I don't think it's xenophobic to feel irked by "imports" such as the nasty tackiness which Halloween has become, or folk starting to say " Have a nice day" We have a wonderful culture and history of our own.
But no one's forced the imports on us ... we're the ones who are embracing the changes (or not). We British buy the frothy syrupy coffees, we say 'Have a nice day' ... it's up to us not do do it if we don't want to ... and if people are being marked down for using English spellings then someone who cares about it should make a fuss about it
As for Hallowe'en ... my children had home-made costumes ... but then we could afford for me to be a stay at home mum and I had the time and energy to help them do stuff like that.
I don't suppose modern families, with both parents having to work to pay the mortgage, have time or energy for that, so some cheap tat from the supermarket is a way for parents to make sure their children have some fun.
After all, they can't have little fireworks parties for Guy Fawkes in their gardens nowadays like we did ... far too dangerous ... nowadays it's the big displays which aren't really much fun for children.
And as WE says ... check the history of our language before castigating the USA for getting it wrong
And what's so wrong with wishing someone 'a nice day' .... would you rather use the word Goodbye ... which after all means 'God be with ye'
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
It's a fine line we walk between sneering condescension and self deprecating irony. I'd hesitate to give anyone European a rousing chorus of "The English, the English, the English are best, so up with the English and down with the rest". I know perfectly well it's laughing at the English and not at the other British nations or anyone else, but I don't know whether lines like "the French and Italians eat garlic in bed" perhaps suffer a little in translation.
Personally I admire the Americans. Not all of them as individuals, you understand, but as a nation. And most of the ones I've met (excluding a few of my own relations) have been lovely people. That doesn't mean I won't occasionally put on my best California accent and say "Have a nice day now, missin' you already" when confronted with some inappropriate piece of Americana, usually on the BBC. But I do try to remember to only do it in the privacy of my own home where there are currently no Americans to offend
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
English is the world's lingua franca (why haven't we got an English word for that?) and each country adds its own tweaks. We're linguistic magpies and if we like the sound of a tweak or it says something we couldn't express before, we assimilate it -resistance is futile (pronounced using the magic e) We can hardly complain when you look on the varieties of English used in England -never mind the UK. The forms of English we use ourselves vary with the situation I can remember many years ago when I moved from north to south London, the accents were different. It's all become homogenised now (note the 's'!) for reasons we can all identify.
When I moved to London in 1975 I hated the accent. Mine was acquired in stages thru small town Lancashire, Manchester and then Cheshire so I reverted to strong northern in sheer self defence.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Ah josusa47, if only life were that simple there have been outbreaks of odd spelled names for as long as I can remember, occasionally due I am sure to the poor adult literacy of some parents.
Why do chavs have tattoos of their children's names?
Posts
As for Hallowe'en ... my children had home-made costumes ... but then we could afford for me to be a stay at home mum and I had the time and energy to help them do stuff like that.
I don't suppose modern families, with both parents having to work to pay the mortgage, have time or energy for that, so some cheap tat from the supermarket is a way for parents to make sure their children have some fun.
After all, they can't have little fireworks parties for Guy Fawkes in their gardens nowadays like we did ... far too dangerous ... nowadays it's the big displays which aren't really much fun for children.
And as WE says ... check the history of our language before castigating the USA for getting it wrong
And what's so wrong with wishing someone 'a nice day' .... would you rather use the word Goodbye ... which after all means 'God be with ye'
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Personally I admire the Americans. Not all of them as individuals, you understand, but as a nation. And most of the ones I've met (excluding a few of my own relations) have been lovely people. That doesn't mean I won't occasionally put on my best California accent and say "Have a nice day now, missin' you already" when confronted with some inappropriate piece of Americana, usually on the BBC. But I do try to remember to only do it in the privacy of my own home where there are currently no Americans to offend
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
We can hardly complain when you look on the varieties of English used in England -never mind the UK. The forms of English we use ourselves vary with the situation
I can remember many years ago when I moved from north to south London, the accents were different. It's all become homogenised now (note the 's'!) for reasons we can all identify.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.