - Anti-Americanism Examined is on Radio 4 next Monday at 8pm The media interest in the tax affairs of Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone is part of the Americanisation of British politics Ken only has himself to blame for his difficulties. But the success of the campaign against him is just one more step in the gradual Americanisation of British politics. And with public tax returns and televised debates imported, it surely can't be long before the requests for politicians' medical records begin. Warning over 'Americanisation' of UK universities The government must hold a debate on the future of higher education in the UK before it moves any further towards an Americanised elitist system, the House of Lords has heard. Warning over 'Americanisation' of UK universities Puttnam warns of creeping Americanisation in UK TV Selling off Channel 5 or ITV to a US company would lead to the creeping Americanisation of TV schedules, Lord Puttnam's influential parliamentary committee warned today as it outlined explicit reasons for opposing government plans to relax TV ownership laws. Puttnam warns of creeping Americanisation in UK TV The BBC director general, Greg Dyke, yesterday laid out the case for the impartiality of broadcast news in Britain as against the 'unquestioning' attitude of US networks, and warned the government not to allow the 'Americanisation' of the British media. He urged the government to think carefully about its proposals to liberalise media ownership laws in Britain. 'We must ensure that we don't become Americanised,' he said in a speech at Goldsmith's College in London yesterday. While most people accept that language will change with use and time, Sarah Churchwell appears to justify the increasing Americanisation of British English (A neologism thang, innit, 10 May). Noah Webster may have produced the language that should be known as 'American', but that should not be a reason, as Churchwell seems to imply, for British English to be altered to the American version. American is characterised by a plethora of 'z's and a paucity of 'u's, which doesn't even reflect the way we pronounce many of the affected words. Churchwell seems to view the French influence on our language as in need of purging. This has no justification. The French influence is part of the Latin history of English, as is the impact of Spanish and Italian. Even if we can accept the expertise Americans bring to areas such as fundraising, and the diversity of the international arts scene, the Americanisation of other areas can cause the hackles of the British bulldog to rise. The Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England - which sets our mortgage rates - includes a US economist, DeAnne Julius. She insists the trend we are seeing is less Americanisation, more internationalisation. 'There has been a globalisation of human capability. There are more Americans and more people of other nationalities too,' Julius says. 'All fields are now more global - business, the arts, sports.' • Michael Kaiser's appointment as head of the Royal opera House is only one of many US inroads into the British culture. Dictionaries contain ever more Americanisations, and even the Last Night of the Proms is now to be led by an American. As the hippies turned on, tuned in and dropped out, a wave of new therapies emerged (in the San Francisco Bay Area), christened collectively as 'the human potential movement'. 'Let it out!' was what you now did with your angst. Nervous breakdowns were a thing of the past, while inflation and the Americanisation of the working culture, with its short-term contracts and insecurity of tenure, were rapidly becoming a thing of the present. The rise of the internet is threatening to Americanise the English language. Widespread use of the world wide web is leading to more and more Britons substituting 'center' for centre, 'program' for programme, and 'color' for colour, according to John Simpson, chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. Our lives are becoming hopelessly Americanised says professor Prof Halsey, regarded as a founding father of comprehensive education and now emeritus fellow of Nuffield college, Oxford, told the Guardian that Britain was becoming 'hopelessly Americanised' in everything from the decline of the high street to fixation with the individual and the free market. Anti-Americanism has taken the world by storm Additionally, if America now attacks other countries suspected of harbouring terrorists, it will almost certainly do so alone, without the backing of the coalition that supported the action in Afghanistan. The reason is that America finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may turn out to be harder to defeat than militant Islam: that is to say, anti-Americanism, which is presently taking the world by storm. However, even if that settlement were arrived at tomorrow, anti-Americanism would probably not abate. It has become too useful a smokescreen for Muslim nations' many defects - their corruption, their incompetence, their oppression of their own citizens, their economic, scientific and cultural stagnation. America-hating has become a badge of identity, making possible a chest-beating, flag-burning rhetoric of word and deed that makes men feel good. It contains a strong streak of hypocrisy, hating most what it desires most, and elements of self-loathing ('we hate America because it has made of itself what we cannot make of ourselves'). Western anti-Americanism is an altogether more petulant phenomenon than its Islamic counterpart, and, oddly, far more personalised. Muslim countries don't like America's power, its 'arrogance', its success; in the non-American west, the main objection seems to be to American people. Night after night, I have found myself listening to Londoners' diatribes against the sheer weirdness of the American citizenry. The attacks on America are routinely discounted ('Americans only care about their own dead'). American patriotism, obesity, emotionality, self-centredness: these are the crucial issues. Salman Rushdie: Anti-Americanism takes the world by storm In February 2001, Timothy Garton Ash asked 'Is Britain European?' He argued that Britain had long since abandoned the national perspective of a self-satisfied little island at the heart of a great empire: 'But it is not clear whether what has replaced it is Europeanisation, Americanisation or just globalisation.' Quite so. A leading political philosopher, John Gray, has attacked Labour's commitment to the United States as 'the paradigmatic modern country, which Britain should take as a model'. In contrast Jonathan Freedland, a Guardian journalist, has written an entire volume dedicated to teaching Britons how to 'live the American dream', first by eliminating the monarchy and then by installing a republic based on the US Constitution. Returns And The Americanisation Of British Politics Tax Returns And The Americanisation Of British Politics Tax Returns And The Americanisation Of British Politics Americanisation of British politics. Americanisation of British politics. Their agreement came during a ... Americanisation of British politics. Their agreement came during a ... NewsBiscuit RSS Feed NewsBiscuit » Rioters denounce 'Americanisation' of British way of rioting Comments Feed NewsBiscuit Ofsted report slams School of Hard Knocks Red faces as George Michael wins Daily Mail's 'Dream Cottage' Betting firms collapse as Indian cricketers retire on winnings Rioters denounce 'Americanisation' of British way of rioting 'Big ass New York cop don't know jack sheet bout nuthin,' says Simon from Bromley British rioters have hit out at what they see as an unwelcome transatlantic influence on the traditional English way of looting and causing affray. 'It's another deplorable Americanisation of our traditional British way of doing stuff – especially free stuff,' says fourteen-year-old Tottenham rioter Zac (two Sony flat screens and a bag of trainers). 'Innit.' The Americanisation of Turkey Then, for much of the two subsequent decades, it looked as if Turkey was following a predominantly European path. It has turned out, however, that this was but a detour. In post-Kemalist Turkey, the earlier American vision is coming to full fruition. Europe's evident failure to accomplish its transformative mission means that Turkish politics is coming under the sway, not of Europeanisation but of Americanisation. But the connection runs much deeper than the convergence of strategic interests at a critical juncture - for Turkey is also Americanising domestically. Both Gülen's movement and the pious entrepreneurs supporting the AKP have embraced the fusion of market-friendly (or neo-liberal) economics and God once popularised by Turgut Özal, perhaps Turkey's most distinguished Americaniser. Some critics would argue that the religious worldview shared by the AKP and the Gülenists dismisses social rights and redistribution and sees welfare (again similarly to US conservatives) in paternalistic terms as a matter of charity, though in fairness social reforms in key areas such as healthcare have greatly expanded opportunities for Turkey's lower-income groups. But if Turkey is embracing Americanisation rather than Europeanisation, could this process provide a (better) answer to Turkey's burning questions of citizenship and national identity? Again, the European Union long thought that it had the competence and leverage to make a difference in Turkey. But it now appears that Brussels's standards tended to reinforce Turkey's post-1920s Kemalist order, which was already informed by the French republican ideal of a single and indivisible political community (and often cast, as also in Germany and much of central and eastern Europe, in exclusively ethno-cultural terms). So there are also obstacles to Turkey's Americanisation. Turkey's new establishment has very few knee-jerk Americanophiles (similar to the old secular one, whose attitude to the US was highly instrumental). Turkey's public opinion has traditionally been, as elsewhere in southern Europe, a hotbed of anti-Americanism. The German Marshall Fund's 'transatlantic trends' poll in 2011 finds out that 62% of Turks hold negative views of the US, the highest percentage of all countries surveyed. There is no causal relationship between Turkey's internal Americanisation and the country's behaviour vis-à-vis the US, which is essentially a balancing act between the pursuit of security in a turbulent environment and the quest for autonomy. Say 'no' to a Senate, the Americanisation of the UK has gone far enough, an OK competition The British Election Debates, the Lib Dem Surge and the Americanisation of Our Politics The Americanisation of British Politics: Living in a Fantasy, Liberal World The Americanisation of British politics can be illustrated in how our political and media elites see much of the public life of our nation, a good example of which is the Prime Ministerial debates. Our political and media classes inhabit a mythical, imagined Camelot – a fantasy land of 'Anglo-America' – where all their references to politics are either British or American 'real' politics, or the make believe of the TV series 'The West Wing'. It is as partial a view of the US as it a distortion of the UK: a world of brave, crusading liberals taking on the forces of darkness and prejudice, 'the New Deal', 'New Frontier', 'Great Society' and so on, and never the Goldwater, Nixon or Reagan versions, and certainly not the mad hatter Tea Partyiers. Polari Magazine RSS2 Feed Polari Magazine » Villains: How British Christians are being Americanised Comments Feed West End Eurovision Launch Party Mother's Ruin, Theatrical Spectacular You are here: Polari Magazine / Heroes & Villains / Villains: How British Christians are being Americanised Villains: How British Christians are being Americanised THERE'S a long history of the guardians of the English language battling bravely against creeping Americanisms, but the reality is that it's a two-way process, writes Stephen McGinty 'Cops?' My wife's lip curled up into a smug little sneer. 'Where do you think we are? Boston.' I could, at that moment, have pointed out that Glasgow does share a grid system of streets which makes it a convenient stand-in for the average American city, but figure this would only delay chastisement for a linguistic dalliance with my current 'Americanism' of choice. For I'm shamed to admit that I have an unconscious habit of referring to the police by an American slang. Still, it is preferable to referring to them as the police 'service' which has replaced the word 'force', probably on the grounds that it sounds friendlier. However, to my mind, a service is optional, you can either choose to make use of a service or not, and yet the role of the police is to enforce the law, obedience to which is not at all optional. I don't mind certain Americanisms, those words and phrases that wheedle their way into everyday usage such as 'talented' and 'reliable'. You weren't aware that both words originally hailed from across the Atlantic? OK. Neither did I before I researched this column, but, apparently William Coleridge cast his disdain on 'talented' which he described as a barbarous word in 1832, but Gladstone didn't seem to mind as he was using it in speeches a few years later. The letter writers to the Times, like their counterparts in corresponding to The Scotsman, have always sought to protect the English language, with one writing in 1857 to describe the new American word 'reliable' as vile. It was a Scot who first coined the term 'Americanism'. John Witherspoon, the president of Princeton College, first used it in an article published in the Pennsylvania Journal, in which he wrote: 'The first class I call Americanisms, by which I understand a use of phrases or terms, or a construction of sentences, even among persons of rank and education, different from the use of the same terms or phrases or construction of similar sentences in Great Britain. The word Americanism, which I have coined for the purpose, is exactly similar in its formation and signification to the word Scotticism.' If the appearance of American words caused mild consternation to poets and letter writers to the Times in the early 19th century, it was probably just as well that they were long dead when the marshalled forces of the American English began to lay siege to our nation during our darkest hour. When movies (yes, that could be described as an Americanism, but is also, I would argue, accurate when used to describe an American film) developed sound and recorded dialogue in the 1930s American words and phrases poured from the cinema screen into British ears. Then, when hundreds of thousands of American GIs descended into English towns and villages the frottage between words was heated. There are those who cannot stand 'Americanisms'. A few years ago the BBC encouraged listeners to write in with their foulest examples which included 'bi-weekly' instead of fortnightly (surely bi-weekly should be used for any occurrence whose frequency is twice a week?); 'eaterie', 'hike' as in to raise prices, 'going forward' and 'you do the math' which, to my mind, is particularly callous, bullying the letter 's' away from his friends m, a, t and little h. Others were enraged by the insertion of redundant words, as in 'I got it for free' or the counter-intuitive 'I could care less', which in its literal meaning indicates that you do care a reasonable amount but that this could be lowered, when what the person actually meant to say is: 'I couldn't care less.' Clearly British people do not wish to have 'an issue' but prefer to have 'a problem' and then we come to aural and linguistic atrocities such as 'my bad' for 'my Yet if I have a current pet hate among 'Americanisms' it is the phrase 'reaching out'. I recently sent an e-mail to a company in Los Angeles who said they could not be of assistance but thanked me for 'reaching out'. Have you ever heard a more belittling collision of two words? To ask, in which both parties are on equal footing, has been usurped by a phrase which elevates one and reduces the other. I was the pitiful party drowning in a quicksand of my own ignorance but bravely 'reaching out' as if towards the security of a branch or vine. I accept, however, that there is nothing to be done about 'Americanisms' other than to make a personal choice about which ones, if any, you are prepared to admit into your everyday vocabulary. Personally, I'm happy to take the lift over the elevator, but would prefer to live in an apartment rather than a flat. When it comes to my car, which is an American Chrysler, I'll still remain British and swerve around the gas tank, hood and trunk, in favour of petrol, bonnet and boot. The English language will continue to evolve and it is impossible to build a fence around what has, over centuries, blended German, French, Dutch and Latin into its own rich stew of letters. It is, however, important to remember that words and phrases, like little linguistic cargo vessels, are constantly bobbing back and forth across the Atlantic. BBC criticised for creeping 'Americanisms' The BBC has been criticised for an increased use of 'Americanisms' and slang terms by its presenters. The exchange sparked a furious debate on the BBC messageboards about whether this was the latest example of an Americanism creeping into accepted use by BBC presenters. Nick Seaton, Campaign for Real Education, said: 'It is not a surprise that a few expressions have crept in but the BBC should be setting an example for people and not indulging any slopping Americanised slang.' A list of Americanisms that have annoyed BBC listeners: * The Americanisation of dates - July the fifth is now 'July fifth' or January the fifth becomes 'January five' Americanisation of the traditional autumn festival, based on the British anti-Americanism 'based on misconceptions' petition against anti-Americanism. RSS 2.0 RSS .92 Atom 0.3 The Gunning Hawk: Arsenal Blog and Arsenal News » Martin Keown on Arsenal's Americanisation: Arsene Wenger will make key signings Comments Feed The Gunning Hawk: Arsenal Blog and Arsenal News Post here your Arsenal blog for link-sharing Arsenal legend Bob Wilson: Why Wojciech Szczesny is the future in goal Tomas Rosicky's agent, 'There have been many false rumours circulating' Martin Keown on Arsenal's Americanisation: Arsene Wenger will make key signings Winners in PI's 'Americanisation' The row over selling accident victims' names for £1 a time, which sparked apoplectic attacks in the heavyweight press about 'ambulance chasing' lawyers 'Americanising' personal injury litigation, raises serious issues: how is an accident victim expected to find a competent lawyer? Are personal injury lawyers really bringing transatlantic litigation to the UK and if so, to whose benefit or detriment? If 'Americanisation' means tacky advertising or raising the expectations of clients with hopeless and unmeritorious claims, then I do not support it. If 'Americanisation' means developing access to justice through easier procedures, wider funding options and more skilled practitioners, then I am all for that too. If 'Americanisation' means these real benefits, and I believe it does, we need to look at just who are the winners and losers. The real winners are the victims, bringing claims for compensation which are presently neglected and recovering ever-improving damages, despite the limitations of our system. The losers are insurance firms, which have had it too much their own way for too long, and which now find themselves paying justified damages to accident victims, on claims which previously may never have been brought. Stoker experts bite back against Twilight and 'Americanised' teen vampires Professor Bloom also regretted 'the Americanisation of the vampire' to be found, for example, in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight books, where 'the dangerous violent aristocrat has become the dark boy no one talks to and who's eternally 17'. It is not fair to call twilight's effect as 'Americanization.' Many Americans hate twilight, mainly because it is terribly written and romanticises abusive relationships. Feel free to say the Stephanie Meyers and her subsequent bandwagon ruined vampires, but don't blame it on America, because we don't like it either. 1. Globalisation or Americanisation Home | What we think | The Advertising & Marketing Services Industry by Sir Martin Sorrell | Seven key factors driving longer-term growth | Globalisation or Americanisation Globalisation or Americanisation What has been going on may well not be the globalisation of world markets, but their Americanisation. Not in the sense that upsets the French or the Germans and results in the banning of Americanisms from French commercial language – an objection to the cultural imperialism of Coke, the Golden Arches or Mickey Mouse. More in the sense of the power and leadership of the US. In most industries, including our own, the US still accounts for almost half of the world market. And given the prominence of US-based multinationals, you could argue that almost two-thirds of the advertising and marketing services market is controlled or influenced from there. If you want to build a worldwide brand you have to establish a big presence in the world's largest market – the US. At times in history, when a country or empire seemed to have total political, social or economic hegemony, things changed and the vacuum was filled by another power. At this point, it seems that China and India will take that role, in the context of the growth of Asia Pacific. In fact, we may now be witnessing a change from Americanisation to globalisation. In Davos, at the World Economic Forum, over the last few years, the Chinese and Indians exhibited a larger degree of self-reliance and independence, perhaps even over-confidence. Both no longer seem to want to rely on handouts or support. Both economies have reached or are reaching a size and rate of growth that may be self-sustaining and certainly more independent of US influence. While decoupling has not, in our view arrived, there is, probably less coupling. Put another way, when the US sneezes the world does not catch influenza any more, just a cold. With anti-Americanism creeping back to the forefront of political rhetoric in Moscow, many in Russia slyly smiled when Romney this year called Russia 'our No 1 geopolitical foe'.