Taking sides: American spelling vs British spelling

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I'll fully admit that American English is often more dynamic and inventive than its British variant and has energised the language. But their spelling? I don't know, "tire" means to become tired, it doesn't mean the rubber thing that goes round a wheel, why don't Americans understand this simple fact?

― Jonathan Z., Tuesday, 25 November 2003 13:09 (twenty-one years ago)

British English is always correct as PROVEN BY MEDIKKAL SCIENCE!

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 13:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Is that what happened to Madonna?

― Nemo (JND), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 15:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Canadians take the best from each. And also make up our own shizznit.

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 15:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Let's get straight to the point and talk about how annoying American "down style" punctuation is!

― cybele (cybele), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 15:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Only if we can talk about Britons' criminal neglect of the serial comma.

― Nemo (JND), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 15:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Someone once told me that the guy who sat down and rationalised/Americanised British spellings got bored halfway through the dictionary and that as a result, there are far more differences with words starting in the first half of the alphabet.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 15:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Color me everyone's favorite centerpiece

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 15:43 (twenty-one years ago)

noah webster. he wanted us to have a 'tung' instead of a 'tongue'. he was crazy.

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 15:45 (twenty-one years ago)

What is the serial comma?

(answer: Exactly!)

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 15:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I favo(u)r adoption of ALL Webster's modifications, especially his sensible suggestion to drop the initial "k" from words like knee and knowledge.

N that would be amazing iffe true.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 15:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Aaron Spelling.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 15:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Pete wins.

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 15:48 (twenty-one years ago)

It's using a comma before "and" in a series: "Please put beef, chicken, pork, and salmon on my sandwich." It's very strange, really, to neglect it. A pause goes there when speaking, and if you are enumerating combinations it adds greatly to the clarity of the sentence: "There are only three choices of sandwich: beef and veal, pork and chicken, salmon, and egg."

Lots of Americans neglect it, too.

― Nemo (JND), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 15:57 (twenty-one years ago)

In British usage it's incorrect to put the comma before the last 'and', and you are not obliged (or 'obligated', as our American cousins say) to put a comma before 'but'.

― Jonathan Z., Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:01 (twenty-one years ago)

why do Brits hate Z's?

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:03 (twenty-one years ago)

that, and thing is crazy, too.

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Taking sides: aluminum vs. aluminium

― Jordan C, Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:03 (twenty-one years ago)

sofas, couches, or chesterfields?

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Chesterfields! Because it's the most fun to say.

― Jodi (Celerina), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:05 (twenty-one years ago)

In British usage it's incorrect to put the comma before the last 'and', and you are not obliged (or 'obligated', as our American cousins say) to put a comma before 'but'.

au contraire -- this is the 'oxford comma' and all oxford university books use it.

oxford style also uses 'z'

― enrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I know the British rules for commas, I just think they are silly.

― Nemo (JND), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:05 (twenty-one years ago)

We may not like Z's, but at least we can properly pronounce the letter!

― Jonathan Z., Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Zed.

― smee (smee), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I once heard that it's an oversimplification to think that British spelling is always '-ise' rather than '-ize'. I think it's supposed to depend on whether the word is of French or direct Latin derivation. I dunno though - I always use '-ise' and no one complains.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:09 (twenty-one years ago)

sofas, couches, or chesterfields?

Davenports! Chez lounges!

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Settees!

― smee (smee), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:10 (twenty-one years ago)

it seems to be quite random. i use zs, tho.

sodomize/sodomise

it's obvious really

― enrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:11 (twenty-one years ago)

In Canada, we pronounce the letter Z as "Zeppo" or sometimes "Zildanonny."

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Tiser is better than Tizer.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:12 (twenty-one years ago)

it's not the same thing, but nevertheless:

TS: tsar vs czar

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:12 (twenty-one years ago)

TS: TS vs CZ vs CZ: TS v. CZ

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Oxford style can eat a dick.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:14 (twenty-one years ago)

I think you'll find the correct term is eat a bag of dicks.

― smee (smee), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:15 (twenty-one years ago)

ricardo may eat a bag of dicks

― enrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:17 (twenty-one years ago)

No, it's 'bag of dickz'.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:19 (twenty-one years ago)

no it's bizzags of dizzicks

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Some style sheets I've used request that you only use the serial comma when necessary...i.e. I travelled to Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and Cuba. vs. I travelled to Jamaica, Cuba and Guyana.

― cybele (cybele), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, grammar is more like a dress code. Everyone agrees on the "wearing clothes" bit, but the rest is a lot of misperceptions about what everyone does, and debate about it as though there were some natural law to be discovered, while the people who actually need to follow a code to get a paycheck just do so and don't worry much about it.

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Everyone agrees on the "wearing clothes" bit,

hem hem

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:30 (twenty-one years ago)

TS: Licence/License vs License/License

― ken c, Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Nudists arguing over a dress code would be like monks under a vow of silence arguing over pronunciation. That'd be kind of cool, though.

― Tep (ktepi), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:33 (twenty-one years ago)

The British differentiate between "practice" the noun and "practise" the verb - that's useful!

― Jonathan Z., Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:34 (twenty-one years ago)

where I come from (England, maybe you've heard of us, we INVENTED English) TS means "tough shit."

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:35 (twenty-one years ago)

English wasn't invented by the English. They stole it from the Germans, Scandinavians, Normans and Romans.

― Jonathan Z., Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:40 (twenty-one years ago)

then why isn't it called Germo-Scando-Normo-Romolish?

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:45 (twenty-one years ago)

It is.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Not where I'm from (England, where the Water Closet was invented).

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

"The words advice, licence, practice and prophecy are of Latin origin. As a noun, they are spelt with a c; in their related verb form, they are spelt with an s. This is easy to remember because the letters are in alphabetical order: C-N(OUN)-S-V(ERB).

Note that the rules are different in American English. For example, license is a noun (as in driver's license) as well as a verb (as in to be licensed)"

I asked Oxford...

― smee (smee), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:49 (twenty-one years ago)

This is easy to remember because the letters are in alphabetical order: C-N(OUN)-S-V(ERB).

This is lame-o.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 25 November 2003 16:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 29 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Bring back thorn and eth. Now.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 27 November 2003 15:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Thorn! Yes! I was trying to remember the name of it! as in "Ye"

― Citizen Kate (kate), Thursday, 27 November 2003 15:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Eth sthill existh, and thorn ith what you get when your car ith kept off-road.

(worst post ever?)

― Markelby (Mark C), Thursday, 27 November 2003 15:36 (twenty-one years ago)

yeth

― tokyo rosemary (rosemary), Thursday, 27 November 2003 15:56 (twenty-one years ago)

What about Wau, or whatever it was called? Did that become W? I wish I could remember...

― Citizen Kate (kate), Thursday, 27 November 2003 15:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Wau (aka digamma) became F:

http://www.geocities.com/ctesibos/alphabet/old-greek/digamma.jpg

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 27 November 2003 16:02 (twenty-one years ago)

The American way is the correct way of spelling the English language.
I just don't like slang words though.

I hate the word "aeroplane."

― Aja (aja), Thursday, 27 November 2003 16:06 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.woolmer.co.uk/images/ad_logo.jpg

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 27 November 2003 16:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Dear Aja,

No it isn't. It's our language, we spell it right, and I'm taking it home.

Love,
Mark

― Markelby (Mark C), Thursday, 27 November 2003 16:17 (twenty-one years ago)

you've done it now Aja, you've unleashed the Barry. He is right though, and aeroplane is a beautiful word

― chris (chris), Thursday, 27 November 2003 16:25 (twenty-one years ago)

The 'h' sound in classical greek - the rough breathing - is represented by an apostrophe-type-thing that curves in towards the word rather than out. Eta capitalised = H, but was pronounced as a long e in classical greece, apparently. No idea how they'd know.

I think we should bring in that l-with-a-line through it that sounds somewhere between an l and a w.

― cis (cis), Thursday, 27 November 2003 16:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Damn, this is all the sort of stuff that we should wait and talk about later when Tom and I have finished The Alphabet!

― Citizen Kate (kate), Thursday, 27 November 2003 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

English is a complicated language.

― Aja (aja), Thursday, 27 November 2003 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Eta = Canadian "Eh?" then?

― Citizen Kate (kate), Thursday, 27 November 2003 16:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Socrates == secretly canadian.

― cis (cis), Thursday, 27 November 2003 16:56 (twenty-one years ago)

But Aja we're talking about Greek!

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 27 November 2003 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

So what. This thread was supposed to be about the British and American spellings of the English language.

― Aja (aja), Thursday, 27 November 2003 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

See the British they put lots of u's in everything, like "colour" or "favourite" or "beuwiuldeurmeunt" or "afrou greause"

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 27 November 2003 17:22 (twenty-one years ago)

One thing I don't like in US spelling is one 'l' in controled, traveled, etc. I don't see what benefits it brings. It actually makes things worse, since it messes up the usual consonant doubling rule.

― Daniel (dancity), Thursday, 27 November 2003 19:07 (twenty-one years ago)

?! i never, ever, spell those words that way

(but it has already been established that i no longer speak American)

something that i've never been able to cotton to: "knowledgable" without the silent "e" in the middle. is this an Americanized form, or just the way things are done now?

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 27 November 2003 19:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Knowled Gable might be a quaint name for a house.

― Daniel (dancity), Thursday, 27 November 2003 19:25 (twenty-one years ago)

i've just done a search for it on dictionary.com and it says it doesn't exist?? you LIED TO ME, mrs. sams!!!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 27 November 2003 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I've heard "traveled" but not "controled." I think it depends on where the stress is in the word (e.g. "control" = stress on the last syllable, thus the double "l" is maintained)

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 27 November 2003 19:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I've seen traveled, rather.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 27 November 2003 19:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't like e-less soft g's like in "knowledgable" because without the "e" it looks like it should be a hard "g"! I always say "knowledgeable"

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 27 November 2003 19:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I swear I have a life beyond language and grammar. I swear.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 27 November 2003 19:58 (twenty-one years ago)

British. See, it's funny, cuz like, I'm not really, um, British?

― Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Thursday, 27 November 2003 22:09 (twenty-one years ago)

But Aja we're talking about Greek!

http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/060602/math-jokes-are-never-funny.gif

― Aja (aja), Saturday, 29 November 2003 15:47 (twenty-one years ago)

three years pass...

http://www.local6.com/technology/13675075/detail.html

― gabbneb, Friday, 13 July 2007 19:13 (eighteen years ago)

"the name also honored Endeavour"

LOL "honored"

― admrl, Friday, 13 July 2007 19:17 (eighteen years ago)

one year passes...

Safari red underlines my British spelling, makes me wanna go American, it feels wrong to hit submit.

― I know, right?, Sunday, 12 October 2008 08:05 (seventeen years ago)

"There are only three choices of sandwich: beef and veal, pork and chicken, salmon, and egg."

This is a correct use of the Oxford comma but an incorrect use of the word "three".

― Paul in Santa Cruz, Sunday, 12 October 2008 22:09 (seventeen years ago)

xp: I don't use Safari and I haven't tested this, but try this: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107211

― caek, Sunday, 12 October 2008 22:11 (seventeen years ago)

http://adamanthenes.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/fleetwood-mac-rumours.jpg

― If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Sunday, 12 October 2008 23:41 (seventeen years ago)

british spelling > american spelling >>>>>>>>>>> any spellcheck that bothers to call differences between either as a 'mistake'.

― darraghmac, Monday, 13 October 2008 09:12 (seventeen years ago)

I find myself more ambivalent about "judgment" vs "judgement"

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 13 October 2008 09:48 (seventeen years ago)

For sure, oftentimes I find myself conflicted over American spelling vs British spelling - have done for the longest time. Thinking about this on the weekend, I wouldn't say that I obsess over it, but it impacts on me, if I do the math on it I'm almost the World's Champion or at least hold the world's record

― Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Monday, 13 October 2008 09:54 (seventeen years ago)

that's grammar and syntax, not spelling.

― easy, lionel (grimly fiendish), Monday, 13 October 2008 09:59 (seventeen years ago)

Oh thank you, I didn't realise that.

― Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Monday, 13 October 2008 10:01 (seventeen years ago)

well, you'd normally be the first to point such things out, so i felt it was only fair.

― easy, lionel (grimly fiendish), Monday, 13 October 2008 10:13 (seventeen years ago)

BANTER!

― caek, Monday, 13 October 2008 10:15 (seventeen years ago)

I usu. try to have a sense of humor or humour about these things. I thought -ise was originally a Francophile affectation adopted by snobby people and -ize was the more common form - this happened sometime in the 17th or 18th century.

― Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Monday, 13 October 2008 10:16 (seventeen years ago)

I've often wondered why in Australia do they spell it the Labor Party, when for everything else they use British spelling.

― Zelda Zonk, Monday, 13 October 2008 10:17 (seventeen years ago)

Who would want to be associated with the Labour Party!

― Ich Ber ein Binliner (Tom D.), Monday, 13 October 2008 10:17 (seventeen years ago)

NY Times spells the British Labour Party "Labor". We really are two countries separated by a common language hahahahahahah oh god.

― caek, Monday, 13 October 2008 10:18 (seventeen years ago)

Yeah, but the Americans americanise everything, including the spelling of British novels. But in Australia, they use British spelling for everything. Except the Labor Party. It's strange. Even on the home page of the Labor Party (http://www.alp.org.au/), their top headline has "honour" not "honor", yet they call themselves "Labor". A small point perhaps in a world of collapsing stockmarkets and economies, but still...

― Zelda Zonk, Monday, 13 October 2008 10:24 (seventeen years ago)

T/S: Tipping vs. Tiouppinge

― Everything is Highlighted (Hurting 2), Monday, 13 October 2008 16:39 (seventeen years ago)

Etymology

The ALP adopted the formal name "Australian Labour Party" in 1908, but changed the spelling to "Labor" in 1912. While it was standard practice in Australian English at the time to spell the word labour with a "u", the party was influenced by the United States labor movement and a prominent figure in the early history of the party, the North American-born King O'Malley, was successful in having the spelling "modernised".[18] The change also made it easier to distinguish references to the party from the labour movement in general.[19] Furthermore, the spelling "labor" had been acceptable in both British and Australian English in earlier periods. (See also: Spelling in Australian English)

― ☑ (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 13 October 2008 16:44 (seventeen years ago)

Judgement kills me every time, I WANT the e to be there dammit. Also "cancelling" "travelling" and their ilk, I think the doubled letter makes sense in the system of tenses and I don't love that we drop the extra l. So in these, for me, Brit spelling wins.

― Vampire romances depend on me (Laurel), Monday, 13 October 2008 16:50 (seventeen years ago)

^ i agree with this post

― sleep, Monday, 13 October 2008 18:12 (seventeen years ago)

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