Spelling Differences Between American And British English

dailywritingtips.com:

As George Bernard Shaw is said to have said, "England and America are two countries separated by the same language." It's easy enough to find books and Web sites that provide evidence to back the old boy up, detailing such transoceanic translations as elevator/lift and critical divergences such as the relative meanings of "knocked up" (British English: "called on," "woke up," or "worn out": American English: "impregnated").

Read the whole story: dailywritingtips.com

Comments

[raven119]

03:06 PM on 05/13/2011

Whou kairs? Adze lawng adze ets unterstoud, ride?

[3fingerbrown]

11:49 AM on 05/13/2011

One variant the article missed is among the most common error of this kind for writers of American English: It's "gray" in America, but "grey" in Britain. I suppose many Americans get it confused because they've seen the word "Greyhound" on the side of buses all their lives.

[CicadaBoom]

01:23 PM on 05/13/2011

I've met quite a few Americans who insist on using "grey" because they think it's a more attractive spelling. I do think "grey" and "gray" are both acceptable in US English.

[Indigo1941]

09:03 AM on 05/13/2011

There's not much to say, really. They're wrong, we're right.

[thebigbike]

09:07 PM on 05/12/2011

hey, it's all pretty harmless and as much fun as annotating and sampling fast food in both places.

whateverrrrrrrr...........

[gman123]

07:52 PM on 05/12/2011

I remember once asking a female co-worker for a rubber and getting a dirty look from her. After a momentary confusion on my part (I didn't get why she got her knickers in a twist), I sheepishly explained that I was asking for an eraser; she and her friends teased me about it for quite a long a while

[rf dude]

11:44 AM on 05/12/2011

More interesting material here - in case you still need distraction from the important things in life...

http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/

[Boobuzuela]

10:36 AM on 05/12/2011

The one I struggled with was "bloody." Bloody this, bloody that, bloody hell.

What was this British fascination with hemoglobin, I wondered?

Finally a friend told me to substitute "foccking."

Suddenly British swearing all made sense.

[RoryBellows]

09:51 AM on 05/12/2011

But now, in the age of Twitter, Noah Webster is rolling over in his grave.

[dna user]

09:29 AM on 05/12/2011

This is not the queen's english.

[sheeple999]

09:16 AM on 05/12/2011

Yay! Nice to know I'm not the only one who gives a shit!

Rule Britannia! Mwahahahhaha...ha!

[Canuknotusa]

09:01 AM on 05/12/2011

I wonder if 'billion' still means one million million in the UK?

[lenuk]

09:52 AM on 05/12/2011

No. It means one thousand million.

It was standardized many, many years ago.

[LolaGetz]

08:59 AM on 05/12/2011

I've lived in the UK for 25 years and have never, ever seen the words "banque" or "checque." That's just silly. In reality you would say, for example, that you cashed your cheque at a bank.

I've also never seen the words inflection or connection spelled with an "x," or the words "diagramme" or "telegramme."

[ProfEvil]

12:33 PM on 05/12/2011

Actually it is spelt "cheque".

[LolaGetz]

02:44 PM on 05/12/2011

Pretty sure that's what I said. Yep, went back and read my post and I said it was "cheque" and not "checque."

[lastpost]

08:54 AM on 05/12/2011

“he desired a distinct language for Americans that they could feel they owned”
One might as well claim to “own” a piece of land. For that also existed before the current user, and is likely to continue to do so after that usage has be been irreversibly renounced. Isn’t any suggested “ownership”, no more than a mere revocable loan?

“The problem is”,
you cannot make bespoke suits from a patchwork of random material, to fit all occasions. You can however make coats of many colo(u)rs, to delight the senses of some.

[Deaninphilly]

08:40 AM on 05/12/2011

It's like reading the star online around here.

Articles that are not correct and both Americans and British telling the writer... wrong, wrong, wrong.

Yet this is deserving of being on the homepage.

[Techboy308]

08:34 AM on 05/12/2011

I had no idea there were so MANY differences. Amazing!