Barbara J. Hamby

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Do We Speak English?

Finally, we’ve left London in my travelogue. I’ll take it to my writing critique group tomorrow and post it to my website after I get their feedback. Then it will be onward to Southampton and cruising to Zeebruge, Belgium on the Golden Princess.

It’s Monday, so I’ve started slowly cleaning house. The kitchen counters got a scrub and wax job. Then I went back to reading and writing, and went for a swim. By Thursday, I’ll probably be in panic mode, tearing through the house with a vacuum cleaner in one hand and a duster in the other. Meanwhile, I’m telling myself that, if I don’t do windows, no one else will.

I did do some research on my computer today on writing e-books. There is a lot of material available, some of it is even written in ordinary garden-variety English (American, that is), as opposed to computerese. Having had so much trouble understanding English in London, Ireland and Scotland, I realize our language should really have its own separate designation. Our speech bears very little resemblance to the English spoken in those countries.