American and Brit accents merge in history

[captainhook455]

I was thinking (it happens) that all of us are typing English and all understand each other. Sometimes I have to reread some posts, especially if someone is traveling somewhere. Half my ancestors are from the old country. Anyone's last name Perry? Then y'all talk funny. Do you watch documentaries about America with sub titles? Many shown on Discovery even BBC programing have sub titles for the American mind . An example is the word aluminum. Why put so much effort into one word?

tarheel

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by captainhook455

I was thinking (it happens) that all of us are typing English and all understand each other. Sometimes I have to reread some posts, especially if someone is traveling somewhere. Half my ancestors are from the old country. Anyone's last name Perry? Then y'all talk funny. Do you watch documentaries about America with sub titles? Many shown on Discovery even BBC programing have sub titles for the American mind . An example is the word aluminum. Why put so much effort into one word?

tarheel

You won't find sub-titles on US produced documentaries except in the rarest of circumstances.
Perhaps if a contributor has a very rural accent from, say, the Deep South then a sub-title might make a fleeting appearance, but that's about all.

Aluminum v. Aluminium.

I assume that we go in for 'Aluminium' to comply with scientific convention, other substances being named in a similar fashion. E.g: Sodium, Potassium, Thallium etc.