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British English vs. American English, spelling differences |
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Guest_Jox_*
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Dec 12 05, 12:50
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Guest
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Brill, thanks John - an excellent ready-reference. Please add to it as and when. I'll pin it at the top of the Library, too.
P.S. If any other countries' spellings are different again, PM them to John and (if you don't mind, please John) he can enter more columns, above.
Cheers, J.
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Guest_Toumai_*
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Dec 12 05, 13:00
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Guest
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Thanks, John - a fascinating reference
I'd add check and cheque
and thanks, James, for pinning it so we can always see it.
Of course, may words also have subtly (or not so subtly) different meanings, too - pavement, duvet, gas and so on ...
Fran
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Guest_Nina_*
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Dec 12 05, 13:07
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Guest
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thanks John for starting this thread , what an excellent idea and thanks James for pinning it.
Other spelling differences include:
color, colour
all the words we end in ise that in US end in ize
and as Fran says all the different meanings of the same word such as pants.
Nina
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Guest_Don_*
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Apr 24 06, 10:28
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Guest
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Looking over JLY's original list I amend three.
Nite is not in my American Heritage Dictionary
Thru is informal for through; hence sorta slang.
Both vise and vice are valid American words Vise is a clamping tool; therefore, different than morality vice.
Respectfully,
Don
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Guest_Jox_*
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Apr 24 06, 11:57
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Guest
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Hi Don,
That is interesting. I has assumed that "thru" and "nite" were standard American spellings (they are not used here, save when someone wants to appear American). "Vice" means both clamp and illegal activities, which have public morality implications - so, there, the American spelling difference is useful.
Cheers, James.
John, would you mind re-editing your original to include the later suggestions, please?
J.
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Guest_Don_*
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Apr 24 06, 18:33
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Guest
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John may disagree. In my mind thru and nite are slang corruptions and often seen in advertising. The online OED has both American and English, which may be a decent standard to query. Don
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Aug 18 06, 15:17
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Group: Gold Member
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From: Southwest New Jersey, USA
Member No.: 6
Real Name: Daniel J Ricketts, Sr.
Writer of: Poetry
Referred By:Lori
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Doughnut, guage and grey have been in my vocabulary since I was young, though I've found that few Americans use "grey" and most young folk only know donut, I must admit. Our words, alas, have been corrupted by advertisements and signs. I still recall the first 50-word Monday spelling test in which I didn't get enough correct words to avoid taking the test on Friday in the sixth grade. ( The highest scores did not have to take the test on Friday... and I never had to... except that week! ). On Sunday we had passed the "Chicken in the Ruff" place, so I was relieved that I knew how to spell that word the next morning... only to find out that "rough" is the correct word! And that summer I learned that it's spelled the same way alongside the fairways on the golf links too! I spent a good deal of time there... on the right side of the course. Lightly, Daniel
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Guest_Don_*
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Aug 19 06, 08:26
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Guest
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That is just downright "ruff," Daniel. Put a doughnut in one hand and a donut in the other for a balanced diet. Don
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Sep 4 06, 05:19
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Creative Chieftain
Group: Centurion
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From: Australia
Member No.: 17
Real Name: John
Writer of: Poetry
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a fEW more.
English American
anaemia anemia
analyse analyze
apologise apologize
axe ax
catalogue catalog
dialogue dialog
defence defense
disc disk
draught draft
faeces feces
favourite favorite
gaol jail
mould mold
offence offense
plough plow
sceptic skeptic
smoulder smolder
storey story
sulphur sulfur
theatre theater
woollen woolen
For a bit of fun I'll add the 'Cockney Alphabet' that emerged from the music-hall in the 1920s.
A for 'orses' B for mutton C for yourself D for mation E for brick F for vesence G for crying out loud H for retirement I for lutin J for oranges K for teria L for leather M for sis N for lope O for the top P for a whistle Q for everthing R for mo S for you T for two U for me V for la France W for quits X for breakfast Y for unts Z for breezes
William Shakespear, Love's Labours Lost V, i ( Holoferes)
'I abhor such fanatical phantasms, such insociable and point device companions; such rackers of orthography, as to speak dout, fine, when he should say doubt; det, when he should pronounce debt-d, e, b, t, not d, e, t; he clepeth a calf, cauf; half, hauf; neighbour vocatur nebour, neigh abbreviated ne...
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Guest_Don_*
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Sep 4 06, 09:03
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Guest
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I find it ironic that dear William, who added something like one hundred fifty new words to the English Language, would be deeply concerned about preserving proper pronunciation. Go figure. I am not so daft as to think this impossible. Heaven forgive me for failing to quote sources, but I recently learned that not all American spellings are due to ignorant loutishness. A cyclic movement by lexiconographers is to officially simplify the language. One high point took place during the tenure of U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt. A lot of "ae, ouse, yse, ue" were either eliminated or modified to "look more like spoken," Major mutations such as "draught" to "draft", "gaol" to "jail", and "barrister" to "attorney" may be due to really fanatic lexicon police. Is it possible that they may be the edifices of ignorant louts after all? Don
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Sep 5 06, 02:49
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Creative Chieftain
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From: Australia
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Real Name: John
Writer of: Poetry
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Hi Don, Actually I agree. I believe, English words should be lexically phonetic and standardised. In saying that- English and American readers are aware of the difference between words. I could write a poem about a ploughman or a plowman and it would be quite acceptable. Andrew Jackson, US President 1829-37 'It is a damn poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word' And I think this is a good one. Humphrey Bogart 'You're not a star until they can spell your name in Karachi' Regards, John
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Guest_Don_*
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Sep 5 06, 09:24
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Guest
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Good morning John,
I wonder if Andrew Jackson meant that the different spellings of the same word were to be acceptably correct? A jib at a southerner by a northener.
You are enhancing our wealth of mind with your double list.
Karchi? My star is fated not to be a "star."
The sun is shining this morning and I shall trundle to an opticians office to have my nosepiece repaired. Sensitive noses prefer nosepads don't fall off.
See ya later
Don
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Sep 5 06, 21:43
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Creative Chieftain
Group: Centurion
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From: Australia
Member No.: 17
Real Name: John
Writer of: Poetry
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QUOTE (Don @ Sep 5 06, 14:24 ) Good morning John,
I wonder if Andrew Jackson meant that the different spellings of the same word were to be acceptably correct? A jib at a southerner by a northener.
You are enhancing our wealth of mind with your double list.
Karchi? My star is fated not to be a "star."
The sun is shining this morning and I shall trundle to an opticians office to have my nosepiece repaired. Sensitive noses prefer nosepads don't fall off.
See ya later
Don Hi Don, Yeah, you could be correct about Andrew Jackson, I didn't think about it that way. Talking about noses. How about Donald O'connor in 'Singing in the Rain.' Moses supposes his noses are roses but Moses supposes erroneously. I suppose that could apply to a tender nose. John
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Sep 6 06, 05:48
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Ornate Oracle
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Real Name: John
Writer of: Poetry
Referred By:Larry Carr
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John, Just to add a little bit of regional, local flavor to the pronunciation pallette......in the NYC area one of the words you listed:
axe / ax is actually used in place of the word ask
With a good ear, you can hear many of our residents speak the following......."hey mister, can I axe you a question"
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Sep 8 06, 04:05
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Creative Chieftain
Group: Centurion
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Real Name: John
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QUOTE (JLY @ Sep 6 06, 10:48 ) John, Just to add a little bit of regional, local flavor to the pronunciation pallette......in the NYC area one of the words you listed:
axe / ax is actually used in place of the word ask
With a good ear, you can hear many of our residents speak the following......."hey mister, can I axe you a question"
[/color] G'day John, The TV Series 'The Odd Couple' Jack Klugman reminds me of a person that would say axe for ask. It's in the same mode as 'Noo York' for New York. I get the idea that 'axe' would come out slightly husky with a blas'e inflection. Thank you for taking some interest in the topic, John.
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Jul 22 07, 11:35
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Group: Gold Member
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Real Name: Sam Richmond
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Referred By:N/A
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There was a time when seeing a word in print lent to it's legitimacy. Not so anymore. A gradual degradation of literacy has taken place worldwide. It's not just the U.S. or the U.K. it's a universal problem and it is worsening. Advertising does contrubute... words are money, hence thru, gr8 or X-mas. Now 'chat-speak' in the cyber world is surpassing all previous violations of grammar.
I really don't want to sound hateful, and I would be the first to take imagination and creativity over spelling or grammar, but not having an education myself, I long for the knowledge that we now seem to discard or take for granted.
I do often write in a phonetic sort of jibberish, largely because it's the way I speak normally. Short choppy sentences... breaks, pauses, and often I leave off several words if I think the idea is made clear. So... maybe I contrubute to a situation I'm not happy about, but I have certainly enjoyed the opinions stated here. Many valid points. Thanks all.
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Guest_Don_*
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Jul 22 07, 12:05
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Guest
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Dear 4rum,
The helter-skelter nature of language due to democratic usage of many is preferable over only restictive preisthoods being able to read and write. It would simply be blashphemy to say it any other way. The magic is out of its box generating havoc wherever it may go.
I sorta watch the use of the letter "X" to abbreviate. Xmission = trasnmission, xpress = express, xport = transport, Xmas = Christmas (sometimes used intentionally to eliminate Jesus), and xing = crossing are a few floating on top of my foolish pool.
The days of Samuel Johnson and Roget as living experts seems to have passed. But...I could be wrong now.
Don
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Guest_ohsteve_*
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Sep 13 08, 14:47
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Guest
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Interesting topic, the differences in spellin, there are also difference in pronunciation, my wife is English, from the Cambridge area, and the different dialects can reek havoc with how you understand some one, just like the different dialects in the US can, compare the way a New England Yankee speaks to a Georgia Southerner, to a California vally girl, then there are the different words that mean the same thing such as Eng=Boot US=Trunk, Eng=motor US=engine/car Eng=Auto US=car, wheels(slang). When I say garage I pronounce it Garaage When my wife says it it comes out as garedge, when I say hawk it comes out hock when my wife says it it comes out haaawwk. Of course she says I'm a damn colonist and can't speak anyway, I always come back with at least I aint a damn prisoner (Australians). But the bad part is, is when my youngest daughter says crayon it sounds like crown...whats a guy to do. PS I hate chat speak and I refuse to type that way, and refuse to respond to anything that has chat speak in it. Steve
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