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BRITONS USING MORE U.S. WORDS
...Britons are using more American words because of the digital revolution and a growing influence of the U.S., said researchers who found that the word 'marvellous' owes its declining popularity to the American cliche 'awesome'...PTI
...DC Page 9 Wednesday 27 August 2014
It was in the early 1960s that we were first exposed to Americanisms of English language. Most of our teachers and elders frowned on them as barbarisms and vulgarisms.
There are still half a dozen students and young Bengali friends of mine, young enough to be my sons, who rebuke me for writing color and flavor, without their 'u's in place. But they happily write Kolkata which I don't...I stick to my Oh, Calcutta...it can never be Oh, Kolkata for me.
The rise of Americanisms in India coincided curiously with the rise of feminism typified by public burning of bras...a thing Gandhiji would have loved...he burnt piles upon piles of British clothes in public and was sent to jail (gaol)...that 'gaol' reminds me of a senior professor of mechanical engineering at IIT KGP who wished to be known for his prowess in English and always wrote 'gaol' instead of 'jail' but pronounced it: 'goal'...a self-goal.
And this rise of 'American English' happened when the Bernard Shaw quote:
"England and America are two nations divided by a common language"
gained popularity despite its obscure and controversial origin.
We were told that American spellings and lingo were symbolic of American democracy versus the puerile English aristocracy.
And that Americans loved direct speech instead of the convoluted indirect of the British. Apparently Americans frowned on typical English signboards like:
"Walking on this fresh lawn is strictly prohibited"
and preferred to write:
"New lawn - Don't walk!"
And then there were the simpler American spellings. Apparently American tennis players used their rackets rather than racquets (which my Father proudly hung up on our wall at Muthukur). For Father, 'racket' meant quite a different thing...surprisingly when two American youngsters meet, they don't ask:
"What is your job?"
but seem to prefer:
"What is your racket?"
There was but one Americanism I loved much as a young teacher who always hated exams from either end. I didn't like Father's standard English:
"Evaluate the answer-scripts"
which sounded false to me...evaluate had something to do with 'value' which none of our answer-scripts ever had. The alternative:
"Correct the answer-scripts"
sounded hypocritical...I never 'corrected' them...just gave them some marks...
The Americanism for it:
"Check the scripts!"
sounded to me very laudable...'check' being such a lazy and blanket Americanism we learned early on and loved.
Pretty soon we were told that Americans were being perverse with their language...just to be different from their British ancestors...saying, 'apartment' instead of the simpler 'flat', and 'elevator' instead of 'lift'.
And when they came to their own invention, they didn't call it:
"Stairlift"
like their famous 'sidewalk', but preferred to call it:
"Escalator'
Nowadays 'escalate' doesn't have the meaning of lifting up a man or woman or dog, but simply means complaining to a higher animal in the hierarchy food chain.
The first we heard of feminisms in American English was never to write Miss or Mrs but Ms.
But no one taught us how to pronounce it. It varied from: 'Mizz' to 'Mess'.
And then the chairman. We were told to never write or speak of chairmen but only chairpersons. But of course, it is always a 'charwoman'...never a 'charperson'.
The first sentence in our Civics book was:
"Man is a social animal"
And in our Politics book it was:
"Man is a political animal"
Both were attributed to Aristotle in whose times women didn't perhaps take up civics or politics as their 'arts' subjects.
No woman, American or British or even Indian, likes to be called an 'animal'...Aristotle would be hooted and booted by ladies.
And of course man is the famous 'naked ape'...happily.
But woman???
...Posted by Ishani
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BRITONS USING MORE U.S. WORDS
...Britons are using more American words because of the digital revolution and a growing influence of the U.S., said researchers who found that the word 'marvellous' owes its declining popularity to the American cliche 'awesome'...PTI
...DC Page 9 Wednesday 27 August 2014
It was in the early 1960s that we were first exposed to Americanisms of English language. Most of our teachers and elders frowned on them as barbarisms and vulgarisms.
There are still half a dozen students and young Bengali friends of mine, young enough to be my sons, who rebuke me for writing color and flavor, without their 'u's in place. But they happily write Kolkata which I don't...I stick to my Oh, Calcutta...it can never be Oh, Kolkata for me.
The rise of Americanisms in India coincided curiously with the rise of feminism typified by public burning of bras...a thing Gandhiji would have loved...he burnt piles upon piles of British clothes in public and was sent to jail (gaol)...that 'gaol' reminds me of a senior professor of mechanical engineering at IIT KGP who wished to be known for his prowess in English and always wrote 'gaol' instead of 'jail' but pronounced it: 'goal'...a self-goal.
And this rise of 'American English' happened when the Bernard Shaw quote:
"England and America are two nations divided by a common language"
gained popularity despite its obscure and controversial origin.
We were told that American spellings and lingo were symbolic of American democracy versus the puerile English aristocracy.
And that Americans loved direct speech instead of the convoluted indirect of the British. Apparently Americans frowned on typical English signboards like:
"Walking on this fresh lawn is strictly prohibited"
and preferred to write:
"New lawn - Don't walk!"
And then there were the simpler American spellings. Apparently American tennis players used their rackets rather than racquets (which my Father proudly hung up on our wall at Muthukur). For Father, 'racket' meant quite a different thing...surprisingly when two American youngsters meet, they don't ask:
"What is your job?"
but seem to prefer:
"What is your racket?"
There was but one Americanism I loved much as a young teacher who always hated exams from either end. I didn't like Father's standard English:
"Evaluate the answer-scripts"
which sounded false to me...evaluate had something to do with 'value' which none of our answer-scripts ever had. The alternative:
"Correct the answer-scripts"
sounded hypocritical...I never 'corrected' them...just gave them some marks...
The Americanism for it:
"Check the scripts!"
sounded to me very laudable...'check' being such a lazy and blanket Americanism we learned early on and loved.
Pretty soon we were told that Americans were being perverse with their language...just to be different from their British ancestors...saying, 'apartment' instead of the simpler 'flat', and 'elevator' instead of 'lift'.
And when they came to their own invention, they didn't call it:
"Stairlift"
like their famous 'sidewalk', but preferred to call it:
"Escalator'
Nowadays 'escalate' doesn't have the meaning of lifting up a man or woman or dog, but simply means complaining to a higher animal in the hierarchy food chain.
The first we heard of feminisms in American English was never to write Miss or Mrs but Ms.
But no one taught us how to pronounce it. It varied from: 'Mizz' to 'Mess'.
And then the chairman. We were told to never write or speak of chairmen but only chairpersons. But of course, it is always a 'charwoman'...never a 'charperson'.
The first sentence in our Civics book was:
"Man is a social animal"
And in our Politics book it was:
"Man is a political animal"
Both were attributed to Aristotle in whose times women didn't perhaps take up civics or politics as their 'arts' subjects.
No woman, American or British or even Indian, likes to be called an 'animal'...Aristotle would be hooted and booted by ladies.
And of course man is the famous 'naked ape'...happily.
But woman???
...Posted by Ishani
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