Americanisms Polemic

Americanisms

Whilst the British population are known overseas for our conservative demeanour and 'stiff upper lip', we seem to have lowered our defences, upset by the mere addition of Americanisms to our precious and pure language. This, in itself, is rather ironic, considering that our language originates from many different languages that preceded ours. For example, alter ego comes from Latin meaning 'other self'; bungalow stems from the Hindi word banglā meaning 'of Bengal'; and our beloved and totally British tea comes from the Chinese "t'e". British linguists know that the majority of the English language stems from Latin, French, Greek and the gruesome invasion of the Vikings from Scandinavia. We act as traditionalists towards our language, yet we know it is built upon loaned and stolen words as a foundation (which is LATIN, unsurprisingly so considering that literally no words are purely British.) In fact, during my research the only British word I came across was 'British' which comes from Old English.

In addition to this, we claim to be supportive of diversity and eclecticism, yet when new words start to seep into British English, we become uneasy as our language is no longer 'pure' or 'British enough', as if Americanisms are going to harm our children or change any relevant aspect of our day-to-day lives. How can we expect to be inclusive and proud if we cower in terror at the idea of sharing and growing our language?

Americanisms also tend to make more sense than our outdated terms. For example, we spell centre ending in 're' when it is clearly pronounced with an 'er' sound, making the American spelling - center - inexplicably more correct. Their endings of 'ize' also make more sense than our 'ise' as this sound is generally including a 'z' sound. Furthermore, the inclusion of Americanisms makes the English Language pithy, lively and expressive;without them we wouldn't even have the exclamation 'wow!' or 'cool' which are key ways to express adoration and excitement.

In conclusion, we need to realise that our language is constantly changing and Americanisms are just another example of this evolution. As the times change, language is developing and improving and the inclusion of loanwords and new words is inevitable.