Your comments

Lisa from Canada
I agree whole-heartedly about the americanisation of spelling and speaking. It's quite annoying when the spelling and spoken word can is easily influenced by the American culture, especially if your right next door as is the case with Canada though the country is still a commonwealth one at least. That's life I suspose since America has a huge english speaking population and is powerful in many ways including films and the internet softwares and the like.

Vanessa USA
As much as I love the English, I am absolutely fascinated by the use of "umm." It can be at the beginning, at the end or in the middle of a sentence. "Umm...hi, is John around?" My boyfriend is English and I find myself doing it at times. And, I also make fun of yet secretly adore the statement ending in a question. "It's a lovely day, isn't it?" or "You'll take care now, won't you?" It is refreshing, isn't it? ;)

Ruth C Derbyshire
Has anyone considered that 'init' is perfectly gramatical as a contraction of 'isn't it so'?

Ruth C Derbyshire
what winds me up about changes in our language, is not that it is changing, but that people are so poorly educated that they can not say what they mean. I have found that this leads to confusion, misunderstandings and lots of frustration. I must say, however, that I love local dialects and slang. Where I live now, they have wonderful words like 'bantle', which seems to mean 'lots of', and even kids use words like 'thee' and 'thou'. Some of the old folk use a dialect that is really quaint and old fashioned - I love it! I think we should be proud of our heritage and our language, before we all sound as if we were born in middle America. D u no wat i mean?

Roy from Redditch
Claptrap or nonsense ? Bildge or Rubbish ? We all speak claptrapping nonsense or a Rubbishy kind of Bildge. Is not language a ?

Renata N. Askarova from Saratov, Russia
I'm sorry to interrupt you,guys. I've just read all the messages above very carefully. I found the topic exciting, especially because English isn't my native tongue. But there was a word I failed to identify, so I thought you might help me with it: what does "innit" means? Thanks.

Jack Nelson Hull.
I have noticed that television and radio announcers use "gonna" for going to; even politicians use it when being interviewed.

Margaret Bartle Newark
I hate the phrase "this moment in time". Why go to such lenghts when "right now" will suffice?

Stan Miller, Melbourne Australia
Interested in the 'Fillers'. One that is common in Australia is "Yeah, no" at the beginning of a response to a statement or to a question of the "don't you?" type. What does it really mean and where did it come from? Beats me!

Stan Miller, Melbourne Australia
It's no good whingeing about "proper" English. The language changes. In how people speak, you can achieve little by education and nothing by legislation. But I just love dialects and would hate to see (hear?) them disappear.

Virginia Reed from California
I thought "incentivise" was "all your fault"! The comfortable "me" (it's me) is from French in 1066, it's a "stressed pronoun". And please "TO you and _me_" is correct, here in the US or there in the UK.

Veronica Marissen, Canada
One word used out of context in the U.K. that I find very annoying is brilliant.When I liv ed in England the word meant shining or glittering.It would be a very dull language though if it didn't change with time.

B Sugden, Bristol
S Howard is wrong to suggest that 'you and I' is always preferable to 'me and you'; as with so much to do with language it depends entirely on context. Following a preposition as in, say, 'between you and me', the accusative form of the pronoun (i.e. 'me') is entirely correct.

Mark Hughes from Walsall
The thing that drives me demented is the rampant Americanisation of everything, especially British English: 'cool', 'bad', along with 'center', and the habit of turning nouns into verbs, such as 'prioritise' and 'incentivise'. Yuk!

Roy Balmforth Old Newton
The habit which has crept in over the years of pluralising singular terms, most often with sports reporters saying things such as "The Manchester Uniteds, Arsenals and Liverpools of this world." How many of these teams are there. And another one first started I am sure by Bjorn Borg the habit of saying "for sure" when what is meant is, certainly. I had no problem with Bjorn saying it after all he was speaking a foriegn language but now it has turned into an everday phrase by people who should know better.

Peter Hay. South Yorks
Before Frank Spencer did it to indicate his stupidity, no English person would have dreamt of pronouncing "harassed" or "harassment" in the grating American way with the emphasis on the second syllable and yet we now have BBC reporters doing it, to their eternal shame! The comments on "I" or "me" are of course wide of the mark in assuming that "niceness" and not grammar is the decider. Many who would not remotely think of saying,"She gave this present to I" will happily produce, "She gave this present to John and I" because they think it sounds posh. The rule is simple: use the pronoun you would have used without the added person. "[John and]I gave it" but "It was given to [John and] me" Here endeth...

Daniela Shepherd from Manchester
S Howard makes a good point, and as a Linguistics student I am interested in this a lot. However, there is a problem with what he says: 'you and I' is not always grammatical. The recent(ish) song by 'Embrace' has the line; "the way that gravity pulls on you and I". This is nonsense. If you want to be able to tell when to say 'me' and when to say 'I' then get rid of the 'you and' section and see if it still makes any sense. "The way that gravity pulls on I" is ungrammatical, but so is "me and you want to go" - 'me want to go' makes no sense whatsoever!! So use my little test to see what's good next time - it works!

Jayne Cecil from The Forest of Dean
Well where we live, the old dialect is still used and is hard to understand to people from the outside. Most commonly used in everyday speech by people of all ages is "'Ow bist ol' butt?", meaning "How are you mate?"

Jill Errett, Gloucestershire
It's not actually conversational but redundant apostrophes drive me demented! "Potato's £2 a bag" and "LP's reduced in price" etc etc.

Jill Errett, Gloucestershire
I don't mind the language evolving but I do hate the misuse of words, especially on the radio, eg: "I'll be back with you momentarily," which does not mean "IN a moment" but "FOR a moment". Also, "John Smith, WHO'S died this week" instead of "John Smith, WHO HAS died this week". Surely radio presenters should set an example?

Maggie from Birmingham
I've lived in Birmingham all my life and I can barely understand my fellow citizens any more. "Nah ot a meen" (know what I mean), "yoh noh" (you know), "Nah ot a sayin" (know what I'm saying), "innit", etc all said with a pseudo Jamaican/Cockney accent with strong nasal overtones as if anyone under the age of 25 has serious sinus issues. It has to be heard to be believed. Bring back the Brummy accent!!

A Perkins, Dunstable
In response to S Howard's comment of "me and you" being less pleasing to hear, I disagree. "You and I" sounds far too formal and distant -- "me and you" is friendlier and closer; it shows affection.

Chris Evans from Glasgow
I believe, Margaret, that the use of "absolutely",in the stead of "yes",is from the concurring phrase "you're absolutely correct" being shortened.

Sholan, Hong Kong
I HATE the way that some people turn statements into a question using intonation. It is so irritatingly insecure and I cannot stand talking to somebody who does it.

Jane from Liverpool
I am getting really annoyed by what I call the 'gid' accent! It is increasingly used on T.V (usually by B.B.C chidren's presenters or precocious kids on adverts). It's a strange Estuary English type accent which involves mainly the changing of the 'good old rounded vowel sound' to a different sound altogether. Let me give you some examples. 'Good' has become 'gid', 'chocolate' has become 'choclit', 'so' has become 'say' and 'really' has become 'rilly'!!! Anyone else noticed (nayticed!!) this? Where does it come from and why ?????

Sheilah K Watson from Weymouth
I hate the expressions "you know what I mean", "at the end of the day". They always crop up on shows such as 'Tricia' the agony aunt.

Sheilah K Watson
I believe that men are very easily distracted in conversation. One has to be talking about practical subjects for most men to take an interest. There is also the male who is always eyeing up other females (when shopping etc.) so he never concentrates on the one he's with. Men's practical approach usually creeps in when women are having an emotional moment, this makes one feel they don't care.

Gordon, Dundee
The annoyance caused by the misunderstandings between men and women in conversation because men try to offer solutions and women often offer sympathy or empathy is familar to me. Perhaps women could empathise with us poor men or offer us some sympathy rather than taking the hump! Oops I have offered a solution, damn!

Richard from Brittany
The phrase "...along with..." rather than "with" gets my goat. Especially in BBC weather forecasts: "S.Utsirra, ALONG WITH N.Utsirra, will have gales..". What's wrong with 'AND'..? Also, the ubiquitous phrase: "..., "Well, You know". It just shows an inability to express matters clearly. But thank God that the "Elexandrah Pellice" or Kebbinet minister" way of speaking has gorn...as well as that iritating upper-middle class way of pronouncing 'Lamb' as if it was "Lyamb".

Ahura Mazda, London
I've noticed that in South Africa it's mainly women that end their sentences with 'hey', as in "It's a good day, hey?". And my Spanish female friends say 'no' at the end of theirs, as in "?Es un buen dia, no?". I think it's to do with seeking acknowledgement that the listener is listening, just like the Australians turning most statements into questions.

Mair from Carmarthen
One of the wonderful things about living languages is that they are always changing. They change for various reasons - because of new inventions or concepts, or because users of the spoken language want it to be as easy as possible to pronounce. When speaking we do what we can to avoid hiatuses, progressions of awkward consecutive consonants and such. The more active a language is, the more it will change and this is good because it keeps us on our toes. We should embrace these changes in our language, they indicate vitality and, even if the changes are transient, as in the language of young people, enjoy them for what they are, innit?

Becky, Leyton
In North/East london it's virtually obligitory for kids to use the words innit and "d'yaknowwotamean" at the end of sentences (often together). I agree with the artical- Although not Cockney its all part of modern London street language which, when heard in full flow ,has got to be one of the most vibrant (if baffling) regional dialects in the land. Long may our language keep evolving!

Anna Roberts, New Zealand
Why is it that Americans have a compulsive need to put the word "of" after using the word "off?", as in "I need to get this paint off of my jacket?" Kiwis are starting to copy this and it's not pretty.

Jeanette Majewski
I find it bizarre. Where we come from we say: 'int-it' instead of: 'innit'.

Jeanette Majewski, Notts
Why do people say 'OW' when they've hurt themselves? Surely it isn't going to relieve the pain is it?

Teri Brown Winchester Hants
why do poeple always have to end a sentence with 'you know what i mean ?' if you have clear described something then surely the listener knows what you mean!

S Howard, Bristol
I detest the use of phrases such as "me and you". The correct "you and I" version is so much more pleasing to the ear.

Janet Georgiou. Wiltshire
I have noticed all the above on internet message boards as well as in audible conversation. Also, I have heard that women NEED more daily conversation than men, and this need is not comfortably met in the general picture given; so have I been given incorrect information, or is this a double-whammy?

Janet Theobald from Swindon
Men seem to think that a women wants to be told what to do about a problem instead of just sympathising about it

Margaret Benfield, Hemel Hempstead
Why is the word "absolutely" used instead of "Yes"? It doesn't mean the same thing!