Separated by a Common Language #BriFri
Welcome to British Isles Friday! British Isles Friday is a weekly event for sharing all things British — reviews, photos, opinions, trip reports, guides, links, resources, personal stories, interviews, and research posts. Join us each Friday to link your British-themed content and to see what others have to share. The link list is at the bottom of this post. Pour a cup of tea or lift a pint and join our link party!
Last week, Heather began the first of several reports on her day trip to Cardiff and shared the YA steam punk fantasy, The Unnaturalists. Becky read three books set in the British Isles: The Prestige, Ross Poldark, and A Duty to the Dead. Sim brought us the marvelous news that a new Sherlock episode will air as a Christmas special — in this one Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock and Martin Freeman’s John are donned in Victorian dress, complete with deerstalker hat.
George Bernard Shaw didn’t say “The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language.” According to WikiQuote, Oscar Wilde came closest to expressing that sentiment, but in different words. I can definitely imagine the humor from either Shaw or Wilde, though, so I can see why people misattribute that quote.
A cross between a text book and a coffee table book
BBC Culture published a piece yesterday about American English and British English that examined the history of how the two dialects emerged, converged, and diverged in strange and wonderful ways: Why Isn’t ‘American’ a Language? The article author appears to use Bill Bryson’s Made in America as his major resource. I’m pretty sure I read that in the 1990s when it came out, but since that’s before Goodreads, I have no way of knowing for sure. I definitely remember reading The Story of English by Robert McCrum, William Cran, and Robert MacNeil — a more scholarly approach made accessible with beautiful illustrations.
I have a couple of newer books on this topic on my TBR list right now. How to Speak Brit: The Quintessential Guide to the King’s English, Cockney Slang, and Other Flummoxing British Phrases by C.J. Moore came out last year and, this year, we got That’s Not English: Britishisms, Americanisms, and What Our English Says About Us by Erin Moore. Apparently, I’m not the only person to be endlessly fascinated by the English language and its varying forms.
What have you read about English, the language?
Funny how much we’ve come to rely on GoodReads isn’t it? I did have a few years in the 70’s where I jotted down everything I read in a music composition notebook; something about the unique layout of the lines appealed I guess. It’s a good thing I wrote them down because like your experience with Bill Bryson, I’ve forgotten that I read many of them. Vague recollections if anything.
Love watching Brit telly and fascinated by the differences in our language too. Right now I keep noticing the expression “you’ve got the wrong end of the stick” to mean you don’t understand, you’ve got it all wrong. Quite an interesting derivation! Cheers, Happy British Isles Friday!
I have played along in forever! This made me think of several things.
Hope you don’t mind my chipping in. To me, every day is Britain day..! The English language is an enormous, and fascinating, topic. As you probably know, there are huge varieties over here, let alone across the rest of the world. Unfortunately, regional differences are becoming blurred in the UK, dialects are softening – though it’s still possible to distinguish between, say, broad Glaswegian and Cornish. The best, most readable, book I have come across is the one you mention – I’m looking at a copy of it right now. What of regional differences in your country? I’m sure they’re more subtle than an ignorant Brit’s general understanding of ‘east coast’ or ‘deep south’!
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