Hi,

As an Australian (we speak mangled though often
"correct" English) living in Canada (ditto, with more
American spellings than Oz) of Scottish (dear god, do
I have to go into their sayings?) and Cornish (ditto)
parentage.... can someone explain how we have an
argument on American English (which by now should just
be American) and British English?  Shouldn't that be
English English?  *g*  I think you'd find that Scots,
Welsh, Irish and Cornish peoples would think so.

The point is moot.

There is one English language.  There are many
regional variants, of which American is one.  American
as a dialect (before we consider subdialects) is
spreading rapidly (and some who like their regional
quirks would say sadly) primarily through the
pervasity of their media.

I don't condemn contractions, in labels or elsewhere.

I do condemn "dumbing down" when it goes too far.  If
everyone dumbs down language, where do you see
examples of what is correct?  Or should we all start
spelling phonetically and forget this is a beautiful
and complicated language and assume the "majority"
don't deserve exposure to it (which smacks of elitism
too)?

If museums are viewed as 'the truth' by the public
(which is what my Museums studies are teaching me)
then surely language is an important component of
that?  If we go to all the trouble of presenting
history from as many sensitive viewpoints as possible,
representing as many truths as possible, surely the
language accompanying such displays should be accurate
as well.

Anyway, that is my 2c worth, from someone who waited
years to find out what "aluminum" was *g* (as opposed
to aluminium).

Cheers,

Robin St. Albans
[log in to unmask]

______________________________________________________________________
Find, Connect, Date! http://personals.yahoo.ca

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).