Don't you think American English shouldn't be called English.?

Question

The accent, the dialog, few words are all different when it comes to the British English. I think we should call the American English Americanish, Ricanish, Ameglish, or Wronglish. What do you think?

Stupid_frogy, you said "there is a big difference between AE and BE in the way that u say the word ", you mean BET? Come on man, don't be afraid to say what ever you want.

Answer 1

Are you alright, dude?...............................

Answer 2

r u british ?? ha ha lol ..
first u should know that the american slang is different than the american english .. maybe u r sayin that cuz u think that the slang english is that u hear from movies and stuff is the american english ,, but the ameican english has rols and mostly same things that bristish english has.. there is a big difference between AE and BE in the way that u say the word .. and this is not that big of the deal .. I am egyptian and I am learning english but I really find american english is much easier that british english .. even if I am gonna buy a story or a novel or something I prefer to pick up the american english verison.. see u later alligators

Answer 3

drshorty makes a key point -- as our ability to communicate here demonstrates, folks from the U.S. and Britain (Australia, Canada, etc) are speaking dialectal variatons of ONE common language.

But there's more to it than that. This sort of question is based on a faulty historical assumption (which remains faulty even if Brits and Americans often share it). There is this odd idea that British English has been and is monolithic, that it has stayed constant and that American English started with British English but went its own way. The real story is much more complex than that.

1) Since English is a LIVING language, in both Britain and America, it has, quite properly, changed in BOTH places since colonial times. (Also, the two have maintained contact over the centuries -- each borrowing from the other -- so no simple "tree" model will work.)

2) BOTH groups have kept some older words, forms, etc and innovated in other areas. Thus, if we were to judge by "who is closer to English as spoken & written in the 17th century" (though why we should do so I cannot tell), in some cases the "Standard English" of Britain would win out, but in others (General) American English would. For that matter, some of the forms that would 'win' by this standard of measure would be forms that are not considered "standard" in EITHER country, e.g., expressions preserved only in Appalachia.

(One fairly minor example in the area of pronunciation -- most American dialects preserve "r" sounds that have since been lost to the British dialect that became the standard.)

3) Aside from instances where an American dialect has the "more original" form, many supposed "deviations" of American English are simply preservations of a DIALECT of British English different from the currently dominant one (the "Received Pronunciation", etc.). NEITHER is older or more original! (This goes for spelling too.)

Both Britain and America have regional dialects (and Britain has many more varieties than ALL of its former colonies put together!) This go far back into British history -- there was great variety amongst OLD English dialects. And the chief AMERICAN regional dialects (typically broken into four groups) are rooted in the BRITISH dialects of the areas where the first settlers came from.

Answer 4

Americanish :D it's funny..I don't say American English or British English as a foreign (not American)..I call English as English but if u call English as American English, I agree with you..Just few words..It's unneccessary to say American English or British English. English is English ;-)

Answer 5

Even though there are differences between American English and British English, they are still mutually intelligible, which makes them dialects of the same language. It makes sense to call two dialects of the same language by the same name.

Answer 6

My thoughts on this can best be summed up as: Oh brother.
There is overall more variation within "British English"--probably for that matter within "English" English than between the average American's and the average English person's accents and vocabulary.

Answer 7

English is the correct word. But the trend these days, internationally is to teach English-English. The EU has officially
established the English language as law.
I Corinthians 13;8a, Love never fails!!!!!

Answer 8

I think that technically it should be referred to as American English dialect - it is not different enough yet to be considered another languge; German dialects are much more different from each other. Wait another few hundred years and see if it gets any more different.

Answer 9

Um...no
As a Canadian I would not want to have to decide what to call what we speak up here (maybe Canuck).

If the US wants to follow through with this then what to do with all of your dialects (New England, the South, Midwest etc) and then who speaks the true language that is "American"?

Answer 10

TO make it sounds better why don't we call American English as ANGLISH.

Answer 11

I fully agree with you..By the way more suitable would be if we call it Wronglish..