English Langauge?

Question

I was so annoyed in another thread about people criticising other (mostly the Americans) about their use of English Langauge I thought I would start another. This was my answer, Pease feel free to add your comment.
You find that a lot people in the North of England e.g lancashire do call trousers 'pants' It confused me for a while, but it is very common & always has been the case. The English language is very broad even in the UK, with much of the world speaking it as well then you are going to get defferent words, ,meanings , spellings, dialects etc. 'Pants 'actually make sense if you think about it. Mens underwear are 'underpants' ie that under the pants.
To the guy who mentioned 'sidewalk' Out Yankee friends use this for 'pavement'...but 'sidewalk' is actually an 'old English' term which was used in England up untill the 16th Century. Much of so called 'americamisms' are actually old english terms & words which we in England don't use anymore. So don't be too quick to criticise.

the yanks. Also the guy who asked what Rome had to do with English Language, DUH ! Much of English language is latin based, with influences later on from scandinavia & saxon/germanic.

To the person who asked why the language is called 'English' & not 'American". English originates from England....or are you plain stupid ? America as much as I like it is not that old & speaks (mostly English) (I think Spanish is the unoffical 2nd language in US)

Answer 1

True, but there are also lots of ways in which Americans do ruin our language - pronouncing things phonetically for one. Our grammar is very intricate and not all words are pronounced as they are written.

Answer 2

A point about pants. The French for trousers is 'pantalon' which has since been shortened to pants. There's a good chance that this was done in England first. I have no idea where the word 'trousers' comes from.
On another note, the english language is probably the main culprit of taking words from other cultures, changing it and then calling it english (which we have every right to do). This is what makes our language the most versatile and precise - it is a language by the people and for the people.

Answer 3

I'm not a native English speaker, so I wont give you an opinion on the "American English versus British English feud". (other than it's kind of a stupid debate)
What worries me more is that people often talk about their language being destroyed by this cultural group or that country or that sort of people. The only way to destroy a language would be not using it, as long as you are using it, it's called development, which is something good for a language.
Yes, it's risky to change the spelling of a word, b/c you may not get understood. More than that, creativity can never be wrong. Languages is constantly changing. Get over it.

Answer 4

I agree that different expressions/words often are used to mean the same thing even within the same language. These are regional variants. I think when a language is spoken over a wide geographical area, then this is often the case. It's the same with Chinese, Arabic, English and Spanish. I have been told that sometimes a thing is known by different names in different South American countries, even though they all speak Spanish as a common language (with a few exception). To criticize the use of unfamiliar words/expressions shows one's narrow-mindedness and linguistic chauvinism.

Answer 5

I agree with you that the English language is very broad, but I've never heard any English speaker saying "langauge" or "defferent".
About differences between British and American English... I respect differences like "organise" and "organize", "underwear" and "underpants" and many others. What I hate (and what most of the people are critcising) are words like "u" instead of "you", "2" instead of "to" and so on. These things are ruining the English language, both British and American.

Answer 6

You are wrong. English is NOT Latin-based. English is a GERMANIC language, pure and simple. English has a lot of Latin-based vocabulary, but the grammar is pure Germanic without Latin having anything to do with it. And I am tired of the various British snobs criticizing the American dialects. Today's British language is NOT the language of Shakespeare any more than the American dialects are.

Answer 7

You're spot on, I'm british, but I'm not a pedant - americans can be critized for many things. Their language should not be one of them. I actually think America should change their Official Language to "American", that way english speaker can't moan about differences in spelling and even grammar. English people don't have any right to abuse americans for using their own language.
American ( maybe apart from grammar) is closer to old English than modern English, because it almost remained static once they moved over there. Another example of old english word still used in america -
trash - here in england we now say rubbish...


lofty! weak argument - why would they go over to america and MAKE UP a new language??!

Answer 8

You've made a good point. Really, I think it is sad that we can't all agree to speak the same language, it would solve so many problems. Globalisation might eventually make that happen, and if you saw the World Cup, you might've noticed people holding up banners in English (the 'international language'). Mind you, with China now so rich, and about to travel the world, maybe we should all start learning Mandarin (Chinese).

Answer 9

We're gradually killing our own language here in the UK! How often do you hear kids talking 'street' - it's unintelligible let alone grammatically or constructively incorrect. Let's see how many of the readers here will admit to saying 'the' instead of 'thee' (to differentiate phonetically) before a word beginning with a vowel, or the correct use of 'a' and 'an', correctly saying 'you are' instead of 'you is'? The standard of English in England, let alone anywhere else, is dire, not helped by the fact that not even poor spelling is corrected in our schools.

Answer 10

I am not too worried about what the Americans say or don't say but don't really like it, perhaps until I get used to it when English people start to adopt their words or grammar. Examples are the use of invite instead of invitation or electric instead of electricity; or use of the word gotten. I don't care if there is a historical precedent for words like gotten or not (is there?). But I also understand that all language will alter over time so won't lose too much sleep over it

Answer 11

I think a lot of people get annoyed that its not converging but growing further apart and English in America goes back 300+ years... well its success as a global language is its ability to change and adapt .. the Americans, Scots and welsh etc get annoyed they have to call it English ...lol