Introduced by Melvyn Bragg A Common Tongue
If the Japanese had colonised America in the 17th and 18th centuries the language we speak in Britain today would be much poorer. We wouldn't have any ' know-how ' or ' get up and go.' We couldn't ' Keep a stiff upper lip.' We wouldn't be able to ' run the show' and we certainly couldn't ' make it' or even ' get by.' On the other hand we wouldn't have any ' hassles,' ' hang-ups ' or ' shoot-ups ' and we certainly wouldn't make a ' song and dance ' about it even if we had.
Tonight's 2nd House will explore the large and rarely acknowledged contribution that the American people have made to the development of our common tongue.
The programme was filmed in New Orleans, Los Angeles, New York, the Rockies and at a rodeo in Hayden, Colorado.
Among those appearing are black singer-songwriter Smokey Robinson , American television commentator Edwin Newman , journalist Tom Wolfe and literary critic Norman Podhoretz.
Film cameraman GODFREY JOHNSON
Film editor JOHN BARNES
Written and produced by TONY CASH
Editor BILL MORTON
The us and us: page 13