Guide Not Funny

After reading Jack Pitman’s article, “Guide to English English” (Dec. 8), I can well understand why Americans are regarded with contempt by most Londoners. The slang terms he lists have not been in popular use since the ‘50s. As anyone who has ever eaten an English sausage can testify, it is not meatless.

Better use of the space would have been to list those words which have different meanings in the United Kingdom, such as “pants,” which do not refer to trousers but to male or female underwear.

As to Pitman’s derogatory remarks concerning the Englishman’s use of foreign expressions, might I inquire as to when knowledge of another language has been considered reason for ridicule? As an Englishman living in Los Angeles, I would not ridicule Americans for their penchant for the use of the word penchant, even if they cannot pronounce it correctly.

ANTHONY SLIDE

Studio City