Differences Uk And Us

Contents

Preface

Introduction: Why are they so different?

Part one: Spelling 2

Part two: Pronunciation 11

Part three: Grammar and Usage 19

Part four: A to Zed: a GB / US lexis 27

Part five: A to Zee: a US / GB lexis 75

Further Reading 121

Preface This book is intended for Americans and Britons who want to understand each other better, and for foreign students of either American or British English who

want to familiarise (or familiarize) themselves with the other main variety of the language. According to George

Bernard Shaw, the United States and England are two great nations separated

by a common tongue. In fact, most of the time the two peoples understand each other fairly well, or think they do. The accent is different, of course, but it

presents no more of a barrier than any regional accent would. Differences in grammar, syntax and spelling are relatively minor. The main differences, and they are huge, are lexical and cultural.

This state of affairs is reflected in the structure and content of the present book, which makes no pretence (or pretense) of being exhaustive, but which does try to be comprehensive. Short initial chapters outline the historical background and the differences in pronunciation, spelling and grammar. The main part of the book, however, consists of a dictionary of British vocabulary and cultural references which someone from the United States might have trouble understanding, and of a dictionary of American vocabulary and cultural references that might present problems to someone from the British Isles. As the book is not aimed at academics, but at laymen (or laypersons) who are curious about language, phonetic differences are shown, when necessary, by a figured pronunciation. The A to Zed section is written to be read by Americans, the/4 to Zee section by Britons. Finally, a number of older terms have been retained in both sections of the dictionary for the benefit of the small number of Americans and Britons who happen to be

complete novices in the study of English as a foreign language.

Introduction: Why are they so different?

When a Briton and an American meet, even though they are far from mutually unintelligible, each is soon aware of differences in the speech of the other. First, the accent is different: pronunciation, tempo, intonation are

distinctive. Next, differences in vocabulary, idiom and syntax occur, as

they would in a foreign language: individual words are misunderstood or not understood at all, metaphorical expressions sound bizarre, subtle

irregularities become apparent in the way words are arranged, or in the

position of words in a sentence, or in the addition or omission of words. It is

estimated that some 4,000 words and expressions in common use in Britain today either do not exist or are used differently in the US. These differences are reflected in the way British and American English are written, so that variations in spelling and punctuation

also emerge. Finally, there are immense cultural divergences, ranging from

different trademarks for everyday products to different institutions and

forms of government. Little wonder, then, that even in this age of global communications, we are still able to misunderstand each other. Before examining each of these major dissimilarities in detail, it may be useful to consider how they have arisen.

In fact, many of the distinctive phonetic features of modern American English can be traced back to the British Isles.

To take a single example, the r at the end of words is pronounced in markedly different ways in the 'standard' varieties of American and British English. In the 'received pronunciation' of GB, it is barely sounded at all, so that words like

there and water are pronounced theah and watuh. This pattern is characteristic of the south-eastern part of England, which is where, in the early 17th century,the first British colonists originated. Their peculiar treatment of the final r survives in New England and the South, but it is exceptional in the US as a whole. The distinctive American r, a kind of muffled growl produced near the back of the mouth, is fully sounded. It is very

similar to the r still pronounced in parts of the west and north of England, and in Scotland and Ireland, and was almost certainly brought to America by subsequent colonists from those parts. Since most of the British settlement in North America in the 19th century came

from the north and west of England and from Ireland, especially from the northern counties of Ulster, rhotic speech, as it is called, eventually spread across the continent. In many other little ways, standard American English is reminiscent of an older period of the language. For example, Americans pronounce either and neither-with the vowel of teeth or beneath, while in England these words have changed their pronunciation since the American colonies were founded and are now pronounced with an initial diphthong, like the words eye and nigh. (For a fuller discussion of these and other pronunciation differences, see Part 2.)

It is said that all emigrant languages are linguistically nostalgic, preserving archaic pronunciations and meanings. The word vest provides an interesting

example of one of the ways in which the vocabularies of Britain and America were to grow apart. The first recorded use of the word occurs in 1666 (in the diary of Samuel Pepys), referring to 'a sleeveless jacket worn under an outer coat'. The direct descendant of this usage is the modern American vest,

meaning waistcoat. In the intervening centuries, however, the meaning of the word has shifted in Britain, so that it now applies to 'a piece of clothing worn on the top half of the body underneath a shirt'. Americans have retained a number of old uses like this or old words

which have died out in England. Their use of gotten in place of got as the past participle of get was the usual form in England two centuries ago; in modern British English it survives only in the

expression ill-gotten gains. American still use mad as Shakespeare did, in the sense of angry ('Don't get mad, get even.'), and have retained old words like

turnpike, meaning a toll road, and fall as the natural word for the season. The American I guess is as old as Chaucer and was still current in English speech in the 17th century. The importance of such divergences was compounded by two parallel processes. Some words which the pilgrims and subsequent settlers brought to the New World did not transplant, but in England they survived: e.g. fortnight, porridge, heath, moor,

ironmonger. Far more important, however, was the process by which, under the pressure of a radically different environment, the colonists introduced innovations, coining new words and borrowing from other cultures.

Many living things, for example, were peculiar to their new environment, and

terms were required to describe them: mud hen, garter snake, bullfrog, potato bug, groundhog. Other words illustrate

things associated with the new mode of life: back country, backwoodsman,

squatter, clapboard, corncrib, bobsled. This kind of inventiveness, dictated by

necessity, has of course continued to the present day, but many of the most distinctive Americanisms were in fact formed early: sidewalk, lightning rod,

spelling bee. low-down, to have an ax to grind, to sit on the fence, to saw wood, and so on. At the same time, other words were being assimilated ready-made into the language from the different cultures the settlers came into contact with. Borrowings from the Indians include pecan, squash, chipmunk, raccoon, skunk, and moccasin', from the French, gopher, pumpkin, prairie, rapids, shanty, dime, apache, brave and depot; from the Spanish, alfalfa, marijuana, cockroach, coyote, lasso, taco, patio, cafeteria and desperado; from the Dutch, cookie, waffle, boss, yankee, dumb (meaning stupid), and spook. Massive immigration in the 19th century brought new words from German (delicatessen, pretzel, hamburger, lager, check, bummer, docent, nix], from Italian [pizza, spaghetti, espresso, parmesan, zucchini] and from other languages. Jews from Central Europe introduced many Yiddish expressions with a wide currency in modern America: chutzpah, kibitz, klutz, schlep, schmaltz, schlock, schnoz, and tush. Likewise, many Africanisms were introduced by the enforced immigration of black slaves: gumbo, jazz, okra, chigger. Even supposedly modern expressions like with-it, do your thing, and bad-mouth are word-for-word translations of phrases used in West African languages. Eventually many of these enrichments would cross the Atlantic back to England, but by no means all of them. Those that did not cross back form the basis of the differentiation that has taken place between the American and the British vocabulary (Parts 4 and 5, for an examination of current lexical differences and explanations of many of the terms cited above).

place, in the domain of spelling. In the years immediately following the American Revolution, many Americans

sought to declare their linguistic as they had their political independence. In

1780, John Adams, a future president of the United States, proposed the founding of an 'American Academy for

refining, improving, and ascertaining the English Language'. The plan came to nothing but it is significant as an indication of the importance Americans

were beginning to attach to their language. The more ardent patriots were demanding

...