1) A Britishism, Adj. The correct, though often counter-intuitive, spelling of a word in English that is widely misspelt in the United State’s version of the English language.
2) A Britishism, Adj. The correct, though again admittedly counter-intuitive, pronunciation of certain words that are expressed differently in the States: due to the deviation of
evolution in our separate linguistic developments (or lack thereof). Some scholars believe that certain American dialects are closer to the original forms of English than those currently spoken in England, largely due to the xenophobic nature of a nation afraid of
change. Other scholars disagree. Others simply do not care.
3)Briticism, noun. The view taken of Britain by America, through the distorting lens of U.S.
pop-media in film and
television, designed to demonise British people and make them appear more threatening than they probably are.
It is similar to Said’s theory of Orientalism, except America has yet to declare war on Britain, so it doesn’t bother the
British nearly as much as Orientalism probably bothers people in the Middle East.
To be fair, the Brits are responsible for an incalculable number of atrocities; we did have the largest Empire the world has ever seen after all; now all we have is a testimony to that fact in the Guinness
Book of Records, an incompetent
government, and a healthy
dose of national cynicism.
1) Britishism, Briticism:
Americans insist on replacing "s" with "z" at every available opportunity. There are many other examples, this is just the most annoying.
2) Britishism, Briticism: Lieutenant I believe is spelt correctly in the U.S. but it’s pronounced “Left-tenant”: L-E-F-T, get it?
3) Briticism: The
Patriot was an awful film, also pretty inaccurate; it cast us Brits in a pretty demonic
light, when really both sides did some pretty unpleasant things. You did destroy our tea, and that is simply not done.
Too many others to list, but we'
re always the bad guys, it's probably our own fault for being so horrible.
I don't get the paradoxical nature of your notions that we are "limeys" and the aspersions you cast on our dental health. The sailors used to
suck limes to avoid scurvy which is essentially a horrible gum disease, is it not? Plus in modern terms, our free dental care system on the NHS beats the
hell out of your sinister Insurance system. American prejudice is surely harming America as much as it harms the world at large.
