Why does American English irk so many British English speakerss?

Question

It's such a malliable language, with so many mutations, so why does American English come in for so much stick?

Answer 1

There are a number of reasons why British English speakers dislike American English.

Firstly, American English is putting British English under threat; little by little and with unprecedented one-way media encroachment, British people who know no better are pronouncing 'schedule' with a 'k' sound instead of 'sh', and 'either' with an 'ee' sound instead of 'eye', for example.

Secondly, there is a lot of perceived arrogance or ignorance from Americans about the status of the two varieties of English; for example, the computing world's insistence on installing our software in "US English" (if they're only going to offer one type of English, why not just put "English", are they trying to make a point?), and how long has Internet Explorer been around and we still have to put up with "Favorites"? Thank God for Mozilla Firefox's neutral "Bookmarks". On the same theme, it is annoying when some Americans, perhaps unaware that there are other varieties of English out there, try to correct British speakers on their variant spellings; it's like Canadians trying to tell the French how to make wine.

Thirdly, the British feel that English belongs to them and is part of their identity, and do not like it when another country takes it, changes it, and spreads it around the world as the standard model.

Fourthly, as the invasion of American English is almost entirely one-way traffic, the British are very familiar with American English, but the Americans are very ignorant (sorry but it's true for most) of British English. I translate documents all the time into American English, but when I proofread texts by American translators who have to deliver a job in British English, they struggle.

I honestly believe that if the balance of English throughout the world was 50-50 British and American English (for argument's sake as obviously there are many other varieties of English), there would not be this resentment.

Answer 2

For one thing, US English is more limited than British English. The Brits use more English words in their everyday conversation than American English does. That is why British English sounds so different & old-fashioned to an American. Its because Brits use English words in conversation that is only an English bk word to us. That is why Brit English sounds so quaint & charming to Americans.
Many Brits have a love/hate relationship with America. Sometimes some of them will say they hate us when they envy us. Then sometimes they mean it. Brits are not superior to Americans, & vice versa. People who put down a whole nation of people are bigots & who needs that anyway?
Snobs say "Oh, British English is such perfect English." Well, they are in love with the BBC version of English. You know Scouse is British English, as well as Cockney, and people often cringe when hearing them. There is no perfect language or a pure or stagnant language spoken. Language is constantly in transition. The only language that stays the same the most would be a dead language, & I doubt if speakers of that could speak it without having to change it to meet the present need when spoken today.

Answer 3

American English is very similar to many of the dialects that exist in Britain today in that it has grown from the same roots as the English Language. As a Scot, it is interesting to think that many people might have a problem with the Doric or indeed any of the Scots' dialects - and consider them to be nothing more than slang or an incorrect form of English. This is simply not true - and this is the same with American English. It could even be said that American English is more in keeping with earlier forms of English - consider the American use of the verb 'gotten'. How then can we say who is wrong or right? We should be more interested in how the differences in dialects and American English have evolved - and celebrate the differences instead of thinking that one is superior to another. Languages change constantly - they always have and always will!

Answer 4

As many people have already mentioned, I think one of the biggest annoyances is that a lot of Americans feel the need to 'correct' other forms of English. What could be more irritating than a barely-intelligible American squawking 'Whaaaat!?! Don't you speak English?' Having said that, there exists such a variety of dialects that sometimes both British and Americans struggle to understand their compatriots.

I also think Gordon S made some excellent points: people in Britain have an enormous amount of exposure to American films, TV series, adverts, books, magazines, etc., while the few British exports that make it across the pond are invariably 'remade' for American audiences (e.g. The Office, Men Behaving Badly). As such, British English speakers can understand their American counterparts a lot easier than they can understand us. Perhaps if it weren't for the media, then we really would be mutually unintelligible. (I often have to use my knowledge of American films to alter my language when talking to Americans).

So, yes, I do sometimes feel a bit upset that I seem to be making all the effort to alter the way I speak, when I'm still criticized for talking 'kinda funny'. (Speakers of other languages are also often expected to speak American English, even in their own countries...) Lets not forget, though, that all varieties of English were created with the input of many different peoples and cultures, and this wonderful adaptability has made English, in all its forms, one of the most important languages in the world today (until it is crushed by Spanish and Mandarin, of course ;-).

P.S. If 'colour' and 'favourite' are not proper English because they entered the language via the Norman invasion, then neither are most of the scientific/religious words we use on a daily basis, as they were either taken directly from Latin and Greek, or entered as French words. Noah Webster altered many words to standardize American English and make it easier to learn (and also, I believe, to make it more different from British English), not to make them more 'proper' or authentic. In fact, if you were to study Anglo-Saxon and Early-Middle English phonetics, you would perhaps see that American spelling is not 'more proper' at all...

Thanks for reading this waffle, hope it helps :)

Answer 5

"England and America are two countries divided by a common language." this is what Shaw said he also said "The Americans adore me and will continue to do so until I say something nice about them" Purists naturally prefer the "Queen's English" as that being the language recognised as English. What is spoken in America can be in reality called American, as an Englishman I applaud its existence. Imagine in a country which, by certain standards, is reasonably young being able to adopt and then adapt a language as complicated as English. The young and fast growing nation did it and united an incredible number of peoples of different cultural origins into one nation. I am not someone who believes that everything American is wonderful but I do think the linguistic achievement is worthy of recognition and let them be proud to say they talk American and throw off the final trace of the colonial yoke .

Answer 6

Good British English is in the UK a sign of education and of belonging to the middle class. Therefore it is something that more or less puts you in a group, or, figuratively speaking, a ''club''.
My impression is that those who do not speak a form of academic English, could be looked down on. So, an American version of, let's term it, ''street English'', should be equally not well met as any jargon or dialectal form of British English. Class division is still there (as is in fact in most societies, more or less openly admitted) and accent is the mark.

Answer 7

Hmm, the same reason why the words Telly, Bullocks, Mate, and there jokes irk us. They sound funny and strange.

Last time I was in England their were people I could not understand. I am more than certain they did not speak the Queen's English.

Also for the Brits, American English spelling on words such as color and theater are more correct. Your spellings are the altered form of this because of influence from the french as they had conquered England.

Answer 8

The truth is that Americans can't differentiate the regional English (UK) accents. We associate English with the posh, London, royal version.
In hte UK, there are complete bastardizations of the so called beautiful language. Have you ever heard inner city Liverpool? That has to be at least as bad as any American English. I know a guy from Liverpool and when he gets going, no one can understand him.

Answer 9

The Americans think that the British have quaint accents and use curious expressions, while it is they who have an odd and sometimes antiquated way of expressing themselves. ("I guess" is pure Chaucer!) They have mutilated the language, have done away with adverbs almost entirely, and are in the process of abolishing the past tense. They use unnecessarily long and pompous words for basic things: eg. to "verbalize" rather than to "say". They distort pronounciation to an alarming extent and it is almost impossible in some cases to distinguish between "e" and "a", as they seem to be pronounced in more or less the same way. "And", for example, often sounds the same as "end". Above all, they like to talk (or "verbalize") really loudly!

Answer 10

I'm Canadian, so basically I sound American and spell Britishly.
Any Brit who has a problem with American accents is just silly, but probably also mocks anyone from more than 3 towns away as being either too posh or too broad. (I don't know what "broad" means but I've always heard it associated with lower-class-ness.)

But if you've grown up reading "colour" and "favourite" it DOES look a bit weird without the u, y'know?