Is British English marginalized compared with American E?

Guest   Wed Oct 08, 2008 12:25 am GMT
Do you feel the tendency that British English is marginalized compared with American English?
Uriel   Wed Oct 08, 2008 6:15 am GMT
No. But I'm not British -- maybe they're more sensitive about it.
Guest   Wed Oct 08, 2008 2:49 pm GMT
Yes. American English has certainly robbed British English of its grandeur and influence.
WRP   Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:15 pm GMT
Not having an empire to back it up robs British English of it's grandeur and influence.
Damian in Edinburgh   Wed Oct 08, 2008 7:01 pm GMT
WRP - can you enlighten us further on the meaning behind your last posting? How exactly does a long lost Empire have any influence on the "grandeur" of the English Language? Do you mean that we no longer hear the gruff booming cries of masterful ex-Eton educated colonels of Her*Majesty's Household Cavalry resplendent with mutton chop whiskers and wearing pith helmets and yelling out "Kwey hai!" to the cowering natives in far away sun drenched, skin blisteringly hot climes so alien to this temperate wave beat land? Thankfully we no longer do.

Even though we are now but a misty, cloudy, drizzly, damp, dank, dismal, depressingly dreary, dodgily duplicitous and insignificant wee offshore island little more than one big traffic jam on the western fringes of the new European Empire we still manage to hold on to a Language which I can assure you undoubtedly assumes the status of grandeur and influence every bit as much as it ever did somewhere in the verdant pasturelands of fair Albion sometime way back in the dim and distant days of the early Middle Ages.

*Or His Majesty, of course. Day of Empire were not entirely during those of the Great White Queen aka Victoria.
Guest   Thu Oct 09, 2008 12:30 am GMT
Isn't America an empire?
WRP   Thu Oct 09, 2008 12:39 am GMT
I only said grandeur and influence because it's what the previous poster said. I don't think the English spoken on your fair isle is any better or worse than that which was spoken when Victoria was Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India. I was just scoffing at the idea that British English is "marginalized" when it's not only the standard in Britain, it's taught as a standard form of English throughout much of the world. The only way that could be considered marginalized is comparing it to its status at the height of the British Empire.

I hope you didn't think I meant anything untoward about the grace of your mother tongue.
greg   Fri Oct 10, 2008 12:07 am GMT
Guest : « Do you feel the tendency that British English is marginalized compared with American English? ».

Non, pas du tout.



Guest : « Yes. American English has certainly robbed British English of its grandeur and influence. »

L'influence, peut-être. Et encore... Mais la "grandeur", non. Certainement pas. Après tout dépend du sens qu'on donne au mot <grandeur>.
Damian in Edinburgh   Fri Oct 10, 2008 10:08 am GMT
No I didn't, WRP! Nae probs - dinnae fret.
Mossie   Fri Oct 10, 2008 5:57 pm GMT
British English, in my eyes, is the "purest" form of English, and should be used as standard English throughout the world. I hate the phonetic spellings in AE, especially "realise" becoming "realize" and "litre" becoming "liter" etc. it just makes the language so much more simplified and almost "dumbed down" (sorry if that sounds offensive to AE users, I just couldnt come up with a better way to sat it :))
Morticia   Fri Oct 10, 2008 6:01 pm GMT
realize/realise ----> I prefer realize. Z is cool.
litre/liter -----> litre is better.
Mossie   Fri Oct 10, 2008 6:06 pm GMT
while Z is cool, I prefer s, just because its not phonetic, but you're right on the litre thing, it looks more like a proper word,
Adam   Fri Oct 10, 2008 8:04 pm GMT
"Do you mean that we no longer hear the gruff booming cries of masterful ex-Eton educated colonels of Her*Majesty's Household Cavalry resplendent with mutton chop whiskers and wearing pith helmets and yelling out "Kwey hai!" to the cowering natives in far away sun drenched, skin blisteringly hot climes so alien to this temperate wave beat land?"
*************

Unfortunately, that doesn't happen anymore. That was the good old days, though.
Kendra   Fri Oct 10, 2008 8:17 pm GMT
-Z is cool. -

I love zee
Guest   Fri Oct 10, 2008 9:42 pm GMT
<<while Z is cool, I prefer s, just because its not phonetic, but you're right on the litre thing, it looks more like a proper word, >>

Are you a moron? Why is it better for a spelling not to be phonetic?