We Say Tomayto, They Say Tomahto

By Janice Castro

Is nothing sacred? The BBC has thrown in the towel on the Queen's English. Hello, a new English-language instructional series being prepared for BBC television, will feature an American among its three hosts. Seems that citizens of the global village, whose idea of proper English was once the measured tones of the BBC, are now more familiar with Yankee accents, thanks to CNN's worldwide reach. Explains Peter Walton, executive producer of the program: "We realized what people want is American English. People were asking, 'Haven't you got anything in American?' " Other BBC broadcasters are doing their best to adopt American-style slang. A budding British John Madden describing a soccer game dustup not long ago told listeners that an injured player was "stretchered" off the field. Next time, try "Boom! He's outta there!"

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart