Some American spellings are better.  Aluminum, for one.  It rolls off the tounge far better than the overly staccato aluminium.

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... And we don't seem to have a problem with Platinum ...

 

... but, what about uranium, plutonium, neptunium ...

You are correct lucius, the americans cannot spell.

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Actually the US chose to update English.

US is the largest, most influential english speaking country in the world.  It is not a dead language like latin, so its bound to evolve a bit.  Get your head out of you ass.

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Largest? The Chinese have more English speakers than the rest of the world put together ...

Some American spellings are better.  Aluminum, for one.  It rolls off the tounge far better than the overly staccato aluminium.

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... And we don't seem to have a problem with Platinum ...

 

... but, what about uranium, plutonium, neptunium ...

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Well, we could change them, but since everyone seems to agree on the pronunciation, they should probably stay as is.

 

I've never been a big fan of American spellings, but American pronunciations often sound a lot nicer and softer than their standard English counterparts.

While we're on the subject of pronunciation, has anyone here seen that show FAQ U? Am I the only person who didn't even realise there was a pun in the name? Is "fack" more common than "eff-ay-kyoo"?

Well, we could change them, but since everyone seems to agree on the pronunciation, they should probably stay as is.

 

I've never been a big fan of American spellings, but American pronunciations often sound a lot nicer and softer than their standard English counterparts.

While we're on the subject of pronunciation, has anyone here seen that show FAQ U?  Am I the only person who didn't even realise there was a pun in the name?  Is "fack" more common than "eff-ay-kyoo"?

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I will say this for US English, they do handle words with French derivations well. Probably due to the mixed heritage of the US, what with the French Southern territories, e.g. St Louis, etc. In the UK words of French origin are pronounced as the French would, whereas the American English tends to have anglicized -- indeed Americanized -- them to better acclimatize into the language.

 

I had the advantage of hearing it first, I think -- regardless I tend to parse everything through an all-purpose heuristic so when I saw the "U" it was a big clue ...

I got the pun - many acronyms are pronounced as words in their own right.

I got the pun - many acronyms are pronounced as words in their own right.

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I might have got it had I ever heard FAQ pronounced "fack". As it is, I've never met a person who pronounced it as such, so I had never considered that it might be pronounced in such a way.

 

In much the same way, for many years I refused to believe that putting an "an" in front of words beginning with "h" was correct English for any words other than "historical" and "historic", simply because having come from the west of Scotland, h's are vocalised in pretty much every other word. In 'artford 'ereford and 'ampshire, 'urricanes 'ardly hever 'appen.

In much the same way, for many years I refused to believe that putting an "an" in front of words beginning with "h" was correct English for any words other than "historical" and "historic", simply because having come from the west of Scotland, h's are vocalised in pretty much every other word.  In 'artford 'ereford and 'ampshire, 'urricanes 'ardly hever 'appen.

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The accepted idiom is to use the vowel indefinite article "an" before a silent "h", so not in front of "hotel", but yes in front of "hors d'oeuvres".

 

PS Hertford is spelt with an "e".

In much the same way, for many years I refused to believe that putting an "an" in front of words beginning with "h" was correct English for any words other than "historical" and "historic", simply because having come from the west of Scotland, h's are vocalised in pretty much every other word.  In 'artford 'ereford and 'ampshire, 'urricanes 'ardly hever 'appen.

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The accepted idiom is to use the vowel indefinite article "an" before a silent "h", so not in front of "hotel", but yes in front of "hors d'oeuvres".

 

Thing is, I'd pronounce "hors d'oeuvres" with the 'h', so many silent h words aren't silent at all in my speech.

 

PS Hertford is spelt with an "e".

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Bah. Who cares?

 

EDIT: Besides, how do you know I'm not talking about the capital of Connecticut?

Actually, correct me if I'm wrong but the original spellings for words like 'Armour' and 'Favour' were the spellings without the 'u's'. The English added the u's some time later (I have no idea why). Being English myself, I hate to admit it of course I prefer the English spelling though, and I prefer the English pronouncication of words like 'vase' and 'aluminium'. Must be bred into me or something.

 

Also, for anyone interested in word origins, you can't beat an Etymology Dictionary

... I'd pronounce "hors d'oeuvres" with the 'h', so many silent h words aren't silent at all in my speech.

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Then you have your own idiom; if you convince enough people that can be standard English.

Actually, correct me if I'm wrong but the original spellings for words like 'Armour' and 'Favour' were the spellings without the 'u's'.  The English added the u's some time later (I have no idea why).  Being English myself, I hate to admit it of course I prefer the English spelling though, and I prefer the English pronouncication of words like 'vase' and 'aluminium'.  Must be bred into me or something. 

 

Also, for anyone interested in word origins, you can't beat an Etymology Dictionary

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Oh no! I will be lost reading another dictionary... ... Thanks for the link -- i love this sort of stuff!

 

I checked amour, it comes from the old French "armeure", to wit:

1297, "mail, defensive covering worn in combat," from O.Fr. armeure, from L. armatura "arms, equipment," from arma "arms, gear." The word might have died with jousting if not for late 19c. transference to metal-shielded machinery beginning with U.S. Civil War ironclads (first attested in this sense in an 1855 report from the U.S. Congressional Committee on Naval Affairs).

Obviously a US English work, too, as there was no mention of "armour". I guess you might have a point with the US coining (or re-coining) the word for the warships; I would assume that either there is an accepted practice for taking words from French into English, or more probably, the word already existed in UK English from its original meaning.

When all is said and done, us Danes own your language, Vikings pwned it and took your gold to boot. :ph34r:

 

 

 

 

 

"On day all Nordic lands were in your power

And England too - no longer your domains.

A tiny land, but in the world you tower -

There ring the song and chisel of the Danes.

You windswept Danish strand,

The ploughshare finds past treasure;

God bless your future too in golden measure!

'Tis you I love - Denmark, my native land!"

 

English is the offspring of many languages - its mother was a whore :D

LOL :D

Yeah, you're forgetting a more recent invasion, in 1066. Lots of outrageous French language from those naughty Normans.

The normans put the romance into English...

Are you a woman? Three of the five letters that make up your description are M. A. N. You're too dependant on men Cloris.

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Nice try -- I am not so easily baited.

 

I do find the rest of this discussion to be very interesting...

 

Cloris

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Oh well it is unfortunate you measure your self-worth in relation to a man my dear. Look at you. You could be an attractive girl. If you did some physical labour, cut your hair short, grew out your body hair and wore boots for example. You mustn't get sucked into their hetropatriarchy.

Largest? The Chinese have more English speakers than the rest of the world put together ...

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but they are not an english speaking country... it would probably be hard to say they speak any one language given all the dialects that exist within chinese cultures.

 

taks

Largest? The Chinese have more English speakers than the rest of the world put together ...

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but they are not an english speaking country... it would probably be hard to say they speak any one language given all the dialects that exist within chinese cultures.

 

taks

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I guess it depends a bit on the strongest marketplace in our current market economy, no the amount of speakers in the world.

 

If the Chinese, for arguments sake, decide to change apostrophes to

Do you know the derivation? Is it "The land of my Fathers", or "My Fathers' Land" ? And do you call Norway, Sweden and Denmark "her", as in "her Navy" ?

I would think it's the same as the German das vaterland which is a neuter term saying "the land of my father", since Scandinavian languages are essentially Germanic, I would guess the same goes here. But I must admit, never given it much thought. ^_^

 

Also, in Denmark at least, I have never heard anyone refer to the nation by gender. Except for ships though, but that's not what you meant was it?

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I didn't understand this bit: did you mean that when talking about the fleet of Denmark, one would refer to it as "Her navy", or a particular ship is referred to as "her", as in "her crew"?

 

Also, Phillip K. D1ck (PKD) specifically reversed the proportions of latin and germanic derivative words in his writing. His works contain words with roughly 90% germanic and 10% classical origins.

Do you know the derivation? Is it "The land of my Fathers", or "My Fathers' Land" ? And do you call Norway, Sweden and Denmark "her", as in "her Navy" ?

I would think it's the same as the German das vaterland which is a neuter term saying "the land of my father", since Scandinavian languages are essentially Germanic, I would guess the same goes here. But I must admit, never given it much thought. ^_^

 

Also, in Denmark at least, I have never heard anyone refer to the nation by gender. Except for ships though, but that's not what you meant was it?

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I didn't understand this bit: did you mean that when talking about the fleet of Denmark, one would refer to it as "Her navy", or a particular ship is referred to as "her", as in "her crew"?

 

Also, Phillip K. D1ck (PKD) specifically reversed the proportions of latin and germanic derivative words in his writing. His works contain words with roughly 90% germanic and 10% classical origins.

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Meta, he meant that ships are referred to as 'her', but not the nation. This is the case for all the Scandinavian countries.

Largest? The Chinese have more English speakers than the rest of the world put together ...

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but they are not an english speaking country... it would probably be hard to say they speak any one language given all the dialects that exist within chinese cultures.

 

taks

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I guess it depends a bit on the strongest marketplace in our current market economy, no the amount of speakers in the world.

 

If the Chinese, for arguments sake, decide to change apostrophes to

ARRRGH! thats a nightmare. But i think its the slang and colloquialisms that will be more affected by american media. Standard english should remain the same even though the oxford dictionary keeps letting silly words in - like bling bling.

ARRRGH! thats a nightmare. But i think its the slang and colloquialisms that will be more affected by american media. Standard english should remain the same even though the oxford dictionary keeps letting silly words in - like bling bling.

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Standard English and Standard American English are essentially the same spoken language, with only a few words to distinguish them. The only real difference comes with their written froms, and outside of extremely formal documents like government and scientific papers, no one writes in purely Standard English anyway. We might write different from the Americans, but we'll probably all end up speaking the same way.

ARRRGH! thats a nightmare. But i think its the slang and colloquialisms that will be more affected by american media. Standard english should remain the same even though the oxford dictionary keeps letting silly words in - like bling bling.

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Well, Bling is an idiomatic phenomena.

 

Think of the reverse process, if you encountered the word in a newspaper (e.g. the Times) and didn't know what it meant, then you would be unimpressed if you couldn't find it in the OED.

 

And anyway, the complete OED has every word in it; it is just the abridged ones that have an editor choose what is in and what is out.

As Imperialist said, individual ships yes, but one would never say "her navy" or "her army".