British vs. American spelling
Nov 30th 2020, 11:17 pm
#46
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Re: British vs. American spelling
I am not sure what you are referring to about double spaces (it sounds like you think that a double space after a full stop is odd?) as the "learn to type" book I had when I was a student many years ago in the UK instructed that a full stop should be followed by a double space.
That said, the BE forum has recently, within the past few months I think, started removing "unwanted" double spaces after full stops.
That said, the BE forum has recently, within the past few months I think, started removing "unwanted" double spaces after full stops.
It could be, however, that BE was in the past converting these to a HTML non-breaking space, which when doubled would appear as two spaces.
Dec 1st 2020, 2:20 am
#47
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Location: North Norfolk and northern New York State
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Re: British vs. American spelling
Well, as I pointed out in a couple of earlier posts, gantlet is an earlier spelling, and was considered archaic by the early nineteenth century. It is now only current in the US, not in British English.
New York Times and Washington Post both spell the word gantlet, for instance. The New Yorker spells it gauntlet.
Dec 1st 2020, 2:24 am
#48
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Joined: Apr 2004
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Re: British vs. American spelling
One that I wonder about is the article 'the' as it relates to things like 'hospital' and 'university'. "Off to university." -- "I'm at hospital" (Grammarly US edition is already flagging both of these). I've also seen some European organizations insist on similar, for example in some official writing I see stuff like 'It is the policy of World Bank to do x-y-z" instead of "It is the policy of the World Bank to x-y-z".
Dec 1st 2020, 3:50 am
#49
Account Closed
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Re: British vs. American spelling
Texting is slowly changing the English language, goodness knows what it will look like 100 years from now.
I would say I am at the hospital if speaking over the phone or to someone, but if texting, its too much typing, so I'd shorten it to at hospital.
I would say I am at the hospital if speaking over the phone or to someone, but if texting, its too much typing, so I'd shorten it to at hospital.
Dec 1st 2020, 4:09 pm
#50
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: East Seaxe
Posts: 72,549
Re: British vs. American spelling
Ooh, that reminds me. "In work" vs "at work".
In the US it's always "at work". "In work" seems to be a UK thing.
Dec 1st 2020, 4:52 pm
#51
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Re: British vs. American spelling
If one were to be "in work" one could also be "at work", or quite often "down (or up) the pub".
Dec 1st 2020, 4:57 pm
#52
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Re: British vs. American spelling
"In work" is both - I think?
As in "employed" and "at the place of work". Eg: "I can't wear stiletto heels and fishnet stockings when I'm in work". In the UK. Whereas in the US "in work" is only "employed".I could be quite wrong though.
As for down and up the pub, only UK, but regional?
Dec 1st 2020, 5:54 pm
#53
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Re: British vs. American spelling
"In work" is both - I think? As in "employed" and "at the place of work". Eg: "I can't wear stiletto heels and fishnet stockings when I'm in work". In the UK. Whereas in the US "in work" is only "employed".
I could be quite wrong though.
As for down and up the pub, only UK, but regional?
As in "employed" and "at the place of work". Eg: "I can't wear stiletto heels and fishnet stockings when I'm in work". In the UK. Whereas in the US "in work" is only "employed".I could be quite wrong though.
As for down and up the pub, only UK, but regional?
be a regional thing; however in the small village that I hail from, there was also some notion of relative altitude.There were nine pubs in my village, so starting from home, I would only go "up the Pheasant" or "up the White Hart", every other pub I would go "down".
Once established in either of the aforementioned two, all the others were "down" to. There was no need to worry about moving from the Pheasant to the White Hart or vice versa, as it was far too far to walk, and there were plenty of better pubs on the way.
Changing pubs in the village centre itself introduced the concept of potentially "going over the road to".
I never got the hang of stilettos and fishnets in the workplace either. Or in the pub, I hasten to add.
Dec 1st 2020, 6:06 pm
#54
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: East Seaxe
Posts: 72,549
Re: British vs. American spelling
I think that up or down the pub may be a regional thing; however in the small village that I hail from, there was also some notion of relative altitude.
There were nine pubs in my village, so starting from home, I would only go "up the Pheasant" or "up the White Hart", every other pub I would go "down".
Once established in either of the aforementioned two, all the others were "down" to. There was no need to worry about moving from the Pheasant to the White Hart or vice versa, as it was far too far to walk, and there were plenty of better pubs on the way.
Changing pubs in the village centre itself introduced the concept of potentially "going over the road to".
I never got the hang of stilettos and fishnets in the workplace either. Or in the pub, I hasten to add.
be a regional thing; however in the small village that I hail from, there was also some notion of relative altitude.There were nine pubs in my village, so starting from home, I would only go "up the Pheasant" or "up the White Hart", every other pub I would go "down".
Once established in either of the aforementioned two, all the others were "down" to. There was no need to worry about moving from the Pheasant to the White Hart or vice versa, as it was far too far to walk, and there were plenty of better pubs on the way.
Changing pubs in the village centre itself introduced the concept of potentially "going over the road to".
I never got the hang of stilettos and fishnets in the workplace either. Or in the pub, I hasten to add.
And then there's the whole "up to London" thing, even if London is actually "down" or even sideways from wherever your starting point is. And then you go up to university, and can/could be sent down, even if being sent down meant going back up to London.
9 pubs? How did anyone ever get anything done? Also, going up the pheasant sounds uncomfortable.
Dec 2nd 2020, 3:05 pm
#55
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Re: British vs. American spelling
Dec 2nd 2020, 4:01 pm
#56
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Re: British vs. American spelling
One thing I have always complained about is the phrase "talk with you" and "talk to you". I talk with people. Talking to people sounds like you are giving them directives and having a conversation.
Dec 2nd 2020, 4:36 pm
#57
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Re: British vs. American spelling
Neither spelling is right or wrong - language is a moving beast. People get too hung up on spelling's and grammar. The reality is that it works when the message is received as delivered. Hence why you can write something in entirely garbled spelling and a reader still understand - it's all about giving the other brain the info you require it to undertsnad.
Dec 2nd 2020, 6:46 pm
#58
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Re: British vs. American spelling
Neither spelling is right or wrong - language is a moving beast. People get too hung up on spelling's and grammar. The reality is that it works when the message is received as delivered. Hence why you can write something in entirely garbled spelling and a reader still understand - it's all about giving the other brain the info you require it to undertsnad.
Dec 2nd 2020, 6:50 pm
#59
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: East Seaxe
Posts: 72,549
Re: British vs. American spelling
Neither spelling is right or wrong - language is a moving beast. People get too hung up on spelling's and grammar. The reality is that it works when the message is received as delivered. Hence why you can write something in entirely garbled spelling and a reader still understand - it's all about giving the other brain the info you require it to undertsnad.
Exactly. It's interesting because language is fundamentally about meaning, communication, and what can be known and expressed. It's THE window into culture because of this. Wherever you go, you can't really understand a culture until you become fairly fluent in its language. Complaining about grammar is just a bit of fun.
Dec 2nd 2020, 7:33 pm
#60
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Re: British vs. American spelling
And then there's the whole "up to London" thing, even if London is actually "down" or even sideways from wherever your starting point is. And then you go up to university, and can/could be sent down, even if being sent down meant going back up to London.
9 pubs? How did anyone ever get anything done? Also, going up the pheasant sounds uncomfortable.
9 pubs? How did anyone ever get anything done? Also, going up the pheasant sounds uncomfortable.
