American English - The History of English

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

Laugh-Out-Loud Funny!!!

@jayles:

Americans also use "I've got" for "I have" (possession), and gotten.

""Did you do your homework already?" sounds wrong" It doesn't sound wrong to me. Is it grammatically wrong in American-English and English-English?

@AnWulf: LOL!! Yes, we should teach that guy (Americanism- fellow, bloke, man (after Guy Fawkes); Norman rewording of the Teutonic name Widu--whence also It. Guido) a thing or two about a thing or two when it comes to true English!

thou

mail/post: mail

I think the BBC article about Americanisms in British English is very true, and one could take the article and apply it to English as a whole. It fits well within this forum/talk. The author sums up nicely his thoughts, which apply to the English debate here, too:

"But what I hate is the sloppy loss of our own distinctive phraseology through sheer idleness, lack of self-awareness and our attitude of cultural cringe. We encourage the diversity offered by Welsh and Gaelic - even Cornish is making a comeback. But we are letting British English wither."

"spanner" >> span (O.E. spann/ spannan, P.Gmc.*spannō/*spannanan) + er (from O.E. -ware, P.Gmc. *-warioz)

@jayles: "This makes it really tricky for non-native speakers to learn the grammar. (and tricky tor the teacher too!)"

Do you mean that it is trickier to learn American English or British English?

Check this out: American guide to British English >> http://www.effingpot.com/

"what with all the wanton compounding in German - but does German indeed do the ('insofar' 'whomsoever') brand of compounding or is more the 'standalone' stuff (?)"

Compounding is the way of Germanic languages:

Insofar >> Insofern, Insoweit

Whomsoever >> Not a compound in German...Wem auch immer

Standalone >> Selbststaendig, Unabhaengig

Therein >> Darin

Herein >> Hierin, Hier

Albeit >> Obschon, Allerdings, Wenn auch, and more

Albethey >> Not that I know of...never heard of this compound in English

Heretofore >> Bisher

Howbeit >> Obgleich

Therinabove >> No...never heard of this in English either

Therinunder >> No...although, thereunder is darunter.

Inasmuch >> Sofern, Insofern

Notwithstanding, Nonetheless >> Trotzdem, Dennoch, Nichtsdestoweniger

Wherewithal >> No...Germans say Noetiges (needed, necessary)

Moreover >> Weiters (South Germany), Ueberdem, Ausserdem, Ueberdies, and many other ways.

Instead of saying "proceed", why not say "wend"? It is still said, although not too often.

"to wend forward", "to wend along", "to wend one's way >> "To Canterbury they wend."; "Great voyages to wend."

Thoughts?

"Here one can talk anent his thoughts..."

I like the word 'anent' and think it should be brought back into use. I do not, however, like it said as in the sentence above.

Anent-- meaning in regard to; about; concerning, but also (in British English) beside; in line with, is a contraction of anefen(t)/ onefen(t)