Spelling

[LizzieMaine]

Trend I'd like to see die off: quotation marks used to indicate emphasis, where underlining would be more appropriate.

"Big" Sale Today.

As far as spelling goes, it's a lost cause. Ask any grammar-school teacher about the whole language approach.

 

[Dav]

So you might want to check facts before claiming American English is wrong about it...after all, isn't change bad and keeping the original as intended by its discoverer better.

Fair enough I was wrong, sorry.

 

[HepKitty]

Trend I'd like to see die off: quotation marks used to indicate emphasis, where underlining would be more appropriate.

"Big" Sale Today.

agreed, I can't stand that

 

[Silver Dollar]

Sorry if this offends,but Americans complaining about spelling makes me as an Englishman laugh.
Color instead of colour
Aluminum instead of aluminium

Thats cuz weez Amuricins. I know exactly what you're saying. I can't tell you why it happened but the difference in spelling always looked weird to me. I can understand our accents being different since there are many different accents in America by itself and I can also understand the differences in regional idioms but the rest is a mystery.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Thats cuz weez Amuricins. I know exactly what you're saying. I can't tell you why it happened but the difference in spelling always looked weird to me. I can understand our accents being different since there are many different accents in America by itself and I can also understand the differences in regional idioms but the rest is a mystery.

Wikipedia is here to solve such mysteries.


a general history of spelling reforms in the English language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_spelling_reform


The historican origins of American and British English spelling reforms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences


In case one does not actually wish to read, here is the basic explanation:

In the early 18th century, English spelling was not standardised. Differences became noticeable after the publishing of influential dictionaries. Current British English spellings follow, for the most part, those of Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language (1755), whereas many American English spellings follow Noah Webster's An American Dictionary of the English Language of 1828.[1]

Webster was a strong proponent of spelling reform for reasons both philological and nationalistic. Many spelling changes proposed in the United States of America by Webster himself, and in the early 20th century by the Simplified Spelling Board, never caught on. Among the advocates of spelling reform in England, the influences of those who preferred the Norman (or Anglo-French) spellings of certain words proved to be decisive. Subsequent spelling adjustments in the United Kingdom had little effect on present-day American spellings, and vice-versa. In many cases American English deviated in the 19th century from mainstream British spelling, but it has also retained some older forms.

The spelling systems of most Commonwealth countries and Ireland, for the most part, closely resemble the British system. In Canada, however, the preferred spellings include some American forms and some British,[2] and Canadians are somewhat more tolerant of foreign forms.[3]



Mystery Solved

 

[JimWagner]

Thats cuz weez Amuricins. I know exactly what you're saying. I can't tell you why it happened but the difference in spelling always looked weird to me. I can understand our accents being different since there are many different accents in America by itself and I can also understand the differences in regional idioms but the rest is a mystery.

Simple, English and American are diverging into two different languages. Just as there are several Romance languages based on Latin there will be a number of languages based on English. And even English as spoken in England will be like Italian is to Latin.

 

[PistolPete1969]

My biggest pet peeve yet....bad spelling & grammar.

As a law enforcement officer, I have to hand-write a lot of reports. Several fellow officers have me quietly proofread their reports before they submit them. Kinda makes me feel like a school teacher. They get a little annoyed when I correct them, which I find kind of odd.

It continually surprises me the lack of proper spelling & grammar.

Sorry...I will get off my soap box now...


Pete

 

[HepKitty]

see the movie Lock Stock and two Smoking Barrels for differences... in one part there are subtitles because the accents and slang are so strong that weez Amuricins don't understand it

 

[scottyrocks]

In addition to some of the others mentioned above, I dont like the word 'mines,' as in, 'Thats mines!' Its 'mine,' not 'mines.'

And yes, I intentionally leave the apostophe out of words. I do know where they belong, even in the words 'its' and 'it's' when appropriate. I know its not correct, but I thats how I do it unless Im writing a resume, for instance, or other similarly important document.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Bringing some Golden Era relevance to the discussion, consider the Chicago Tribune's Crusade for Simplified Spelling. A brilyant idea thru and thru.

 

[Undertow]

Trend I'd like to see die off: quotation marks used to indicate emphasis, where underlining would be more appropriate.

"Big" Sale Today...

This very issue sets me on edge.

Are they implying that one may find the sale big, while others may not - and thus, they add quotes around big, but if only to notify shoppers of their signmaker's opinion on the matter?

 

[Undertow]

Sorry if this offends,but Americans complaining about spelling makes me as an Englishman laugh.
Color instead of colour
Aluminum instead of aluminium

And not to offend in turn, but I find your reaction to this issue to be quite English in nature, and equally as humorous.

Leave it to an Englishman to point out something as simple as difference in dialect.

Although this does remind me of Eddie Izzard's rant on Scrabble.

 

[Dav]

I apologise for offending anybody with my comment, it was only supposed to be a light hearted remark.
Just my sense of humour.

 

[OneAndOnly]

I have to say that the spelling and grammar of young people today is appalling! I'm still relatively young (25) and have never given into the urge to rite lyk dis. I know that when texting became popular it was suddenly the norm to cut out vowels and shorten words, however this trend ended after a while, or so I thought. My other half has a younger sister (15) and I am constantly amazed at the way in which she writes everything. She writes 'the' as 'teh', 'with' as 'wiv', 'it's' as 'eh', I fail to understand her sentences sometimes! One example is: "nah ,eh on eh quarter teh 6", translated as "No, it's on at quarter to six". I come from a relatively small town yet the majority of people under 17 compose everything in this way. I'm just glad that I never became an English teacher as originally planned. It's not incompetence, it's laziness!

Apologies for the rant, I just find it terribly frustrating.

 

[Cobden]

And not to offend in turn, but I find your reaction to this issue to be quite English in nature, and equally as humorous.

Leave it to an Englishman to point out something as simple as difference in dialect.

Although this does remind me of Eddie Izzard's rant on Scrabble.

It's an English tradition to rib on American's for the differences in spelling; it is never meant seriously (most are aware of the history of the differences, I hope). Most of the time I find it (along with idiolect differences) fascinating.

 

[LizzieMaine]

She writes 'the' as 'teh', 'with' as 'wiv', 'it's' as 'eh', I fail to understand her sentences sometimes! One example is: "nah ,eh on eh quarter teh 6", translated as "No, it's on at quarter to six". I come from a relatively small town yet the majority of people under 17 compose everything in this way.

The young'uns among us might have more to say on this, but here's a general question to throw into the discussion: how much of this type of stuff is ignorant misspelling and how much of it is "cant," a sort of insider-slang that's specifically intended to be incomprehensible to we outsiders? There's a lot of historical precedent for something like this -- Cockney rhyming slang, a lot of urban street dialect, hipster slang. This sort of language may just be another example of such.

When I was little we used to write messages to each other with lemon juice, which were visible only when you heated the paper over a light bulb. It served the same purpose.

 

[Big Man]

True story ...

My Dad was a school principal (K-12). In the fall of 1974, he went with me when I registered for my first quarter of college at Appalachian State University (used to be "Appalachian State Teacher's College").

One of the faculty at the registration table was complaining aloud: "These high schools are sending us a lot of uneducated students these days." Of course she didn't know my Dad was a principal with 30 over years experience in education, and a graduate of ASU.

With a quick whip, my Dad replied, "If the colleges sent us better teachers, maybe the high schools could turn out better students."

That was the end of the discussion.

 

[Undertow]

It's an English tradition to rib on American's for the differences in spelling; it is never meant seriously (most are aware of the history of the differences, I hope). Most of the time I find it (along with idiolect differences) fascinating.

I apologise for offending anybody with my comment, it was only supposed to be a light hearted remark.
Just my sense of humour.

No, no, I'm sorry. After rereading my response, I think the medium skewed the tone I had in my head. :eusa_doh:

I equated your reaction to Eddie Izzard (whom I enjoy thoroughly) and I think it's funny when the English and Americans go back and forth with our differences. Sorry about that, old boy! I have a heavy hand sometimes!

 

[Foofoogal]

http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/textmessageabbreviations.asp

text for the old people. lol

Spelling in the genes. I believe this wholeheartedly.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article5006527.ece

 

[Amy Jeanne]

1936

Carrie there on the bottom can't spell "you're" correctly