Myths About The English Language

May 26, 2009

Interview with Patricia T. O'Connor, co-author of Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language

www.grammarphobia.com
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Mike Carruthers:
Did you know that English people didn't use to have an English accent; they used to talk like us. For instance we say "vase", the British say "vaaase."

Patricia T. O'Connor:
The pronunciation "vaaase" developed in the 19th Century - they used to say "vase." We know this because of poetry.

Patricia O'Connor &
Stewart Kellerman

Patricia T. O'Connor, author of the book Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language

English poets rhymed "vase" with "face" or "place". And we also know it by pronunciation dictionaries from the 17th and 18th Century. So when someone asks when the Americans lost their British accent, the answer is that they never had one.

A lot of French words show up in English, for instance "brasierre."

If you were to walk into a French department store and ask for a "brasierre" you would be sent to the children's department because a "brasierre" is a baby's undershirt - so they don't use the word "brasierre" for what we use it for. The same is true of "negligee"; a "negligee" is a slovenly person - someone who is badly dressed.

And the word "aint" used to be a perfectly acceptable contraction for "am not" or "are not."

And it wasn't until the 19th Century that it became frowned on - largely because it had gotten too big for its britches. People started using it as a contraction for "is not" or "have not". They were using it in too many ways and its legitimacy as a contraction was lessened then.

Tomorrow is it proper to say, "drive slow" or "drive slowly"?

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here.