Young British children are more likely than their older siblings to adopt American expressions, according to a new survey of UK teachers.
More than 50% of elementary school teachers surveyed said they had heard their students use the words “bin” or “trash,” rather than the more typical British terms “trash” or “waste.”
The word “candy,” rather than “sweets,” was cited as the second most imported word, as indicated by 40 percent of teachers surveyed.
The survey, conducted by Teacher Tapp for The Times of London, involved more than 10,000 educators, and the results suggest that the shift to Americanisms is particularly prevalent among young children. The survey found that teachers of high school students reported fewer examples of this type of American vocabulary inserting itself into their students’ speech.
The terms “apartment” rather than “flat”, “layer” instead of “layer” and “cinema room” instead of “cinema” are among other exchanges reported by teachers.
A linguist interviewed by The Times, however, sought to reassure worried parents that trends in children’s language change quickly and frequently. Professor Lynne Murphy, who teaches British and American English at the University of Sussex, told the newspaper that academics tend to rely on adult language trends for this reason.
“We adults don’t talk like we did when we were four or eight or 12, and neither do kids today,” Murphy added.
She also noted that while American vocabulary can be imported into Britain via online media, the same thing can happen the other way around. In 2019, CBS News reported that some parents had noticed their children developing a British accent after watching “Peppa Pig”, the British children’s program with a remarkable global reach.
Speaking to The Times, some British parents gave anecdotal accounts, saying they noticed their children using Americanisms – and tried to intervene.
Stacie Swift, a mum-of-three from Cambridgeshire, said: ‘I had to correct my children, aged 10 and eight, as they slipped into Americanisms.
“Every now and then they engage in conversation. It’s usually because they’ve watched American videos or cartoons on YouTube,” she added.
Frank Young has blamed the “fragmentation” of children’s TV in the UK on his nine-year-old son’s occasional errors in American language.
“Young children are more likely to hear American accents and the words that accompany them through streaming services well beyond the BBC,” he told The Times.
