How did The Beatles influence the English language?
The Beatles first flew into New York in February 1964 to find an adoring new audience. To American ears their new music came with a charmingly fresh approach to the English language. Interestingly, this initially came across more in their spoken interviews than their song lyrics - the early ones followed the established 'American' style ('I want to hold your hand'). But success gave them the confidence to draw on British cultural and linguistic references. Many were unknown to most American listeners. the National Health Service (from ‘Dr Robert’) or the News of the World (‘Polythene Pam’), and British English vocabulary like ‘ ring my friend’ (‘Dr Robert’ again: Americans would say call ), ‘time for tea ’ (‘Good Morning, Good Morning’: see sense 3 here ), and dressing gown (‘She’s Leaving Home’ – it’s a bathrobe in American English). Not to mention those plasticine porters in ‘Lucy...