Miss-spelling?

[formerly known as hf]

Americans always win at scrabble...

[Sicofonte]

English speaking/spealling is a (piiiiiiiii) nightmare.

English, possibly, the most ambiguous* language in the world




(*) I reffer to the ambiguity betwin written and spoken forms of the words. The futcher (future) is the Spanglish, no doubt... but I pray for a Spanish pronunciation (and ok, English verb declinations)

[Marian]

I spell things however I feel the most comfortable spelling them, as long as it is corrrect in some dialect of English. Fore example, I have always spelled gray "grey" (Thanks to the Crayola Corporation).

Oh, and it's maneuver.

I always prefer 'grey' too, I always assumed it was just imprinted on me from the books I read by evil corrupting English authors when I was a kid.

Also, N-ALdwitch, it's 'harbor' and 'harbour'. Not sure what a habor is.

[psymann]

Seems you need some UK input to this...!

Here in England, I would eat a potato, or a tomato. (difference that I understand between us and America is that Americans pronounce it wrong - well, certainly tomato - hence the song "you say tomato and I say tomato"...)

Potatoe is certainly incorrect here, and I've only ever heard it in a quote from the famous time Dan Quayle corrected the word "potato" to "potatoe" in a primary school lesson when he visited the school. Apart from him, Americans spell it potato too as far as I can see.

Grey here is grey, but in America I understand it to be Gray. Here, Gray is just a surname.

As for the S/Z debate... don't even go there! This thing is so confusing. The best answer I can find so far is that UK people used to use a Z (eg "realize") but then the Americans' inability to spell correctly meant they used an "s" instead. UK people then started copying US people and using the "s", and then confused themselves so much that now when they see "realize" they think it's wrong as we mostly now say "realise", and therefore assume, probably incorrectly, that "realize" must be American, because "realize" looks wrong, and American spelling is always wrong! But that may be all a load of rubbish as I'm really confused as well!

And then you can start on:
- all the words which Americans get totally the wrong word for (eg trainers, taps, pavements)
- all the words which Americans spell correctly but get the pronunciation wrong (eg suit, tomato, missile)

And then you get words like Aluminium which they can't spell *or* pronounce properly

psymann

[Nosajimiki]

I know since I started play this game I've been using a lot more British spellings... it drives English teachers nuts when you write both armor and armour in the same essay.

Pronuciations have fun varients too like chocolate ('chä-k(&-)l&t, 'cho-k(&-)l&t), I've met some people who will go nuts if you use the one they are less familar with.

[psymann]

Haha don't get us started on chocolate or we'll reopen the old "Does Hershees count as being chocolate or not" debate...!

psymann

[Marian]

I'm American and I always see is spelled tomatoe and potatoe. *Shrugs* Harbor, labor, color and about any other -our word we do pretty consistantly spell differently though.

Also I'm American too and I've never seen tomato and potato spelled with an 'e', unless it's plural.

[deadboy]

And then you get words like Aluminium which they can't spell *or* pronounce properly

psymann

I'm sorry, but I'm English and I've got to say

WRONG!

Aluminium was -originally- named Aluminum by the discoverer, but the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemist's then changed the name to Aluminium to make it fit it with the common element ending of -ium, and so officially, the American's are right on that one and not us, because the person who discovers an element gets to name it.....

[psymann]

Haha ok, well all I can say is the discoverer chose the wrong name

Ok, I'll let that one pass

psymann

[sky]

The intelligence of Dan Quayle, for instance, was repeatedly disparaged for correcting a student's spelling of "potato" as "potatoe" at an elementary school spelling bee in Trenton, New Jersey on June 15, 1992[1]. In fact, "potatoe" is a variant, though long obsolete, historical spelling.


Note: words that end in -o normally just add s, except:
buffalo > buffaloes
cargoes (or cargos)
domino > dominoes
echo > echoes
go > goes
grotto > grottoes
halo > haloes
hero > heroes
mango > mangoes
mosquito > mosquitoes
motto > mottoes (or mottos)
potato > potatoes
tomato > tomatoes
tornado > tornadoes
torpedo > torpedoes
veto > vetoes
volcano > volcanoes

[Elros]

The intelligence of Dan Quayle, for instance, was repeatedly disparaged for correcting a student's spelling of "potato" as "potatoe" at an elementary school spelling bee in Trenton, New Jersey on June 15, 1992[1]. In fact, "potatoe" is a variant, though long obsolete, historical spelling.


Note: words that end in -o normally just add s, except:
buffalo > buffaloes
cargoes (or cargos)
domino > dominoes
echo > echoes
go > goes
grotto > grottoes
halo > haloes
hero > heroes
mango > mangoes
mosquito > mosquitoes
motto > mottoes (or mottos)
potato > potatoes
tomato > tomatoes
tornado > tornadoes
torpedo > torpedoes
veto > vetoes
volcano > volcanoes

This is pretty much my view on the point also. Tomato, and Potato should only have the "e" if they are being written in the plural form. Thus, Tomatoes, and Potatoes.

Another thing I would like to add is that I have always wondered why we(americans) spell some words in more than one way. After reading this post however it just dawned on me that it is because of UK English, Australian English and American English have different words, and we just can't decide which ones to nationalize.

These words below have always been the main ones that I mix up in my writings:

Theater - Theatre
Center - Centre
Armor - Armour

[sanchez]

The intelligence of Dan Quayle, for instance, was repeatedly disparaged for correcting a student's spelling of "potato" as "potatoe" at an elementary school spelling bee in Trenton, New Jersey on June 15, 1992[1]. In fact, "potatoe" is a variant, though long obsolete, historical spelling.


Note: words that end in -o normally just add s, except:
buffalo > buffaloes
cargoes (or cargos)
domino > dominoes
echo > echoes
go > goes
grotto > grottoes
halo > haloes
hero > heroes
mango > mangoes
mosquito > mosquitoes
motto > mottoes (or mottos)
potato > potatoes
tomato > tomatoes
tornado > tornadoes
torpedo > torpedoes
veto > vetoes
volcano > volcanoes

also:
embargo, archipelago, manifesto, innuendo, mulatto, banjo,...
I guess some of these have variant plurals, either -os or -oes. But I don't think it's regional.

[Chris Johnson]

After reading this post however it just dawned on me that it is because of UK English, Australian English and American English have different words, and we just can't decide which ones to nationalize.

Surely you mean nationalise ?

[sky]

After reading this post however it just dawned on me that it is because of UK English, Australian English and American English have different words, and we just can't decide which ones to nationalize.

Surely you mean nationalise ?

I came across this powerpoint presentation....this might answer the statement above
http://209.211.250.105/style/Yousaytoma ... _OCT04.ppt

[Phalynx]

I blame that bastard paper clip on Word...

Forever changing thinks to stupid american spellings... and yes I can change the settings but do you know how many different PCs I use with different versions of everything...