How do Americans feel about UK spelling?

[MacEachaidh]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

I wonder how much the English language itself has played in the development of the US. There aren't many places on the planet that have had so many possible linguistic paths. What if French or Cherokee had been the most convenient language of commerce and trade 2 or 3 hundred years ago? What would North America be like today?

What if it had gone with German? The story of the last century and how the main players interacted would have come out somewhat differently.

[Joebill]

Originally Posted by MacEachaidh

What if it had gone with German? The story of the last century and how the main players interacted would have come out somewhat differently.

I think WW2 would have happened anyway. Allies vs. Axis. We would have just been shouting the same language at each other.

[MacEachaidh]

Originally Posted by Joebill

I think WW2 would have happened anyway. Allies vs. Axis. We would have just been shouting the same language at each other.

Oh granted, but there's lots more to the last century than WWII. And I don't consider WWII a US war anyway - in its origins, at least.

But the US speaking German rather than English would have meant a big difference in the attitudes of other countries to the US throughout the century, regardless of ideologies. It would have changed the ongoing US/Britain perception of kinship, for one; just in recent years, for instance, what would that have done to the "Coalition of the Willing"?

[Just4kix]

I would agree with other posts that the writer should keep to the spellings and idioms of the setting. It's good for readers to expand their knowledge of other cultures. It will not interrupt the flow of a story if humor is spelled humour, but if I read a book where a British character is in London and he talks about walking four blocks to his building and then taking the elevator, I would probably stop reading (but then I am British born).

[crich70]

Actually if you think about it we did go with German in a way. The roots of the English language come from the same place as German. In fact the English Royal family have connections to the dutchy of SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA in Germany I believe. They changed their name to Windsor around WWI I believe.

Originally Posted by MacEachaidh

What if it had gone with German? The story of the last century and how the main players interacted would have come out somewhat differently.

[Joebill]

Originally Posted by MacEachaidh

Oh granted, but there's lots more to the last century than WWII. And I don't consider WWII a US war anyway - in its origins, at least.

But the US speaking German rather than English would have meant a big difference in the attitudes of other countries to the US throughout the century, regardless of ideologies. It would have changed the ongoing US/Britain perception of kinship, for one; just in recent years, for instance, what would that have done to the "Coalition of the Willing"?

I know that German-Americans did fight in Europe during WW 2. Worked as interpreters and interrogators as well.

After reading a few hundred books on WW2, I noticed that large numbers of German-Americans and Italian-Americans were not arrested as possible subversives, but that many Japanese-Americans were treated so.

There were a number of recent, 1920-1941, European immigrants who were arrested in WW2. But the only large group shipped off to camps were the Japanese-Americans.

I think the Japanese-Americans were treated wrongfully.

I was born a few years after WW2. I talked to relatives, and elderly neighbors, as I grew up about WW2.

Alot of the 'we gotta watch them' against the Japnese-Americans amounted to racism and hate-mongering, not what the Japanese-Americans were actually going to do.

At least thinking Americans allowed the Japanese-Americans to sign up and fight in Europe.

[Joebill]

Originally Posted by MacEachaidh

Oh granted, but there's lots more to the last century than WWII. And I don't consider WWII a US war anyway - in its origins, at least.

I don't either. Although I have read various things over the past 40 years that tries to blame the U.S. for the start.

The Japanese militarists might have survived as a force decades longer if they had purchased the raw materials they needed as a nation, rather than trying to get them via war.

[Joebill]

Originally Posted by crich70

Actually if you think about it we did go with German in a way. The roots of the English language come from the same place as German. In fact the English Royal family have connections to the dutchy of SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA in Germany I believe. They changed their name to Windsor around WWI I believe.

I'm sure I'm misquoting... but someone in the past aid something along the lines of 'English isn't a pure language, it stands in dark alleys, jumps out and drags new words into the alley kicking and screaming'.

My take on it, the language developed so Norman knights and men-at-arms could get a date with Saxon barmaids.

[MacEachaidh]

Originally Posted by Joebill

I don't either. Although I have read various things over the past 40 years that tries to blame the U.S. for the start.

Just as I've read a lot of posts that attempt to credit the US for the entire outcome of the war - which ignores the efforts and sacrifices many countries made for the entire six years, and is really just blinkered Reaganesque "we're the white-hats!" thinking.

[Falcao]

Originally Posted by mjhudston

There is no common spelling of English around the world! Do the spannish have this issue between Spain and Mexico?

I can answer that. There is almost no differences of spelling in Spanish, mostly because there is the Royal Spanish Academy (motto "[It] cleans, sets, and casts splendour") who regulates the language. That doesn't mean there are no regional slangs. Sometimes one word can have different meanings and sometimes one concept can have more than one word to name it. One source of amusement is to discover than one innocent word in one country has a gruesome meaning in another country.

But, as I stated above, written Spanish is pretty regular, and one can see that online newspapers from Mexico, Spain, and South America uses (almost) the same spelling.

[crich70]

Hadn't thought of it that way but there may be some truth to it. Certainly the average person either born in England or of English descent has the blood of many races in his/her veins. Angles, Saxons, Franks, Celts, Romans even the Vikings left their imprint on the land in their own way. And I've heard that the fact that English is such a melting pot language is what makes it so hard for those to whom it isn't their 1st language to learn it as well.

Originally Posted by Joebill

I'm sure I'm misquoting... but someone in the past aid something along the lines of 'English isn't a pure language, it stands in dark alleys, jumps out and drags new words into the alley kicking and screaming'.

My take on it, the language developed so Norman knights and men-at-arms could get a date with Saxon barmaids.

[Falcao]

Originally Posted by crich70

And I've heard that the fact that English is such a melting pot language is what makes it so hard for those to whom it isn't their 1st language to learn it as well.

I learnt to read English just armed with a Spanish-English dictionary. After this, I learnt to write in English, at least to a reasonable level, writing in forums like this. But spoken English, well, that's a different animal. Sometimes I wonder how English speakers can communicate with each other with so many words that sound almost the same.

[Joebill]

Originally Posted by Falcao

I learnt to read English just armed with a Spanish-English dictionary. After this, I learnt to write in English, at least to a reasonable level, writing in forums like this. But spoken English, well, that's a different animal. Sometimes I wonder how English speakers can communicate with each other with so many words that sound almost the same.

It is confusing, even for those whose first language is English.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Joebill

It is confusing, even for those whose first language is English.

That's true. Many who should know better think that what British MPs call out in support of a speaker is "Here, here!" when it's really "Hear, hear!".

[Joebill]

I was doing some checking a few years ago about learning the languages of some of my ancestors. I was told that Comanche and Cherokee are among the hardest for a non-speaker to learn.