I recently read an article by Alex Williams that I found over at A Cup of Joe. I have to say I loved it and also felt it ringing oh so true in my ears.
The article addresses that Americans are, by droves, adopting British phrases into our vernacular. I am totally a guilty participant and, truth be told, a willing participant. I have recently had many conversations with some of the teens my husband and I work with about British accents and British phrases and how much we love them. One girl said she reads books with a British accent in her head. The other says that children's British accents are precious and that she wishes her kids would have them. I concur with both. haha.
As a child who was brought up with British literature, BBC programs and actual British friends, it was a natural progression for me to use British phrases and occasionally talk to myself in a British accent (busted). However, I can TOTALLY see how our British neighbors can feel like Americans may be adopting their words just to be hip, trendy or "posh". Perhaps they feel a bit slighted, and if so, for my part, TRULY no offense meant!
With the emergence of Harry Potter, Downton Abbey, and The Office (British version), Sherlock and much more that America has tapped into, it is hard not to adopt the beloved words we hear. We are a generation raised with these patterns of speech in our heads and ears. Britain is so accesible to we Americans. Thanks to television and the internet, the world lives so much more globally than before.
What do you think? Love using these across-the-pond phrases? hate it? British friends, how do you feel? Are we hijacking your words or are you happy to lend them?
Just some food for thought. I thought it was interesting!
~B~
