Opinion

Do you speak American English?

By John Gathright

"Do you speak American English?" I don't know how many times I have been asked that. I would be hard pressed to try and count the number of times I have seen advertisements for English conversation schools that say they teach American English.

What is American English? I called a few English conversation schools and asked. The first two schools beat around the bush. The last school said: "American English is considered to be more international than Australian or British English. American English is the standard English used in America and the business world." (I know of some very successful business people who don't use American English.) "Canadian English could be considered American English because it is not British nor Australian and very close to American English." ( Canadians cringe at statements like that!)

Wow, confusing or what! I was born in Oregon, the United States, and raised in Canada with relatives and friends all over North America. We all sound so different.

My confusion with American English deepened with my recent trip to Pinedale, Wyoming. When my son and I arrived at my grandfather's ranch, I could have sworn that they weren't speaking American English. His family speaks with a very heavy drawl, and their accents are thick. At breakfast with 14 family members, we said grace and my grandfather boomed, "Wyoming manners! Cowboy rules!"

"Wyoming manners," we later learned, means: No need to ask for things to be passed. You can reach for things across the table or stand up and grab them. Everything is legal as long as one foot is on the ground. "Cowboy rules" means: Polish off your plates and drop them in the soapy sink on your way out.

These manners were no problem for us. It was the English that was baffling. We were offered elephant ears with smear or lick on them together with a few strips of fish. We could have some sinkers or floaters, washed down with some white.

Spend a penny. Water your horse. Bend your ear. Grab some stink, you're feeding the state birds!

I thought that they were making these words up until I realized that even the littlest children used them. When I asked if Wyoming ranch talk was real English, everyone said it definitely was, and being the original pioneer family in that area, you couldn't get more American than this family. And if they speak American English, what do the rest of Americans speak?

I have learned that my cousin is planning to come to Japan from Wyoming through the JET Program. She is great with people and well-educated. I don't know if her students will find "elephant ears with lick and smear" helpful on international business trips nor can I see them asking to water their horse at a fancy hotel. But if they visit an American ranch in Wyoming they will fit right in.

Could American English be a great misnomer? Or is it like gaijin or gaisha, misrepresentative of the international society? I prefer English taught by a wide spectrum of native speakers with only some of them American!

Shukan ST: Aug. 9, 2002

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