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This blog will be my responses to topical issues about the English Language. We have already explored a topical debate about Americanisms in British English. 

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Poshing Up

In some ways think the logic behind teaching children received pronunciation makes sense. I haven't come across many professionals with thick regional accents and certainly not any politicians or similar people with power. Banning regional accents and slang is completely different to learning how to 'turn it on and off' in different situations. Although the idea that people with standard English accents are more intelligent than people with regional accents is judgemental, a lot of people think it. Companies use this widespread idea to convey a sense of authority, in call centre's for example. One call centre in Newcastle hire the locals to answer the phones because they sound friendly and familiar. If the customer asks to speak to a manager or the phone call has to be escalated it will be transferred to someone with a 'posher' accent often RP. This is a commonly used way to portray authority when you cant see who you're talking to. This shows that in s...

I Could Care Less

The influence of American English on British English no doubt infuriates the thousands, but we must ask ourselves what it is they’re so riled up about. Surely these literary pet hates are unnecessary?   We do indeed speak a beautiful language but to denounce American English, one of the largest and most influential varieties, as if it’s some kind of abomination is ridiculous. Now, there are many Americanisms which just don’t make sense, but we have plenty of those in British English too; idioms like ‘lost the plot’ and the endless synonyms we have for the word ‘idiot’ being a few of my favourites. One of the biggest culprits for angering the Brits is the ‘Can I get a…?’ after the argument over the use of ‘can’ rather than ‘may’ has been settled it’s the use of ‘get’ rather than ‘have’ that really gets them on edge. On a radio spot in 2017 one man said that it wasn’t so much the phrase but the way it was said which angered him (‘This isn’t New York!’) and that people s...