[Wikipedia-l] Re: Anglicised English British English

[Ray Saintonge]

Jack & Naree wrote:

>Well I don't want to live in an Americanised world; I'd rather take arms 
>against a sea of illiterate yanks, than suffer the slings and arrows of 
>their nauseating makey-uppy drawl. (and yes I do have American friends!)
> I know it's not going to feed the starving children in Africa, but I simply 
>can't feckin' stand seeing the word "center" and "color" and hearing people 
>raising the intonation at the end of their sentences.
> American-English is like a giant linguistic fingernail down the English 
>blackboard. 
>
The trend toward American dumbing down and illiteracy has been 
significant in the two centuries since the time of Noah Webster.  If 
England had done a better job of educating its colonists in the 1770s it 
might not have been overcome by this band of ruffians.  Has English 
really progressed when it must rely on mixed clichés of Rome and 
Scotland?  I have never heard an American use the term "makey-uppy", and 
I am also unfamiliar with its use in Standard English; perhaps it would 
be enlightening to know what dialect of England has so enriched the 
language with this term.

I am well aware of the difficulties with "center" and "color" in 
Wikipedia, but I have failed to notice where a rising intonation has 
been so obvious in written speech.  Could you please give us an example 
of where this is so apparent?

I appreciate the desire to see the Americans set adrift on their own 
"Stone Raft", but failing this we are left with the herculean task of 
trying to re-integrate them into the rest of the world as much in 
language as n politics.  American Wikipedians have perhaps progressed 
more swiftly on this path than their less informed countrymen; they 
already accept that there is a world beyond their borders  We have 
already coloured their thoughts.  Now is no time for your proposal of 
"coitus interruptus".

> On 19/09/05, Giuseppe DAngelo <pippudoz at yahoo.it> wrote: 
>  
>
>>I love these kinds of debates - the ones that can go around in circles 
>>until the cows come home. Sure, I get pissed off (AE pissed) at american 
>>spellings as much as the next bloke - but it doesn't mean I can't follow 
>>what's going on - nor does it mean that it will ever influence my pristine, 
>>strawberries and cream, Oxbridge, very best of the Queen's english - with a 
>>name like Giuseppe d'Angelo - you wouldn't expect otherwise would you?
>>
One needs to remember that the Queen's English is the language of the 
privileged classes in England.  That makes it anything but common.

Ec