The History of English - American English (8/10)

Learn about American-English and how some American words were actually English to start with.

(Part 8 of 10)

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[ShiroKage]

"and the Italians arrive with their pizza, their pasta, and their mafia."
I'm dying here.

[brythonicman]

That is very true. In parts of the mid west it is still nearer to 18th century English than modern British English. The great vowel shift that changed the way all the English once pronounce their letter R is still used in America, but only used in a few remote areas of southern England today & is dying out rapidly. Also the American way of saying words like after & class was widespread in southern England. Plus many American sayings are old English & no longer used by Brits.

[Felix-dpbe]

😂😂who else is doing this for school?!😂😂

[SansDream]

I'm from a colony so we speak relatively British English but seriously, They're bigger. I live in Spain now and yeah they might have created Castellano but there area fuck tonne more people in South America speaking it than there are in Spain - Majority rules. Each country has their own version of whatever language they speak. In fact, each region has their own version of whatever language they speak.

[kandstrom]

Thought what was only in the U.S.A.? Pronouncing the Rs? In Shakespeare's time, the Rs at the ends of words were pronounced. The Shakespearean accent was actually closer to a modern American accent than a modern British accent (It sounded like a mix of modern American, Irish, British West Country, and Yorkshire accents).

[kawaiii_]

Pov: Es ist 2023 und man schaut sich dieses graziöse Video für den Englischunterricht der 13. Klasse an🤌

[lindyredstormer]

@ellierany I think you're misunderstanding the video. They aren't saying that the Americans invented those words, they're saying that they are English words that fell out of popular usage in the UK but remained common in American English. Kind of like soccer. I'm not sure exactly what the British equivalent to candy would be, but it refers to everything from chocolate bars to licorice to lollipops in the US.

[Insanekid]

Yeah, it's true that we've borrowed a lot of words, but the pronunciation in America is actually closer to the English that was spoken on both sides of the Atlantic during the pre-Revolutionary War period.

[kandstrom]

Ugh. When will you all understand? Americans didn't "ruin" your language, as you see it. No, you deposited your language in America and it evolved separately in both places, leading to different spellings and pronunciations. In fact, many historians believe that spoken American English is closer to what was spoken in Britain in the 1700s than modern British English.

[searchanddiscover]

The one great thing about the English language as a whole? I speak American English and still understand the video.

[GlobetrottingMusicologist]

Trust the Brits to come up with this kind of wit. Masters of it.

[EmperorFishFinger]

That's because those are different variants of the same language. This applies to pretty much all languages.

[willitan-uk]

The dead horse head got me LOL😂😂🤣🤣😁😁😆😆😅😅

[mikyathomas]

i cant even say pasta anymore thanks to that video

[kandstrom]

Lazy? Well, that's relative. Yes, the American pronunciation of "water" and other similar-sounding words is a bit "lazy." But what about the British cutting off the ends of words ending in an R sound? The British used to pronounce the R. Both pronunciation styles have their lazy aspects, but you can't restrict that to only American English.

[titanramfan]

Oh, pish posh. How about Canada, Australia, and Nigeria to name a few? It is all of our language. If people are so blessed to be born in a country where they are brought up from the cradle on this rich language, then they own the language as a legitimate native speaker. I love all forms of English and am fascinated by regionalisms, including my northwestern version of American English influenced by Canada. Rahd 'em, cowboy, pop not soda, etc. Cheers. :-)

[fansipantz]

Isn't "ballpark" an Americanism? It's amusing that the subtitle describing American English as not English (jokingly, of course) uses a word that is itself "not English."

[TIYX]

@umbrellashotgunman Older people tend to use " billfold ", my grandfather did.

[madrileno]

@nostalgiamelancolia1 Americans use both coffin and casket, but coffin more often. Also, no one says billfold, everyone in America says wallet.

[sandgrounder]

@AnonymousCthulhu this is just a vague summary, it doesn't go into detail but the fact are solid. I don't think you can argue with the OU