LL-L 'Lexicon' 2006.09.21 (04) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 21 September 2006 * Volume 04
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From: Henry Pijffers [henry at saxnot.com]
Subject: LL-L Language use

Hi Ron,

A couple days ago, you said that Americans are "rooting", while
English are "cheering". Well, I just read a news article from the
BBC, and apparently the BBC "roots" too.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/5366422.stm

Is this usage recent perhaps?

regards,
Henry

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From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Lexicon

Moyen, Henry!

Well, I strongly assume that this is an Americanism, assuming also that these
days most English speakers outside the United States know what the American
expression "to root for" means. Besides, the expression is given in quotation
marks in the article.

When I heard it in American TV shows while living in Australia, this expression,
though definitely understandable within given contexts, sounded really odd to me
at first, mostly because "to root" (from earlier "to wroot") means, besides "to
forage for food with one's snout in the soil" (like a pig or some such animal,
i.e., "to forage for roots") and in extension "to poke around," and in coarse
Ocker slang "to engage in sexual intercourse" (said of males) (extended to more
intensive, vigorous "to root like a rattlesnake").

However, "to root for" in the sense of "to cheer for" or "to back (a player or
team)" seems to have made serious inroads, considering also that it is listed in
the _Oxford English Dictionary_, though with the explanation "originally American
slang."

In my early Australian days I was rather surprised to read in a letter from an
American friend that he had accidentally "touched her fanny," meaning that there
was some inadvertent touching of a woman's backside*. However, coming from the
non-American camp at the time, I thought it involved female genitals. I later
figured it out, when in an American TV show someone was said to have "fallen on
his fanny." (This is a bit old-fashioned now. "Butt" would be used more often
these days.)

[* "Fanny-pack" is based on this.]

I dare say that most common American slang words and expressions are now
understood in the rest of the English-speaking world, mostly by way of the media,
and many of them are adopted, mostly by younger people. Some non-American ones
make it to the U.S., probably mostly because of Canadian, British and Australian
shows being broadcast here more often these days, at least by public radio and TV
stations and others that cater to more educated and world-open audiences.
Furthermore, people are getting more used to non-American accents of English
because of the media. Some Australian personalities have popularized various
Australian accents, such as "Dame Edna Everage" (Barry Humphries), the late Steve
Irwing, also the CNN reporter Michael Ware
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Ware) with his "educated but thick"
Australian accent.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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