newjersey

I can see where it is more apparent - the so called Amish country, located around Lancaster, PA. It is a closed community, they still live by the 17th century rules and must have preserved the language really well. I spent about 10 days in Lancaster after 9/11 getting sh.tfaced round the clock, so can't remember much.

Pollyana

The Amish are certainly interesting; the way they manage to stay so isolated from modern culture is incredible - its one thing to do that on a desert island, but when surrounded by modern America? Must have been fascinating to be there, even if you can't remember much!

BadgeIsBack

Find it interesting.

Which is why you will never hear me complain about spelling, grammar or anything that 'must be wrong' when it might not be.

Bernieboy

Sounds blissful

Pollyana

I can just see you driving one of their little horse-drawn buggies, dressed in all the Amish gear actually......you always did look good in a hat

Rambi

American spelling is and isn't like olde English because they didn't have standard spellings back then. Standardisation pretty much came around the time of the revolution and the two countries standardised on different spellings after that time. One is not older than the other. The US constitution contains some spellings that would nowadays be considered British rather than American.

tonyk38

Correct.

Spelling was chaotic 400 years ago. Attempts at standardisation took forever to be widely accepted.

Not sure what some comments about the French influence on English in the last few hundred years are referring to though...

tonyk38

If American English was like Old English it would be incomprehensible to us. For example:

And micel is nydþearf manna gehwilcum þæt he Godes lage gime.

Which means: And it is necessary for each man that he should heed God's law.

Or this:

þa ðe bet cunnon and magon sceolon gyman oðra manna.

Which means: Those who have more abilities should take care of other men.

American English preserves some archaisms from Elizabethan English ('whom' for example is rather better understood in the US and more widely used than in British English); but the differences in literary English between the UK and US are ultimately very minor. You'd hear more of it in speech.

Deancm_MKII

When I said Olde English, to be specific I meant English at the time that America was discovered. Which I would've thought would be obvious considering I mentioned the first American settlers. So, to be more accurate, it would be early modern English.

There was a good documentary about this called 'The Adventure of English' which explains the French influence and the settlers in America.

Kapri

This is a really interesting BBC article on the origins of British swear words. It notes some differences between American and Aussie uses

ukecadet

At drama school we were having a talk with a director from the Royal Shakespeare Company.A student said that they couldn't stand it when Americans performed Shakespeare because of their accents. His reply to that was on the same line as your theory . He went on to say that an American production would be more like the original Elizabethan plays than anything that you would see at Stratford.

tonyk38

The French influence was very minor and not the main reason for the divergence between British and American English which was largely due to British English being exposed to many world influences from then onwards through the expansion of Empire whilst in contrast, American English was in many ways more isolated.

I never assumed anything was obvious because the historical juxtapostitions seemed odd. But yes, it is Early Modern English.

tonyk38

What many people don't realise is that the 'rhotic' pronunciation by most Americans was also far more widespread in England in the past, rather than mostly being a West Country/North Lancashire phenomenon as today. So Americans it could be argued have a better accent for Shakespeare than someone from say, the south east of England.

Rambi

And is still going on. You probably know this already but few British English users know that the OED prefers the z spelling which most label American. (i.e. standardization not standardisation). You can see it in any book produced by the OUP.

BadgeIsBack

Thanks for the insights Tony. Always found the 'rhotic' distinction interesting.