Same Language, Subtly Different Cultures

In the early years of my life in the USA I used to read and contribute to a British Ex-Pat's forum. Subject matter often turned to the cultural and personality differences we new immigrants were quite surprised to find between British and American people. I've noticed a lot of questions and answers at Quora on a similar topic recently. Subtle differences between the English speaking races is a popular talking point. I sometimes get to wondering about astrologers in this regard.

When an American astrologer prepares a report for a British person or an Australian (or vice versa), or indeed for a person of any other nationality than their own, are cultural differences taken into account? Is the astrologer aware of the differences, or do astrologers say "people are people are people, and astrology is astrology, irrespective of the subject's nationality"? Do English-speaking astrologers of different nationalities use subtly different approaches ?

Although the "nuts and bolts" of astrological principles remain constant, how these are interpreted and expressed will differ from person to person, astrologer to astrologer, not forgetting that the astrologers' own astrological makeup has to be thrown into the mix. Beyond those individual differences though, there may be a blanket factor common to astrologers of the same nationality, who have lived with the same problems and joys, prides and prejudices. This has nothing to do with "Britishness" or "Americanness", stereotypes, patriotism or nationalism, it's simply a question of different experience, and the way it colours interpretation, understanding, and mode of expression.

Astrologers from past decades, such as C.E.O Carter (British), Grant Lewi and Carl Payne Tobey (American) seem to me to be further apart in their styles, outlook, and modes of expression than do current British and American astrologers. The world is shrinking fast, our common experiences are becoming more global than national, aided and assisted by the internet. I guess subtle differences will always remain, but with each generation these are likely to become less and less significant.

Americanisms - Frustrating but Unexciting

There was an interesting piece on the BBC website the other day:

How Americanisms are Killing the English Language

A book released this year claims that Americanisms will have completely absorbed the English language by 2120. Hephzibah Anderson takes a look.

The piece begins:

So it turns out I can no longer speak English. This was the alarming realisation foisted upon me by Matthew Engel’s witty, cantankerous yet nonetheless persuasive polemic That’s the Way it Crumbles: The American Conquest of English. Because by English, I mean British English.

Despite having been born, raised and educated on British shores, it seems my mother tongue has been irreparably corrupted by the linguistic equivalent of the grey squirrel. And I’m not alone. Whether you’re a lover or a loather of phrases like “Can I get a decaf soy latte to go?”, chances are your vocabulary has been similarly colonised.

As a British ex-pat myself, living in the USA since 2004, I've been through the scratchy phases of having to accept, without question, what has been done to The Queen's English over here. I refuse to change my written English, continue to use 's' rather than 'z' in certain words, and insert the 'u' in colour, flavour etc. I will never, ever, while there's breath in my body utter "gotten"; and yet, and yet, as is told later in the linked piece, "When Dr Johnson compiled his seminal 1755 dictionary, ‘gotten’ was still in use as a past participle of ‘get’. But as Engel points out, good old English is not good new English."

I was mildly amused to note that Ms Anderson had slipped into what I see as an Americanism herself, and possibly without realising it. Here:

I was excited to find out how it would read after it had been ‘Americanized’, but I’ve noticed it’s fast becoming the norm for American works to make it into print over here without so much as having a ‘z’ switched for an ‘s’ or a ‘u’ tacked on to an ‘o’.

Americans use "excited to" in this way, I notice it a lot, and I do believe that a British English speaker would not be likely to use "excited" in that context - unless, of course, what they were looking forward to was something actually capable of bringing forth excitement: the flushed cheeks, the sweaty palms, the speeded-up heartbeat. What people mean in the American use, translated, is really just: "I'm looking forward to..." As in so many instances, in this star spangled, oft thought to be exceptional, nation, hyperbole rules.

Let us all, though, whether American or British, devoutly hope that the current American President's Americanisms will never find their way into widely accepted English: "bigly" is a case in point, or that fumble-fingered f-up: "covfefe".