Language Politics

So there was this show on BBC Radio 4 yesterday called Word 4 Word, about contemporary British speech. We all already know that the British are eerily obsessed with accent and dialect, so that aspect of the show, while bizarre, was to be expected. What I didn't expect was the position American English was placed by the panelists on the show. Whenever it was brought up explicitly, it was only ever pointed to as a source of debasement and homogenization, but again and again, implicitly, American dialect was identified as the source of linguistic progress and rejuvenation. In the page linked to above, as on the show itself, a culminating moment comes when a Shropshire youth introduces the panel to phrase "five finger discount," and this is held up as an example of vital linguistic innovation. Sorry, folks, but that's not just American slang, that is very old American slang. Whenever American influences were actually discussed, I got the feeling that all the panelists felt they were all fluent in American English, which they clearly weren't, let alone able to really appreciate its uniqueness and utility.

Incidentally, I think John McWhorter, in his last book, makes the point that Americans don't love their language, which is an interesting, and I think true insight. But I think I do love American English, and I have even before moving away. I love it non-chalance, its pragmatism, its subtlety. I also love the American "r."

But this was heading towards a point: maybe this show encapsulated something about the British relationship to America more generally: a largely unconscious blend of appropriation, ignorance, and presumption. Hmm, gee, that sounds pretty negative I suppose. I leave toning the conclusion down as an exercise to the reader. These thoughts are in part a continuation of an email exchange with BG, which began with a note I wrote when I was in a very bad mood, and had just watch Vera Drake.

SOME WORDS THAT BRITISH PEOPLE, SURPRISINGLY, DO NOT UNDERSTAND:

1. Sod
2. Trivet
3. DUI

SOME BRITISH SLANG THAT I SHALL ENDEAVOR TO USE

1. Tybach
2. Mingin'
3. On the razz

SOME BRITISH SLANG THAT I SHALL NEVER EMPLOY

1. Bloody
2. Fags
3. Lads