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Is American English Going To Take Over British English Completely? (scroll.in)
Paul Baker, writing for The Conversation: Brits can get rather sniffy about the English language -- after all, they originated it. But a Google search of the word "Americanisms" turns up claims that they are swamping, killing and absorbing British English. If the British are not careful, so the argument goes, the homeland will soon be the 51st State as workers tell customers to "have a nice day" while "colour" will be spelt without a "u" and "pavements" will become "sidewalks." My research examined how both varieties of the language have been changing between the 1930s and the 2000s and the extent to which they are growing closer together or further apart. So do Brits have cause for concern? Well, yes and no. On the one hand, most of the easily noticeable features of British language are holding up. Take spelling, for example -- towards the 1960s it looked like the UK was going in the direction of abandoning the "u" in "colour" and writing "centre" as "center." But since then, the British have become more confident in some of their own spellings. In the 2000s, the UK used an American spelling choice about 11% of the time while Americans use a British one about 10% of the time, so it kind of evens out. Automatic spell-checkers which can be set to different national varieties are likely to play a part in keeping the two varieties fairly distinct. [...] But when we start thinking of language more in terms of style than vocabulary or spelling, a different picture emerges. Some of the bigger trends in American English are moving towards a more compact and informal use of language. American sentences are on average one word shorter in 2006 than they were in 1931. Americans also use a lot more apostrophes in their writing than they used to, which has the effect of turning the two words "do not" into the single "don't." They're getting rid of certain possessive structures, too -- so "the hand of the king" becomes the shorter "the king's hand." Another trend is to avoid passive structures such as "a paper was written," instead using the more active form, "I wrote a paper."
> Brits can get rather sniffy about the English language -- after all, they originated it.
Old British english sounded closer to American english than modern British english.
This is similar to the reason that Quebec is closer to old French than Parisian French.
Where words have more specificity, use those that are more specific.
For the summary's example of pavement versus sidewalk, pavement is less specific than sidewalk. Pavement refers to an improved surface and just as easily could mean a roadway, while sidewalk pretty specifically indicates an improved surface that is meant for pedestrians rather than vehicles.
America still has regionalities itself though, it's not like it's one homogeneous language region. It'd be wicked pissah to spill your Moxie on the hottop when opening the cah doah and you'd be bull if you did.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Here, "pavement" means the path for pedestrians at the side of the road. "Pavement" is never used for a road surface. So, here, there is no ambiguity, and "pavement" is equally as specific as "sidewalk".
American English is the same English that was spoken in England in the 1700s. Modern UK English is the English that changed. They need to get over it and get back to their roots. ;)
https://www.becomeenglishteachers.com/what-english-is-the-original-english-british-or-american/
Rubbish, both have diverged. from what I have read Shakespeare's accent would have been something like a mix of lowland Scots and Appalachian American.
Actually, linguists say the British accent circa the Elizabethan period would have sounded closes to the American southern accent. In related news, Shakespeare performed using Original Pronunciation is fascinating.
An Americanism? Your (the whole group of you) google-fu was poor. "Get Off of My Cloud" is a song written by a British (English) band, The Rolling Stones -- specifically, the lyrics were by Mick Jagger, who was born in Kent and attended the London School of Economics.
If it's an Americanism, it made it back to England some time before 1965.