YOU SAY TOMAYTO, NOW WE SAY TOMAYTO!

                                       YOU SAY TOMAYTO, NOW WE SAY TOMAYTO!

I wonder sometimes which country I actually live in.   I used to know it was England because we spoke English.   Why on earth anyone would want to sound like any other country than the one they were born into baffles me.  I am singling America out because t it is the country that has invaded our dictionary more than any other.   And the BBC, that bastion of everything that was well pronounced, has succumbed.   For instance, on the Media Show only last week, a presenter stated that something had been"downplayed", as opposed to "played down".   Yesterday morning Susannah Reid mentioned that something was "upcoming".   This is an increasingly used word.   What was wrong with "forthcoming".  Things have been forthcoming for years - until they arrived, that is.   Even this morning, when the very lovely Lisa Faulkner was offering Susannah and Bill Turnbull slices of her homemade ginger cake, Bill actually said,"I'm really loving this".  It's not a bloody McDonalds.   What was wrong with saying, "I really love this" or "I really like this".

Why is there a lemming-like desire to jump into the linguistic American pond?   I remember many years ago when Aldershot 'welcomed' a Burger King branch.   The local council asked the company if they would spell the words "drive through" in English, i.e. drive through, but no, such is the arrogance of a large number of Americans that we have "drive thru" as they refused to acquiesce with the request.   Again, one has to ask, why are these councils so gutless?   Presumably, it's because of the council rates being brought in by a new business.   I would have told them that this isn't America, it is actually a different country and we spell things in the original way.   And if they don't like it, then planning permission would not be given.