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Sashadroogie · Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:38 pm Post subject:

In truth, there is really no such thing as 'Britain'. There is England and its annexed territories. The term 'Britain' was concocted to make the subjugated Celtic types feel like they had a stake in Britannia Inc. by harking back to the glory days Romano-Celtic civilization.

So, perhaps we should dispense with this British English nonsense and just get straight to the heart of the matter: English English!

steki47 · Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 1029 Location: BFE Inaka

VinnyG. · Joined: 03 Mar 2012 Posts: 18 Location: Massachusetts

To add a bit of historical background. In 1735 an Englishman named Francis Moore described Savannah, Georgia as " It stands upon the flat of a Hill; the Bank of the River (which they in barbarous English call a bluff) is steep...." [Printed in Voyage to Georgia, Begun in theYear 1735 published in London, 1744). So already American English is being looked down upon.

But let's look at what Jonathan Swift had to say about English grammar in general in his Proposal for Correcting, Improving, and Ascertaining the English Tongue in 1712 wrote that "our langauge is extremely imperfect," and "that it offends against every part of grammar." One of my favorite quotes is, "I have never known this great town [London] without one or more Dunces of Figure, who had credit enough to give rise to some new word, and propogate it in most conversations though it had neither humor nor significany." [Note Swift's spelling of humor.]

Granted Swift also wrote in the same pamphlet, "I see no absolute necessity why any language should be perpetually changing."

There are many examples when people refer to American English, it is actually preserving an older version of British English while the latter has moved on. One simple example. American English often refers to a deck of cards which was also British English long ago. But now more likely than not, the British will refer to a pack of cards.

Like Swift, I would like to make a modest proposal. When you hear the unusual accent of pirates in movies, that is close to the accent of parts of Devonshire in England. I propose we all learn this accent and teach it in all English classes in Japan until kids all across the country sound like Long John Silver.