[HPforGrownups] British vs English (was US/English versions)

[Edblanning at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 34514

In a message dated 01/02/02 22:15:14 GMT Standard Time, 
hollydaze at btinternet.com writes:
> 
> BRITISH VS ENGLISH
> Eloise wrote:
> > This whole discussion should be under the banner US/British versions. 
> > After all, they are both written in English, aren't they and it is 
> > extremely irritating to Scottish, Welsh and Irish Britons to be 
> > thought of as English. 
> 
> I always got the impression that (most) Scots, Welsh and Irish hated being 
> called British too and that was what devolution was about?
> 
> I presumed we were talking about the language rather than the countries 
> anyway and in those ways it is right as the British version is written in 
> *English* while the "American" version is in US English (hence US in the 
> title of the discussion)
> 
> 

Ouch! I find it interesting to have trodden on (?) English toes in this 
discussion.
The thing I am uncomfortable with in your last remark is that it suggests 
that we have the 'copyright' and that other types of English are 'versions 
of', whereas the English language actually has many different, equally valid 
forms . British English has after all also carried on developing since the 
days of the Founding Fathers and the differences in our two languages stem 
from this as much as from (for want of a better word) US developments. That 
is why I prefer in these contexts to speak of British English, rather than 
just English.

Otherwise, (you speak of the problems of casting characters as 'typically 
British'), I think we are making the same point. Yes, there are those in the 
UK who do not want to be 'British', but the point I was leading into and 
which you didn't quote is that many people seem to equate 'Britishness' with 
'Englishness' and this is simply inaccurate. In some contexts I feel very 
English (I  would be quite pro English devolution as a matter of fact!), in 
others British, in others European.

Eloise 


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