I little foible of mine.

The BBC style book may have been amended in that news readers now use the abbreviated "later" as in "Andy Coulson will be arrested later."

I think the mildly annoying part for the listener/viewer is not knowing approximately to what timeframe this "later" applies. Is it to be later today, later this week, later this month or later this year ?

At risk of being demonstrably over-sensitive and possibly qualifying for membership of pedants-are-us !

Hardly English style, but why do they faff around telling us it is 22 minutes to eight rather than giving us the digital 7:38. They make so many mistakes telling us the wrong hour which could quite easily be remedied by use of digital time pieces.

Ah that is much better use of English, the BBC has announced, "Andy Coulson has been arrested at 11:00 am today."

Perhaps justice will progress when it is announced that "Rebekah Brookes will be arrested later." Note the proper absence of time-frame here.

I can think of two further candidates higher in the food-chain at News Corp who should be arrested later and then deported if found guilty.

Actually JGD, that is not much better usage. When you are talking about a specific time in the past, you should really use the past simple - so the correct thing to say would be "Andy Coulson was arrested at 11:00am today". If you omit the time and the day you can say "Andy Coulson has been arrested", which begs the question, when?, to which the response would be, today, at 11am.

Thank you.

I stand corrected - I think.

When I was twelve, I got belted by a teacher for missing a comma in a grammar analysis class once so I should know better.

Not sure I'm with you on that, Michael. I quite like the old-fashioned analogue way of telling the time, though I agree that it may require a little more care in order to be accurate. I particularly enjoy saying 'five and twenty to/past' the hour, because it enables me to use, without seeming too affected, the quaint inverted form of the numeral which has so many echoes in our literary heritage: 'When I was one and twenty/I heard a wise man say', 'Four and twenty virgins came down from Inverness', and so on.

Hmmm - that many.

And all in Inverness too.

Probably all members of Inverness Rugby Club!

It may be that the USA is in relative economic and political decline, but its linguistic imperialism seems as vigorous as ever.

I see from recent news reports that we must now talk of 'the Volga river', as we have already been directed to refer to 'the Jordan river', 'the Tigris river' etc. Next up, 'the Thames river', 'the Clyde river' 'the Tyne river', 'the Ravensbourne river' ...

And here's another thing. We used to distinguish between 'convincing' someone that something was the case and 'persuading' them to do something. Now, following instructions from across the Atlantic, we use 'convince' for both.' 'I convinced him to give me his wallet' (or should that be 'billfold' or 'pocketbook'?)

Billfold if it just hold notes (bills), usually in a clip. Wallet for bills and coins, and used for both men and women. After three years of living in the States I am still none the wiser as to the difference between a pocketbook and a purse, both of which refer to handbags.

I've just been reminded of another invasive usage from America - 'take a dump', for 's**t.' Still, I suppose it's marginally better then 'poo'.

We may be the mother country of English but there are about 400 million first language speakers of English and up to two billion second language speakers.
We cannot dictate what words are used . The language has benefited over the years from words from all over The Empire and other countries.

France tries to control the language , making up new words for new inventions etc without excepting the international word. Do you want to go down that road

I'm not seeking to 'dictate' anything, and I certainly don't want to go down the French route. And I agree, a lot of imported words are useful, including some American ones. It's just that I get a tiny bit irritated when Americanisms are adopted not because they are useful ('commuter' is the example I always think of), but just because they sound sort of cool. (Yes, I know.) I don't like to be reminded of our linguistic servitude. If I were a Welsh-speaking Welshman, I wouldn't mind 'ambiwlans' or 'tacsi'. But I would mind being forced to speak English.

However, point taken. I shall try to desist in future from these obsessional postings about creeping Americanisms.

I'm rather a fan 'poo', myself, Robin. Inoffensive in comparison to many other terms and rather expressive - almost onomatopoeic.

And let's remember that a significant number of so-called Americanisms are in fact old English uses that have fallen away here but have remained there - the use of "gotten" being a case in point - it's Elizabethan English.

And speaking of French (as Brian mentioned) - Canadian French similarly retains (I am reliably informed by Canadian friends) many seemingly archaic uses of French that the french have long since dropped.

That's the beauty of language - it evolves.

As a writer, I found my writing style changed when I lived in the States. It's not just the vocabulary and phrases that vary, there is also an energy and directness in the American vernacular that is quite infectious. They tend to be more economical with words, dropping prepositions when they are understood, and eliminating much of the padding you get in British spoken English. Every time I go back to the States I find myself reverting to a more American speaking style as it is just so much more efficient and punchy, and I enjoy the rhythms and cadence of it.

Indeed. But not, apparently, 'cool', 'dump' or 'convince to'. The Oxford English Dictionary records their first uses in the new sense as occurring in 1948, 1963 and 1958 respectively - in all three cases in the USA. I was particularly interested in the reference given for 'convince to', which I thought might be older:

Perhaps that's why we effete, condescending, hypocritical snobbish, tight-a***d (ah, I see I have to write 'tight-assed') English males of a certain age find it so threatening.

You'll just have to loosen up that ass, Robin.

My comments many apply to American vernacular and dialogue. When we get to American officialese and studied politeness, there are usually six words where one will do, in an effort to sound both authoritative and knowledgable. Think George Bush.

*mainly*

For Robin:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01292gl