How do Americans feel about UK spelling?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Luke King

Yes, but I wonder how common it has been for Americans to see variant spellings before the advent of ebooks. I would imagine, as the US is such a large market, that print books have always appeared in American English regardless of where they were written.

That's a good point. I recall there was another thread recently about the English translation of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (which is a British English translation, even in the US), and someone complained about the use of the word "gaol" (which is an alternate British spelling of "jail").

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I honestly don't think I've heard or read that until now. Is this some new teenage idiom?

I don't know if it is a fad or whatever, but it is bothering the stew out of me. Is it French? But it is a valid word on my Scramble 2 word find app.

[curtw]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I honestly don't think I've heard or read that until now. Is this some new teenage idiom?

Adults too. It's part of the lolcat meme.

And to weigh in on the original question, I concur in the preference for the spelling and style to be appropriate to the setting.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

I don't know if it is a fad or whatever, but it is bothering the stew out of me. Is it French? But it is a valid word on my Scramble 2 word find app.

It is a valid word, eg in the sentence "the result of the ballet was 50 yeses and 23 noes". But I don't like it at all in the context that you quoted .

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's a good point. I recall there was another thread recently about the English translation of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (which is a British English translation, even in the US), and someone complained about the use of the word "gaol" (which is an alternate British spelling of "jail").

I like gaol. It gives me warm fuzzies and takes me back to memories of college and reading medieval texts with my friends.

[crich70]

Actually even English isn't English anymore if you think about it. The language is always changing. Just look at how words were spelled in Shakespeare's time vs. our own for an example. His work is still able to be understood but some words have fallen out of use and others are spelled differently than they were in his time. Fyre for fire for example.

[crich70]

Actually part of modern English is French in origin if you think about it. The Saxons lost their kingdom to the Normans in 1066 and the Normans came from what is now France. In fact modern English is a mixture of different languages and cultures. Angles, Saxons, Normans, Romans, Vikings etc. and it comes from the same language branch as German I believe. Even the name England is a corruption of very old language. England = Angle land or land of the Angles. They had a small portion of land that they claimed as theirs a long, long time ago.

Originally Posted by DixieGal

I don't know if it is a fad or whatever, but it is bothering the stew out of me. Is it French? But it is a valid word on my Scramble 2 word find app.

[neilmarr]

The only hard and fast rule, Luke, is consistency, whether you use US or UK standard. Neil

[MacEachaidh]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

I like gaol. It gives me warm fuzzies and takes me back to memories of college

Oh dear, DixieGal, did you have a lot of experience of gaol while you were in college?

()

[abigsmurf]

I'd say it's best to stick to your own language.

You often hear people say British English is just s' instead of z's and some extra u's but there're quite a few words and phrases that are fairly different or have different meaning.

As a kid I always wondered what the hell 'aluminum' was. If you want to make a Brit laugh or get embarassed, just talk about your fanny pack.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

English spelling doesn't bother me. Even English slang and common words that have different meanings don't faze me too much. The way they often pronounce words often can drive me bonkers. How many Rs are in "idea?" Yet many (if not most) English put one on the end (American New Englanders are just as bad). Listening to the damn yankees on "This Old House" makes me want to strangle them because of the extra Rs they tack on after Ws. Yeesh.

If you guys want to make Brits at least raise their eyebrows, tell them you are going to wear pants held up with suspenders to the store.

[Luke King]

Originally Posted by abigsmurf

If you want to make a Brit laugh or get embarassed, just talk about your fanny pack.

You might try to imagine our dismay, when as children, we learned that Fran Dresher fell on her fanny. What was she to do?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

If you guys want to make Brits at least raise their eyebrows, tell them you are going to wear pants held up with suspenders to the store.

And wearing a vest....

Mind you , if you said you were going to the Rocky Horror Show, no-one would be surprised if that's how you dressed.

[dworth]

Warning: The word 'fanny' means something an awful lot ruder to British readers and naming a character 'Randy' will only elicit sniggers, as will calling your robot cartoon character 'Bender'.

[mjhudston]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's a good point. I recall there was another thread recently about the English translation of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (which is a British English translation, even in the US), and someone complained about the use of the word "gaol" (which is an alternate British spelling of "jail").

Erm actualy "jail" is the alternate to Gaol, which was the English original.

But this highlights the whole point. There is no common spelling of English around the world! Do the spannish have this issue between Spain and Mexico? Do the French have it between France and French part of Canada?

IS this a particularly English issue.