The USA has NO Official language

Guest: "Typical american ignorant. No English is not fine, American English is full of slang and detested by the British, and regarded as very uncultivated."

All I can say to that, Guest, is that you are definitely going to need a surgeon to remove that corn cob from your ass. You might see if you can get some rhinoplasty too; it must be very unattractive to always have your nose sticking straight up in the air. By the way, if you are so interested in standardization, you should start with standardizing you own writing. “american” should be capitalized and there should be a comma after your “no”.

<<They should just bite the bullet and make Hollywood the official regulator.>>

Hollywood already is the unofficial regulator of American English.

"American English is not a Cultural Language"

Gosh, then I guess all those American authors, poets and songwriters were actually British all along.

So Mark Twain, Walt Whitman and Stephen Foster were Englishmen, eh?

Who knew?

Psst, no need for capitals on either "cultural" or "language." If you're going to take potshots at other people's English, get a grip on your own first.

I really don't see why people insist on American and British English being so different, they aren't.

Anyway, the British consider American English to be stiffer, more formal, and more "refined" than British English. Eats, Shoots, and Leaves is that famous book of criticism against British English's current state of sloppiness. British English is definitely more slangy, informal, and colorful than American English, which is regarded as being rather boring.

Whoever's making these arguments that British English is more formal and refined is definitely not a native English speaker. Which makes you wonder, why do they assume these things? It's probably just inherent European prejudice against the US.

<< Anyway, the British consider American English to be stiffer, more formal, and more "refined" >>

Really? I would still say that in educated/formal circles, British English would still be stiffer/"refined" as compared to American. Just turn on BBC and listen to the people being interviewed (not the man on the street, but senior politicians, businessmen, other important people) and compare it with how people talk on CNN. When talking about street talk, both are in the same state: full of slang and colloqualism, but I'm not complaining. Slang brings colour to a language.

Taking an extreme example like politicians on TV means nothing when it comes to actual general usage of language. I'm sure you work in the media or academia, but the standards over in the UK are wayyyyyy more lax than they are in the US.

My aunt was an editor over at the Financial Times and my uncle the editor over at the Guardian and they basically confirmed the difference between the US and UK... the US is wayyyy stricter when it comes to communication.

There's also a degree of politeness and manners in daily American English that my British friends find absolutely hilarious. Of course foreigners who think British English is all that manufactured RP that absolutely nobody really speaks probably think all Americans are savages ripping each others throats out and pissing on their carcasses before going to buy 100 Big Macs and take in one of those decadent mindless Hollywood movies.

Well, I'm not in the media or academia, but I work in investment banking, so I do deal with the so-called elite, educated, intelligent people all the time. Maybe that has coloured my view of British vs US english. I frankly do not know enough to be able to judge the general situation of which type of English is in a state of "greater decay"....

"I frankly do not know enough to be able to judge the general situation of which type of English is in a state of 'greater decay'...."

Simple.

The answer is: no type of English is in a state of "greater decay."

Estuary English or southern English accents are far more educated and cultivated than General AME. And the fact that you Americans love the British accent and the Brits dislike the American English, proves a lot!

Face it dudes your AME English is ugly, and uncultivated, and please stop pretending you have a culture.

AME English is a purely commercial Language.

"And the fact that you Americans love the British accent and the Brits dislike the American English, proves a lot! "

This might have to do with the actual aesthetics of General American English rather than any sense of "correctness". (Despite widespread disdain in America for Southern American English, I've heard quite a few Brits say that they thought the dialect was pleasant.)

It seems that the only people who find General American pleasant are the speakers of that dialect themselves.

"There's also a degree of politeness and manners in daily American English that my British friends find absolutely hilarious. "

It would be interesting to hear more about this.

How can a language be any more cultivated than another? Yet another example of cultural imperialism on the British. Sorry guys, your empire's gone, but we'll let you have the whole "our language is better than your language!" thing as a consolation prize.

>>"And the fact that you Americans love the British accent and the Brits dislike the American English, proves a lot! "

This might have to do with the actual aesthetics of General American English rather than any sense of "correctness". (Despite widespread disdain in America for Southern American English, I've heard quite a few Brits say that they thought the dialect was pleasant.)

It seems that the only people who find General American pleasant are the speakers of that dialect themselves.<<

Honestly, I have to really agree here. I myself tend to find General American to be overall very dry and boring, and really lacking much in the way of intonation (much the less real pitch accents on syllables of words) or variation in vowel length, making it sound very monotone to my ears. On the other hand, despite its overall social status in the US, I really do tend to find Southern dialects to be much more pleasant than GA (and actually far clearer than the dialect spoken here). Of course, I'm used to both my own dialect and the local formal prestige variety here, which have far more in the way of overall pitch variation (including within individual words) and vowel length variation than the likes of GA...

Dude, the only thing the English hate that came from England is America. An Englishman could vomit all over a wall and they'd find some way to claim that it was somehow superior to the vomit on walls in America.

I prefer the accent of Carl from Slingblade. Mmmmhhhmm.