Comments on: A Brit’s take on American English

By: Vicki Hollett

Vicki Hollett — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 09:12:29 +0000

Oh Clarrie,

Speaking as a Brit, married to an American, your response rang so many of chords for me. The potential for misunderstanding is huge. Folks think we speak the same language and we do… but only up to an extent because in the one hand we have a culture that favours warmth, friendliness and openness and on the other we have one that favours non-intrusion and not getting in anyone’s way and letting other people do whatever they want to do without intruding.

And then on top of this we have personalities (like your mother-in-law) – that add new personal and idiosyncratic layers to the communication exchanges.

Thank you so much for this response and please come visit my blog because I am trying to tease some of that stuff out there.
Vicki

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 17:24:29 +0000

I like your paragraph about “politeness.” I am South African by marriage, American by birth. Now I’m not a red neck, I consider myself well educated and cultured, but when communicating with my mother-in-law, who is of British descent in SA, I always take what she says the wrong way. (And I’m a person who loved visiting France and didn’t think the French were rude at all!) Needless to say our relationship suffers because we both tend to think the other has a level of rudeness. Example: My husband and I are not the best at keeping in touch, especially since she still lives in Cape Town, and we received a text (SMS for non-Americans) this morning about his little cousin’s birthday and the text read “Please acknowledge him.” To me, like many things she says, that sounds like a “jab.” Like we should “acknowledge” that they exist. But I am constantly reminding myself that it is just the way she speaks. It always comes across as harsh. Like my encounter once with a British woman in public saying “exCUSE me.” The inflection just sounds rude to my Americanized ears. I know it isn’t meant to be offensive, it’s just so hard! If an American said some of these things, it would be intended as rude/harsh. Of course, I’m sure I come across as rude to most Americans too since I am not talkative and I don’t like small talk with strangers.

Just to make myself clear, I think Queen’s English is quite nice, I’ve even picked up some of the lingual habits like saying “quite nice.” I no longer make fun of my husband for adding extra syllables in words like aluminum and he tries not to make fun of my southern way of adding an extra syllable for R’s like foo-erk for fork. Now if I could just learn to communicate with the in-laws! (Well my father-in-law is Afrikaans so I don’t have so much trouble with him-he rarely speaks English to me despite the fact that the only Afrikaans phrase I know is “Can I please have a margarita”). Obviously I should just get over it and realize the British aren’t out to get me As my mother would say, “Stop wearin’ your emotions on your sleeve.”

By: Frequently Asked Questions about British English « Science and Language

Frequently Asked Questions about British English « Science and Language — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 16:53:26 +0000

[...] the other direction, “Belts and Braces” has the same problem, but isn’t as much of a double [...]

By: clarrie whistance

clarrie whistance — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 01:12:23 +0000

Haven’t touched on it here and it’s probably somewhat outside the scope of this thread, but what about the American fondness – all too often! – of changing syllable stress. And then of course there’s what has been written about elsewhere as ‘verbing the noun’ and ‘nouning the verb’.

By: Colin Graham

Colin Graham — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 18:47:25 +0000

Re: Bring/take

Excerpt from an American recipe: “you have to make it a day in advance, which works well if you’re having people over or bringing it somewhere.”

As a Brit, I would say “taking it somewhere,” and “bringing it somewhere” sounds strange to me.

I see the difference as whether or not I am going to be with you and the object in question.

For example:
“Don’t forget to bring your umbrella!” suggests I am going with you, or you are coming where I am or will be.
“Don’t forget to take your umbrella!” suggests you are going somewhere and I am not.

Maybe American usage is looks at the ‘person + object’ relationship, rather than ‘person + speaker’ relationship here?

By: Vicki

Vicki — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 22:11:10 +0000

Hi Clarrie! Thanks for joining in. I haven’t noticed any variation between AmE and BrE with bring/take and come/go and I wonder if it’s a regional thing. Do you know how we are supposed to use them differently?

It’s funny you should mention the present perfect, because I thought I’d be coming to a land that rarely used it. Instead I found it alive and well in the US. In case you’re interested, I’ve written more about it here:
http://www.vickihollett.com/?p=126

By: Vicki

Vicki — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 21:57:22 +0000

Thanks so much for the kind words, Vladimir. And thanks for telling me about those two different sets of audio recordings too! I think we should make those American recordings faster.
It was interesting ‘translating’ Business Objectives actually because there were all sorts of od changes I found we needed to make. In case you’re interested, I’ve written about them here: http://www.vickihollett.com/?p=128
All the best!

By: Clarrie Whistance

Clarrie Whistance — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:36:59 +0000

What about the … American confusion with bring/take and come/go; and of course the present perfect doesn’t seem to rate very highly!

By: Vladimir

Vladimir — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:30:57 +0000

Dear Vicki,
I feel thrilled to start writing. I have been using your textbook Business Objectives for almost 15 years so it feels like writing to the Queen.

I have a rather funny experience from last year. In one group of about 20 adult students we have used the older version of the book, which is British English and the newer version which is International (which means American English). If you ask why we did such a funny thing it was because we just got into the particular moment where the old and new versions were still sold and as the book is quite expensive I did not want to force my students into buying a new copy and throwing the old one away…
The truth is that the Americanized version of the book is simpler and the recordings are more understandable. I am sorry to admit that as I am in favour of British culture and English as well.
Nice greetings from Prague
Vladimir

By: Henrik

Henrik — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 17:22:07 +0000

Interesting article. I had the opposite experience years ago as an American encountering British overseas. I learned quickly what the loo is, and that trucks are called lorries and run on petrol, not gas(oline). These are pretty well known differences. But it was a surprise to hear vacuum cleaners called hoovers (which is a brand name in the US) and dish detergent called ‘washing-up liquid’. Yeah, the language is the same, but the idioms can differ radically.