What do you call a person who fluently speaks two dialects of the same language? Bi-dialectician? Whatever it is, I am. I speak both American and British English like a native.

That said, American spelling looks to be missing something, some phrases (in both dialects) make no sense and some pronunciations sound better to my ear-the beginning ‘e’ of ‘economics’ and ‘evolution’ should be long and the second syllables of ‘research’ and ‘frustrated’ should be stressed, and words beginning with ‘sch’ should be pronounced like ‘sk’, for example. But I do not besmirch the names of those that pronounce those words in other, accepted, ways.

Due to the popularity of American television shows Americanisms have been infiltrating British English for several decades now.

On 13 July there was an article in the magazine on the BBC News site entitled Why Do Some Americanisms Irritate People?

The quote that best sums up my feelings on the matter: “Britain is a very distinct country from the US. Not better, not worse, different. And long live that difference. That means maintaining the integrity of our own gloriously nuanced, subtle and supple version - the original version - of the English language. ”

A follow up piece was posted 19 July. Americanisms: Your 50 Most Noted Examples

I wasn’t surprised by some of the vitriol in that article, because it seems unfair that one language is being devoured by the other, and all of the flow is in one direction.

Many Americans believe that the English speak the language the way it was meant to be spoken, but if an American uses English phraseology, their fellow Americans think them up themselves. Because Americans consider the English to be superior to the Yanks, any American using British English must be trying to give themselves airs.

Whereas, English people over-using American phrases appear-to the Brits-to be trying too hard to be hip. There is no graver insult to an English person than being seen to be trying too hard.

English people using American also come across as being sloppy. Because Americans are a sloppy, blunt people. Yanks aren’t known for nuanced language.

The one group that highly prizes Americanisms are hip hop artists and chavs. Because Americans are seen as excelling rather spectacularly at violence and intimidation.

The inspiration for this post came from an article on the twelfth of this month, England Riots: What’s the Meaning of the Words Behind the Chaos? , which was about the American-grown words used before, during and after the riots: ‘po po’, ‘feds’, ‘5-0’.

You can tell a lot about a people by the language they use, as well as the language used about them. Choose your words wisely.