According to Google searches and app searches, Brits are searching to learn English Cut-Glass Language, the historic English language spoken throughout the hit series Bridgerton.
Google searches show that ‘How to speak with the Bridgerton accent’ and ‘Bridgerton slang’ has doubled from last year with a 658% increase
Linguistic expert James Gregg says:
As the English language has changed, it’s been easy to pick out words that pass into common usage. Here at Ling, we have explored some of these recent changes to the English language. The rise in popularity of internet slang has seen phrases such as “LOL” (Laugh Out Loud), “YOLO” (You Only Live Once) and “bae” (an abbreviated form of babe or baby) become firmly embedded in the English language over the past ten years.
Every decade sees new slang terms like these appearing in the English language. And while some words or abbreviations do come from internet or text conversations, others may appear as entirely new words, a new meaning for an existing word, or a word that becomes more generalised than its former meaning, brought about by any one of the reasons above. Decades ago, “blimey” was a new expression of surprise, but more recently “Woah” is the word in everyday usage.
Sentence structure is of course another change to the English language. Decades ago, it would have been normal to ask “Have you a moment?” Now, you might say “D’you have a sec?” Similarly, “How do you do?” has become “How’s it going?” Not only have the sentences been abbreviated, but new words have been introduced to everyday questions.
Connected to this is the replacement of certain words with other, more modern versions. It’s pretty noticeable that words like “shall” and “ought” are on the way out, but “will”, “should” and “can” are doing just fine.
Other changes can be more subtle. A number of verbs can take a complement to another verb in either the “-ing” form or the “to” form, for example, “they liked painting/to paint”, “we tried leaving/to leave”, “he didn’t bother calling/to call”. Both of these constructions are still used and have been for a long time but there has been a steady shift over time from the “to” to the “-ing” complement.
So will Netflix be responsible for the next round of slag and pronunciation?
Thanks to Ling for this content.
