Originally Posted by Guelder Rose

My US husband only asked me the other day, "Is it aeroplane or airplane?" The spell checker for the software he was using indicated that "airplane" was incorrect. I was familiar with both spellings but couldn't decide which was right - my dictionary confirmed "Airplane = US Aeroplane = British".

There are so many differences between British and American English that it's not really surprising that confusion can occur, particulary when it comes to children. Even punctuation differs, as is the case with the Oxford comma!

Originally Posted by Jenney & Mark

I don't understand why so many people are surprised that English in the US is spelled and pronounced differently than it is in Britain, or that the vocabulary is different. I mean, seriously, they are two different countries separated by an ocean.

Language is fluid, flexible. It will change and adapt over time and distance. Even though I am a native US citizen, there are times when I've heard other native US citizens talk, who are from other parts of the country (especially those from the deep, DEEP south) and I can't understand them to save my life. So what?

The same holds true for other languages as well. I remember years ago befriending a couple from Argentina while on a cruise. I was living in Chile at the time, and since my Spanish was better than their English, we conversed in Spanish. During one conversation, I mentioned that I like to collect t-shirts from the countries I travel to. When I told them that I had lots of t-shirts -- "tengo muchas poleras" -- their eyes got very wide and their mouths dropped open.

With very confused looks on their faces, they asked me to repeat myself, and I said "Tengo muchas poleras... erm, camisetas" -- and upon hearing me say camisetas they looked a bit relieved and started laughing. It turned out that while polera means "t-shirt" in Chile, in Argentina polera means "a slit throat"!! Does that mean that Chilean Spanish is better than Argentine Spanish, or vice versa? No -- it just means their dialects are different.

Same goes for American vs British English. To me, lorry will always, first and foremost, be a girl's name -- not a truck. To you, hearing someone use the word pants to describe the trousers they're wearing sounds odd. YOU may think American English sounds strange, just like WE think your British English sounds strange, but it doesn't mean one is better than the other.

~ Jenney

Originally Posted by snowbunny

Grammar also differs as does word choice. Americans will write "I was sitting" where Brits will write "I was sat."

QUOTE]

The correct written form used by Brits is either "I was sitting" or "I sat".

'I was sat' is definitely incorrect!

Originally Posted by snowbunny

Trust me -- it's just that it gets very old to be told "you don't speak English." To which I ask, "Oh, do you speak another language?" The answer is usually "No." To which I respond, "Then you must have a babel fish in your ear!"

Originally Posted by snowbunny

Why, you ain't got your babelfish in your eyes today?

Originally Posted by snowbunny

Englishmum, was, of course, right, though apparently this is a common naughty habit:

http://www.surrey.ac.uk/Skills/pack/english/stood.html

Originally Posted by AdobePinon

May I propose that we all use 'aerocraft'?