Poll: Elegance versus Simplicity

[VaioStreams]

for the longest time I thought I was doing something wrong spelling such words like colour with a U. later found out it's correct. so I actually use both American english and British English both in ym writing and in my speach. I tend to use british slang as often as I use American

 

[Fangface74]

Also, I do believe "check" and "cheque" have completely different meanings (one being to go over something, the other being a piece of paper worth a certain amount of money).

A Cheque is a note with the promise of money, a piece of paper worth a certain amount IS money

 

[Rolling Thunder]

There is only English, as is defined by Cambridge, Oxford and the nation of England in general. America simply persists under the delusion that it's rebellion is being tolerated. Oh no. The Inland Revenue is hard at work compiling those tax returns for all of you. So, it is time for America to grow up and desist behaving like a rather halfwitted teenager who spells 'You' as 'u', and 'Your/You're' as 'Ur'.

But in fairness, I've found that so many of our nation's youth are barely capable of using our language. I propose a pogrom.

 

[fix-the-spade]

sulphur ? sulfur
aeroplane ? airplane
favourable ? favorable
anaesthesia ? anesthesia
liquorice ? licorice
cheque ? check
analyse ? analyze
arse ? ass

I'm English, so I speak and (try to) type in English.
I think regarding English and US English as the same language is wrong, like French and Swiss French. They use similar words but different meanings. Mainly it's because American spelling is so lazy, it just co-opts similar sounding words to a single spelling.

Arse being a good one, I say it Ass but write Arse. If I write Ass then I mean Donkey.
The same goes for Check, it's not a method of payment, it's making sure you got something right.
Although how Sure ended up meaning Yes is beyond me, Sure is a question in the UK but a statement in the US, that one's beyond me.

I've found that so many of our nation's youth are barely capable of using our language. I propose a pogrom.

That's a little extreme don't you think? I mean, they're just chavs, their rampant breeding is what's going to provide us with manual labour for the next hundred years.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Yes, but you forget that chavs are lazy, undisciplined and are predominatly welfare-scabs. We're going to have to make it illegal for people who've never had jobs to claim welfare. (I support welfare for people who've paid for it- my uncle recently claimed his first welfare cheque, ever, at the age of 62, when the firm retrenched him on Friday. He then signed on with a trucking agency, and was back to work on Monday at the same company.)

 

[Ancientgamer]

American's speak a different dialect of english, that's all there is to it. Neither one's more right than the other. I'd like you to be able to definitivly, measurably prove that the omission of a single letter in any way causes a lack of literacy or literary maturity. Until then I'll take the baffling opinions presented in this thread and assume it's just some kind of quasi anti-American circlejerk.

 

[Ursus Astrorum]

I opt for newspeak. It's doubleplusgood.

 

[Clashero]

I prefer British English, and I'm an Argentine (that is, English is not my native language).
The word "mom" makes me wince, as does spelling "honor", "color", etc.

Oh, and "alluminum" makes me want to punch a wall. Alluminium for me, please.

I cannot help but feel my rancour rise at Americanised spelling. Really, it's nothing more than a programmed attempt to rationalise an alternate national identity. Sort of like a rebel child taking up profanity for the sake of parental disapproval, and honestly, it's pulled of about as well.



No doubt my view is coloured by experience and all the rest, but I will retain my excess vowels, my -ise and my habit of using Latin prefixes and suffixes.

U R WINNAR

I opt for newspeak. It's doubleplusgood.

plusgood refs oldspeak 1984. doublethink much?

 

[Sane Man]

American's speak a different dialect of english, that's all there is to it. Neither one's more right than the other. I'd like you to be able to definitivly, measurably prove that the omission of a single letter in any way causes a lack of literacy or literary maturity. Until then I'll take the baffling opinions presented in this thread and assume it's just some kind of quasi anti-American circlejerk.

Wow, I think you stole the thread. Especially the anti-American circlejerk, and it seems England is the pivot man in this case.

 

[Andalusa]

It's the extra letters that make the English language so beautiful... and hard to learn.
But it's worth it.
All those lovely vowels put to good use.

 

[Internet Kraken]

American's speak a different dialect of english, that's all there is to it. Neither one's more right than the other. I'd like you to be able to definitivly, measurably prove that the omission of a single letter in any way causes a lack of literacy or literary maturity. Until then I'll take the baffling opinions presented in this thread and assume it's just some kind of quasi anti-American circlejerk.

/thread

 

[Monkfish Acc.]

Whereas I try to use british spelling as often as I can, I usualy just end up using whatever looks right at the time.

 

[Danny Ocean]

Yes, it's terrible that America is the only former colony turned country that wants its own identity. I mean Australia has never done that, nor Mexico, or Canada, or Brazil. Oh wait, they have, that's funny.

I thought that Mexico and Brazil were Spanish colonies, and Canada was a mix of French and English, Or am I mistaken?
Am I also mistaken thinking that that the Former Imperial Colonies have not rejected all of the British mannerisms that were imported there?

Hell, in Egypt they still have Tea-Time!

 

[Gooble]

sulphur ? sulfur
aeroplane ? airplane
favourable ? favorable
anaesthesia ? anesthesia
liquorice ? licorice
cheque ? check
analyse ? analyze
arse ? ass

We were spelling words like this before Americans or Australians even had a country!

 

[Sane Man]

Yes, it's terrible that America is the only former colony turned country that wants its own identity. I mean Australia has never done that, nor Mexico, or Canada, or Brazil. Oh wait, they have, that's funny.

I thought that Mexico and Brazil were Spanish colonies, and Canada was a mix of French and English, Or am I mistaken?
Am I also mistaken thinking that that the Former Imperial Colonies have not rejected all of the British mannerisms that were imported there?

Hell, in Egypt they still have Tea-Time!

No you aren't mistaken at all. I was simply refuting that person's childish statement that America was being immature in trying to form its own national identity when every ex-colony turned nation has done the exact same thing. It may not have been changing bits of the language, but certainly in other ways.

 

[Beffudled Sheep]

I grew up on the american version so i mostly use that but i do make an attempt to use the other version sometimes.

I do feel weird (bad weird) after i use it though.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

British English. American English is not actually proper English, you could call it a language of it's own since it doesn't resemble British English apart from the fact that it's...well English.

 

[ace_of_something]

sulphur ? sulfur
aeroplane ? airplane
favourable ? favorable
anaesthesia ? anesthesia
liquorice ? licorice
cheque ? check
analyse ? analyze
arse ? ass

We were spelling words like this before Americans or Australians even had a country!

Really? Pretty sure Airplanes were invented in the USA and that checks are a rather recent invention as well...

 

[Gooble]

sulphur ? sulfur
aeroplane ? airplane
favourable ? favorable
anaesthesia ? anesthesia
liquorice ? licorice
cheque ? check
analyse ? analyze
arse ? ass

We were spelling words like this before Americans or Australians even had a country!

Really? Pretty sure Airplanes were invented in the USA and that checks are a rather recent invention as well...

Well you get my point...

 

[Ebola256]

I'm an English teacher so there is no contest. British English is the version for grown-ups.

I must say, I concur wholeheartedly!