Alex B's English Language A Level Blog

In our society, swear words are seen as offensive to many people, and we are strongly encouraged not to use them. In some communities, even saying "oh my god" is deemed unacceptable. People also tell you that you are less intelligent if you swear. But is swearing truly as terrible as we are told to think? There are many studies which suggest it is actually beneficial, good for you, if you swear. It shows intelligence and strength increase, for example. One study suggests that muscle strength and stamina receive a boost when you swear, because it stimulates your sympathetic nervous system. So when you look at a study like this, showing swearing is genuinely useful, does it look as bad as we are told? Furthermore, people who say swearing makes you less intelligent could actually be the less intellectual ones. For example, swearing is often used purposefully, for effect on an audience; whether that may be linguistic, emotive, or for comedy. Would a less intelligent person ...

Very often, British people tend to get their “knickers in a twist” over ‘Americanisms’, the use of so called American words in British English. But is it really all that harmful? The answer, quite simply, is probably not. In fact, these Americanisms have positive impacts on our language more often than not in all honesty. They offer more expressive and interesting phrases to the table making our language more vibrant. They appear socially useful as well. For example, the term ‘guy’ is used as a gender neutral term and greeting. In today’s society this becomes even more useful. In truth, many of these so called Americanisms aren't even American and are indeed closer to traditional English than the British alternative. One of the ones that make most Brits infuriated, trash, is actually found in Shakespeare’s plays, which means it is closer to the language we used 400 years ago than our alternative ‘rubbish’. So why do people grow so angry over them, when it isn’...

Hi! This blog will be responses to topical issues about the English Language, the first being on the debate surrounding Americanisms.