Atlantic peeving

The furiously anti-American minority that the BBC has tapped into seem to keep their hatred of us and our speech tightly suppressed, letting it out only in blog comments and letters to the editor (particularly the Daily Telegraph, which is famous for its letters expressing how "appalled" people are by purported grammar errors, neologisms, etc.).

If I do I shall collide with my keyboard.

The furiously anti-American minority that the BBC has tapped into seem to keep their hatred of us and our speech tightly suppressed, letting it out only in blog comments and letters to the editor (particularly the Daily Telegraph, which is famous for its letters expressing how "appalled" people are by purported grammar errors, neologisms, etc.).

As long as Mr. Engel can rally his compatriots to share the experience of communal irritation at alien linguistic intrusions — real or imaginary — he will have done his job.

Brits prefer "to orientate oneself", Americans prefer "to orient oneself".

Murphy dissects the first 25 in the list of 50 peeves, and promises to take on the second half of the list in the near future.

When the top reader peeves were published, The Economist's Johnson blog offered commentary from Robert Lane Greene (an American correspondent for the magazine whose book You Are What You Speak was recently excerpted here):

Is "physicality" a real word?

But putting up a lightly-moderated forum of people's gripes about language does not constitute news or journalism.

The reader query generated a huge response — 1,295 comments were posted before the BBC closed down the comment section — but the most entertaining and incisive reactions came from language bloggers.

Back on Language Log, Geoffrey Pullum had this to say:

As a Scottish-born long-time American citizen working in Edinburgh among numerous fellow Americans, and a frequent visitor to London and other UK cities, I should have seen it somewhere by now; but I have never encountered hostility to America, Americans, or Americanisms in ordinary everyday interactions in Britain.

The BBC News editors promise their readers, at the bottom of Mr. Engel's article, that "A selection of your Americanisms will be published later".

And the premise that these words are an alien intrusion is false more often than not.

As long as Mr. Engel can rally his compatriots to share the experience of communal irritation at alien linguistic intrusions — real or imaginary — he will have done his job.

The reader query generated a huge response — 1,295 comments were posted before the BBC closed down the comment section — but the most entertaining and incisive reactions came from language bloggers.

The furiously anti-American minority that the BBC has tapped into seem to keep their hatred of us and our speech tightly suppressed, letting it out only in blog comments and letters to the editor (particularly the Daily Telegraph, which is famous for its letters expressing how "appalled" people are by purported grammar errors, neologisms, etc.).

But it is the journalistic equivalent of (orig. & mostly BrE) piss-poor reality television: let's get people to say things that might be controversial, and then we'll edit it into something that will get people arguing about which words to throw off the island.

The OED cites six hundred years of British usage of "oftentimes", including the King James Version and Wordsworth.

The reader query generated a huge response — 1,295 comments were posted before the BBC closed down the comment section — but the most entertaining and incisive reactions came from language bloggers.

Participial "got" is the newcomer.

The reader query generated a huge response — 1,295 comments were posted before the BBC closed down the comment section — but the most entertaining and incisive reactions came from language bloggers.

It is the original past participle, from old Norse getenn, now obsolete in English English, but surviving in America.

The reader query generated a huge response — 1,295 comments were posted before the BBC closed down the comment section — but the most entertaining and incisive reactions came from language bloggers.

It is the original past participle, from old Norse getenn, now obsolete in English English, but surviving in America.

When the top reader peeves were published, The Economist's Johnson blog offered commentary from Robert Lane Greene (an American correspondent for the magazine whose book You Are What You Speak was recently excerpted here):

Is "physicality" a real word?

The furiously anti-American minority that the BBC has tapped into seem to keep their hatred of us and our speech tightly suppressed, letting it out only in blog comments and letters to the editor (particularly the Daily Telegraph, which is famous for its letters expressing how "appalled" people are by purported grammar errors, neologisms, etc.).

On Language Log, Mark Liberman pointed out that few of Engel's supposed "Americanisms" were first used in the United States:

In the end, this article never really tries to answer the question posed by its headline, "Why do some Americanisms irritate people?"

But it is the journalistic equivalent of (orig. & mostly BrE) piss-poor reality television: let's get people to say things that might be controversial, and then we'll edit it into something that will get people arguing about which words to throw off the island.

What's wrong with transportation?

If we can call this journalism, it is completely passive journalism.

The BBC News editors promise their readers, at the bottom of Mr. Engel's article, that "A selection of your Americanisms will be published later".

When the top reader peeves were published, The Economist's Johnson blog offered commentary from Robert Lane Greene (an American correspondent for the magazine whose book You Are What You Speak was recently excerpted here):

Is "physicality" a real word?

Brits prefer "to orientate oneself", Americans prefer "to orient oneself".

Back on Language Log, Geoffrey Pullum had this to say:

As a Scottish-born long-time American citizen working in Edinburgh among numerous fellow Americans, and a frequent visitor to London and other UK cities, I should have seen it somewhere by now; but I have never encountered hostility to America, Americans, or Americanisms in ordinary everyday interactions in Britain.

The Beeb then asked its readers to single out the American expressions they most despise, and in a followup gathered the top 50 peeves.

As long as Mr. Engel can rally his compatriots to share the experience of communal irritation at alien linguistic intrusions — real or imaginary — he will have done his job.

But putting up a lightly-moderated forum of people's gripes about language does not constitute news or journalism.

Linking verbs including "am" take adjectives, not adverbs.

It is the original past participle, from old Norse getenn, now obsolete in English English, but surviving in America.

By that logic, could "one and a half million" not be 1 + 500,000, or 500,001?

The furiously anti-American minority that the BBC has tapped into seem to keep their hatred of us and our speech tightly suppressed, letting it out only in blog comments and letters to the editor (particularly the Daily Telegraph, which is famous for its letters expressing how "appalled" people are by purported grammar errors, neologisms, etc.).

And when they say 'entertain', I'd like it not to be throwing Christians to the lions or dwarf bowling or just letting people air their prejudices and ignorance with no (orig.

But it is the journalistic equivalent of (orig. & mostly BrE) piss-poor reality television: let's get people to say things that might be controversial, and then we'll edit it into something that will get people arguing about which words to throw off the island.

Linking verbs including "am" take adjectives, not adverbs.

What's wrong with transport?

Back on Language Log, Geoffrey Pullum had this to say:

As a Scottish-born long-time American citizen working in Edinburgh among numerous fellow Americans, and a frequent visitor to London and other UK cities, I should have seen it somewhere by now; but I have never encountered hostility to America, Americans, or Americanisms in ordinary everyday interactions in Britain.

The reader query generated a huge response — 1,295 comments were posted before the BBC closed down the comment section — but the most entertaining and incisive reactions came from language bloggers.

And on Separated by a Common Language, the go-to blog for British/American language differences, Lynne Murphy (an American expat teaching linguistics in the UK) explained why she finds the BBC piece "offensive":

The piece is driving a huge number of people to the BBC News website...

The BBC News editors promise their readers, at the bottom of Mr. Engel's article, that "A selection of your Americanisms will be published later".

I want its online publications to live up to the organi{s/z}ation's charter to 'inform, educate and entertain'.

The Beeb then asked its readers to single out the American expressions they most despise, and in a followup gathered the top 50 peeves.

"I'm healthy," not "I'm healthily."

The furiously anti-American minority that the BBC has tapped into seem to keep their hatred of us and our speech tightly suppressed, letting it out only in blog comments and letters to the editor (particularly the Daily Telegraph, which is famous for its letters expressing how "appalled" people are by purported grammar errors, neologisms, etc.).

The reader query generated a huge response — 1,295 comments were posted before the BBC closed down the comment section — but the most entertaining and incisive reactions came from language bloggers.

Back on Language Log, Geoffrey Pullum had this to say:

As a Scottish-born long-time American citizen working in Edinburgh among numerous fellow Americans, and a frequent visitor to London and other UK cities, I should have seen it somewhere by now; but I have never encountered hostility to America, Americans, or Americanisms in ordinary everyday interactions in Britain.

The OED cites six hundred years of British usage of "oftentimes", including the King James Version and Wordsworth.

As long as Mr. Engel can rally his compatriots to share the experience of communal irritation at alien linguistic intrusions — real or imaginary — he will have done his job.

The reader query generated a huge response — 1,295 comments were posted before the BBC closed down the comment section — but the most entertaining and incisive reactions came from language bloggers.

And on Separated by a Common Language, the go-to blog for British/American language differences, Lynne Murphy (an American expat teaching linguistics in the UK) explained why she finds the BBC piece "offensive":

The piece is driving a huge number of people to the BBC News website...

As long as Mr. Engel can rally his compatriots to share the experience of communal irritation at alien linguistic intrusions — real or imaginary — he will have done his job.

As I type this, it is the 'most shared' piece on the site and the seventh most read (on a very big news day).

Back on Language Log, Geoffrey Pullum had this to say:

As a Scottish-born long-time American citizen working in Edinburgh among numerous fellow Americans, and a frequent visitor to London and other UK cities, I should have seen it somewhere by now; but I have never encountered hostility to America, Americans, or Americanisms in ordinary everyday interactions in Britain.

Perhaps next we can have viewers' thoughts about whether it's going to rain tomorrow, rather than paying all those expensive weather forecasters.

As long as Mr. Engel can rally his compatriots to share the experience of communal irritation at alien linguistic intrusions — real or imaginary — he will have done his job.

Murphy dissects the first 25 in the list of 50 peeves, and promises to take on the second half of the list in the near future.