Is "please" rude or polite? ๐ What's wrong with sounding like Peppa Pig? ๐ Literally the best newsletter you'll read today ๐
Is "please" rude or polite? ๐ What's wrong with sounding like Peppa Pig? ๐ Literally the best newsletter you'll read today ๐
Welcome to English in Progress, the bi-weekly newsletter that keeps you updated on the English language. Fresh in your inbox every other Wednesday.
American English V British English
Americans and Brits use the word โrightโ differently
Americans use the word "right" to indicate they are already knowledgeable or informed about a given subject or situation. By contrast, British English speakers use "right" to indicate that what they hear is informative, and relevant to the ongoing interaction.
Reading time: 2 minutes / phys.org (USA)
The word โpleaseโ is rude
As a speaker of British English myself (with a hint of Dutch English), I was a bit mystified by this piece in The Atlantic. Luckily, I was able to turn to this 2015 piece by Lynne Murphy for an explanation on how the usage is different. (More from Lynne and politeness here.)
Reading time: 4 minutes / The Atlantic (archived) (USA)
Is Hugh Grant rude or just British?
Another British/American clash. Hugh Grant gave an awkward interview at the Oscars that got everyone on social media talking. Video in article.
Reading time: 5 minutes / Washington Post (USA)
Canadian preschooler sounds like Peppa Pig
Canadian prescriptivism in this lament that the authorโs child is taking on British and Australian vocabulary. I donโt share his worry, but itโs an interesting subject. Itโs pretty usual to hear preschoolers speak with an American accent in the UK, a phase that soon passes in my experience. Iโm not sure if Iโve ever seen any studies done on it, though. Let me know in the comments if you know of any!
Reading time: 3 minutes / The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Event
Saturday 25 March, 13:00 UTC: That Word Chat, live and on Zoom
Editor Mark Allen speaks with AI expert Corinne Jorgenson about what artificial intelligence might mean for content creation and word editing.
Odds and ends
Dozens of New Zealand and Mฤori words added to Oxford English Dictionary
E hoa, or friend, is one of 47 New Zealand English words or expressions added to the dictionary in its latest update.
Reading time: 3 minutes / The Guardian (New Zealand)
Angola wants to make English an official language
Following in the footsteps of Rwanda and Burundi, which have switched from French to English, Angola is thinking about moving from Portuguese to English.
Reading time: 4 minutes / the africa report (Africa)
We shouldnโt call movies films
I think he probably does know how language works, but heโs so peeved heโs momentarily forgotten: director John Boorman posits that we should stop calling films โfilmsโ because they are no longer made on film. The comment section is as good as youโd expect it to be.
Reading time: 3 minutes / The Guardian (UK)
Oklahoma uses Urban Dictionary to accept or reject custom licence plates
A new algorithm to create word lists
Most popular American slang by state
A scientist is lobbying for a protein emoji
American and Canadian terminology to get around time zones
History proves young women are the linguistic innovators of the English language
Professor R. Danielle Scott educates students and faculty at Minnesota State about African American English
GPT4 is out, regular people cannot access it, but hereโs what it can do
The Long History of the Figurative 'Literally'โand 8 Great Writers Who Used It
Assembling the Oxford Dictionary of African American English
How 'ma'am' went from being a respectful word for some -- but polarizing for others
New words
The new OED update is here! Due to a daycare strike here in Germany, I donโt have time to give it a good look, but here is the whole list.
bare minimum Monday - a phenomenon where employees decide to do the bare minimum work required on Monday, often as a way to ease the anxiety that comes with the beginning of the week
bussin - very good
drip - Clothing, shoes, accessories (I love the example from this teacher-centered website: Student: Love the drip today. Teacher: Thank you. I got it on sale at Target.)
funcle - fun uncle
to glaze - The act of overly obsessing about someone else and constantly praising them.
hustle culture - the idea that work must be the the most important thing in your life and that working long hours and not taking time off is the only way to achieve success
imaginationship - a relationship that is only in one personโs head
kizzy - I am not lying
Proximity bias - managers prefer work done in the office to that done by staff members at home
recommerce - the practice of buying and selling used goods online, usually on websites created for this purpose
She-cession - The pandemicโs harsh effect on women
Snatched - Fits well, looks good, and is flattering.
And finallyโฆ
This newsletter is about linguistics, but as an English teacher, I of course hold classic literature in deep regard. As such, when my children and I watched the first episode of the below on Disney Plus, I hadโฆ feelings. (I am happy to say they did not like it, and we will not watch it again. Fourth season of Bluey, where are you?!?)
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(Probably more mistakes in this one than usual, as I am typing it while being regularly interrupted by my two little people, whose daycare teachers are (rightly) on strike here in Germany.)