NOT for the first time, a headline in our Voices section caused some controversy this week. It appeared above Andrew McKie’s column on Tuesday: “The budgets are still big... it’s Hollywood’s imagination and verve that have gotten small.”
There was some spluttering of tea over toast on breakfast tables. Why were we following the American usage of the past participle of the verb “to get”?
The explanation was that it fitted the theme of the piece, which was about Hollywood’s shrinking ambitions, and alluded to a famous line in the 1950 Billy Wilder movie, Sunset Boulevard, uttered by Gloria Swanson’s Norma Desmond. (But it was a misquote. The dialogue actually goes: Joe Gillis – You’re Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big. Norma Desmond – I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.)
There have long been complaints on our Letters Pages about the Americanisation of our language, probably even pre-dating Oscar Wilde’s musing in 1887 (The Canterville Ghost), “we have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language”, but how much should we care? Is there some kind of snobbery at play here, or even anti-American sentiment?
Many of us do it subconsciously. When we go to the cinema we watch a movie, not a film. To get to the screen, we may have taken the elevator, but a previous generation would most definitely have travelled in a lift. That movie may even involve a character who was hospitalised, not taken to hospital.
Did any of those examples jar on you? And if they didn’t, should we be attempting to hold back the tide?
Our style guide makes no mention of Americanisms (though under “American English” we are enjoined to use American spellings for proper nouns, such as Pearl Harbor). So if there’s a line in the sand to be drawn, there is no hard and fast rule where that should be.
Some things do jar. We don’t protest something as our transatlantic brethern do, we protest against or about it. We wait for something, not wait on it, unless we’re employed in an eating establishment.
Some readers might be rather annoyed if we say if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but our guiding principle should be, as always, clarity. We should avoid American terms where they cause confusion. Being caught with your pants down is not nearly as embarrassing in the United States as it is here. A politician can honourably be pissed over there, but it could be a defamatory term here (unless, of course, we have the defence of veritas). So we need to be vigilant, but not obsessive.
As for the writer of the Andrew McKie headline, it’s probably not worth kicking ass. Or rather, arse.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel