Mango Languages

US vs. Them: British vs. American English

[Thanks to Matt Owen for this guest post and his perspective!

Hey there! I’m Matt, and I’m from England. I was trying to write a few words for Mango on the differences between UK and US English. I thought it would be fun.

Unfortunately I can’t do it.

I mean, I can write the words down easily enough, but it’s nearly impossible for me to point out the differences.

Because Microsoft Word won’t let me.

As in all fields of combat, the US tends to rely on technology to dominate the battlefield, and the battle for control of the language has been running since you guys decided you were probably better off without the King sticking his royal nose in your business.

And yeah, I’ve tried changing my settings (which incidentally, read “English” or “UK English” – make of that what you will), but every time I save or reopen a document, Microsoft discards all of this.

I’ve tried to convince it that I like spelling “Favour” like that, but it won’t take the hint. Or do me any favors.

Of course, this isn’t the only way American English has become the version most of the world speaks. When Britain was at the height of its powers, it spread the language by forcing people to use it to buy and sell, and by using it in churches and schools across the globe.

America on the other hand simply visits any given country, and quietly builds a Starbuck’s around anyone speaking another language.

I’ve already mentioned the war of independence, and John Adams himself was (unsurprisingly) a great fan of “Americanisms”, happily announcing that he thought the US would do a great job of “Polishing the language”.

What John forgot to mention was that we Brits had been polishing away ourselves for several hundred years already, and people continue to do so on both sides of the Atlantic.

To really understand the differences, you have to delve further back into history.

Despite the name, English is actually something that crawled out of the mud of French, Saxon and pig-Latin  [He’s kidding about the pig-latin part, ightray, Attmay? -Rachel].

You can also add a few other factors to those weird roots: A history of being invaded by nearly every country in Europe (quite why the Romans were so keen on trooping all the way from sunny Lazio to get their hands on a small grey island with nothing but a bit of tin and constant rain going for it remains a mystery), and books written by semi-illiterates on printing presses that couldn’t handle all the letters.

Take the word ‘Ye’ for example, it only exists because old printing presses had a symbol that looked like a ‘Y’ instead of a ‘TH’.

Next up, Britain went through an industrial revolution a bit earlier than most countries, with the billowing smog in London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool filling the local people’s sinuses and having a similar effect on the local accents – they all make you sound as though you’ve got a clothes-peg on your nose [For Americans: case in point; we say clothes pin -Rachel].

Meanwhile, in the US, something more profound was happening. We like to call it “Hollywood”. The movie industry has a huge history of imposing standards on across the world.

Here’s a question for you – what noise do frogs make?

If you answered “Ribbit”, it’s because that’s the noise frogs from Southern California make, most other places they go “Bloik”.

And English is the same. All over the world, countries got used to the language of Shakespeare through films, where trousers were pants, pavements were sidewalks and words followed the general American rule –pronounce it how you spell it.

This approach is sensible, but wouldn’t really work in England, where no word seems complete without a hidden ‘H’ or a silent ‘U’ in the middle. This is why tourists constantly ask me the way to “Li-ses-ter Square”. It’s actually pronounced “Les-ter”, but spelled “Leicester”.

Meanwhile, my American workmate gets weird looks when she asks for Pleated Pants in stores here. In the office, any businessman who wears ‘Suspenders’ probably shouldn’t mention it if he wants that promotion (If you want to know why, try using Google.co.uk to look the word up –just don’t do it while you’re at work!).

We’ve also got different words for commonplace things: some make more sense, some make less. Want to give me a call? I’ll take it on my mobile. It’s a phone, and it’s mobile. Makes sense yes? ‘Cellphone’ actually means ‘battery powered phone’. When you think about it, that’s just weird.

On the other hand, a Truck sounds much better to me than a Lorry…

The differences don’t stop there either: remember the history bit earlier? England has a pretty long tradition of battling with France at every given opportunity, so that any word sounding vaguely French is considered low class, so the Toilet is the ‘Loo’, although you guys might say ‘restroom’. A few years back an Aunt of mine told me that when she first visited back in the 80s, she honestly thought that a restroom was just a quiet area where you could go and sit down and read a book for a while…

And then there’s slang. In the US, English has had a healthy injection of Dutch, German, Spanish, Yiddish and Eminem to help it along, In England we just go for weird rhyming slang (Apples and pears= stairs, dog and bone = phone), text speak and references to weird English sitcoms from the 70s. In other words, If we fancy an ace night out we get bladdered down the nags, and hopefully there’s no aggro involved innit, y’get me?

I’ve tried to come up with an American equivalent for that last line. Let’s just say a few beers after work doesn’t quite sum it up…

Meanwhile the yoofs have well and truly looted the language for all it’s worth. Where I live, most kids is speakin the Jafaican mon [Matt explained this to me as "fake-Jamaican" -Rachel] (when they aren’t stealing ‘Trainers’ from the local sporting goods store), usually in a weird accent that arrives in Hackney after swinging through Kingston Town and early 90s South Central LA. Don U be letting the feds catch ya janga sistrin innit?

Nope, I don’t know what that means either…

Overall, the language we speak is vaguely similar, but history, immigration and culture have changed the two so that visitors from either side have to make a real effort. Whenever I write for a website, a good bit of my time is spent going through and putting ‘Z’ instead of ‘S’ in words – although in England even the letter would be pronounced differently, so bad news for any fans of Zed Zed Top out there.

On the plus side it means that the way we speak gets more and more interesting as we go along. The regional diction of newscasters doesn’t really match what people say in San Diego, or in Des Moines, and in England it has to be said that even the Queen (god bless you ma’am…) has a pretty weird accent compared to most of her subjects.

The reason English is so dominant on the world stage is because it’s inclusive, always happy to add in a new expression from a different country or a new technology – look for ‘Twiterati’ in Websters and the Oxford English soon. And hey, next time I walk into a diner and order a beefburger and chips, cut me some slack yo?

Greek Independence Day

Many times each day, through the course of our normal activities, we encounter some form of the phrase “…the Greeks invented that,” “The Greeks were the first to… “  or  “that’s derived from the Greek…” We need to remember that some items of significance came from sources other than the Greeks.

Did you know: the cathode ray tube, BBQ sauce, Botox, carpet cleaner, the twin cam motorcycle engine, and Quebec,  were all invented by Non-Greeks!  Yes!!  It’s true!!!!

Today is Greek Independence Day.  Modern Greece was born on March 25, 1821.  Wait, how can that be? – you are thinking….  Did they really invent everything in the last 200 years?  The answer is “no” but I will highlight a brief history of Greece.

Ancient Greek Civilizations began with the Minoan civilization in Crete and the Mycenaean Greeks circa 3300 BC.  Some accomplishments over the next 3000 years include: Democracy, The Parthenon, Olympics, The Hagia Sofia, Drama, Science, Trial by Jury, Greek Mythology, Philosophy, astrology, biology, mathematics, physics, Medicine, Fables, Comedy, Tragedy, and Satire. Men such as Plato, Socrates, Pythagoras, Homer, Hippocrates, Herodotus, and Aristotle have had lasting impact on our present day civilization.

Around 300 BC the Hellenistic period began.  This occurred when Alexander the Great left Greece and conquered 22,000 miles by foot over the next 8 years.  He died at the age of 32, undefeated in battle.  Though, his death resulted in his empire being split into 14 empires,  there was a tremendous spread of the Greek language, culture, and population.

The Byzantine period followed over the next 1000 years and spanned 35 present-day countries in Northern Africa, Southern Europe, and Western Asia. Greece fell to the Ottoman Empire in the 15th Century.  Over the next 300 years, Greeks held onto their culture through “secret schools” that were found underground and in caves.  Greeks had never given up hope of regaining their country and did not want to lose their history, language, or culture.

During the early 1800′s, a period of Philhellenism (Love of all things Greek) began.  Because of the Greek origin of so much of the West’s classical heritage, there was tremendous sympathy for the Greek cause throughout Europe. Many wealthy Americans and Western European aristocrats, such as the renowned poet George Gordon Lord Byron took up arms to join the Greek revolutionaries.  Many more also financed the revolution. People thought, “wouldn’t it be really cool if Greece was a country again.”

In 1821 Greece had declared war on Turkey and the fight for independence gained momentum.  Byron died with an army fighting for the Greek cause in 1824, but support continued to come in. But by 1830 the war had ended and Greece was free.  Thus modern day Greece was born on March 25, 1821.

Though modern day Greece has not risen to the level of power or influence of their ancestors, Greece did get credit for the first Allied victory of WWII.  After Greece had turned back Italy, Germany was forced to postpone battle with Russia to defeat Greece.  Following the battle, Winston Churchill had declared, “Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but that heroes fight like Greeks.“  Soon after, Roosevelt stated, “Greece has set the example which every one of us must follow until the despoilers of freedom everywhere have been brought to their just doom.”

Today many members of modern society continue to show respect for the accomplishments of the Greek people.  This is never more evident than to look at the strong desire for people to display the colors of the Greek Flag – blue and white.  Hanes indicates that its most popular color for T-shirts is white.  Levis-Strauss indicates that its most popular color for jeans has consistently been – blue.

A Taste of Mexico

What Mezcal was served in for the tasting

Last month, I was invited by Vicente Sanchez the consular of Mexico for Michigan and Ohio to a Mezcal tasting event for a celebration of the 2010 Mexican bicentennial anniversary.

The tasting was a truly unique and fun experience. I learned so much from the host at Migual’s Cantina. If you are wondering what the difference is between Mezcal and Tequila there are many including how many times it is distilled and even the use of the worm is in debate.

Fried Grasshoppers, salted and served with nuts

What I found interesting is the how you taste, with what you taste and how the traditional drink got its start. Here are a few of my non-scientific findings:

• Mezcal got its start with the Spanish Conquest and was used to convince the native Indians to work in the mines.
• There are over 200 different kinds of Agave plants and at least 150 are grown in Mexico
• When drinking Mezcal you should make a kissing face with your lips and sip.
• Before drinking Mezcal, you should produce a bit of saliva and when the sip is taken you should move the liquid across all your taste buds.
• Mezcal has a strong smokey flavor and can make you cough the first time you drink it.
• Mezcal is usually served as a shot, with a side plate of fried larvae ground with chili peppers and salt and cut limes. (notice picture of the grasshoppers – yes I tried them and am not a fan but I tried it! )
• Supposedly Mezcal is one of the only alcohols that will not give you a hang over. It comes from a polycarpic plant which starts to digest as soon as it hits your tongue.
• Just like with other drinks here are high end and low end Mezcals.  But note many are handcrafted.

This was a fantastic opportunity to learn about the very rich and old culture of Mexico.  I am so glad I was able to attend this unique experience and taste at bit of Mexico.

Do you have a drink or food that is a tradition for you and your culture?  Please share with us!

No, I wanted CHOCOLATE flavored chocolate!

This day in history was the first time chocolate was introduced to Europe in 1550.  At the time, it was much different than what we have come to love in recent years.

The ancient Mayans, near present day southern Mexico and northern Central America, were actually the first society to have grown cacao, around 250-900 AD.  People took the tree from the rain forest and harvested it, roasting and grinding the seeds into a paste, which they mixed with water, chili peppers, cornmeal, and other ingredients to make a frothy and spicy chocolate drink.  No, they didn’t call it “hot chocolate.”

The Aztecs, around 1400, also took to this spicy drink, but made it available almost exclusively to only high members of society like rulers and soldiers.  In both societies, however, chocolate was involved in religious and royal ceremonies.

In 1521, Europe had its first taste of chocolate through Spain, who discovered it via the Aztec culture.  They then began shipping the cacao seeds back home.  The drink remained a high-status beverage, as the cacao seeds were a very expensive import.  The Spanish sweetened the drink with cinnamon and sugar, and after that, this new sweetened chocolate drink swept across Europe and became extremely popular. It wasn’t until the 1800s, however, that chocolate was made available and affordable to the general public by mass production.

Yum!  So don’t you think it’s interesting that two different cultures had such a different takes on the same drink?  The Aztecs and Mayans produced a much different drink than what the Europeans created!