Americanization of The Queen's English: Cool or Plain Lazy?

It is one of the most well-known facts of history -Great Britain colonized more than half of the world in between the 16th and the 20th century. Amongst others, America won its war of independence in 1783 after a bloodied battle and India managed to push forth its independence almost two centuries later-in the year 1947 after years of oppression and failed rebellions. But what is the one common factor in these two erstwhile British colonies – now the largest democracies of the world which are miles apart - the one legacy that the British left behind for all its colonies- their language- English. 

Do we really need to discuss the importance of the English language? I gather not, as everybody is aware that English is THE language used in most businesses/ trades and official matters across the world. The importance of English has grown manifold with the opening of boundaries, freeing up of trade between nations and even more with the advent of the Internet.

But in the past few years, a dangerous but bloodless coup of the English language has taken place, led from the front by the Americans and spreading through the aegis of the worldwide web! To be precise we are referring to the Queen's English also known as BBC English, British English or English (UK) here. The Queen's English as it was spoken, written and spelled has been changing rapidly thanks to a revolution by the tweet-text happy generation who share an expertise in conveying thoughts in the shortest phrases possible. 

The O MG, LOL generation cannot be bothered by superfluous alphabets....they are thinking in 150 characters or less. So gone are the nuances of Queen's English when you could all but imagine a puckered lip and an upturned powdered nose. It has been replaced with fun, casual, colloquial, totally Americanized English served with a sizzling hot-dog and a pitcher of Diet Coke!

Over the years, the vocabulary has become simpler, the pronunciations diluted and the meanings transformed. Here are some examples of how this change has crept in and become so pervasive that it is commonplace now; (For all the people brought up on Queen’s English, did anyone ever imagine that the very 'l's and 'u's which cost us dearly in our tests could ever be lost for good?);

• words such as colour, honour, humour, tumour, vapour, labour, favour, favourite have all lost their 'u's, they have been replaced by color, honor, humor, tumor, vapor, labor, favor, favorite.
• the double 'l's have gone too (why were they needed anyways?) so travelling is now spelled as traveling, travelled as traveled. Jewellery (9 characters) has lost some of its bejeweled characters (an 'l' and 'e' to be precise) and become simply jewelry.
• some 'a' s which were placed with another vowel have gone too like- gynaecology is now simply gynecology, caesarean is now cesarean (it does make the spellings easier to memorize though).
• the r's and the e's in the 're' s have been transposed - so metre and litre have become meter, liter respectively; sombre has become somber; centre has received a new center.
• a cheque can now be encashed as a 'check' (i wonder why this had to change?, why make a cheque- check ?)
• all the 's's have turned to 'zzzz's- hospitalization, colonization, americanization
• a sandwich has become a 'sub', a 'guy' has become a unisex term; sober no longer means decent-it means the opposite of drunk and rubber which meant something used to erase has lost all its innocence to mean a condom in the American English!

These were just a few examples. There are definitely many more such words and I am counting on readers to add more to the list.

I browsed the net to look for discussions and blogs on this subject and found comments ranging from ludicrous comparisons between the two English languages to the most disparaging ones. Some people call it plundering of a language while others think the differences are too insignificant to merit a discussion. The purists call the shortening of spellings- sheer laziness while those in support of the new-gen words think this was coming as more and more people look for a more convenient way to speak and write. Undeniably, some of the spellings are more phonetically accurate than their predecessors and require less effort on the part of the students – a bit of logic would be enough! But is it ethical to maul the originality of the language for sheer convenience? Maybe, it is a debate like the many others doing the rounds these days- the ones which pitch the sanctity of previously established norms against the convenient digital successors. To each his own!

For the record, I am neither British nor American and cannot lay claim to the English language. But like many other Indians of several generations, I too, have studied in schools/ institutions set up by the British during the colonial rule in India. These institutions have, till date fiercely preserved the legacy of the Queen's English passing on the baton of loyalty to its students. But as the Americanized version of English finds its way from computer software and the Internet right up to newspapers and conversations; it may be time to unlearn the English we know and pave the way for Americanized English as the language of the future ....however scary that might be!

I leave you with some quotes on the English language which I found on the internet while looking up discussions on the Queen’s English vs. American English;

Ø The first one is a remark by Oscar Wilde which though made in the 18th century is so apt to this whole debate; "We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, the language"

The next two speak of how English has evolved and given birth to so many pidgin and creole languages, dialects and forms around the globe.

Ø “Not only does the English Language borrow words from other languages, it sometimes chases them down dark alleys, hits them over the head, and goes through their pockets." — Eddy Peters

Ø “Viewed freely, the English language is the accretion and growth of every dialect, race, and range of time, and is both the free and compacted composition of all." — Walt Whitman

Ø and this one takes the cake if you see who it's coming from; "In my sentences I go where no man has gone before…I am a boon to the English language”. — George W. Bush