Why do Americans rename everything eg Film and Movie?

Answer 1

AMERICANS (presumably this means North Americansrather than South Americans!) do not rename everything! The most common language of North America is, at the moment, (North American) English. In most states of the USA 'English' is the official language.

IF AMERICANS renamed everything, the language would be called something else, and certainly not 'English'.

NORTH AMERICAN ENGLISH takes a number of forms in different parts of the country. These forms are called English language dialects. In different countries, and even in England itself, there are many dialects of English, each with their own special peculiarities of word choice or grammar variations.

LANGUAGE is very plastic. Over time pronunciations change and many old words cease to exist. New words also come into use, either by being specially created for something new, or by absorption from contact with other language groups.

WE ALL LEARN our language from our parents and from the culture in which we were raised. If everyone in a particular culture uses a certain word or phrase for something, the chances are that we will use the same word(s) when talking to fellow citizens about the same thing.

OF COURSE, in comparison with the long history of the English language, North American English is a relatively new dialect, starting life in the formative years following the settlement colonies of the 1600's and 1700's.

KEEP IN MIND that it wasn't only the 'English' who settled in North America. In a relatively short space of time the native Amerindian languages were replaced by the more dominant languages of the settlers (invaders?) from many countries. These colonists, and those that followed, developed their own 'language', using either words from their respective native languages, (e.g. barbecue, Spanish; diaper, Middle English) newly invented words, (e.g. mobile home) or words already in use in the area, e.g. moccasin, Native North American.

BEING GEOGRAPHICALLY ISOLATED from the respective source languages, a new dialect slowly emerged. Not only were new words being employed, but old words were taking on new meanings (e.g. corn). Mere 'geography' had, and has, a significant impact on language development. This is as true in America as it is in all parts of the world.

THE DRIVING FORCE in language is 'communication'. It drove the adoption and adaption of words into the North American English as we know it now. Furthermore, 'communication' is two-way, this leading to many 'American' words also now being part of the present day 'British-English' language.

MOVIE

With regard to the short word 'movie' being used in preference to the full phrase 'moving picture', which form would you prefer to use? And which is more enjoyable, watching a moving picture, or just looking at a piece of 'film'? Of course, we all know what we mean, regardless of which word is actually more commonly used in our native language.

Etymology (Important note!): Both British and American (and French) photographers all started taking an interest in 'moving pictures / motion pictures' around the same period of time.

• The verb 'to film' dates from 1899. The noun, 'a film' began to be used in 1905.
• Meanwhile, American photographers had already started creating the 'moving picture', (term coined in 1896) and 'moving pictures' became increasingly popular. (The shortened form 'movies' came into usage in 1912, or maybe in 1908)

So 'moving pictures' were being made in 1896, but 'filming' and 'films', as such, did not appear until later! So, from a purely chronological point of view, the expression 'moving pictures' (subsequently called movies) came before 'films', and thus has a longer heritage!

And what about 'Cinema'! Should it be spelled Cinema or Kinema? Which is the 'correct' word to use? (That is a whole new story!)

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