Blogging: UK vs US

I've been cruising the blogosphere in search of grammar blogs, and I have found what seems to be a slight difference between US grammar blogs and UK grammar blogs. US blogs are often more pendantic to the point where many of them are really just courses in English grammar. UK blogs tend to be more nitpicking (in a good way) about the constructs and vocabulary of the language itself. This is only a broad generalization, and many of the exceptions on either side show up in our blogroll. It just seems like a tiny little trend in a broader theme. The American grammar blogs are most often written by teachers or writers - or writing teachers - and focus on "how to do it." Brit blogs often discuss how the language is going to hell in a handbasket, and point out how. Of course, the fun ones are the ones that rant, regardless of which side of the Atlantic the rantings originate.

I guess this means 1) that some Americans are really trying, so it's not entirely hopeless. And 2) we here at Ceely's (note the very British name) are anglophiles. Well, if you knew us, you would know that it goes without saying.*

*goes without saying: "On the face of it, this is a very foolish formulation, but it is not intended to be taken seriously.... The implication is along these lines: 'You and I are sufficiently knowledgeable that we needn't be told this. For us, it goes without saying, but there are others -- not so well informed as thee and me -- and for them we will say it."

(Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage, 2nd ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1985: p. 259.)