British/American English (was SK rvw

[catlady_de_los_angeles]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C5071
From: catlady_de_los_angeles
Subject: Re: British/American English (was SK rvw
Reply To: [Yahoo! #5066] Re: Stephen King Review of GoF
Date: 7/25/00 7:47 pm  (ET)

> I agree that 'British' english is far older, and to me, that means it
was the original way to talk and write.

Presumably all the different dialects of British English have continued to
evolve since 1607 (founding of Jamestown colony), altho' some evolve very
slowly. I have read that both London dialect and 'received pronunciation'
are more different from Shakespeare's dialect than is General American.

> However, if it is so much older and it's the original translation,
why is 'American' english more prominent?

Because USA has bigger population and exports more movies, TV, records,
etc. Some people like to mouth off about 'yankee know-how' and 'American
leadership in technology', but now it seems the only thing we are the
clear leader in is pop culture. I once read an essay suggesting that
the reason that American entertainment products are popular in so many
different cultures is that American culture, from which the entertainment
products originated, is made of pieces from all different cultures. The
essayist said: West Africa had great musical traditions for a long time,
but they never spread out of West Africa until they were taken to America,
who sent them out to the world in the form of jazz and rock.