American and British English!!!

[Jodie]

Okay, so there's American English and The British English. Does that mean Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the United Kingdom spells things all the same? Except for America? Right?

 

[Hobbit]

Pretty much - though there's no accounting for bad spellers!

To be honest, most of the differences are minor - color/colour and so on. We usually manage to muddle through.

Hobbit

 

[MrBF1V3]

Um ... spells?

Actually, there's a huge difference between west coast English and east coast English. And I guess I'll be nice and not even mention Texan English.

It's a language being used by a huge number of people, there were bound to be differences.

--so, which spelling of grey is British English?

B5

 

[Rhiannon]

Technically, there is such a thing as Canadian English as well, which basically means that we can use British or American spellings as we please, so long as we're consistent. This varies a bit, however. For example, on Grade Two spelling tests we could write "favourite" or "favorite" and be right either way. At university, they seem to prefer Canadian or British English to the American.

 

[FuzzBunneh]

[q]--so, which spelling of grey is British English?[/q]
hahah.. I used to have to keep looking that up. I remember it as 'grey' having an 'e' as in 'English', and 'gray' having an 'a' as in 'American'.

My biggest problem is with -ise and -ize.. some words just don't look right with -ise tacked at the end

 

[Leiali]

My biggest problem is with -ise and -ize.. some words just don't look right with -ise tacked at the end

Hm... I have issues with 'ize', in British English it is 'ise' and as far as I am concerned that is the way it should be!

If I saw 'ize' written, I would assume it was by an American, and would therefore be surprised if it were written by someone from the UK. Perhaps it could be a way of distinguishing us all from each other. Except, I see from what Rhiannon says, for the Canadians who obviously don't have a territorial need to assert their individuality

 

[saintjon]

You would take that back if you could listen to how different drunk people sound in different parts of this country.

 

[FuzzBunneh]

If I saw 'ize' written, I would assume it was by an American, and would therefore be surprised if it were written by someone from the UK. Perhaps it could be a way of distinguishing us all from each other. Except, I see from what Rhiannon says, for the Canadians who obviously don't have a territorial need to assert their individuality

Well, Wikipedia (link to article) tells me things aren't really black and white as far as that diffrence goes. I think part of my problem comes from the fact I also speak French, which uses -ise: it's not always easy to know which part of my brain is commanding me to write words a certain way!

Are spellings like 'organize' and 'privatize' Americanisms? (AskOxford.com).

 

[Warlord]

Okay, so there's American English and The British English. Does that mean Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the United Kingdom spells things all the same? Except for America? Right?

There is actually a slight difference between UK english and Irish English... I'm not sure what exactly what but on some computer programs I have seen they give Irish English as well as UK English as an option.

Maybe its just the brits prefer nice long words to make us irish feel inferior.

 

[Hobbit]

Indoubtably.

Hobbit

 

[Dawnstorm]

Indoubtably.

Now, that's a new one for me.

The official words I know are "indubitably" or "undoubtedly". I've heard "Undoubtably", but I'm not sure whether it's offical.

And now this.

It's a ploy to confuse non-nativespeakers, like me. Indoubtedly.

 

[Hobbit]

(That was my point.) The word is actually 'indubitably' (a fact that cannot be doubted) but it was my attempt to make a weak joke/pun. (Hence the ). Apologies for any confusion.

Hobbit

 

[Dawnstorm]

(That was my point.) The word is actually 'indubitably' (a fact that cannot be doubted) but it was my attempt to make a weak joke/pun. (Hence the ). Apologies for any confusion.

Missed the joke. Hehe...

Btw, I did find someone quoting an OED entry for "undoubtably", so it seems to be official (albeit obsolete).

***

I wonder, besides regional English, did anyone compile a dictionary of "www-English"? I wonder what effect typing on international boards has on language developments.

If I saw 'ize' written, I would assume it was by an American, and would therefore be surprised if it were written by someone from the UK. Perhaps it could be a way of distinguishing us all from each other. Except, I see from what Rhiannon says, for the Canadians who obviously don't have a territorial need to assert their individuality

This effect might get enhanced online, where Brits and Americans and Canadians and Australians etc. interact on a regular basis. On another board, a Canadian I know once had a misspelled colour-tag in his signature, using "colour" instead of "color". It was a delibarate reference to the language of the VB-code. (Is "British vs. American" spelling a frequent topic of injokes in Canada, I wonder? Both "color" and "colour" seem to be possible.)

Linguists do detect a trend in Britain towards "-ise" (despite the OED's preference for "-ize"), so that soon it might actually be the norm. I wonder whether that's an effect of globalisation, and at least in part internet-culture? (Great links there, FuzzBunneh!)

 

[Miriamele]

Technically, there is such a thing as Canadian English as well, which basically means that we can use British or American spellings as we please, so long as we're consistent. This varies a bit, however. For example, on Grade Two spelling tests we could write "favourite" or "favorite" and be right either way. At university, they seem to prefer Canadian or British English to the American.

I think this might vary from province to province, or perhaps from school board to school board...in Ontario at least we were not allowed to use American spelling in school--at least none of my teachers allowed it.

 

[FuzzBunneh]

Linguists do detect a trend in Britain towards "-ise" (despite the OED's preference for "-ize"), so that soon it might actually be the norm. I wonder whether that's an effect of globalisation, and at least in part internet-culture?

Am I the only one who finds it odd that the trend in Britain is towards -ise rather than -ize? One would have thought that with the internet and the increasing Americanisation of cultures throughout the world, the opposite is what would have happened. I know that when I was in lycée (high-school in France..) we were encouraged to use the American spellings (and pronunciations). Hrmm.. could it be more of a counter-trend?

 

[Gildor]

You were encouraged ... !!! Wow thats weird.

My school teachers nigh on persecuted me for any use of 'ize' insted of 'ise' ... or any other American words for that matter.

 

[BrianC]

This is a funny thread for me, because I've read so much UK fiction and watched so much BBC that I tend to mix up my Americanism's and Britishism's. Perhaps I am secretly an Anglophone and an Anglograph as well as an Anglophile (in and of itself an odd thing to be, perhaps, for a descendant of Scotland and Ireland).

 

[FuzzBunneh]

Well, when I say encouraged, I don't know if it's in the official guidelines but that seemed to be the trend with most of the teachers I had. Much more time was spent on the history and culture of the United States than that of Great Britain.

 

[Jodie]

Ugh, lol, okay, thanks everyone. It would be so much easier if the world just stuck to the same spellings. . .

 

[MrBF1V3]

Well, when I say encouraged, I don't know if it's in the official guidelines but that seemed to be the trend with most of the teachers I had. Much more time was spent on the history and culture of the United States than that of Great Britain.

...maybe it's because if something can be really messed up, it was done in the USA.

That is interesting, having lived here, I don't see what's so great--mind you, it isn't bad, but how can it be 'all that'.

B5