American spelling unsafe at any speed

[mercalia]

One thing I wont accept is Aluminum should be Aluminium

[Cunobelin]

One thing I wont accept is Aluminum should be Aluminium

I used to have a Linear recumbent bicycle



It used to have the word Aluminum along the boom on the left side

It was always being pointed out that it was wrong

[Cunobelin]

I remember a French backlash against the appearance of English words such as "le camping" and a concerted campaign against it

[[XAP]Bob]

The French have a prescriptivist approach to language though, we have a descriptivist one.

The one that really gets me is the damage done to the word metre. Because a meter is something very different.

The normalisation also loses the history and etymology of the words, which is (IMHO) a great loss to the richness of a living language.

[661-Pete]

If I catch myself railing against American spellings, I have to remind myself that American English - as distinct from British English - is formally defined. It was more or less set down by Noah Webster in the early 1800s, in his celebrated dictionaries.

I think speakers and writers of American English should be proud of their heritage. But there is a proper place for it. I still get annoyed if I see what is self-evidently British writing having been 'Americanised' purely for the benefit of American readers. Even more annoyed if I see that the job has been done 'half-and-half' - i.e. some words have been changed into American spelling and usage, whilst others have not. I discovered this recently in a copy of one of Arthur C Clarke's novels which I downloaded on my Kindle.

No doubt American readers feel the same about seeing their creations rendered into British English. It so happens that the death has just been announced of one of the most celebrated of American authors - Philip Roth. I hope none of his books ever gets transcribed into British English...

[Vorpal]

I think speakers and writers of American English should be proud of their heritage. But there is a proper place for it. I still get annoyed if I see what is self-evidently British writing having been 'Americanised' purely for the benefit of American readers. Even more annoyed if I see that the job has been done 'half-and-half' - i.e. some words have been changed into American spelling and usage, whilst others have not. I discovered this recently in a copy of one of Arthur C Clarke's novels which I downloaded on my Kindle.

Perhaps you have a Canadian edition? There are many words where Canadians use American spellings, but still quite a few where they use British spellings.

For example, Canadian English tends to follow British standards in French-derived words, such as theatre and centre, and include the 'u' in words such as labour, favour, colour, etc., but Canadians tend to use American 'ize' instead of 'ise' and 'ense' instead of 'ence' (licence, defence) although the latter varies regionally.

[Cyril Haearn]

Are American, Canadian, Australian diverging moving further away from *real* English?
I like to mix languages a bit, it is fun, I make up my own words

+1 for Pete, Philip Roth wrote American, that is different enough to be interesting but easy to understand, no need to change it to *real* English, really

*real* is a fun word, I think the other Englishes are real too

[pete75]

The main thing to remember is that it's the same as Cheddar cheese, Yorkshire pudding and all those sports like soccer we claim to have invented. There are many more English speakers in the rest of the world than live here and they will have their own rules and usage over which we have no control. If everybody gets used to the idea that the English taught all over Europe is the American version, it puts it into perspective.

Hundreds of millions of people around the world speak English but there are under 60 million for whom it is their native language.

[Cyril Haearn]

One thing I wont accept is Aluminum should be Aluminium

I used to have a Linear recumbent bicycle



It used to have the word Aluminum along the boom on the left side

It was always being pointed out that it was wrong

How do you stop the lower chain run flopping about dangerously?

[Cyril Haearn]

Gee, I sure am glad [gruntled] I resurrected this old thread

[pete75]

One thing I wont accept is Aluminum should be Aluminium

I used to have a Linear recumbent bicycle



It used to have the word Aluminum along the boom on the left side

It was always being pointed out that it was wrong

How do you stop the lower chain run flopping about dangerously?

With very great difficulty I'd imagine ....

[661-Pete]

Perhaps you have a Canadian edition? There are many words where Canadians use American spellings, but still quite a few where they use British spellings.

For example, Canadian English tends to follow British standards in French-derived words, such as theatre and centre, and include the 'u' in words such as labour, favour, colour, etc., but Canadians tend to use American 'ize' instead of 'ise' and 'ense' instead of 'ence' (licence, defence) although the latter varies regionally.

That didn't occur to me - something worth checking, thanks.

Problem is, Canada is a much smaller country by population, than either UK or USA. How many distinguished (English-speaking) Canadian authors have there been? At the moment the only name that comes to mind is Margaret Attwood (of The Handmaid's Tale etc.) - and I haven't read any of hers. No doubt someone is going to pull me up on my ignorance!

[thirdcrank]

... Hundreds of millions of people around the world speak English but there are under 60 million for whom it is their native language.

Apart from the possibility that people with English as a second language might have their own usage eg it's hard to believe that the British Empire didn't leave a linguistic legacy in India - 60 million seems like a low figure here. Less than the population of the UK without looking at the US, English speaking Canada, Oz, NZ, and RSA.

[pete75]

... Hundreds of millions of people around the world speak English but there are under 60 million for whom it is their native language.

Apart from the possibility that people with English as a second language might have their own usage eg it's hard to believe that the British Empire didn't leave a linguistic legacy in India - 60 million seems like a low figure here. Less than the population of the UK without looking at the US, English speaking Canada, Oz, NZ, and RSA.

Yep but it's not the native language of those countries. Native language of Oz is the Aboriginal language, USA is Sioux, Arapaho, Comanche, NZ the Maori language and so on and so forth. English is not even the native language of the whole of the UK.

[Cyril Haearn]

I have a copy of "Everyman" by Philip Roth, the language does not seem so different (or do I have the English version? )
It is often interesting when fairly famous people die and the Grauniad publishes an obituary, one realises what one has missed

Justin Trudeau speaks perfect *French* and *English* apparently