Why do Brits speak such god-awful English? ?

Question

Examples: 

1) It seems no one in England understands the concept of subject-verb agreement. They will say "the team are running on the field" instead of "the team IS running on the field". A team is one thing but they treat it as plural. They also call the field a "pitch" which makes no sense but I digress. 

2) Archaic words- Like "whilst" 

3) Archaic spellings like "Anaemia" 

4) Misused words like "holiday". The word "holiday" has a specific meaning which is very easy to derive (ie holy day). It was never intended to be used in place of "vacation" 

5) Odd contractions like "needn't" 

6) Incorrect conjugations- "I have got" instead of the correct "I have gotten" 

Update:

@Jimmy- "American English lacks about have the words of proper" Come on. You're literally just throwing random words together. There's no way that makes sense to anyone. 

Update 2:

@Peter- the s and the z have different sounds. What you just typed "bastadised" would sound like basta diced which is obviously incorrect. Even if I assume you meant to put the r in there it's still wrong: Bastard iced. 

Update 3:

@cogito- "whilst" is archaic. Whenever it I hear it I feel like I'm supposed to respond with words like "thee" and "thou"

Instead of "needn't" we would say something like "don't need" "won't need" or "didn't need" etc depending on context. "need not" isn't something that ever comes up really. 

Update 4:

@Lôn

Thanks for reminding me. Brits both misspell and mispronounce aluminum. Look up the history of the word. The extra u is also incorrect. 

Update 5:

@Ben- There is no British person alive today who was alive when English was invented. If we could pinpoint one inventor they probably have more descendants in the US than England today. The British people of today have no more claim to inventing the language than Americans do.The only thing brits have is being born in the same place. If I was born where cherokee was invented does that make an expert even though if I've never heard or spoken it?   

Answer 1

I was born in England and learnt English at my mother's knee so whatever I say must be correct English by definition.

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Answer 2

The British and Americans are two peoples separated by the same language.  (GBS).  

P.S.  Isn't everyone pretty much sick and tired of these English/American fights?   Two cultures, two versions of the language. Period.  I don't see many questions about why Australians or Jamaicans don't speak "proper" English.

• bluebellbkk

  Lv 7

  2 months agoReport

  I agree, Mamie. It's silly and childish. It's clear that our two languages have developed in two different directions. It would be strange if they HADN'T.
  

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Answer 3

The Brits have their customs and we in the USA have our customs. As for team, words such as that can be a bit tricky as to whether they are singular or plural. It depends on whether the writer is considering the members as one unit, or are considering the team as consisting of individuals.

formeng

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• Mamie

  Lv 7

  2 months agoReport

  In USA, nouns like 'team,' 'class,' 'army' are called collective nouns - singular in form;  plural in meaning.  In AmEng, the singular form is what governs the verb.  My understanding is that in BrEng, the plural meaning is what governs the verb. Thus: the team IS going vs. the team ARE going. 
  

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Answer 4

1)Only a minority would say " the team are".

2) Whilst and amongst are NOT archaic, it's Yanks who can't understand them.

3) Anaemic and paedophile are the correct spellings.

4) Gotten is incorrect English, only rednecks /hillbillies would use it.

5) Needn't is correct..."need not" just as could not becomes couldn't.

6) Yanks have something against the letter 'u' they mis-spell : honour, savour, saviour, colour, aluminium.

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• Lôn

  Lv 7

  2 months agoReport

  The original aluminum was changed to the OFFICIAL aluminium to go along with the -ium of most of the other elements. I suppose you yanks say lithum, magnesum and chromum too? I wouldn't be surprised.
  

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Answer 5

The British not only created gave the world the English language, they also created America, it's culture and its political system. All the founding fathers of America were British (mostly English) and the vast majority of the population at the time of the revolution (up till the late 19th century) were of British descent.

• Mamie

  Lv 7

  2 months agoReport

  And that signifies what, exactly, in terms of language development?
  

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Answer 6

Either you're trolling in the hope of deliberately stirring us up, or you're an ignorant idiot.

Honestly I don't know which I would prefer.

If you really believe that any of the examples of English that you've produced are in any way 'wrong' rather than merely different, you badly need educating.

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• RE

  Lv 7

  2 months agoReport

  That said, he's also an ignorant idiot. Not either/or but both/and. ;<} 
  

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Answer 7

That is the way they talk. They think they are smarter than Americans but they sound funny. 

I'm an American and I know the difference between lie and lay. They just use a different meaning for the same word.

They say chips and we say cookies. We say football. It sounds like they say futeball when they say it...

We say basketball. It sounds like baskeet ball when they say it. Brits are intelligent but they talk different.

• Cogito

  Lv 7

  2 months agoReport

  Actually, we say 'biscuits' and you say 'cookies', and we say 'chips' when you say 'fries'.
  

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Answer 8

Words  like  "whilst"  are  great  words  and  all those  words that  are  correctly  spelt like anAEmia are  correct and not  just  some lazy  illiterate version  and if  we  are  talking  about archaic,  why  do Mericans  have "Fall"  instead of  the  correct  modern  term  "Autumn"????

• bluebellbkk

  Lv 7

  2 months agoReport

  They have 'Fall' for perfectly good reasons which nobody needs to excuse. Just as we have 'autumn', which nobody needs to excuse.
  

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Answer 9

You probably got in a row with one online didn't you?

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Answer 10

You realize when over here we lost the advantage of speaking the best English as it stayed where it began and prospered. In the US we kept up our own version of the English language which is a little different than the rest of the world.

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