To ask why some Mumsnetters find the use of American English suspicious?

[MonaLisaDoesntSmile]

Some while back I wrote a thread under another username, and was accused by a few members to have written a fake story because I used words that are much more commonly used in the US. For the record, I learned English as a second language and my secondary school teacher was from the US, I also spent my teens watching American shows and films. 15+ years in the UK and I still use flashlight, trashcan, gas, fall, intersection and a number of other words that got stuck in my head.
I have it happen since a few times to other people- today someone decided a thread posted by a user was done by chat GTP because it sounded 'American'.
Why are people so baffled by the fact that there may be American users on the site, or people educated in the US/international American schools, or just people who have learned English with the help of American media rather than BBC?

I do see it must be annoying. One thing though is there is such a thing as standard written English in the UK which is taught in schools. So if you use colloquial terms that's fine but gotten doesn't (in my own personal opinion) sound anything other than American as in American it is the "correct" word whereas in the UK gotten is not standard English. If you see what I mean.

Hopefully thats is not rude to any Scots that like to use that word! But I know that "gotten" is not taught in Scottish schools as the correct word to use in standard writing.

Anyway I don't mean to insult anyone and am not 100% English myself so hopefully you will realise I am only giving my own opinion on this.

Eh?

It’s a prime example of the attitude of some people on here @Thoughtsonstuff.
’Grating barbarisms’ is very nasty.

I take your point regarding formal writing. But this is social media and very informal.
I think that makes a difference.

There's no such thing as 'proper English'. When in Rome, do as the Romans do? So I assume if you went to America you'd speak American English, and if you went to Scotland you'd speak like Scottish people do? A language's richness lies partly in its regional and national variation. It is only natural, with the movement of people between areas and countries where English is spoken, and with the advent of the internet, that there will be more blurring of linguistic boundaries - though of course this has happened anyway with all languages throughout human history. Only an uncultured ignoramus would think otherwise, or believe it could or should be prevented.

Because it’s called Mumsnet. It’s a British website for British women. Mum is a British word. You can use the website I guess. But I’ve noticed that American English is more common here because of social media now

The only thing is that English is actually the language of the English. The Scots for example have their own language as well, which is written on police cars etc. If I started changing that language in Scotland (as an English person) people would be offended that their national language was being butchered by a non Scot. It's only the English that aren't allowed to be mildly put out.

They actually say they’re a global online network even though most of their users are in the UK.

No, English is not only the language of the English. I wasn't asking if you would speak Scots or Gaelic in Scotland. I was asking if you'd speak English like a Scottish person would. Scottish Standard English is the most commonly spoken language in Scotland and has been since the 18th century.

But it’s not only the language of the English, not anymore.

The British Empire saw to that.

To be honest your post is a bit tone deaf, given the reasons for the decline of languages like Gaelic (Scottish and Irish).

No I wouldn't speak Scotch (just kidding) as I'm English. Although I would use loch instead of lake if I was there. Scottish schools do not teach "gotten" as standard written English or any other word that is specifically scottish if its different from standard English (other than some exceptions such as loch etc). So I don't understand your point.

Also I said English is the language of the English (not, as you repeated, English is not only the language of the English). We don't really have a national alternative. Unlike Scotland.

I'm not tone deaf. I just find it interesting that all other countries in the UK have another language (which they put on police cars etc) and.yet are tone deaf if English people don't like their language (that they use in england) fiddled with. Everyone's allowed a strong national identity apart from the English. I don't have a clue when St George's day is and if I celebrated it I'd be.locked up for being a member of the National Front. And yet the country that one of my parents is from has a national day that everyone loves.

Well I do, and I’m not even British. It was celebrated as well while DD was in primary school for 8 years with a dress up day in England colours. Funnily enough no one got arrested or accused of being a member of the National Front. I wonder why.🙄

@Thoughtsonstuff I’ve no issue at all with English people using whatever form of language they prefer. Of course not!
I already said that.

The problem is when some people assume there is only one acceptable form of English within the UK, even when people are just chatting informally on SM.

Assuming others are dumb/lesser/foreign/a bot for their perfectly routine use of language is the issue. That’s not a dig at you at all btw, just a general comment. You do see that sort of othering on here all too often unfortunately.

@TempestTost, very true there are so many variations to the plethora of accents in the US (race, class and culture) that affect how English is spoken. Code Switching also happens in the Uk, quite freely, both to the advantage and disadvantage of the user. However in its written form, US English appears far more eloquent than when spoken. I hear far too much “stuff” and “somehow” when with US educated colleagues, in comparison to with UK educated staff. And in science and engineering, the word “stuff” is too vague. They use far more fillers like “so”, or “anyhow”, which dilutes the level of professionalism sadly.

So England historically took control of the British Isles (often violently and repressively), resulting in English being the dominant language, and your response is to gatekeep English as being 'for the English', to say that other variants aren't proper English and act offended that they've got their own languages too?

Also, no of course you wouldn't get locked up for celebrating St George's day . Part of the reason flag-waving doesn't go down so well in England is that nationalism is not such a good look when you spent centuries colonising a large part of the world.

Yawn. I didn't. None of us alive did.

I don't think that. I was referring to standard written English and in England there is only one form which is the one taught in English schools. But obviously people can write whatever they like and use whatever words they want. Right at the start of the thread I said I personally don't care what people do. But that doesn't mean there isn't such a thing as standard written English used in schools in England.

There wouldn't be, you are right.

I think the OP wants to know why there's so much tetchiness when it happens the other way round.

My suspicion is a deep rooted feeling of insecurity in the British identity that expresses itself as hostility to the globally dominant Anglophone culture. I think people know deep down that the 'special relationship' is phony, a sop to a wounded imperial ego.

Another aspect that I would like to add is that many non-native speakers taught themselves, or built upon their school education by reading more books in English and consuming more media like news sites, TV shows and social media videos.
Access to proper English language education outside of school or university (when you could take additional language classes) is costly. Many teachers, even at language schools, are not that good. Language classes are often with pupils of very mixed ability. School education might have been sketchy.
Now you can learn for free with Youtube, but also there, teaching videos vary by quality.
It takes a minimum level of language education to even realize that some words are either American or British or other variations (Australian, for example).
This mix and match of influences can also contribute to a mix of British English and American English in a speaker or writer.

The approach that someone must either be of one or the other origin assumes that (second) language learning is always straighforward and systematic.

🤣🤣🤣 "wounded imperial ego". Good one.

The issue is that thanks to the vagaries of history, English was spread all over the world, and again thanks to the twists and turns of history, other people who have no link to the English language or to English history or culture have made the English language their own and exported it to all corners.

In American, Australian, New Zealand, Hiberno, Indian, Caribbean, African, and even Canadian English, you find constructions and phrases and words that developed independently of each other and of the mothership. Nowadays, speakers of those forms of English travel the globe, authors sell their books worldwide, and producers of all sorts of entertainment have been able to broadcast their forms of English all over the Anglophone world, at a pace that is far faster and in a volume that far outstrips all previous contact.

You can either accept a certain amount of cross fertilisation or try to fight it. It would be useful to realise, however, that the 'problem' of foreign English seeping into British English is only happening because the British Empire was so successful in spreading the English language around the world in the first place, often to the extreme detriment of already existing languages and cultures. A proper acknowledgement of historical irony would be in order before getting knickers in a twist.

I suspect they are also the kind of people who'd prefer to not have any foreign influence in their country/home/websites but they're allowed to go after Americans because it's seen as punching up. But at the heart they're just run of the mill small minded xenophobes.

The preciousness and pearl clutching of previous posters about a "British space being so important" when discussing cultural influence from another country that only speaks English due to British colonialism is amusing to me though!😂

You can say my name when you are being nasty to me. I'm here, @JadeCrab . I'm right here.