Perhaps, with the ascension of Ruth Davidson to political superstardom and the glorification of Sir Walter Scott on current Scottish banknotes (south of the border, were going for Jane Austen on our tenners), we will all revisit Ivanhoe. The story, youll recall, is set during the reign of the Lionheart King, who is away on crusade business, killing Muslims by the thousand. Like the good Christian monarch he is.
Scotts narrative has a prelude. A Saxon swineherd, Gurth, is sitting on a decayed Druid stone as his pigs root in the dirt. Along comes his mate Wamba, a jester. The two serfs chat. How is it, Gurth wonders, that swine when it reaches the high tables of their masters is pork (Fr porc); cow becomes beef (Fr boeuf); and sheep turns into mutton (Fr mouton)?
The reason, Wamba explains (no fool he), is 1066. Four generations have passed but the Normans are still running things. They have normanised English and they eat high on the hog. How did pig become pork? In the same way as minced beef sandwich, in my day, became Big Mac.
Ivanhoe should be the Brexiteers bible. Its message is that throwing off the Norman Yoke is necessary before Britain can be Britain again. Whats the difference between Normandy and Europa? Just 900 or so years. Scott makes a larger point. Common language, closely examined, reflects where real power lies. More than that, it enforces that power softly but subversively, often in ways we dont notice. Thats what makes it dangerous.
Weve thrown off the Norman Yoke but it remains, faintly throbbing, in the archaeology of our language. Why do we call the place parliament and not speak house? Is Gordon Ramsay a chef or a cook? Do the words evoke different kinds of society?
Matthew Engel is a journalist at the end offour decades of deadline-driven, high-quality writing. He is now at that stage oflife when one thinks about it all in his case, the millions of words he has tapped out. What historical meaning was ingrained in those words? It is, he concludes, not the European Union but America that we should be fearful of.
The first half of his book is a survey of the historical ebbs and flows of national dialect across the Atlantic. In the 18th century the linguistic tide flowed west from the UK tothe US. When the 20th century turned, it was the age of Mid-Atlantic. Now, its all one-way. We talk, think and probably dream American. Its semantic colonialism. The blurb (manifestly written by Engel himself) makes the point succinctly:
Are we tired of being asked to take theelevator, sick of being offered fries andtold about the latest movie? Yeah. Have we noticed the sly interpolation of Americanisms into our everyday speech? Its a no-brainer.
One of the charms of this book is Engel hunting down his prey like a linguistic witchfinder-general. He is especially vexed by the barbarous locution wake-up call. The first use he finds is in an ice hockey report in the New York Times in 1975. Horribile dictu. By the first four years of the 21st century the Guardian was reporting wake-up calls some real, most metaphorical two and a half times a week. The Guardian! What more proof were needed that there is something rotten in the state ofthe English language?
Another bee in Engels bonnet is the compound from the get-go. He tracks it down to a 1958 Hank Mobley tune called Git-Go Blues. And where is that putrid locution now? Michael Gove, then Britains education secretary, used it in a 2010 interview on Radio 4. Unclean! Unclean!
Having completed his historical survey, and compiled a voluminous dictionary of Americanisms, Engel gets down to business. What does (Americanism alert!) the takeover mean?
Is it simply that we are scooping up loan words, as the English language always has done? We love Babel; revel in it. Ponder a recent headline in the online Independent: Has Scandi-noir become too hygge for its own good? The wonderful thing about the English language is its sponge-like ability to absorb, use and discard un-English verbiage and still be vitally itself. Or is this Americanisation what Orwell describes in Nineteen Eighty-Four as Newspeak? Totalitarian powers routinely control independent thinking and resistance to their power by programmatic impoverishment of language. Engel has come round to believing the latter. Big time.
In its last pages, the book gets mad as hell on the subject. Forget Europe. Britain, and young Britain in particular, has handed over control of its culture and vocabulary to Washington, New York and Los Angeles. It is, Engel argues, self-imposed serfdom:
A country that outsources the development of its language the language it developed over hundreds of years is a nation that has lost the will to live.
Britain in 2017AD is, to borrow an Americanism, brainwashed, and doesnt know it or, worse, doesnt care. How was American slavery enforced? Not only with the whip and chain but by taking away the slaves native language. It works.
Recall the front-page headlines of 9 June. Theresa on ropes, shouted the Daily Mail. She was hung out to dry, said the London Evening Standard. Stormin Corbyn, proclaimed the Metro. These are manifest Americanisms, from the metaphor hanging out to dry to the use of Stormin the epithet applied to Norman Schwarzkopf, the victorious US Gulf War commander of Operation Desert Storm.
These headlines on Theresa Mays failure fit the bill. Her campaign was framed, by others, as American presidential, not English prime ministerial. But the lady herself ispure Jane Austen: a vicars daughter whose naughtiest act was to run through a field of wheat. She simply couldnt do the hail to the chief stuff. Boris, the bookies odds predict, will show her how that presidential stuff should be strut. He was, ofcourse, born American.
Engels book, short-tempered but consistently witty, does a useful thing. It makes us listen to what is coming out of our mouths and think seriously about it. Have a nice day.
John Sutherlands How Good Is Your Grammar? is published by Short Books
Thats the Way It Crumbles: the American Conquest of English Matthew Engel Profile Books, 279pp, 16.99
Read more:
The Evolution of Beauty reveals the true power of sexual attraction - New Statesman
- History of Evolution | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy [Last Updated On: December 9th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 9th, 2016]
- Evolution - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokmon encyclopedia [Last Updated On: December 12th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 12th, 2016]
- What is Evolution - explanation and definitions [Last Updated On: December 21st, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 21st, 2016]
- Evolution (2001 film) - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: January 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: January 28th, 2017]
- EvolutionM.net - Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution | Reviews, News ... [Last Updated On: February 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 1st, 2017]
- YMCA evolution continues at lake - Gaston Gazette [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Ivanka Trump's Beauty Evolution, From 1998 to Today Watch - Us Weekly [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Lumpy, hairy, toe-like fossil could reveal the evolution of molluscs - The Guardian [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- How Evolution Alters Biological Invasions - ScienceBlog.com (blog) [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Cultural evolution and the mutilation of women - The Economist [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Late-night hosts on the evolution of Trump: 'Dickish to dictatorish' - The Guardian [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Gold's Gym Regina rebrands to become Evolution Fitness - Regina Leader-Post [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Incremental Versus Radical Innovation: A Response to Josh Swamidass on Evolution and Cancer - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Blockchain: Investment (R)Evolution For Developing Markets - Forbes [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- See the Evolution of the Famed Porsche 911 in 7 Photos - WIRED [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Exhibition charts 500 years of evolution of robots - Phys.Org [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- How evolution turned ordinary plants into ravenous meat-eaters - Wired.co.uk [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Are Evolution Fresh Drinks 'Poison'? - snopes.com [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- Non-Chromosomal DNA Drives Tumor Evolution - The Scientist [Last Updated On: February 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 8th, 2017]
- Chimpanzee feet allow scientists a new grasp on human foot evolution - Phys.Org [Last Updated On: February 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 8th, 2017]
- 'Goldilocks' genes that tell the tale of human evolution hold clues to variety of diseases - Science Daily [Last Updated On: February 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 8th, 2017]
- Pac-Man is Coming to 'The Sandbox Evolution' Next Week - Touch Arcade [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- Chimpanzee feet allow scientists a new grasp on human foot ... - Science Daily [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- Bacteria sleep, then rapidly evolve, to survive antibiotic treatments - Phys.Org [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- Orangutan squeaks reveal language evolution, says study - BBC ... - BBC News [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- Evolution gives rhyme its reason - Aurora News Register [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- Deeper origin of gill evolution suggests 'active lifestyle' link in early vertebrates - Science Daily [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- From Tara Palmer-Tomkinson to Cara Delevingne: the evolution of the It girl - The Guardian [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- Banned TED Talk: Rupert Sheldrake The Science Delusion - Collective Evolution [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- VOTD: Watch the Evolution of Keanu Reeves' Acting Career - /FILM [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- Pokmon Go Eevee evolution: How to evolve Eevee into Vaporeon, Jolteon and Flareon with new names - Eurogamer.net [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- Horse evolution bucks evolutionary theory - Science News [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- Samsung's Chromebook Pro highlights the category's continued evolution - TechCrunch [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- Scientists solve fish evolution mystery - Phys.Org [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- Wildfire evolution forces Forest Service into new thinking - The Daily Progress [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- How the horse can help us answer one of evolution's biggest questions - Raw Story [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- A primer on Darwin Day: Some religious groups embrace 'Theistic evolution' - LancasterOnline [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- Apple: Evolution of in-car audio tech moving at 'speed of sound ... - Times of India [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- Mariska Hargitay's Evolution from '80s Glam to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - TVOvermind [Last Updated On: February 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 12th, 2017]
- Evolution of baseball from power to speed has left SBs behind ... - Chicago Sun-Times [Last Updated On: February 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 12th, 2017]
- More order with less judgment: An optimal theory of the evolution of cooperation - Science Daily [Last Updated On: February 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 12th, 2017]
- J. Albert C. Uy speaks on evolution, biodiversity in bellied flycatcher population - The College Reporter [Last Updated On: February 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 12th, 2017]
- See the Evolution of Movie Magic With Every Oscar Winner for Visual Effects in History - Gizmodo [Last Updated On: February 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 12th, 2017]
- Numerology: Here's What Your Name Says About You - Collective Evolution [Last Updated On: February 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 13th, 2017]
- The Evolution of Valentine's Day - Inside Science News Service [Last Updated On: February 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 13th, 2017]
- Why evolution may be tech billionaires' biggest enemy - The Week Magazine [Last Updated On: February 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 13th, 2017]
- Community Viewpoint: Evolution, like gravity, is much more than theory it is a fact - Kdminer [Last Updated On: February 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 13th, 2017]
- How the horse can help us answer one of evolution's biggest questions - Phys.Org [Last Updated On: February 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 13th, 2017]
- How evolution alters biological invasions - Science Daily [Last Updated On: February 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 13th, 2017]
- Cockeyed squid shines light on deep sea evolution - Christian Science Monitor [Last Updated On: February 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 13th, 2017]
- Eye Evolution: A Closer Look - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: February 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 14th, 2017]
- Evolution always wins: University of Idaho video game uses mutating aliens to teach science concepts - The Spokesman-Review [Last Updated On: February 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 14th, 2017]
- Geneticists track the evolution of parenting - Phys.Org [Last Updated On: February 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 14th, 2017]
- How this cockeyed squid shines a light on deep sea evolution - Christian Science Monitor [Last Updated On: February 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 14th, 2017]
- 4 Possible Roadmaps For macOS and iOS Evolution - The Mac Observer (blog) [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- The Evolution of the Energy Capital of the World - Texas Monthly [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- Humons presents an atypical dance evolution - Detroit Metro Times [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- Pokemon Go Adds 80 Generation 2 Pokemon, New Evolution Items This Week - IGN [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- Fossil discovery rewrites understanding of reproductive evolution ... - Science Daily [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- 'X-Men: Evolution' Is the Gateway Drug of Comic Book Shows - Geek [Last Updated On: February 16th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 16th, 2017]
- A cultural catch: Evolution of wooden halibut hooks carved by native ... - Science Daily [Last Updated On: February 16th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 16th, 2017]
- Bremerton's Fitness Evolution now Planet Fitness - Kitsap Sun (blog) [Last Updated On: February 16th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 16th, 2017]
- Eye Evolution: The Waiting Is the Hardest Part - Discovery Institute [Last Updated On: February 16th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 16th, 2017]
- Evolution Of The Yeezy: 2009-2017 - HotNewHipHop [Last Updated On: February 16th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 16th, 2017]
- Prebiotic evolution: Hairpins help each other out - Science Daily [Last Updated On: February 16th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 16th, 2017]
- This 'Live Birth' Fossil Could Change Humanity's Understanding Of Evolution - Daily Caller [Last Updated On: February 16th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 16th, 2017]
- Mysterious Ancient Stonehenge-Like Circles Found in Amazon Rainforest - Collective Evolution [Last Updated On: February 16th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 16th, 2017]
- 'Pokemon Go': How to Evolve Poliwhirl Into Politoed - Heavy.com [Last Updated On: February 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 17th, 2017]
- 'Pokemon Go': How to Evolve Slowpoke Into Slowbro or Slowking - Heavy.com [Last Updated On: February 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 17th, 2017]
- 'Pokemon Go': How to Evolve Gloom Into Bellossom - Heavy.com [Last Updated On: February 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 17th, 2017]
- Pokmon Go Dragon Scale - how to evolve Seadra into Kingdra and how to get the Dragon Scale - Eurogamer.net [Last Updated On: February 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 17th, 2017]
- Pokmon Go Eevee evolution: How to evolve Eevee into Umbreon, Espeon, Vaporeon, Jolteon and Flareon with new ... - Eurogamer.net [Last Updated On: February 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 17th, 2017]
- University of Pittsburgh guest speaker discloses evolution findings - UTA The Shorthorn [Last Updated On: February 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 17th, 2017]
- 'Pokemon Go' Special Items: Drop Rates for Evolution Items & Berries at Pokestops - Heavy.com [Last Updated On: February 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 17th, 2017]
- How Vedic Philosophy Influenced Nikola Tesla's Idea of 'Free Energy' - Collective Evolution [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]
- Migration to America took long enough for evolution to happen on the way - Ars Technica [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]
- How To Choose Your Eevee Evolution In 'Pokmon GO:' Umbreon And Espeon Edition - Forbes [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]
- Evolution Items - IGN [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]
- Congo River fish evolution shaped by intense rapids: Genomic study ... - Science Daily [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]
- Pokmon Go - How to evolve, use Special Items, when to evolve or Power Up your Pokmon - Eurogamer.net [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]