Poll: Do you prefer American English spelling or British English spelling?

[Red Right Hand]

But, by the way, it is British spelling since Americans started using English, but after they gained independance decided they should change most words to be different. Therefore, British spelling is the purest form of English. Fact!

þú misférest. þes sy sé landhæfen ágenspræc.

No idea what you just said, are you mocking me, if so then cool, I didn't really mean what I said, if you aren't then I did mean what I said.

 

[Kogarian]

I bet everything that most people who voted that dont live in a country that uses brittish spelling just clicked that because they had yatzee (i cant remember how to spell his name) in their mind.
I perfer American, and basterdized english as well ("u" "teh" "liek", etc)
and i hate grammer nazis.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! British has one 't' in it. ONE! Oh and you can call me a grammer nazi all you want, I don't give two shits, learn to fucking spell Britain correctly. FUCK!

Quite being zo Brittish, u nazi

(/sarcasm)

 

[murderface]

to the grammaer nazi:
purest maybe but american is more modern and less archaic. and there are more americans then British people so theres more of us then of you so were right and your wrong democratically speaking. and since our media so much more popular then yours then that makes us even more correct ha

 

[The Young One]

Since when did it become a crime to care for decent grammar and punctuation?!

 

[Hunde Des Krieg]

Well I do enjoy my American vernacular, but 'British' English is just full of hilarious colloquillisms(sp?).

 

[NeutralDrow]

But, by the way, it is British spelling since Americans started using English, but after they gained independance decided they should change most words to be different. Therefore, British spelling is the purest form of English. Fact!

þú misférest. þes sy sé landhæfen ágenspræc.

No idea what you just said, are you mocking me, if so then cool, I didn't really mean what I said, if you aren't then I did mean what I said.

I was mocking your belief that modern British English is the purest form of English.

Since when did it become a crime to care for decent grammar and punctuation?!

It's not a crime to care for decent grammar and punctuation. It's just that people seem to have extremely pretentious definitions of "decent."

 

[starwynde]

I love the English language. So much so, I think we need to wipe it from the face of the earth and go back to Latin. I'm an ESL teacher, conversational mostly, but I help with grammar and spelling when asked by my students. You should try explaining why ghoti is not the proper speling of fish. (GH from laugh, O from women, TI from revolution). That's just one of dozens of words I get on a regular basis.

By the way, I'm a Canadian, living in the USA. Not only is my spelling picked on, but also my speech pattern. Apparenty "Huh" is prefered to "Eh" around here. Go figure.

 

[Crowghast]

Americans lazy for taking out the u's? I don't find that entirely fair, as I was taught from the start that it was correct to spell it as colour as color.

What if we were to find a poor man taught to spell the word as "kuhler"? What would we say to him? He can't be lazy, it has the same amount of letters as in the word "colour". Would he then be lazy for spelling it in a phonetic manner?

But while we're at it, what about you Englishmen?

Tell me, please, as I am an ignorant American pig-dog, what does this say?: [i\]
"Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare, To digg the dvst encloased heare. Blest be ye man yt spares thes stones, And cvrst be he yt moves my bones."[/i]

 

[punkrocker27]

Americans lazy for taking out the u's? I don't find that entirely fair, as I was taught from the start that it was correct to spell it as colour as color.

What if we were to find a poor man taught to spell the word as "kuhler"? What would we say to him? He can't be lazy, it has the same amount of letters as in the word "colour". Would he then be lazy for spelling it in a phonetic manner?

But while we're at it, what about you Englishmen?

Tell me, please, as I am an ignorant American pig-dog, what does this say?: [i\]
"Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare, To digg the dvst encloased heare. Blest be ye man yt spares thes stones, And cvrst be he yt moves my bones."[/i]

i think it means something close to don't rob fuckin graves

and whatever poetic metaphors you can get from that

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

Ignoring the difference in spelling, why oh why is there a difference in pronunciation for some words? Why must it be spelt aluminum and said that way, instead of aluminium?

Well, since the element was named from the oxide mineral alumina, the spelling by all rights should be "aluminum," just like ammonia-ammonium, magnesia-magnesium, etc. Unfortunately, some wonk with no etymological knowledge looked at all those "i"s in other elements/compounds and insisted it be spelled with as "aluminium."

Well thank you, I'm glad someone cleared that one up for me, it's been bugging me for an awful long time.

 

[Crowghast]

I'm sorry "murderface", but I can't trust you to argue for America. You'll only make the "British people" laugh at us.

Here, allow me to repair the grammar, spelling, punctuation, as well as add a few words...

[i\]To the person with good grammar, whom I should never call a "Nazi":

"Purest", maybe, but [b\]the average American citizen's version of the original English*[/b] is in my opinion much more modern and far less archaic. As well as it being the language I was raised with. There are more American people than there are British people, which, despite this being a rather irrelevant fact, would perhaps make it perfectly fair for us to have our own variation on an already old and confusing language. I wont even mention Democracy because no-one cares enough about this trivial topic to vote on who's right anyway. And since our media is equal in terms of entertainment depending upon each our tastes, and since our cultures are different, then we both have nice TV shows.[/i]

*See? I didn't say "American English".

While we're on the topic, what about Irish English? Or Glaswegian? Or even Welsh?

Who cares about spelling, i'd much rather talk about dialects and accents.

(On the topic of "Aluminum" and "Aluminium", know that the guy who discovered that element wanted to name it "Alumum". Would you all rather pronounce it as A-loo-mum?)

 

[Crowghast]

Americans lazy for taking out the u's? I don't find that entirely fair, as I was taught from the start that it was correct to spell it as colour as color.

What if we were to find a poor man taught to spell the word as "kuhler"? What would we say to him? He can't be lazy, it has the same amount of letters as in the word "colour". Would he then be lazy for spelling it in a phonetic manner?

But while we're at it, what about you Englishmen?

Tell me, please, as I am an ignorant American pig-dog, what does this say?: [i\]
"Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare, To digg the dvst encloased heare. Blest be ye man yt spares thes stones, And cvrst be he yt moves my bones."[/i]

i think it means something close to don't rob fuckin graves

and whatever poetic metaphors you can get from that

I'm sorry, I can't tell if you're English or not. I do believe I specified some "Englishmen" to inform me, didn't I?

Anyway, I just wanted know, why would the English change such a cool looking form of spelling to the modern one?

"Encloased" looks like a reasonable spelling. Not this stupid "Enclosed" we have now. I mean, the English took out the fuckin' "a".

That's just... *Pause for effect* [i\]lazy[/i].

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Kyi0WNg40

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Y'know, I have to wonder if there are any topics on message boards in Spain decrying the "mess" that Mexicans are making of la idioma hermosa.

Anyway. I like to mix it up a little- I prefer the "-re" spelling for several words (theatre, sabre) but keep to American custom with others. However, I basically "interpret" British spelling on the fly, and I've gotten used to hearing "zed" as much as "zee". I suppose having a friend from South Africa in high school inured me to that.

Anyone else notice that most of the arguments in this thread boil down to "You should do it MY way, because MY way is RIGHT!"?

 

[The Young One]

Anyone else notice that most of the arguments in this thread boil down to "You should do it MY way, because MY way is RIGHT!"?

Oh I know, it's the same with the religion threads, I've noticed.

 

[Chimpa]

I just prefer the British English simply for the fact growing up in Ireland, I was used to it. Generally most people couldn't care less about it, I?ve attended a number of different institutions at both sides of the Atlantic and they've never had a real problem when I?ve submitted work using the British format, they are very accepting of it and never cause problems. Of course you do come across the occasional dickhead who kicks up a fuss, but frankly I would assume that N. American?s coming over to the UK and spelling like that would cause more of a fuss. Despite what the internet portrays, I have found both Americans and Canadians to be very accepting people, unlike the Brits?? (A massive generalisation, but where better to use one than the midst of the internet)

 

[Crowghast]

I just prefer the British English simply for the fact growing up in Ireland, I was used to it. Generally most people couldn't care less about it, I?ve attended a number of different institutions at both sides of the Atlantic and they've never had a real problem when I?ve submitted work using the British format, they are very accepting of it and never cause problems. Of course you do come across the occasional dickhead who kicks up a fuss, but frankly I would assume that N. American?s coming over to the UK and spelling like that would cause more of a fuss. Despite what the internet portrays, I have found both Americans and Canadians to be very accepting people, unlike the Brits?? (A massive generalisation, but where better to use one than the midst of the internet)

I take it from my first trip to the UK, where I happened to, unfortunately, land in Cardiff.

I thought that I would hate the rest of ol' Blightey. Nice place, actually, the British are all and more of what I expected. Being an American in an alien setting that you've only read books about, and only understand it's modern culture around the stage of [i\]Monty Python[/i]. I had a good balance of chavs and dandies, mannered men and boisterous, humored men. As well as the lovely ladies. And the Welsh... and people who live in Cardiff.

Needless to say, I enjoy scones and detest tea.

 

[whataguy88]

I believe we use the term "trunk" rather than "boot" due to the fact that the first automobiles didn't have a space to store luggage while driving, so people would strap steamer trunks onto the rear to carry everything. Later, the auto manufacturers integrated the trunk with the car.
Example:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/1931_Ford_Model_A_roadster_rear.JPG

 

[Chimpa]

I just prefer the British English simply for the fact growing up in Ireland, I was used to it. Generally most people couldn't care less about it, I?ve attended a number of different institutions at both sides of the Atlantic and they've never had a real problem when I?ve submitted work using the British format, they are very accepting of it and never cause problems. Of course you do come across the occasional dickhead who kicks up a fuss, but frankly I would assume that N. American?s coming over to the UK and spelling like that would cause more of a fuss. Despite what the internet portrays, I have found both Americans and Canadians to be very accepting people, unlike the Brits?? (A massive generalisation, but where better to use one than the midst of the internet)

I take it from my first trip to the UK, where I happened to, unfortunately, land in Cardiff.

I thought that I would hate the rest of ol' Blightey. Nice place, actually, the British are all and more of what I expected. Being an American in an alien setting that you've only read books about, and only understand it's modern culture around the stage of [i\]Monty Python[/i]. I had a good balance of chavs and dandies, mannered men and boisterous, humored men. As well as the lovely ladies. And the Welsh... and people who live in Cardiff.

Needless to say, I enjoy scones and detest tea.

Hence my massive generalisation comment I've lived in the UK for some time, and met some amazing people, people that i still regularly keep in contact with and go out on the lash with. However, from my experience more often than not your average joe is a selfish bigot. A country that, if you believed the media, hates its children and everyone else.

 

[Crowghast]

I just prefer the British English simply for the fact growing up in Ireland, I was used to it. Generally most people couldn't care less about it, I?ve attended a number of different institutions at both sides of the Atlantic and they've never had a real problem when I?ve submitted work using the British format, they are very accepting of it and never cause problems. Of course you do come across the occasional dickhead who kicks up a fuss, but frankly I would assume that N. American?s coming over to the UK and spelling like that would cause more of a fuss. Despite what the internet portrays, I have found both Americans and Canadians to be very accepting people, unlike the Brits?? (A massive generalisation, but where better to use one than the midst of the internet)

I take it from my first trip to the UK, where I happened to, unfortunately, land in Cardiff.

I thought that I would hate the rest of ol' Blightey. Nice place, actually, the British are all and more of what I expected. Being an American in an alien setting that you've only read books about, and only understand it's modern culture around the stage of [i\]Monty Python[/i]. I had a good balance of chavs and dandies, mannered men and boisterous, humored men. As well as the lovely ladies. And the Welsh... and people who live in Cardiff.

Needless to say, I enjoy scones and detest tea.

Hence my massive generalisation comment I've lived in the UK for some time, and met some amazing people, people that i still regularly keep in contact with and go out on the lash with. However, from my experience more often than not your average joe is a selfish bigot. A country that, if you believed the media, hates its children and everyone else.

Now, you see, i'm the kind of person who stops talking to people when they begin to... rub me the wrong way, so to speak. I don't even explain, I just stop. I always thought there was something wrong with the youth, we should start beating the kids again. Not spanking them with hickory sticks 'til they bleed because they changed the radio station.

Just a hard [i\]tumnp[/i] on the head and some scary words whenever they do something morally reprehensible... or, by extension, [i\]illegal[/i].

Anyway, I also enjoyed the Irish. Nice people, awesome accents, and I am thoroughly convinced that the "nation of drunkards" stereotype is true, in a good way.

Or maybe that's because I was bar-hopping at the time.

 

[Chimpa]

I just prefer the British English simply for the fact growing up in Ireland, I was used to it. Generally most people couldn't care less about it, I?ve attended a number of different institutions at both sides of the Atlantic and they've never had a real problem when I?ve submitted work using the British format, they are very accepting of it and never cause problems. Of course you do come across the occasional dickhead who kicks up a fuss, but frankly I would assume that N. American?s coming over to the UK and spelling like that would cause more of a fuss. Despite what the internet portrays, I have found both Americans and Canadians to be very accepting people, unlike the Brits?? (A massive generalisation, but where better to use one than the midst of the internet)

I take it from my first trip to the UK, where I happened to, unfortunately, land in Cardiff.

I thought that I would hate the rest of ol' Blightey. Nice place, actually, the British are all and more of what I expected. Being an American in an alien setting that you've only read books about, and only understand it's modern culture around the stage of [i\]Monty Python[/i]. I had a good balance of chavs and dandies, mannered men and boisterous, humored men. As well as the lovely ladies. And the Welsh... and people who live in Cardiff.

Needless to say, I enjoy scones and detest tea.

Hence my massive generalisation comment I've lived in the UK for some time, and met some amazing people, people that i still regularly keep in contact with and go out on the lash with. However, from my experience more often than not your average joe is a selfish bigot. A country that, if you believed the media, hates its children and everyone else.

Now, you see, i'm the kind of person who stops talking to people when they begin to... rub me the wrong way, so to speak. I don't even explain, I just stop. I always thought there was something wrong with the youth, we should start beating the kids again. Not spanking them with hickory sticks 'til they bleed because they changed the radio station.

Just a hard [i\]tumnp[/i] on the head and some scary words whenever they do something morally reprehensible... or, by extension, [i\]illegal[/i].

Anyway, I also enjoyed the Irish. Nice people, awesome accents, and I am thoroughly convinced that the "nation of drunkards" stereotype is true, in a good way.

Or maybe that's because I was bar-hopping at the time.

According to Canadian standards i'm an alcoholic, but apparantally so is every one else that i know so i think that say's more about the standards than anything else. Truth is, alcohol is more a part of Irish culture than anything else and thats what causes the stereotype, but frankly we could be a nation of happy drunkards avoiding conflict like the plague, or a nation of woman beating gobshites, i know what i prefer