I have come to the view with the Mail's outrage at Obama over the BP oil leak,that it doesn't matter who's in the White House be it Republican or Democrat the Mail will dislike them no matter what.

Fixed.

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The past week or so, the anti-American tone has been amped up in a lot of the British media, let alone the Mail. But to their credit, they've managed to set the tone of the anti-American narrative pretty well by publishing a couple of minor or non-news stories like a few by this gentleman on the Americans destroying English (although he seems to not know that some of his examples are actually British words, grammar, etc., which have fallen out of favour in the UK):

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... offee.html

For instance monkey wrenches (adjustable spanners) were invented in Sheffield and given that name there. "Fall" was what most people here used to call "autumn", and "pavement" was originally where you drove, and not where you walked.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to see the differences stay. People who haven't lived long periods of time in both countries might not be able to see how culturally distinct the two countries are, and despite the globalisation of a lot of American culture (and vice versa) and the internet, you can't help but feel a bit cut off from one country when you're spending long periods in the other. His example of "geek" is pretty weak, because I bet most people of a certain age knew what it has come to mean long before it made it into the dictionaries in either country.

As for the BP thing, from what I can see, the rhetoric in the States isn't anti-British, but anti-big multi-national corporation. Again, there is the divide between the two countries culturally, and I can't access all the media from over there, but even the most left wing of the 24 hour news channels, MSNBC, seem to be very sensitive to the British, especially the pensioners. I just finished watching Olbermann, and I couldn't see any anti-British rhetoric. More like anti-BP stuff, which TBH, most people realise is a multi-national. They'd be behaving this way if it were Exxon (and did 20 years ago). Whether or not the response from the US government is appropriate, hypocritical, harmful to US and UK energy policies, appeal to populism, or whatever, it is definitely not xenophobia. But some of the response in the media here (and don't even get me started on the comment sections of the online editions) definitely is.

Americans actually have a really high opinion of Brits in general. This would be playing out pretty much the same no matter which country was the nominal country of ownership of the multi-national in question.

its not as if the language exchange is entirely one sided either, although it was a bit of a running joke for years i've noticed "wank" is gradually being adopted as a useful swareword in the states.

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It's not the only one, either. Plus, it's becoming more of a two way flow with the push of British show formats (especially in the past 15 years) and the highly successful (oops ) BBC America which has brought at least the shows from the Beeb from PBS (where they were hugely popular) to probably one of the top 10 most popular cable channels in the US.

I forgot to like the second article by Mr Engel:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... dule-.html

It's war, dammit! Note his email address: englishincrisis@gmail.com

Likewise - although as I understand it, it's always had the same meaning over there, but just not been as popular or as strong.

I still remember Channel Four's utter embarrassment when they accidentally aired an episode of Mork and Mindy featuring those wacky, loveable new neighbours, Mr. and Mrs. Wanker - which to the US audience of the time would've just been taken as Mr. and Mrs. Idiot.

Meanings evolve. You couldn't screen that on a repeat run just as you couldn't manage to discuss Mrs. Slocombe's pussy on air at teatime now, either.

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You know Iam more then likey going to get flamed for this but here goes,half of the UK wanted Obama in the White House back in 2008,he turning into Jimmy Carter MK ll like I knew he would so to those people having 'buyers remorse' you made your bed you better lie in it.

Pretty sure it was much more than half and so far there's no sign he's been worse than the alternative.....

You are right about that LK,it's just Iam fed up of the same people who dumped shit on Bush for anything bad that happend on his watch,dumping the same kind of shit on Obama given that 18 months ago said same people where treating Obama like the 2nd coming,and that peace and rainbows where going to break out with Obama in the White House,if you think Iam going to feel sorry for those people you have another thing coming.

Would you mind if I sent you some of my blood pressure medication?

Thanks! you do that.

I wonder, if Buffy is ever repeated on the BBC, if they'd edit out Thomas Wanker's name in the end credits?

Seeing his name in the credits always elicited a snigger.

The only people I knew who claimed that Obama was the second coming were the conservative pundits in describing how Obama supporters supposedly saw him. And, of course, people who put any credence into what they said.

I am beginning to think this guy deserves a "c**t" thread:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/artic ... itain.html



But not adaptable and flexible enough to allow for a group of speakers, a group with more members than those speaking English in the British Isles, to speak the language as they see fit without criticism? He goes beyond pointing to examples of Americanisms (or rather, what he and his readers think are Americanisms) and characterises Americans speaking English in America.

It's hard to tell if he meant good versus bad morally or good versus bad style-wise.



Twat. He even looks like a smug spanner who would start a campaign like this.

ETA: I really want to sign his email up for some serious porn spam.

Anyone seen their America bashing in today's paper.