Australians: What do you think of American words making their way into our vocabulary?

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veg_hel

My partner berated me the other day for using the word zero instead of naught. The thing was I didn't even realise I said it! And I am opposed to us taking on American Spelling but it is very easy to pick up. I think that with everyone using spell check on their computers set to American English it is easy to learn and use American English. Even now it has corrected me in this program for using "s: in realise instead of the American spelt "z". I think if I were a young student today I would find it harder and possibly get confused with the correct Australian way of spelling and what words are American and Australian. Our language is evolving and unfortunatly I don't think in the right direction.

Graham F

The French years ago made illegal the Anglicization of their language to preserve their culture.
Aussie 'culture' is a young thing but we certainly do not need to yankify any more than needs be. Have you ever considered how the yanks use the word 'fit' when they really mean fitted?

Keep it out!

stoz263

I also get frustrated about this.. but I guess the language changing is also influenced by the silent American domination in other parts of our culture as well. When I was growing up we never had halloween but now we do. We have thanksgiving turkeys and other "American" things bombarding our shores these days. Even our TV would be 80% American TV and music.

I think we should be different but even our government is shadowing America at times... it's getting too much and I think before this merge is unrecognisable between who is American and who is Australian we need to be true blue and stick to the Aussie lingo and way of life.

Cecil

I despair about the cultural colonisation of Australia by the US. I guess it is unavoidable with all the exposure we get to the US through televisions movies and music. Jail should be spelt gaol. Meter is correctly spelt as metre in most of the world. Route should be pronounced as root. American english is being pushed at us through spell checkers and Australian dictionaries are adding americanisations. Newspapers seem to have given up trying. Its been coming a long time. I am very fond of the US and its movies and tv and stuff but wouldnt it be good if we did remain a little different. That would be bonza. Thanks for the question cobber.

Bardy

Australia is a great and unique country and so is our language and culture. It is a pity it has to change to the American phrases as it will soon be lost forever. As for the spelling issue, you can blame computers with "spell check", as this is all in American lingo so our kids (and teachers) do not know any different. American movies, good as they may be, are another factor in identity identification and we are quickly losing ours. I do use Aussie words and phrases as much as possible, if others do also we may be able to slow the rot and save our unique identity.

Ackers

<short rant>
Oh God if i seriously hear one more Australian say

ERB instead of HERB or BOO-EEY instead of BUOY I will punch them THROUGH (not "thru") the wall.

</short rant>

I'm Australian myself and as you can probably tell it annoys the hell out of me.

But one thing we do is shorten words or say them in a way which requires the least effort (wanna, gonna) and youger people start thinking that they are actual words, which is why it's a bad idea to teach us foreign languages.

Unfortunately i think it may inevitably creep into schools and everyday speech until it becomes the norm.

But this doesn't mean we'll lose any of our identity; such as our culture (or lack thereof), slang or tradition. I know we'll always eat lamb, wear thongs and drink beer on Australia day because that's as good as it gets!

Bardy's exactly right, on ya mate!

dingo60

I hate it with a passion! I will correct any writing I see around town with my trusty permanent marker. I have altered handouts sent home with the kids and returned them all nicely corrected. I do the same with anything that comes from any of the government offices. I suppose I'm a little pedantic about this, but I dislike the deterioration of a beautiful language into the phonetic and lazy American style.

Someone want to tell me what a 'lab-rat-tree' is? (laboratory)
Or for that matter, what exactly is 'aloominum'? (aluminium)
Please, please, please, the word is not 'nuke-el-ar' it is 'new-klee-ar' (nuclear)

dreamgirl_218

I haven't noticed it in handouts the closest thing that I can relate to is when at school a girl got in trouble and said to my teacher that she had the right to remain silent.... some amendment. No in the future I don't think American English will become standard here. We have too many words with a "ie" or "y" sound at the end of them.. brekky, kindie, etc. lol We'll always say thongs not flip flops... even though flip flops sound cute.

The Silver Foo Dog

Two words

POP CULTURE

zafir

I really, really dislike the way Americanisms are creeping into our spelling, vocabulary, and pronunciation.

It's particularly annoying when TV newsreaders and presenters pronounce a normal English word in an American way. I recently heard advertisement pronounced ad-ver-teyes-ment. And a well-known morning TV presenter talks about 'sidewalks' instead of pavements, 'hood' instead of bonnet (as in car bonnet), and consistently says 'new-ku-lar' instead of nuclear. If the media can't get it right, how can we expect our children to.

As for spelling in school handouts, that's because the default spell-checker on most PCs is set to American English, and many people do not know how to reset this, which explains the use of 'z' instead of 's', and we are becoming desensitised to this.

And, while I'm on my soapbox, a recent news report stated that many Australians believe the Emergency phone number is 911!!!!

Ozmaniac

I believe that there are enough English-English speaking people spread throughout the world that it will take a very long time to disappear completely but I can see some aspects changing very quickly.

I think 's' instead of 'z' will be one of the first to go and already find myself needing to put conscious thought into words like organisation - the 'z' is so all-pervasive these days. I quite deliberately spell computer disk with a 'k' and a disc-shaped object the other way and spell computer license the American way and driver's licence our way - both because they're American terms and the American spelling seems appropriate but each is a symptom of the overall problem.

Australia and the UK should perhaps consider something along the lines of the French anti-Anglicization (should that be an 's' in there?) measures in schools at least, as our spelling really is an integral part of our heritage and it would be sad to see it go. If what you say about handouts at school is already widespread, that policy needs to begin soon though it's probably a waste of time and effort. Your own spelling and writing are outstanding for someone of any age but I bet you really stand out at school. Far too few kids can spell at all and little things like the difference between colour and color disappear when they're likely to spell it as culler or kuler or something unrecognisable (that 'z' tried to get in there again).

I guess the truth is that English is a living language and always has and always will change over time and distance. I think it's inevitable that American English will eventually become standard everywhere: their 'culture' is simply too all pervasive and it will only become more so over time.

Rounder

I believe that, Australia, as a whole, is becoming too 'Americanised'. We have been a (relatively) independent country for many years, and unfortunately, because of our political and business ties to the US, we are quickly becoming the 51st state of the United States. I believe that Australia is an amazing country, and that we should embrace not only our version of the English language, but our way of life, and not like that of the Americans, eg. children in Australia celebrating Halloween.

Aussie the 2nd

Hate it with a passion....not only spelling but their pronunciation eg deeefence & off-fence !
What also annoys me is the way we are now using shortcuts eg gunna , watcha ,
We are all guilty of it to some extent but it really reflects poorly on young people when they struggle to put a sentence together without major grammatical errors.
This may seem irrelevant but what is the point of someone studying to be a professional or a trades person if , at the end of the day , they can't write a report or prepare an invoice.

QUEENSLANDER

HaHaHaHaHa, Americans

David H

Gday "Shaun The Sheep" I know what you mean and its happening all over the english speaking world and as you say "American English" will rule the world soon. Because the "English English" is so old fashioned and the spelling of some words spell nothing the way they sound. The "American English" on the other hand is spelt as it sounds.

People find that they get on better with the "American" way a lot better and its much more easy, thats the way its going to be.

Only the English would put a "b" in the word doubt....there are lots of examples like that................their you have it............your not checking my spelling are you ?

Bubba

I bloody well like it!

Mo Fayed

The Australians will learn to speak English from the Lebanese who have gone to live there, and they learnt theirs from the Americans. So it seems likely that the Americanized spelling system will be the one which reaches Australia first.

Benji

What are you talking about? It's all English. Are you reading this in Australian or American? Wait, you're reading it in English because American isn't a language!!

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