Two Countries Divided By a Common Language

I have often commented on the differences between UK English and US English. I don’t mind either. The Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, Indians, South Africans and many other groups all have their own versions of English too. I look on it as a gift to the world, and once given, it is not ours to control. Use it how you want.

However, I also have to point out that there are many other languages and cultures in the world who all have a claim to something similar. China, India and Arabia have all made great contributions to the world we know. Even Switzerland, as Orson Welles points out in The Third Man, after five hundred years of democracy and peace, produced the cuckoo clock. And chocolate and bankers who still cling to Nazi gold.  No single nation is universally brilliant and moral – no single nation, whatever politicians tell us, is universally evil.

 

The first sign that something was not right in the President’s head

Bearing that in mind, it seems that there are people who want to control English and force others to speak like Americans. It’s bad enough that we are bombarded with constant American films and TV, but recently it seems we can only get US English in spellcheckers. We are being forced to become part of the USA.

Not only in spelling, but politicians in the USA are taking it upon themselves to advise us how to live and run our country and, even worse, are giving a misleading picture of life in the UK.

Even if this is a picture of a doctor healing man that isn’t Epstein i still represents a slide from both humility and reality

It is, I think, time to start pushing back. I accept that most citizens of the USA are lovely people, and my mother always told me that Americans had very good manners. It is the tragedy of modern America, that you don’t draw from this pool of talent and elect some of them.

So here are two pictures. The Daily Star has just run a headline based on the famous line “He is not the Messiah, he’s just a very naughty boy.” If you know your Python you will recognise the quote immediately. If you don’t, I apologise for my cultural imperialism.

This is how o cope with a delusional brat – you can’t reason with him, you aren’t allowed to punish him because he has corrupted the system, so ridicule is all that remains

The other is a picture of Sweep. Again, you may not recognise him, or his importance, and I apologise again for my insensitive use of cultural imperialism. He is the rapscallion companion of Sooty, and I have more confidence in him, than I do in most current politicians.

And finally . . .