I'm British and I travel a lot, especially in the USA. Now, Americans are very nice people, welcoming, friendly and hospitable, but I soon noticed a habit of measuring the rest of the world against the American Norm. At first I was amused, sometimes angry and then finally thoughtful. Do British people do the same? Are we just the same as Americans? Do we measure the rest of the world against the British Norm? Of course we do!
This blog is really about all nationalities and the mistaken beliefs they have about themselves, but I will focus on British and American errors, because those are the ones I see.
It is easy for me to see when an American has a mistaken understanding of America's position in the world, but not so easy for me to see the mistakes that I make myself. So if you are American, and you have always wanted to tell the British what's wrong with them, here's your chance! All I ask is that you avoid ranting and recognise that this is a two-way process.
Let's kick off with a simple set of errors about language. The British usually pronounce foreign words as if they were written in English. No mystery there - it's what you do if you haven't learnt to speak the foreign language. Americans have a strange habit of pronouncing all French words with a strong emphasis on the last syllable. So the French Filet (a boneless cut of meat) becomes "Fillit" in Britain and "Flay" in America. The French name Bernard is pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable in Britain (Burnud) and the emphasis on the second syllable in America (Brnard. And yet in France both words are pronounced with an equal emphasis on both syllables. Why don't Americans mispronounce French the same way the British do? Their idea of how to mispronounce it must have started somewhere. Any ideas?
Of course, this leads on to a common Bitish illusion - that Americans don't speak real English and that they need to be put straight by any British person who has the opportunity. The truth is, of course, that British and American forms of English have both changed in the last 400 years, and 300 million Americans have a perfect right to speak the English that has evolved on their continent. But I know lots of Brits who are unshakable in their belief in the special position of British English. And yet some Americans have apologised to me for speaking an inferior form of English. So it's not just a British idea.
Welcome to the Blogosphere! This will be fun to hear more about how you see us and yourself. My guess is that there are as many different opinions by and about British folk as there are by and about Americans. Some of us are too worried about what other people think and others are not worried nearly enough. We both have the advantage to think as we please and not as the "State" requires, so each person goes blithely along making stuff up.
ReplyDeleteYour English has the gravitas of age. We are still the young punks making up new words.... maybe that's the difference.
No, CJ, we're making up new words on both sides of the Atlantic. And old forms are common on both sides too. For example, the American "gotten" is the old form. So the idea that Brits speak the older or more stable version of English is just wrong.
ReplyDeleteBrits often complain about "Americanisms" which they see on the TV, but then they adopt them. So there is also a mid-Atlantic version of English which is just as valid as the two national versions.
I think the American pronunciations of those two French words might be examples of 'hyperforeignism'. Hyperforeignism is applying pronunciation rules of foreign languages incorrectly - often to the wrong language! A good example is 'Beijing' which us British people almost universally pronounce with a soft (French-sounding) j. The Chinese pronunciation is with a hard, English-sounding j! But the thought has crept into our heads that because the name of that city is in a foreign language, we need to pronounce it in a foreign way.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this. It's always good to learn a new word. Now I have to find opportunities to work "hyperforeignism" into the conversation down at the pub!
DeleteI'd really like to know where the American idea about how to pronounce French came from. Maybe Ben Franklin started it? (Seems unlikely since he spoke good French.
ReplyDeleteThe British idea of how to pronounce "Beijing" came from the BBC. I remember when they changed from Peking to Beijing.