The History of English in ten minutes. Chapter Six: English and Empire, or the sun never
sets on the English language. With English making its name as the language of science,
the Bible and Shakespeare, Britain decided to take it on tour, asking only for land,
wealth, natural resources, total obedience to the crown and a few local words in return.
They went to the Caribbean looking for gold and a chance to really unwind, discovering
the barbecue, the canoe and a pretty good recipe for rum punch. They also brought back
the word cannibal, to make their trip sound more exciting. In India there was something
for everyone. Yoga to help you stay in shape, while pretending to be spiritual. If that
didn't work there was the cummerbund to hide the paunch, and if you couldn't even make
it up the stairs without turning crimson, they had the bungalow. Meanwhile in Africa
they picked up words like voodoo and zombie, kicking off the teen horror film. From Australia,
English took the words nugget, boomerang and walkabout, and in fact the whole concept
of chain pubs. All in all, between toppling Napoleon and the First World War, the British
Empire gobbled up around 10 million square miles, 400 million people and nearly a hundred
thousand gin and tonics, leaving new varieties of English to develop all over the globe.