What does that have to do with language? British English is properly called Standard English, plus it chaned over the centuries. British English may be the original English but it isn't old fashioned.
True...if Philip was speaking old-fashioned English we would be seeing alot more of thee, thou, forsooth, etc. in his messages!! My biggest complaint about the English language is how lazy some people are becoming in their everyday usage...for example, when I turn on my TV there is invariably some person who is talking (usually quite loudly) about something that I cannot understand for the life of me because they are dropping consonent sounds right and left...I am not "a stick in the mud" but I just wish I could understand what they are saying sometimes because their slang and lingo is so foreign to anything I've ever heard. That commercial with the hip young men all saying "Wazzup!" to each other had me confused for the first few viewings...I had no idea they were saying, "What's up?" I also admit that I've always had a hard time understanding people with a strong accent but at least, they appear to be trying to speak proper English. On the other hand, some young people don't seem to try at all!! I wonder, is this a sign of my advancing years or are young people becoming lazier (?) at trying to pronounce words?
I understand that all accents are laziness. I remember going to acting classes once (or was it twice?) and asked to whisper something so that the entire hall could hear it. It is quite an art. I believe (I may be wrong) that the English language is an amalgamation of lots of different kinds of languages and that there is no such thing as a 'pure' language - except latin which no-one speaks now. I think that articulation (I used to think that that meant as in articulated lorry) has suffered in recent years. Small children are very difficult to understand and some films are so bad that I cannot watch. Now that my hearing is on its way out I can begin to understand what it is like to lose it. When there are two noises then I cannot hear either of them. When a vehicle goes by or the wind blows then I can hear nothing at all. And yet when the noise is very bad it hurts. And I get a high pitched ringing in my ears all day and night. Fortunately I can generally forget about it, but it is always there. I understand that a famous film actress had tinnitus even when she was quite young. That must have been hell.
Any Americans tried to learn British English? Any British tried to learn American English? Do tell about your experience..
American English and my English is not so very different, so what is there to learn? The accent is different, but there are quite a number of American accents in America. My sister-in-law was, many years ago, asked which state she came from because her accent was different. To me she was an American, but to an American she must have been from the east - New York? No, she said, further East. It is nice to see a textbook that reads perfectly wel although it was written and printed in the U.S. of A.
There was a kid walking down the street pulling one wagon half full of books in one hand, and pulling two wagons tied together overflowing with books in the other. A kindly old gentleman walked up and asked what he had in the first wagon. the kid replied that was all the rules to the English language. The man then asked about the second set of wagons and was told they contained all the exceptions to the rules of the english language.
In response to Josh's question of learning British english I have a funny story about my dad during WWII. While riding on a London bus, two young girls were talking behind him and one asked the other about whether she had received her screw and when it was coming... He was totally horrified at the forwardness of these girls until later in the conversation when he realized that they were using a British slang term in refering to their paychecks!! He said he felt rather stupid. Another time a woman WAC he knew was utterly horrified when a young British fellow told her that he was going to "knock her up in the morning" and quickly told him "No way buster!" only to find out that it was a totally innocent English expression to call on someone not the term used in North America for pregnancy!
The English and the Americans are not divided by a common language, but by a standard of living. In the U.S.A. the standard of living is, generally, a good deal higher than it is in the U.K. Jealous?
