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Guy Courchesne · Joined: 10 Mar 2003 Posts: 9650 Location: Mexico City

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark

The point at which a tv show (or ESL forum thread Wink

) begins an irreversible decline in quality or popularity.

Happy Days suffered after the Fonz jumped over a shark in one episode.

isabel · Joined: 07 Mar 2003 Posts: 510 Location: God's green earth

Sashadroogie · Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2011 5:51 am Post subject:

Thought everyone knew it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDthMGtZKa4

betacygnus · Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 24

Hope you loved the above Subject!

I have taught English in seven different cities in three different countries, and I always teach both "American English" and "British English" (vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation and grammar differences). I don't do this to confuse my students, I do it because the serious students usually WANT to know both versions and may very well need to know both versions in their future careers. So, over the last four years, I have learned a lot of "British English" and have enjoyed expanding my knowledge. I have met both Americans and Brits who were from all different parts of their respective countries, and many of them I could not understand due to rapid speaking, sloppy enunciation and/or strong regional accents. I didn't have this problem speaking Russian in Russia, because the Russian language doesn't use unnecessary letters and almost always pronounces all the letters in each word exactly as you see them. So, part of the problem with English is in the diversity of the language itself. Arguing whether one version of English or another is more correct is silly, chauvinistic and ignores the fact that languages, like everything else, change whether one likes it or not.

johnslat · Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2011 12:28 pm Post subject:

Actually, the phrase "jumped the shark" has jumped the shark. Very Happy

Regards,
John

isabel · Joined: 07 Mar 2003 Posts: 510 Location: God's green earth

wangdaning · Joined: 22 Jan 2008 Posts: 3154

It seems Americanisms are annoying people because they are American.

For instance, it is not correct to say aluminum, should be aluminium right? Well, that is one I have been corrected on, seriously and sarcastically, many times. Aluminum comes from a brand name. It was the most popular source of aluminium, so it became aluminum.

A parallel example of this phenomenon can be seen in the vacuum cleaner. I would call it a vacuum, or a vacuum cleaner (because that is what it is), but have been corrected again to call it a Hoover.

Apparently, it is acceptable to replace products with brand names as long as it didn't originate in America.

Americanisms irritate British people, mainly the English, because they are American. It has nothing to do with language/cultural preservation. I seldom here other native speakers complaining about Americanisms. What we usually complain about is inappropriate/incorrect use of the language. Certain foreign words that work their way into the language can also be annoying. This is how English has always worked though and the idea it was Americans (meaning people from the US, not including the Canadians who gave us Beiber) is simply annoying.

Therefore, I must state that the distaste of words originating in the United States is a British characteristic I detest.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 8:38 am Post subject:

I know how you feel. But from the opposite side, I get narked when Americans correct me, assuming that their pronunciation or spelling is the only one - they are genuinely surprised to learn that it is not. On this very forum other posters have chided me for writing 'learnt' instead of learned, or hyphenating words like 'to-day'. In many cases the variants I use are/were perfectly acceptable in American English too, but the particular people I was dealing with were ignorant of that.

A similar lack of knowledge exists in Britain with regard to certain 'Americanism' that are really older forms of English that dropped out of circulation in Britain, but were retained elsewhere. 'Fall', as in the season, springs to mind. Could be wrong though...

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

I've witnessed newbie American teachers in Europe correcting British speakers regarding the preposition that correctly goes with 'weekend.' Shocked

Well, teachers can take it. I think the real issue on these lines comes when teachers correct students who have learnt ( Surprised

) either British or American terms.

Personally, in these cases I'd discuss only the ones likely to get them into trouble or embarassment, such as the fag/rubber/fanny items already discussed earlier.

johnslat · Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 3:12 pm Post subject:

Dear spiral78,

And don't forget "Knock you up" and "Blow me" (also "I'll be blowed.") Very Happy

Regards,
John

Isla Guapa · Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 3:26 pm Post subject:

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Very important!!

Sashadroogie · Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 4:46 pm Post subject:

American hitch-hikers asking for a ride used to amuse Dubliners no end, yet nobody was corrected Laughing

Sashadroogie · Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2011 4:52 pm Post subject:

Why is it that these mainly minor differences inspire so much resentment, do you think? A teacher known to me decided to take the p#ss out of the 's'less American 'math'by shortening everything else accordingly. Physic_ , logistic_; stat_ etc. Very silly all round, no?

Dedicated · Joined: 18 May 2007 Posts: 972 Location: UK

I totally agree with Sashadroogie about "fall" and "autumn".
Autumn comes from old French (autompne)in the 12th century but now "automne". Fall is an old Germanic word (fiaell/feallan in old English)
as in "fall from a height".

In the 17th century, new settlers from the UK took the language with them and "fall" became the preferred word in the US but obsolete in the UK.